14. Little Things
Little Things
WHAT GRAINS AND FLAKES WILL DO.—A vessel will sink if filled with drops of water or grains of sand. Fine flakes of snow, so light in themselves singly, if they gather over the sleepy wayfarer, will put out his life; if they drift they can bury whole houses and the dwellers.
LINCOLN’S VOW.—When Lincoln was a young man he accompanied a cargo of produce down the Mississippi to New Orleans. There he witnessed a slave auction. The trade in human lives was exhibited in all its awful iniquity that day. Husbands were torn from wives, and mothers from children. The rail-splitter was greatly aroused, and he said: “I call the Eternal God to witness that if I ever get a chance to hit that thing, I will hit it hard.” That was a turning point in Lincoln’s life. How well he carried out his declaration was proven by the fact that in after years he broke the iron chain of slavery, wiped out the curse of selling men and women like cattle, and set millions free.
HE IS TOO SMALL.—A New York drug firm advertised for a boy. Next day the store was thronged with applicants, and among them came a queer-looking little fellow, who had been abandoned by his parents. Looking at him, the merchant said, “Can’t take him; he’s too small.” “I know he is small,” said his aunt who brought him, “but he is willing and faithful.” Something about the boy made the merchant think again. After consultation, the boy was put to work. He soon proved his worth, and in time his salary was rais-ed to $2,500 a year, later he became a partner.
DISCOVERIES.—The art of printing, probably the parent of more good than all the other arts, owes its origin to some rude impressions taken from letters carved on the bark of a tree. This was indeed a little thing, but from it sprang the art of printing, and who can estimate the value of press and type? The wonderful and most useful steam engine is the result of a man of thought and inventive genius watching the steam rise from a boiling tea-kettle. The wonderful telescope is the result of some children who placed two or more spectacle glasses together, and looking through them at a distant object. The glimpse thus afforded was taken up by older heads and the result was a telescope so powerful that with its use the astronomers are enabled to make such discoveries regarding the stars as to declare that they are worlds far larger than ours.
THUMB IMPRESSION.—”Don’t touch the lens,” was the sign in a room of a great observatory, in which was the largest telescope in the world. The visitor was told that even a slight rub would spoil the accuracy which was attained with vast labor and extreme care. A man did once thoughtlessly draw his thumb over a lens, and its exactness was sensibly marred.
SWEARER, WON.—In a railroad carriage, a sailor was swearing terribly. Richard Weaver got close to him, and whispered into his ears, “Why are you calling on my Father?” “I know nothing of your father,” answered the swearer. “I’ll tell you His name and character,” said Richard; and then he repeated the text, John 3:16. As if struck by some sudden conviction, the man answered, “These were the last words my mother said to me.” “Then let us pray,” said Richard, “that God may make them the means of your salvation.” They did so; and Richard met him not long after, a changed man.