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A FRIEND IN NEED
7

vented the destruction of a city and the irretrievable loss of three hundred and fifty millions of dollars.

That is the value of having on hand at the vital moment a reliable agent for checking a destructive force.

Fire has an insatiable appetite; it grows as it feeds; a glass of water may extinguish it in the early moments of its life, but it may grow beyond human power or skill to check when it becomes half an hour old.

Sickness resembles fire; it grows as it feeds; the right remedy may extinguish it in the first few hours of its life, but if it once “grips” the system it may grow beyond human power or skill to master.

A modern fire chief said that 99 per cent. of all fire on earth could be extinguished with a glass of water if taken in time. Ovid, who lived twenty-three years before Christ came in to the world, said: