Electricity in the Service of Man Not much over a hundred years ago, electricity, except in the form of lightning, was an unknown force. Its discovery was due to Michael Faraday, the great English scientist. On one occasion, about 1830, he was showing one of his early experiments to a distinguished company at the Royal Institution in London. He showed that when a magnet was brought suddenly near a coil of...

Reverence Reverence is a mixture of admiration and awe or wonder. We can admire without wonder or awe, as when we admire a pretty garden or a Kashmir silk shawl. We can feel awe, too, without admiration, as at the power of a tyrant or the cruelty of a tiger. But when we revere a person or thing, we both fear and admire or even love. So we reverence God; for...

Importance of News & Views in Modern Life The chief functions of newspapers are meant to afford the public information, entertainment and guidance about a variety of subjects vital to modern man. Modern man gets much of his knowledge from the Press, because in it he finds information about men and matters that both delight and instruct him, especially those aspects of life which daily confront him. A modern newspaper covers...

My Hobbies One of the toys little boys play with is the “hobby-horse”. This is a long stick fitted with a wooden horse’s head, painted to look real. The child puts this between his legs, and prances about, pretending to be riding a horse. From this word “hobby-horse” we get the word hobby, an amusement ; and we speak of a man’s “riding” his hobby. Properly, a hobby is any interesting...

Linguistic and Regional Patriotism Man is a social animal and realizes the best in him in and through society. There are various ties which bind to his fellowmen. Of these, race, region and language are the most important. Language lends homogeneity to a group and promotes amity and friendship among the people of a particular area. It offers great opportunities to the local genius for intellectual and cultural efflorescence. The uniformity...

Knowledge is Power Knowledge is power. This is true, whether the power which knowledge gives be used for good or for evil. By his medical knowledge, the doctor can cure disease and save his patient’s life. But the blackmailer, by his knowledge of some guilty secret, can bleed his victim white under the threat of disclosure. In general, the man who knows has an advantage over the man who does not...

Athletics: Their Use and Abuse The words “athlete”, “athletics”, are Greek. An athlete was, literally, one who “contended for a prize”. The ancient Greeks thought much of athletic contest, and glorified successful athletes. They crowded from all Greece to the Olympic Games, held once every four years. There the chief, and at first the only, event was the “stadium”, or foot-race of two-hundred yards. The winner of the prize for this...

Manners Maketh Man In the 14th century, William of Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester, founded two great educational institutions —New College, Oxford, and the great public school at Winchester. He gave to both the same motto : “Manners maketh Man”. In those days the word “manners” did not mean mere outward behaviour, as it does now, but what we should call good conduct or morality. By his motto the wise Bishop meant...