“But—pardon me—but you don’t look like——” began the astonished stranger.
“I’m not, either,” said the old gentleman. “My son, I am the victim of circumstances. Members of my family coveted my property. On trumped up charges they had me declared of unsound mind, and I was railroaded off from my home and brought to this place where I have ever since been in confinement. And yet, if only the truth were known, I am engaged in a great scientific literary work—an undertaking which has busied me for many years and which, if justice is ever done, will some day make my name famous throughout the English-speaking world.”
“And what, may I ask, is this work?”
“I am engaged,” said the old gentleman, “in compiling a complete index to The Unabridged Dictionary.”
§ 269 Spoken from the Heart Out
In an effort to link practice with preaching, the Sunday-school teacher asked her class of small boys to recite appropriate quotations from the Scriptures as they added their free will offerings to the regular collection. The youngsters had a week in which to find and memorize suitable texts.
On the following Sunday the scholars advanced, one by one, each with a coin ready and his brow furrowed by the effort of trying to remember the quotation he meant to deliver.
First, as was fitting, came the brag pupil and, as he deposited a dime in the plate, he said:
“The Lord loveth a cheerful giver.”
“Beautiful,” said the teacher approvingly. “Now, Harry, what are you going to say?”