714 in the woof . . . in the mortar, and even in the stones of their houses, phe nomena not only unknown, but utterly unintelligible at this day!” He tells at length of his years of effort to unravel the mystery, and finally con ceives it possible that some “ living and self-propagating animalcula might fas ten on a wall, especially if the cement were mixed with sizing as is now done, or other gelatinous or animal glues.” (Every one knows that vegetable gela tine is used to-day for the growth and culture of the various forms of microbe life for experimental purposes.) Dr. Thomson’s surmise was not far off the truth, and one can realise what a joy it would have been to him in his work of verifying and throwing light upon “ The Book,” to have known all that is embraced in the description of Leprosy to-day, i.e., that it is “ a chronic transmissible disease due to a specific microbe, the Bacillus Leprae.” BRYAN AND A WATERMELON “ X was .passing through Columbus, Ohio, sojp%years.' ago,” says William J. Bryan, .‘/and stopped to eat in the res taurant in the depot. My attention was called to a slice of watermelon, and I ordered it and ate it. I was so pleased with the melon that I asked the waiter to dry some of the seeds that I might take them home and plant them in my garden. That night a thought came into my mind— I would use that water melon as an illustration. So, the next morning when I reached Chicago, I had enough ,seeds weighed to find out that it would take about five thousand water melon seeds to weigh a pound, and I estimated that the watermelon weighed about forty pounds. Then X applied mathematics to the watermelon. A few weeks before someone, I know not who, had planted a little seed in the ground. Under the influence of sunshine and shower" that little watermelon seed had
THE K I N G ’ S B US I NE S S taken off its coat and gone to work; it had gathered from somewhere two hundred thousand times its own weight, and forced that enormous weight through a tiny stem and built a water melon. On the outside it had put a covering of green, within that a rind of white and within that a core of red and then it had scattered through the red, little seeds, each one capable of doing the same work over again. What architect drew the plan? Where did that little watermelon seed get its tre mendous strength? Where did it find its flavoring extract and its coloring matter? How did it build a water melon? Until you can explain a water melon, do not be too sure that you can set limits to the power of the Almighty, or tell just what He would do, or how He would do it. The most learned man in the world cannot explain a water melon, but the most ignorant man can eat a watermelon and enjoy it. God has given us the things that we need, and He has given us the knowledge necessary to use those things, and the truth that He has revealed to us is in finitely more important for our welfare than it would be to understand the mys teries that He has seen fit to conceal from us. “ So with religion; if you ask me if I can understand everything in the Bible, I answer: N o . I understand some things today that X did not understand ten years, ago, and if I live ten years longer, I hope some things will be clear that are now obscure. But there is something more important than under standing everything in the Bible,— it is' this: if we will only try to live up to the things that we DO understand we will be kept so busy doing good that we will not have time to worry about the things that we DO NOT understand.” Even the small talent becomes great with much use; even the great talent becomes small with a little abuse.
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