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D
DAILY CHARACTER WORK
In character-building, just as in housebuilding, every day’s work ought to count for good. If the house builders do one day’s work carelessly, dishonestly, or in violation of the architect’s plan, the result is liable to be serious, no matter how well the work is done thereafter. An unsound spot in the wall, a beam not properly placed, or any other feature of a misspent working day, will render questionable the soundness and safety of the entire structure when the strain of use and occupation comes. So the wasted day of one’s life may fix a flaw in the character, which will expose that character to grave perils, when certain temptations and trials assail it.—The Interior.
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Dancing—See [Degradation]; [Risk Shifted].
Danger—See [Love as a Siding]; [Quietness in Danger].
DANGER, AVOIDING
Birds who sleep on the water—and they are numerous—are always in danger of drifting to the shore, where lies their greatest danger. In the Zoological Gardens of London it has been discovered that ducks and other water-lovers have evolved a way of avoiding this danger. Tucking one foot up among their feathers, they keep the other in the water and gently paddle, with the result that they revolve in circles and keep at a safe distance from land, a kind of sleepwalking turned to good account.—Olive Thorne Miller, “The Bird Our Brother.”
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