ENTICEMENT
In the legend, the Duchess Isabella, wishing earnestly to obtain some object, was instructed by the crafty court astrologer to kiss day by day for a hundred days a certain beautiful picture, and she would receive the fulfilment of her wish. It was a sinister trick, for the picture contained a subtle poison which stained the lips with every salutation. Little by little the golden tresses of the queenly woman turned white, her eyes became dim, her color faded, her lips became black; but, infatuated, the suicidal kiss was continued until before the hundred days were complete the royal dupe lay dead.
So we yield ourselves to the sorcery of sin; despite many warnings, we persist in our fellowship with what seems truth, beauty, liberty, pleasure, until our whole soul is poisoned and destroyed. (Text.)—W. L. Watkinson, “The Transfigured Sackcloth.”
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See [Allurement, Fatal].
ENVIRONMENT
The Seminole Indians have a tradition regarding the white man’s origin and superiority. The Great Spirit made three men of fair complexion and then led them to a lake and bade them leap in. One immediately obeyed, and came out of the water whiter than before; the second did not leap in until the water became slightly muddy, and when he bathed he came out copper-colored; the third leaped in when the water was black with mud and he came out black.
Every man has some choice as to the kind of environment into which he will plunge, and the color of his character will ultimately show his choice.
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