- tom of his well. He says: "I trembled in
every limb when the water rushed up and began to fill the hole. Muddy tho it was, I eagerly tasted it, and the little cup almost dropt from my hand in sheer joy, and I fell upon my knees in that muddy bottom to praise the Lord. It was water! It was living water from Jehovah's well!"
With superstitious fear the people gazed upon the jugful their Missi carried up. The old chief shook it, touched it, tasted it. "Rain! rain. Yes, it is rain!"
The back of heathenism was broken. A new order of things began in Aniwa. Family prayers and reverence for the Sabbath spontaneously grew up. The wonderful transformation which was wrought in the Aniwans became household talk all over the world. All this was hastened because the ambassador of Jehovah God had done what none of the gods of the islanders could have done—brought up rain from the ground! Text.)
(2034)
Mirror, The, as a Revealer—See Self-inspection. MISCALCULATION What is said to be the largest plow in the world was made some years ago at Bakersfield, Cal This plow was the result of the ingenuity of a ranch superintendent, who had authority to make improvements, but not to introduce steam-plows. The superintendent had grown very tired of preparing three thousand acres of land for wheat with ordinary nine- or twelve-inch plows drawn by two horses. He argued that if two horses could pull a twelve-inch plow, six horses could pull a plow thirty-six inches wide, and that eight horses could pull a plow forty-eight inches wide. He made the calculations carefully, and, being clever with his pencil, made drawings also, and sent for blacksmiths and machinists to construct a plow on his principle. Some simple folk told him that his great plow would not work, but they contented themselves with saying this dogmatically, without giving any mathematical reason therefor. So the superintendent went on with his plans. The blacksmiths and machinists finished the plow in due time. The share was made to cut a fifty-inch furrow; the top of it reached five feet above the ground, to give room to throw the earth. The beam was more than a foot thick; but the machine was constructed to run between two great wheels, so that it could be turned around easily; and on the axle between these wheels was the seat for the man who was to drive the ten horses which were hitched to it. The plow was brought to the great field, the ten horses were attached to it, the handles were raised, the driver mounted his seat, and the team was started. But as soon as the share struck well into the ground the horses stopt short. They were stuck fast. And yet the plow had not gone too deeply into the earth. But it was evident that they could not pull the plow. More horses were brought out, but not until fifty were attached did the plow move along. Even then it required four men to hold the handles, in order to keep the plow in the furrow. It was an economic failure. Then the superintendent, through the intervention of some one who was a better mathematician than he, learned that he should have cubed the capacity of his twelve-inch plow every time he doubled the width of it.—Harper's Weekly.
(2035)
MISER, A WORTHLESS
A certain John Hopkins, familiarly known
in his day for his rapacity as "Vulture Hopkins,"
lived a worthless life but died possest
of a million and a half dollars, left so as
not to be inherited until after the second
generation, so that, as he said, "his heirs
would be as long spending it as he had been
in getting it." Pope preserved his memory
in this couplet:
"When Hopkins dies a thousand lights attend
The wretch who, living, saved a candle's end."
Such a life is properly to be condemned, altho its results may be useful to a subsequent generation.
(2036)
Miserliness—See Mammon-worship; Saving Disapproved.
MISERY AN EDUCATOR
How often I had traced the boy who had
robbed the box-car with unerring precision
to the big, lawless business man who controlled
or directed a trust, debauched a legislature,
bought a senatorship or united with
the gamblers and dive-keepers to steal a public
franchise. Why was there so much kindness
and so little justice? Why were men
good to children, to churches and universities,
and still so unjust? And when the other
fights were won, the fights for the play-