CYCLOPEDIA OF
ILLUSTRATIONS
FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS
CONTAINING FACTS, INCIDENTS, STORIES, EXPERIENCES,
ANECDOTES, SELECTIONS, ETC., FOR
ILLUSTRATIVE PURPOSES. WITH
CROSS-REFERENCES
Compiled and Edited by
ROBERT SCOTT AND WILLIAM C. STILES
Editors of The Homiletic Review
FUNK AND WAGNALLS COMPANY
NEW YORK AND LONDON
1911
Copyright 1910 by
FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY
(Printed in the United States of America)
Published, March, 1911
PREFACE
In estimating the prospectus of this work a well-known clergyman exprest the judgment that “A book of fresh illustrations should be made as often, at least, as once in ten years.” A somewhat extensive inquiry, to which many responses were received, has convinced the editors and publishers that a liberal use is made of collections of illustrations, by clergymen and other public speakers, and that to meet their requirements a new collection at this time would be welcomed by those whose functions and duties involve public speaking, teaching and preaching.
Paxton Hood’s definitive epigram, “Illustrations are windows,” has often been repeated in varied forms. William Morely Punshon states the relation of the illustration to the truth it is designed to serve when he says, “The illustration is but the handmaid in the palace, while truth is the queen upon the throne.” This is to affirm under a figure of speech that every good illustration should take a place of service, and is valuable only as it assists the understanding in grasping the truth more easily and apprehending it more vividly.
An illustration is regarded as something more than a brief figure of speech, as a simile or a metaphor, tho these may be often expanded to the scope and value of illustration proper. An illustration, as found in this work, whether narrative, fact or series of facts, an incident, anecdote, story, experience, or description, is intended to be such as may be used to make clear the truth or principle indicated in the title.