Mr. Palgrave, it goes straight forwards in the direction to which its head happens to be pointed, and is too foolish even to think of stopping unless it hears the signal for halt." It is no kindly charity that is thus described, nor gentle spiritual affection for truth. It is a stern mind, comprehensive in its grasp of natural principles, unpitying and unwearying in its application of them. It is a mind that applies general principles regardless of their particular consequences.1 It is the faculty which trains youth for physical contests through hardship and severe discipline. It is the reformer who would cut off abuses by sweeping laws heedless of the injuries which they must also inflict. It is John the Baptist, who came, as his name implies, to cut off the abuses of life into which the Jews had fallen, and compel them to straight, honest, upright ways in which the Lord could come to them. A fearless rebuker of king, soldiers, Pharisees, and common people alike, he was clothed in camel's hair, he IA. C. 2781, 3048, end. lived in the wilderness, and braved the death which his own righteous severity provoked. The camel lives in the desert because the camelmind cares not to produce, but to destroy the growth of abuses; it thrives upon hard, negative prohibitions, where others would starve for want of pleasant, kindly words and acts. He chews the cud, because such a mind meditates upon and generalizes all its knowledge. He does not divide the hoof because it does not consider the kindliness and usefulness of its steps; it cares only for their rightfulness. The breadth of the foot is its power of generalizing the facts upon which it depends. His water-stomach is its ample memory of cleansing truth; his hump the memory of the good results of discipline and reform. THE ELEPHANT. ELEPHANTS are sometimes employed to carry burdens, not for great distances, but when great force is required, or great sagacity under trying circumstances. Perhaps no other animal, not even a dog, is so quick in comprehending a difficult situation, and so ready in removing the difficulties. This quickness of perception seems to arise from an underlying love and sense of justice, which is sensitive to injustice and false pretences, and therefore quick to perceive the real state of a case. The following characteristic anecdotes illustrate these qualities in the elephant. The first is quoted by Mr. Wood from Sir Emerson Tennent's work on Ceylon: “One evening, while riding in the vicinity of Kandy, . . . my horse evinced some excitement at a noise which approached us in the thick jungle, and which consisted of a repetition of the ejaculation, urmph! urmph! in a hoarse and dissatisfied tone. A turn in the forest explained the mystery, by bringing me face to face with a tame elephant, unaccompanied by any attendant. He was laboring painfully to carry a heavy beam of timber, which he balanced across his tusks, but the pathway being narrow, he was forced to bend his head to one side to permit it to pass endways; and the exertion and inconvenience combined, led him to utter the dissatisfied sounds which disturbed the composure of my horse. "On seeing us halt, the elephant raised his head, reconnoitred us for a moment, then flung down the timber, and forced himself backwards among the brushwood, so as to leave a passage, of which he expected us to avail ourselves. My horse still hesitated the elephant observed, and impatiently thrust himself still deeper into the jungle, repeating his cry of urmph! but in a voice evidently meant to encourage us to come on. Still the horse trembled; and, anxious to observe the instinct of the two sagacious creatures, I forbore any interference. Again the elephant wedged himself farther in amongst the trees, and waited impatiently for us to pass him; and after the horse had done so, tremblingly and timidly, I saw the wise creature stoop and take up his heavy burden, turn and balance it on his tusks, and resume his route, hoarsely snorting, as before, his discontented remonstrance." The sense of injustice and sagacity in exposing sham, are conspicuous in the next two anecdotes: "A gentleman in India had a favorite elephant, and was wont always to be present at the time his keeper was feeding him. Business, however, demanded his absence for many weeks, and he gave the charge of feeding him to his servant. This man, however, was greedy and avaricious, and gave the poor animal only half the food to which he had been accustomed, so that he became very lean, and by the time his owner returned, looked as if ready to drop down. The faithless servant declared he could not imagine what was the reason of the animal's falling away, as he had been well fed. At the next feeding time, however, his master was present, and a full portion, of course, was placed before the animal, who, dividing it into two portions, ate one eagerly, and, after first touching the other with his trunk, pointed to the servant in such a manner that the gentleman at once guessed the cause of his favorite's appearance." |