4144 The Search Of Ali Hafed
Many have wonderful opportunities surrounding them but do not see them. They are like Ali Hafed, the Persian farmer, who sold his fertile farm and traveled over the world in an unsuccessful search for diamonds, and finally died in poverty and despair in a distant land, while the far-famed diamond beds or Golconda had been discovered on his despised farm.
—Orison S. Marden
4145 Biggest Lump Of Gold
A big lump of something, a stone supposedly, laid for centuries two feet under a shallow, limpid brook in North Carolina. People passing that way saw only an ugly lump, and passed on. A poor man passing one day saw a heavy lump, a good thing to hold his door ajar, and he took it home. A geologist who stopped at the poor man’s door one day saw a lump of gold—the biggest lump of gold ever found east of the Rockies. It has been valued at Tiffany’s at over $100,000.
4146 “Last Chance Gulch”
Many fortune seekers passing over the “Last Chance Gulch,” where now is Helena, Montana, were unconscious of its wealth, until a miner, driven almost to desperation by his need, began vigorously to dig. In a short time more than eight million dollars worth of gold was brought to the surface.
4147 A Child’s Estimate
One of the first diamonds found on the South Africa diamond fields was picked up by the child of a small farmer, as he was playing beside a brook near his father’s cottage. Some months afterwards a peddler came to the cottage with a pack on his back. As he was displaying his wares, the peddler spied the stone on a shelf in the room. He took it up and examined it, and then asked the mother what she would take for it. She pointed to the child and said, laughing, “It belongs to that bairn, not to me.”
The peddler then offered the boy a box of wooden soldiers, worth a few cents, in exchange for the stone, and the child gladly accepted the offer. That stone was a very precious jewel. The peddler took it to Capetown, where he sold it for a large sum to a jeweler. When the jeweler sent it to Europe to be sold, he obtained $125,000 for it, and it now adorns a royal neck. Neither the child nor his parents were wise enough to know its value.
—James E. Denton
4148 Largest Ruby
A remarkable story is told about an exceedingly costly jewel that for many years was considered of no more value than a mere pebble.
Gustaf Gillman, a Chicago lapidary, was at work in his shop, according to the narrative, when John Mihok, of Omaha, entered. Mihok, who was a laborer, drew out of his pocket a rough, red stone and handed it to Gillman. “I want you to cut and polish this,” said Mihok. “Where did you get it?” gasped Gillman, as his eyes almost popped out of his head. “My father picked it up in Hungary fifty years ago,” was the reply of Mihok. “He thought it was a pretty pebble. When I landed in this country, I found it in my valise. It has been lying around the house ever since. The children played with it. My last baby cut his teeth on it. One night I dreamed it was a diamond worth a lot of money, but it’s not a diamond. It’s red.”
“No, it’s a pigeon-blood ruby,” said Gillman.
“What might it be worth?” was the question of Mihok. “I’d say anywhere from one hundred thousand to two hundred and fifty thousand dollars,” answered Gillman; and Mihok leaned against the door.
The big, rough stone, we are told, cut to a flawless ruby of 23-and-nine-tenths carats. It is believed to be the largest ruby in this country and possibly the largest in the world.
—Moody Monthly
4149 The Return Party
The story is told that certain Brazilian goatherds, after listening to the fascinating story of a wandering Indian, organized a party to travel on foot to California to dig gold. Each took with him a small leather bag of glasslike rocks with which to play their favorite gambling game. The journey was long and wearisome. Some died on the way, among them an elderly man who gave his son his bag of pebbles as his only possession. In San Francisco the boy discovered that the glasslike pebbles in the bag were really choice diamonds in the rough, which resulted in the organization of a return party to go to Brazil to hunt diamonds.
4150 Biggest Diamond Mine
There was a pagan priest who owned a compound in South Africa. Through the compound ran a little creek. The priest often became impatient when his camel laboriously nuzzled away the glittering stones in the shallow water to make a hole deep enough for him to drink comfortably. The “diamond fever” was spreading over South Africa. Caught up in the excitement, he sold the compound and went with the others in search of diamonds. Years later, frustrated and unsuccessful, he returned to find that the biggest diamond mine of the country was on his old compound.
4151 $50 To Half Million Dollar Painting
It had hung on the wall of her modest living room for fifteen years. It pictured the temptation of Eve by the Devil. Mrs. Rosemary Cattrell, an Edinburgh art teacher, found out the real value of the painting when she decided to sell it to raise a deposit for a car. Then she discovered that her painting was by a 16th-century German artist, Hans Baldung. The painting, once valued at $50, was auctioned for $537,600.
4152 The Blot On Handkerchief
A friend once showed John Ruskin a costly handkerchief on which a blot of ink had been made. Nothing can be done with it now,” said the owner. “It’s absolutely worthless.”
Ruskin made no reply, but carried the handkerchief away with him. After a time he sent it back, to the great surprise of his friend, who could scarcely recognize it. In a most skillful and artistic way Ruskin had made a design in India ink, using the blot as a basis and making the handkerchief more valuable than ever.
—War Cry
4153 The Prized Picture Of Czar
Some time ago, one of the Czars of Russia offered a prize of thirty thousand dollars for the best portrait of himself. All the painters in the empire were invited to compete, and nearly a thousand complied with the invitation. A few days before the time appointed for awarding the prize, the committee was passing through the gallery where the pictures were being hung, and, noticing a picture leaning against a post, one of the committee said to the others, “There is no use in hanging that daub.”
“I beg your pardon,” said the artist, who overheard the remark, “I painted that picture, and I claim the privilege of hanging it in the proper light, at the proper distance, and then you may pass judgment upon it.” The committee of course, felt the demand was reasonable, and when the award was given, the picture had the prize.
—Sermon Illustrator
4154 From Stone To “David”
Agostino d’ Antonio, a sculptor of Florence, Italy, wrought diligently but unsuccessfully on a large piece of marble. “I can do nothing with it,” he finally said. Other sculptors, too, worked with the piece of marble, but they, too, gave up the task. The stone was discarded. It lay on a rubbish heap for forty years.
Out strolling one day, Michelangelo saw the stone and the latent possibilities in it. It was brought to his studio. He began to work on it. Ultimately, his vision and work were crowned with success. From that seemingly worthless stone was carved one of the world’s masterpieces of sculpture—”David!”
—Selected
4155 Fred The Unknown
For years a white marble bust, affectionately known as Fred, was used as a hatstand by regulars at a Yorkshire barber’s shop. The present proprietor, however, plans to sell Fred—for $100,000 or more. Experts have identified the work as the bust of Frederick Augustus, son of King Edward III, by sculptor Joseph Nollekens.
4156 The Rare Dish
In England Mr. & Mrs. Gordon Alderman paid 80 pence ($41.64) at a jumble sale for a moth-eaten velvet cape, a pair of rugby boots, an old army jacket, and a “dirty little dish.” Later the dish was sold at Sotheby’s auctionhouse for 9,000 pounds ($18,450). It turned out to be a rare silver-gilt piece made in Paris during the reign of Louis XIV.
4157 Window Out Of Broken Glass
In one of the cathedrals of England there is a beautiful window through which the sunlight streams. It displays the facts and personalities of the Old and New Testaments and the glorious truths and doctrines of the Christian revelation. This window was fabricated by the artist out of broken bits of glass which another artist had discarded.
4158 Rose Perfume From Foul Gas
Not many years ago the manufacturers of lighting gas were puzzled to know how to dispose of the coal tar left in the retorts. A more useless, nauseous substance was hardly known to exist. Chemistry came to the rescue, and today not less than thirty-six marketable articles are produced from this black, vile, sticky slime—solvents, oils, salts, colors, flavors. You eat a bit of delicious confectionery, happily unconscious that the exquisite taste which you enjoy so keenly comes from coal tar; you buy at the druggist’s a tiny phial of what is labeled “Attar of Roses,” little dreaming that the delicious perfume is wafted, not from “the fields of Araby,” but from the foul gas retort.
4159 The Lost Stradivari Violin
On a wintry day at twilight, a ragged man entered a little music shop on a side street in London. Under his arm was an old violin.
“I’m starving,” said he to Mr. Betts, the owner of the shop. “Do please buy this old violin so I can get something to eat.”
Mr. Betts offered him a guinea, worth about five dollars at that time. The man gratefully received it and then shuffled out into the frigid night.
When Mr. Betts drew a bow across the strings of the old violin, it produced a rich, mellow tone. How astonished he was! Lighting a candle, he peered intently into the inside of the instrument. There he observed the magic name—Antonio Stradivari—and the date, 1704! He knew instantly that this was the famous Stradivarius that had been missing for a hundred years. The attics of Europe had been diligently searched for this missing violin, but in vain.
Subsequently the famous violin changed hands several times and brought as much as $100,000.
For years, the penniless man didn’t know the value of what he possessed. He lived in poverty on the edge of starvation.
—Selected
4160 Lower The Buckets!
An advertisement of the Tennessee Gas Transmission Company pictures four men, the lone survivors of a sea tragedy, afloat in an open lifeboat. They are attempting to catch a few rain drops in a piece of canvas. Tortured by thirst. … Yet, where they drifted, the Amazon carries its fresh water many miles to sea. To drink, they had only to lower their buckets.
4161 Valuable Ancient Coin
Sometime ago a lot of cents were received at the Treasury Department for redemption. Among them was a coin which was rejected. A clerk redeemed it and gave it to a congressman of North Dakota, who sent it to the Smithsonian Institute for identification. Later he received word that the coin belonged to the year A.D. 284, and was circulated in the time of the Emperor Diocletian.
This valuable relic is now worth many times its weight in gold.
4162 Rockefeller Was There
Some years ago at a resort area along the east coast, a small community was having an open town meeting about some financial problems facing their town. Among the two dozen or so people was one man no one seemed to know who was apparently visiting in that area and had just dropped in on the meeting. He started to make a comment once as various projects were considered, but he was interrupted; so for the rest of the time he kept still, and he left early.
Just as he went out someone arriving late came in, and said breathlessly, “What was he doing here? Is he going to help us?”
The rest said, “Whom are you talking about? Who was that man?”
The person who had just arrived said, “You mean you don’t know? That was John D. Rockefeller. His yacht is in our harbour. Didn’t you get his help?”
In despair someone said, “No, we didn’t get his help; we didn’t know who he was.”
4163 No Film, Lots Of Trouble
The Student Volunteer Band of the Moody Bible Institute met at a nearby photographer’s to have their pictures taken in a group. The photographer selected the tallest of the band and placed them with their backs to the wall just across the room, but immediately opposite the camera. The next in height he placed just in front and thus he continued until a perfect group was formed. He then spent considerable time in changing shades, turning faces, etc. In fact he spent so much time trying to form a perfect group that some of us were about ready to give up.
Finally, however, he announced that “all was ready.” One, two, three. “All right Gentlemen, I will have the proofs ready tomorrow.” Early in the afternoon of the same day we were informed that the photographer failed to get a picture—all of his work, grouping, sighting, shading, etc., was for nothing, owing to the fact that he had neglected one thing. He had neglected to place a film in the camera.
—J. T. Moody
4164 Highly Undervalued Painting
The managers of a Young Men’s Christian Association once missed a great opportunity by not knowing the value of a certain painting. A friend of the institution had given a picture for the walls of the building, not having suitable room for it in his own home. One day he offered to sell it to them asking fifty dollars for it. When they declined the offer he said they might have it for twenty-five dollars; but they still declined to purchase it.
Not long afterwards he died. Disposing of the estate, his executors took the picture from the building and sent it to a picture-mart. There it was soon recognized as the work of a master, and identified. Thirty-five thousand dollars was offered for it, and later fifty thousand more. Fifty thousand for a picture once offered for twenty-five dollars!
—Aquilla Webb
4165 The Forgotten Fifth Bite
Dr. Frederick Fox, who devoted his life to the treatment of snake bites, met his death at Calcutta, India, as the result of experimenting with a snake of the deadly krait variety. In British India before this species of snake caused thirty-five thousand deaths every year.
To prove the value of his cure Dr. Fox permitted one of these reptiles to inflict five punctures in his arm. With a confident smile he cut out four of the bites, but the fifth one escaped his notice. The signs of poisoning soon appeared. He quickly applied his remedy but it was too late. He died like thousands of others who had been bitten by the krait.
—Arthur Tonne
4166 Waterloo’s Dip In The Road
There is a modern picture by Stanley Berkley, entitled “The Hidden Danger.” which deals with an interesting event at the Battle of Waterloo. This battle decided the fate of Napoleon; upon which issue hung the destinies of Europe, and there occurred in it a crucial moment. Throughout the day Napoleon kept his famous cavalry in reserve. They were the finest soldiers in the world, the “Old Guard,” who had never known defeat, and impatiently they awaited the command to charge. Napoleon, seeing the issue going against him, gave at last the order, and hurled them against the thin British lines.
On they came in gallant neck-to-neck, seemingly invincible. But there was a dip in the road, a sunken part neither they nor Napoleon knew, but of which Wellington had taken advantage by filling it with his sharpshooters. As the thundering lines came on they were met by an unexpected and decimating volley. They wavered for a moment; then forming once more, came on at hand the gallop, but the fire was too deadly, and when the lines were reached their force was spent.
Waterloo was lost; the fate of Napoleon and Europe was decided by a dip in the road, by that hidden danger on which Napoleon had not counted. This one weak spot ruined him, and turned victory into defeat.
—James Burns
4167 Epigram On Overlooking
• Sometimes one pays most for the things one gets for nothing.
—Einstein
• Four things come not back—the spoken word, the sped arrow, the past life, and the neglected opportunity.
—Survey Bulletin
• A big handicap is a small fault that was neglected.
—The Bible Friend
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