One of the artizan class of Manchester was the owner of a very
pretty black spaniel dog. The little thing followed him and
nestled to his side as a child might, and by many endearing
ways evinced the winsomeness of its disposition. It happened
that the man was worse for drink, became irritated by the
affectionate attentions of his dog and vowed he would throw her
into the lion’s den in Manchester; went there for the purpose,
and reaching out, took up the little fawning thing and flung
her through the bars of the cage. The spectators expected that
the lion with one muscular movement of its paw would stun and
kill it, but the dog fawned up to the lion and the lion turned
and licked her. They became good friends, and when presently
the lion’s food was brought, the dog even snarled at her new
protector and began to partake first, keeping the lord of
creation waiting. So it went on for some weeks. The papers were
full of it; crowds came to see. The news came to the man; he
repented of his rash act; he went to the gardens and said to
the keeper, “I want my dog.” The keeper said, “I don’t dare
to attempt to bring your dog out of the den.” “Oh,” the man
said, “of course I must have it.” “Well,” said the keeper, “if
you want it, you must get it yourself.” But when he called to
the dog, the dog slunk closer to her new protector, and when
presently he tried to exert force, the lion gave such an ominous
growl that the man shrank back. From that moment the lion and
the dog lived together, and any attempt made to extricate the
dog was met instantly by the low growl of the lion.
You have been too long the slave of lusts, of passion, of pride, of
sin. I want you to get under the covert of the Lion of the tribe of
Judah, and then if your old enemy shall endeavor to induce you and get
you back, remember that the Lion of the tribe of Judah is going to
interpose between you and your old master.--F. B. MEYER.
(2566)
* * * * *
There are ways of escaping evil influences, just as there are of
protecting oneself from sunstroke:
Attention is called in the New York _Medical Journal_ to
the fact that sunstroke is due to the chemical, and not to the
heat rays, as generally supposed. The writer’s argument is based
on “the fact that no one ever gets heat-stroke from exposure to
a dark source of heat, and when there is an absence of chemical
rays. The actinic rays are the dangerous ones. They will pass
through anything except an interposed color filter. It is
therefore necessary, in order to ward off sunstroke, to treat
the body as a photographer treats his plates, and surround it
with red or yellow. He mentions the case of an Egyptian army
officer, who had had several sunstrokes, and avoided further
difficulty of the kind during five years’ exposure by lining his
helmet and coat with yellow. (Text.)
(2567)
* * * * *
The queer Chinese change pigeons into song-birds by fastening
whistles to their breasts. The wind of their flight then causes
a weird and plaintive music that is seldom silenced in the
pigeon-haunted cities of Peking and Canton. The Belgians, great
pigeon-fliers, fasten whistles beneath the wings of valuable
racing carriers, claiming that the shrill noise is a sure
protection against hawks and other birds of prey. As a similar
protection, reeds, emitting an odd wailing sound, are fixt to
the tail-feathers of the dispatch-bearing pigeons of the German
army.
Hannibal’s army withdrew from Rome, it is said, at the sound of a
tumultuous laughter inside the walls. Luther said: “The devil hates
music.” (Text.)
(2568)
* * * * *
Paul speaks of a breast-plate even more secure than that mentioned in
the extract:
The authors who tell us of the conquests of Cortez say that to
protect his soldiers from the arrows of the Mexicans, which
could pierce the cuirasses of hammered iron that they wore, he
replaced these with thick breast-plates of wool prest between
two layers of linen. In fact, he practically covered his men
with mattresses, and they were thus enabled to defy the arrows
and lances of the Mexicans. (Text.)--Dr. BATTANDIER,
_Cosmos_.
(2569)
* * * * *
The birds were the red- and blue-headed parrakeets. When
frightened they always flew to a curious tree which, tho bare
of leaves, was sparsely covered with an odd-looking, long, and
four-sided fruit of a green color. Under such circumstances
they alighted all together, and unlike their usual custom of
perching in pairs, they scattered all over the tree, stood very
upright, and remained motionless. From a distance of fifty feet
it was impossible to distinguish parrakeet from fruit, so close
was the resemblance. A hawk dashed down once and carried away a
bird, but the others remained as still as if they were inanimate
fruit. This silent trust in the protective resemblance of the
green fruit was most remarkable, when we remembered the frantic
shrieks which these birds always set up at the approach of
danger, when they happened to be caught away from one of these
parrot-fruit trees.--OLIVE THORNE MILLER, “The Bird Our
Brother.”
(2570)
See NATURE’S PROTECTION.
* * * * *
In the tropics of Mexico, where torrential rains fall a part of
each year, raincoats are a very necessary part of man’s apparel.
Owing to the intense heat which prevails in the summer season,
the ordinary rubber raincoat can not be worn. A rain-proof
coat is made from native grasses. The grasses are woven close
together, and it is impossible for the rain to beat through
them, no matter how hard the storm may be. It would be the
height of folly for a man in that part of Mexico to fail in
providing himself with this most necessary part of his raiment.
“The fiery darts of the wicked one” may be shed by a certain
breast-plate mentioned by Paul.
(2571)