The obstacles in a man’s way are determined by the gait he is
going. An old negro driving a mule down the street three miles
an hour has to get out of the way for everything, but when the
chief of the fire department comes down the street a mile a
minute everything roosts on the sidewalk and gives him the right
of way.--_Famous Stories of Sam P. Jones._
(2083)
* * * * *
Many men fail to overcome sharp temptation because they have not by
long previous habits acquired the momentum of right thought and right
action. We can not fly unless we have learned to walk and to run.
“Any one who has ever watched a heavy bird rise from the
ground,” says the _American Inventor_, “has doubtless
noticed that it runs along the ground for a few feet before it
rises; the bird must acquire some momentum before its wings can
lift its heavy body into the air. The natives in certain parts
of the Andes understand this fact very well and by means of it
catch the great Andean vultures, the condors. A small space
is shut in with a high fence and left open at the top. Then
a lamb or a piece of carrion is placed on the ground inside.
Presently a vulture sees the bait and swoops down upon it; but
when once he finds he has alighted on the ground inside he can
not get out, for he has no running space in which to acquire the
momentum that is necessary before his wings can lift him.”
(2084)
=Money and Precedence=--See MEDICAL MISSIONS.
=Money, Discreditable Use of=--See VULGARITY IN THE RICH.