Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
—Matthew 25:36
6660 Courtesy Is Eternal
Coventry Patmore says somewhere that courtesy is the only virtue that will be practiced in heaven. I wonder if that is so? Courage? No, for there will be nothing to fear there. Hope? No, for our life will leave nothing to be desired. Charity? No, for then we shall hunger no more, neither shall we thirst. Sympathy? No, for there shall be no more crying. But there will still be room for the exercise of courtesy, the kindly greeting and salutation of one soul by another.
Immanuel Kant had a saying, “Always treat a human being as a person, that is, as an end in himself, and not merely as means to your end.” The personality of our selves we feel very intensely, and we are outraged when others seem to ignore that personality in us, but the personality of others we do not sense so keenly.
—C. E. Macartney
6661 Sympathy Defined
“Sympathy is two hearts tugging at one load,” said Charles A. Parkhurst. True sympathy is usually born in sorrow. Said Henry Giles, “The capacity of sorrow belongs to our grandeur, and the loftiest of our race are those who have had the profoundest sympathies, because they have had the profoundest sorrows.” The world hungers for compassion or sympathy. Often we can do nothing but sympathize—suffer with the distressed—but, oh, how it helps!
—The Voice
6662 Kansas City’s Courtesy Campaign
Cash for their smiles and courtesy was what 100 men and women of Kansas City received several years ago during a Courtesy Campaign sponsored by the Advertising and Sales Executive Club. One thousand silver dollars were flown in from Denver. Over a several-day period “mystery shoppers” visited all types of stores, banks and other places of business; they listened to telephone operators, and observed bus and streetcar drivers. Each day they made a written report regarding persons they found most courteous. Each one so designated received a silver dollar and card of congratulation with a “courtesy pays” button. The fifteen outstandingly polite people were to be guests at a banquet and receive $25 each.
6663 Grade Two “Amputees”
Seven-year-old Andy had to have his left arm amputated.
On the happy day Andy returned to school, his Grade 2 teacher had an unusual assignment for her students. She asked each to tie his left arm behind his back and then did work with his right arm.
All that morning the children became aware of the difficulties faced by a person with only one arm. It wasn’t even easy to turn the pages of a book—let alone trying to write neatly. The paper kept slipping!
And it was one-up for Andy! He had already mastered some of the skills the rest were struggling to learn. He could teach them how to get out of some of their predicaments.
6664 The Doll Was Black
I’ve been teaching English to a Jewish woman who recently fled from Poland with her husband and two children. After each weekly session she has thanked me, her volunteer teacher, with a package of cookies or rolls that her husband brings home from the bakery where he works. But her biggest thank-you came the other day, when she bought her two daughters a new doll. The doll was black, like me.
—Monica Kaufman
6665 Mystery Bouquet For Spacemen
Space Center, Houston (UPI)—As had happened on every Apollo mission to the moon, a bouquet of a dozen red roses arrived at Mission Control again from a mysterious woman at Montreal.
“Special love to all,” read a card attached to the flowers. “Truly boundless is my special feeling. I am so close to you every day of my life.”
It was signed, “Your own Cindy Diane, Montreal, Canada.”
The arrival of the flowers kept up a tradition that began with Apollo-8’s flight around the moon at Christmas-time in 1968 when the first bouquet arrived for an Apollo crew.
“We have no idea who she is or what her last name is,” a Space Agency spokesman said. Previous efforts by newsmen to trace her down also have failed.
6666 Miles Standish Of The “Mayflower”
It was spring in New England. A graceful and vigorous young man by the name of John Alden is standing stiffly before a beautiful young maiden by the name of Priscilla. Alden was the youngest man to come over on the Mayflower. Though he is deeply in love with the girl himself, he is pleading the cause of the middle-aged Captain of Plymouth, Miles Standish.
The maiden would much prefer this young handsome man, who is presenting the proposal of his superior officer. At last, with a tilt of her head and a smile of her lips, she speaks: “Why don’t you speak for yourself, John?”
Poor lad! How he is aching to ask her for himself. No, he must be loyal to his friend and superior. He cannot put himself in place of the captain.
Months went by, months filled with anguish and thwarted longing in the heart of John Alden. He sees Priscilla daily, but keeps to his high resolve. One day comes word that Miles Standish had been killed while fighting the Indians. Alden feels free of his obligation, and woes and wins Priscilla.
Lo and behold, on the day of their wedding Miles Standish appears on the scene. The report of his death had been false. He took it in good grace, congratulated the couple, and then remarked with a grim smile: “If you want a thing done, you must do it yourself.”
—Selected
6667 Moody Student Kept Cheaper Job
An example of Christian deference for others was given in an address in Los Angeles by Dr. Will H. Houghton. A number of young women students who were obliged to find part-time employment in order to continue their training at the Moody Bible Institute had placed their names among those of other applicants for positions in a large business house in Chicago.
One day the head of the firm communicated with the Institute, saying there was an opening for one young woman at nine dollars a week. The Institute employment manager called the student whose name was first on the list, and advised her to make the change in positions at once, for it would make an increase of three dollars a week in her salary. “But,” the girl replied, “is not Miss Brown’s name on the list of applicants for this work?” “Yes, it is next to yours. But you have first consideration.” “If I make the change can Miss Brown do the work here that I will be leaving?” “No, she is not able to do this kind of work.” “Then,” continued the student, “if you don’t mind, I’ll stay here at six dollars and let Miss Brown have the nine-dollar-a-week job.”
—King’s Business
6668 “Give Someone Else Chance”
It was a few days before Christmas several years ago. A Mrs. Herbert Boettcher of Waterloo, Iowa, was called on the telephone by a radio quiz program coming from Chicago called “Ladies be Seated.” She correctly answered the question and received a prize of $2,000.
Six weeks later in December, her name was picked again by the same program. When they called her by phone she replied: “Give someone else a Christmas present.”
She gave up her chance for the prize. As a result a Mrs. Gertrude Martin of Pontiac, Michigan, received $1,000, for identifying Carrie Nation, the temperance enthusiast.
—Tonne
6669 Gladstone Assumed The Shame
When William Ewart Gladstone was Chancellor of the Exchequer, he sent down to the Treasury for certain statistics upon which to base his budget proposals. The statistician made a mistake. But Gladstone was so sure of this man’s accuracy that he did not take time to verify his figures. He went before the House of Commons and made his speech, basing his appeal on the incorrect figures that had been given him. His speech was no sooner published than the newspaper exposed its glaring inaccuracies.
Mr. Gladstone was naturally overwhelmed with embarrassment. He went to his office and sent at once for the statistician who was responsible for his humiliating situation. The man came full of fear and shame, certain that he was going to lose his position. But instead, Gladstone said: “I know how much you must be disturbed over what has happened, and I have sent for you to put you at your ease. For a long time you have been engaged in handling the intricacies of the national accounts, and this is the first mistake that you have made. I want to congratulate you, and express to you my keen appreciation.” It took a big man to do that, big with the bigness of the truly merciful.
—Henry Durbanville
6670 Everyone Slid Downhill
On vacation in Fiji, I was climbing a rather slippery hill, accompanied by a dozen Fijians from the government. I missed my footing and in no time was sliding downhill on my posterior.
Not a Fijian in the party laughed. Not a word of sympathy was uttered. But, after a moment of consternation, good manners asserted themselves, and to a man the twelve stout Fijians let themselves go and slid down the hill, too. It was the least any well-mannered man could do.
—NANA
6671 Free-Food Tree
One year, a tree on the campus of Green Acres Elementary School, near Santa Cruz, Calif., bore strange fruit—mostly sandwiches, but sometimes a cookie, a cupcake, an apple or an orange.
It came into full bearing from a seed planted by teachers Sophie Farrar and Sandra Enz, who were appalled at the quantities of uneaten sandwiches discarded by the youngsters. They suggested wrapped sandwiches be placed under what children began to call the free-food tree, for students who had come without a lunch, or who had lost or forgotten their lunches. The idea was quickly popular. Some youngsters asked their mothers to pack an extra sandwich so they’d have one to put under the free-food tree.
—Woman’s Day
6672 God’s Senior Citizens
Recently an elderly couple from Montana visited me in my office. Their presence emphasized the “generation gap”—not the kind you usually think of, however. We had sweet Christian fellowship and agreed on spiritual matters. We saw eye-to-eye concerning world affairs. In fact, we thoroughly enjoyed the moments we were allowed to share on “common ground.” Yet, as I said, there was a “generation gap”—a physical one. “Father Time” had exacted his toll upon these dear friends. Their steps were faltering, their eyesight failing, and their hearing diminishing.
I usually move at a rather brisk pace, but as I slowed down enough to walk beside them, I felt I was almost standing still. In addition to that, I had to repeat my words again and again to accommodate their deafness. They reminded me of the Preacher’s description in Ecclesiastes 12 of the time “when the keepers of the house tremble, those that look out of the windows are darkened, and the sound of the grinding is low.”
I prayed silently, “O Lord, help me always to be patient and understanding with all who are aged, not in a condescending way, not out of pity, but because of a genuine respect for these who have walked life’s pathway before me, endured its trials, and waged its battles.” May all of us who still enjoy the vigor of good health and do not yet feel the frailties of the declining years, treat these elderly saints with proper esteem. Also let us do everything we possibly can to bridge the gap and gladden the hearts of those who have earned their place in God’s “gallery of honor!”
—Richard De Haan
6673 When Failing To Praise
John Ruskin once said that when we fail to praise someone that deserves praise, two sad things happen—we run a chance of driving him from the right road for want of encouragement, and we deprive ourselves of the happiest privilege of being rewarder to him who deserves reward.
6674 Say It Now
If you have a tender message,
Or a loving word to say,
Don’t wait till you forget it,
But whisper it today!
The tender words unspoken,
The letter never sent,
The long-forgotten messages,
The wealth of love unspent,
For these some hearts are breaking,
For these some loved ones wait,
Then give them what they’re needing,
Before it is too late!
6675 Roosevelt And The Poet
While at Groton, Theodore Roosevelt’s 15-year-old son, Kermit, unearthed a book by an obscure poet. His name was Edwin Arlington Robinson, and the book was The Children of the Night. Its freshness and originality caught his imagination and he sent a copy to his father. The President was as impressed as Kermit.
Kermit delved further and found that Robinson was working as timekeeper in the construction of the New York subway. That was no place for a poet, he told his father. Couldn’t he give Robinson a job in which he could make a living and still have time and the heart to write poetry?
The President had strict views about the Civil Service; but he saw the point, and a place was found for Robinson in the New York Custom House. He bludgeoned Scribner’s into taking over publication of the book, and he and Kermit collaborated in a review of it for Outlook. The review made a sensation in the American literary world. The President was patronized by the critics, derided, scolded, put in his place; but Robinson was started on his climb to fame as a major American poet.
—Herman Hagedorn
6676 Haydn Adopts Cherubini
In 1805 Haydn, the great composer, was seventy-three years old. In that year, at Vienna, he met for the first time the future musical artist Cherubini, who was thirty years Haydn’s junior, and who had not yet become famous for his compositions. Haydn, however, saw promise in the younger man and paid him one of the most gracious compliments an older and established musician could offer to a younger and still unmade artist.
Haydn handed Cherubini one of his latest compositions and remarked:
“Permit me to style myself your musical father, and to call you my son.”
Cherubini was so impressed that he could not keep back the tears as he took leave of the old man.
6677 “Go On, Sir”
When Arago, the astronomer, was young, he became thoroughly discourage over mathematics. One day he found on the flyleaf of a textbook a few words from the famous D’ Alembert to a student who had been discouraged like himself.
D’Alembert’s advice was very short; it was, “Go on, sir, go on!”
Arago said afterwards that that sentence was the best teacher of mathematics that he ever had. Following it doggedly he went on until he became the leading mathematician of his day. No man has ever exhausted the power that lies in the words, “Go on.” Going ahead, steadily and perseveringly, step by step, is the secret of material, moral, and spiritual success.
—Forward
6678 Preacher Got Another Invitation
I went to Music Hall about eight, and saw an audience of some two thousand people, the place jammed, and two hundred and fifty clergymen and bishops on the platform. Cold shudders ran down my back. However, I knew my subject or thought I did, and I was going to speak without notes, something I have never done since.
My turn came after Father Benson, of Oxford. The whole place looked back to me; I got up, stammered and sputtered for five or six minutes—my time was twenty-five minutes and sat down. I am not exaggerating this, but I did not say one clear sentence that would parse in that time. I sat down in darkness and the meeting went on. At last people began to go, then men began to leave the platform. I did not know a soul. I sat there utterly cast down—a lonely youth indeed.
All at once a large hand was laid on my shoulder, and a big, kind voice said, “Mr. Rainsford, will you preach for me in Trinity Church next Sunday morning?” That was my first meeting with Philips Brooks. Was it any wonder I loved him?
—W. S. Rainsford
6679 Ten Commandments Of Human Relations:
1. Speak to people. There is nothing as nice as a cheerful word of greeting.
2. Smile at people. It takes 72 muscles to frown; 14 to smile.
3. Call people by name. The sweetest music is the sound of his own name.
4. Be friendly and helpful.
5. Be cordial. Speak and act as if everything you do is a genuine pleasure.
6. Be genuinely interested in people. You can like everybody if you try.
7. Be generous with praise—cautious with criticism.
8. Be considerate of the feelings of others. It will be appreciated.
9. Be thoughtful of the opinions of others. There are three sides to a controversy—yours, the other fellow’s, and the right one.
10. Be alert to give service. What counts most in life is what we do for others.
6680 A Cold Church
One cold, blustery day Robert Burns set out for church, but as he met the full force of the biting wind he decided to worship in a small church along the way. A very small crowd was present, and a cold, unfriendly spirit prevailed. The building was far from warm and the long-faced preacher’s sermon was unattractive and repelling. When he arrived home the poet sat down and wrote the verse:
As cauld as wind as ever blew,
As cauld a kirk as isn’t but few.
As cauld a minister ever spak,
Ye’l all be hot ’fore I come back.
—Evangelistic Illustration
6681 To Introduce Individually
My father was asked to introduce the speaker at a Methodist evening church affair in Martinsville, Va. Because of inclement weather the audience consisted of only a handful of people, but my father was equal to the occasion.
“I have been asked to introduce our speaker to you this evening,” he began. “This I am very glad to do. Ladies and gentlemen, this is Mr. John Brown. Mr. Brown, meet Mr. and Mrs. Rucker, Mr. and Mrs. Witten, Mr. Stowall, Miss Stowall. … ”
—Toastmaster’s Treasury
6682 The Lonely Traveler’s Church Visit
Many years ago a lonely traveler stopped one Sunday morning for the worship service at the Andersonville Methodist Church in Georgia. After the service he was warmly greeted by the people. He was never seen there again.
Not long ago, in Washington, New Jersey, Robert B. Brown, age ninety, died. Someone commented, “He was a thrifty man who kept to himself.”
Mr. Brown bequeathed his entire estate to the Andersonville Methodist Church. His estate consisted of 2,100 shares in American Telephone and Telegraph Company and 740 shares of Continental Can Company stock. At the time of Mr. Brown’s death, the stocks were worth $178,302, 50.
The deceased’s attorney, Martin B. Bry-Nildsen, in informing the church of the bequest, wrote: “My client told me that on a Sunday morning years ago, when he was traveling through Georgia, he felt sad and lonely. He stopped at your church. A friendly welcome was accorded him. He never forgot the kindness you showed him. He did not have any church affiliation and said, “I want to give what I have to that little church.””
How surprised were the Rev. W. J. Stanford and the members of the Andersonville Methodist Church! No one could recall Mr. Brown’s visit to the church.
“Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares” (Heb. 13:2).
—Gospel Herald
6683 Only A “Good Morning”
A poor, Sunday-school boy was an apprentice, and, for several years, passed a certain store every morning as the neighboring church clock struck six, at which time a very precise old merchant always took down the shutters of his store. Each bowed as Joseph passed, each giving the salutation, “Good-morning, sir,” beyond which they never spoke to each other. What was Joseph’s surprise, when he learned that the old gentleman had suddenly died, and left him his whole business and stock!
6684 A Visitor At Moody
Several years ago a farmer from southern Illinois dressed in casual clothing arrived at the Moody Bible Institute and asked if he could look around. A student was assigned to escort him on an extended tour of the buildings.
The student and everyone else was especially kind to him, although he was a complete stranger. A few days later the Institute received a letter expressing thanks for the courtesy shown him and commending them for the Christian spirit he had seen in students and faculty. He enclosed a check for $2,000.
6685 His Hat To Attract Attention
A minister in the pulpit saw a man in a back pew with his hat on. He beckoned to a deacon, who went to the man and asked him whether he was aware that his hat was on.
“Praise be offered!” said the man, “I thought that would do it. I have attended this church for six months, and you are the first person who has spoken to me.”
—Pastor’s Manual
6686 Unconscious Dread Of Ushers
Mr. Jones stared in a puzzled way at Mr. Clark, to whom he had just been introduced. “You look like a man I’ve seen somewhere, Mr. Clark,” he said. “Your face seems familiar. A funny thing about it is that I remember I formed a strong prejudice against the man who looks like you—but I’m sure we never met.”
Mr. Clark laughed. “I’m the man,” he answered, “and I know why you formed the prejudice. I passed the contribution plate for two years in the church you attended.”
—Scholastic Teacher
6687 “Going Across?”
An American returning by ship from a European trip wanted peace and quiet, and asked the dining-room steward for the smallest table possible. He was delighted to find that his only companion was an Englishman. First day out, they ignored each other completely. Second day, the Englishman gave a polite grunt as he sat down at the table. Third day, breakfast started with a mumbled “Good morning” and a frosty smile. Fourth and last day, the ice was broken when the Englishman looked up from his book, shot a friendly glance across the table and asked, “Going across?”
—London American
6688 He Nearly Cried
One day a particularly good piece of type composition came to my attention. I sent a word of commendation to the man who did it, and he nearly burst into tears! He had been working at a type case all his life; he loved his work, and for ten years he had been putting his brains into his job. Yet in all that time no one had gone to the trouble of stopping for a moment to say, “Good work!”
6689 Mayor’s Kind Word
A convict from Darlington, England, just released from jail, happened to pass Mayor John Morel on the street. Three long years had been spent by the convict in prison for embezzlement and he was sensitive about the social ostracism he expected to get from the people in his hometown.
“Hello,” greeted the mayor in a cheery tone, “I’m glad to see you! How are you?” The man appeared ill at ease and the discussion stopped.
Years later, according to the story told by J. H. Jowett, Mr. Morel, the mayor, and the released man accidentally met in another town, and the latter said, “I want to thank you for what you did for me when I came out of prison.”
“What did I do?” asked the mayor.
“You spoke a kind word to me and changed my life,” replied the grateful man.
—Rev. Purnell Bailey
6690 Dedication Of A Book
One of the chief ornaments of American letters is Nathaniel Hawthorne. In the dedication of his Snow-Image, Hawthorne writes to his college friend Horatio Bridges:
“If anybody is responsible on this day for my being an author, it is yourself. I know not whence your faith came; but while we were lads together at a country college, gathering blueberries in study hours under the tall academic pines, or watching the great logs as they tumbled along the current of the Androscoggin, or shooting pigeons or gray squirrels in the woods, or batfowling in the summer twilight, or catching trout in that shadowy little stream, which, I suppose, is still wandering riverward through the forest—though you, and I will never cast a line in it again—two idle lads, still, it was your prognostication of your friend’s destiny that he was to be a writer of fiction.”
6691 Epigram On Thoughtfulness
• America can never be called an ill-mannered country. We pay more than ten million dollars every year in toll charges to add the word “please” to our telegrams.
• Good manners are made up of petty sacrifices.
—Emerson
• We cannot always oblige, but we can always speak obligingly.
—Voltaire
• Courtesy costs nothing, yet it buys things that are priceless.
See also: Kindness ; Love ; I Pet. 1:14.