White Ants Hollow Out The Chair

Illustration 2. Beware of little weaknesses, little wrongs, little evils in your life. At Sierra Leone a man lets a little white ant into his house. He thinks it not worth bothering about.

If there was a line of them that would be different, but one little ant, why bother about it? That ant scouts around a little and goes back to report that he has found a fine place to get supplies. Time passes away and one day when that man goes to sit down, the chair collapses under him.

He examines the chair to see what has caused it to become so weak. He finds that every part of that chair is honey-combed with passages. The very heart of the wood is eaten out. He tests the other chairs and the rest of the furniture and finds them in the same condition.

He finds that the door frames, in fact all the wood work in that house has become honey-combed with these passages. They have been eaten out by these ants that the lone ant piloted into the house. The little evils allowed to get into the life, morally speaking, have the same effect. They eat away the moral fiber of one’s being until the whole moral nature just collapses under some out of the ordinary pressure.

Question 2 You are to give a Memorial Address on Memorial Day. Are the following illustrations suitable for such an address? {I-211] Illustration 3. We have all heard of the Finsen light that is used to heal certain diseases. It was invented by a man of the name of Finsen, a pro- fessor in Denmark.

He had been an invalid for years. Although he was only forty-three years old, death had set its seal on him. He had but little strength but he wanted to perfect this light before he died.

IN PUBLIC ADDRESS 203 He had a little son. He wanted also to live long enough so that his boy would remember his father after he was gone.

He gave his waning strength, steadily approaching death, that he might perfect this light that would keep death away from others for years. He fought off death as long as he could, struggling bravely to bring this light to its greatest possible usefulness. There are opportunities to be brave and true in peace as well as in war. These opportunities come to all of us.