SEARCHING FOR VALUES
As we behold men going up and down the corn-fields of history, they are plucking the ears of corn as they journey. What are you reaching after with those long mental fingers, O Shakespeare? “I’ve seen how the corn of human nature grows upon the stalk of life, and I’m plucking at the heart of this mystery.” What are those great hands grasping after, O Beethoven? “I’m dreaming of unblended harmonies my deaf ears have never heard, and these hands are trying to pluck them from out the invisible realms of harmony.” Why run those hands up into the sleeve of darkness, O Milton? They seem to be straining after something. “Worlds of light lie behind these dead eyes of mine. I’ve seen an angel and heard him sing, and these hands are fumbling about in the darkness hunting for words to tell about his song.” What are those majestic hands reaching after, O Angelo? “I need a few bars of light, a few bursts of morning, a few scraps of sunset, to show men how God paints pictures. I’m plucking the golden ears of color from nature’s garden to hang up in a picture gallery.”—F. F. Shannon.
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SEARCH-LIGHTS
Moral and spiritual search-lights are needed to warn and illuminate the soul, just as the search-lights noted here are used to help the mariner as he approaches land.
“It has been announced,” says The Electrical Review, “that one of the features of the Lewis & Clark exposition will be a large search-light surmounting Mount Hood. This will be used to good effect for illuminating the snow-capped mountain-peaks within one hundred miles of the light. It is also said that the beam thrown from this search-light will be visible to vessels one hundred miles off the coast. This statement suggests that the search-light might be used as a valuable aid in lighthouse service, for warning vessels when they are approaching land. The ordinary range of visibility of a lighthouse is about twenty or twenty-five miles. For a lightship it is somewhat less, as the light is lower. Now, a powerful search-light can throw a beam upward which will be seen thirty or forty miles, under favorable conditions. It is probable that a powerful ray thrown vertically upward from a lighthouse would be visible long before the direct rays of the lighthouse could be seen. A somewhat similar scheme has been tried on railroads, where a beam from the electric headlight of a locomotive was thrown upward as a warning to the engineers of other locomotives.”
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Seasons Estimated—See [Compensation].
SEASONS, VALUE OF
All our States have laws which prohibit the hunting of game at certain times specified and by given methods. The greater part of the year is close time for shooting most kinds of animals and birds. The wild beasts which are to be followed for sport need opportunity to increase and grow, and if left to the whim of individuals would be exterminated. As there are prohibitions to prevent the extinction of the young animals, so there needs to be a close time on character, when we do not allow ourselves to indulge in things which excite our nerves and draw our strength from our bodies and minds. We check our reading, and are careful of sleep and food and exercise.—“Monday Club, Sermons on the International Sunday-school Lessons for 1904.”