Cyclopedia of illustrations for public speakers

In estimating the prospectus of this work a well-known clergyman exprest the judgment that “A book of fresh illustrations should be made as often, at least, as once in ten years.”A somewhat extensive inquiry, to which many responses were received, has convinced the editors and publishers that a liberal use is made of collections of illustrations, by clergymen and other public speakers, and that to meet their requirements a new collection at this time would be welcomed by those whose functions and duties involve public speaking, teaching and preaching.

Paxton Hood’s definitive epigram, “Illustrations are windows,” has often been repeated in varied forms. William Morely Punshon states the relation of the illustration to the truth it is designed to serve when he says, “The illustration is but the handmaid in the palace, while truth is the queen upon the throne.”This is to affirm under a figure of speech that every good illustration should take a place of service, and is valuable only as it assists the understanding in grasping the truth more easily and apprehending it more vividly.

An illustration is regarded as something more than a brief figure of speech, as a simile or a metaphor, tho these may be often expanded to the scope and value of illustration proper.An illustration, as found in this work, whether narrative, fact or series of facts, an incident, anecdote, story, experience, or description, is intended to be such as may be used to make clear the truth or principle indicated in the title.

Inasmuch as the same story, incident or array of facts frequently may be found to suggest more than one thought, principle or truth, a system of cross-references has been used referring under some given head to other titles: or, other titles are inserted separately, with which the illustration may be used, with a cross-reference to the illustration.It is hoped that this system of cross-references may prove an acceptable and valuable feature of the book.

As the title implies, this collection is intended to be serviceable to all public speakers.It has not been the intention either to include or to exclude illustrations because they are specifically religious.We are all coming to recognize that the sacredness or the secularity of anything and everything, is far more a matter of attitude of mind in men than in any specific quality in things themselves.Whether an illustration prove to be secular or sacred is to be determined probably by the use made of it, the purpose which it serves, and the spirit in which it is employed.

It will be noted that here and there in the book there have been included entries that, on the face of them, do not seem to be in the strictest sense illustrations.We think, however, that careful examination will show even these to be susceptible of illustrative uses.Sometimes an array of facts, or a condensed table of statistics, may furnish exemplary instances and throw needed light on a topic.

In inserting poetry, we have tried to adhere to the principle that only poetry that constitutes a real illustration and is quotable, should find place in this work.A poem in its entirety has rarely been used; in most cases only such verses appear as seem to apply to the truth under illustration.The aim, farther, has been to include only such poetry as seemed to us to have true poetical merit.Sometimes this has meant only a pathetic or witty turn of the verse, or a flash of genuine humor, or the metrical illumination of a deep or important truth.In considering this kind of illustration, even tho verse brought to our attention might seem to furnish an apt illustration, if it did not appear to possess poetical merit also, it has been excluded.

The intention of the editors, through the years required to bring this collection together, has been to present a book of newly-prepared illustrations that, for the variety it includes, would not soon be surpassed.They represent research that has extended through hundreds of different publications, books, magazines, papers, of almost every class and kind.The result is a sifted residue, after inspection of a much greater number that have been excluded.It may be doubted if any similar work represents an equal amount of painstaking labor.No illustration has been included without the agreement of at least two competent examiners upon its availability.

The editors, however, are quite well aware that the value and utility of such a work and of the particular illustrations, will be different with different individuals, according to the illimitable differences of view-point, of taste, and of judgment that exist in any given circle of readers.The illustrations from nature will be more welcome to some, those from personal experience to others, and to still others, the extracts from science, or from common life, or from religious activities and experience will appeal more strongly.Some extracts supply the element of humor, which, rightly used, is a valuable asset in public address.The editors feel confident that the variety here provided will meet the different needs and tastes of the readers of this volume.

The alphabetical order of arrangement has seemed to make unnecessary any topical or word indexes.Any one desiring to examine all the illustrations closely applicable to any given topic, may do so conveniently by means of the cross-references.For instance, under “Missions” will be found cross-references to such illustrations, entered under other titles, as apply also to missions.

For the special use of preachers, many of the illustrations have a reference to a Scripture text, and two text indexes are provided.One of these is in the order of the Biblical books, chapters and verses; by turning to which the number of the illustration with which each text belongs will guide to the alphabetical place where the illustration occurs.This index will at once show whether a given text is or is not directly illustrated in the volume.The other text-index, arranged in the order of the topics, includes the text itself, in whole or in part, so that in turning from a text reference in the body of the book to this index, one can determine immediately whether the text promises to be useful in connection with the topic.

The illustrations will be found to have a secondary value in educational directions.A large amount of useful information is conveyed in compact paragraphic form.Facts from almost every department of human knowledge are to be found in these pages.Science has furnished many, including habits and doings of beasts and birds, curious and wonderful feats of surgery; ways and wonders of plant life; useful and valuable data from astronomy; the work of inventors, explorers and discoverers, etc., etc. From history and geography have been gleaned many important, curious, interesting incidents, facts, and sayings.From common and current life there will be found hundreds of useful and usable things worthy of being remembered.Literature has yielded a goodly store of her treasures.The religious life, especially as exprest in missionary work, is represented in numerous paragraphs.In short, merely as a store of useful information, this work should prove valuable.

Unusual care has been taken to make this work accurate.It is apparent without discussion that a public speaker does not wish to use, and ought not to use, even by way of illustration, material that is unreliable in any facts cited, or inaccurate in any statement made.Wherever there has been any doubt as to facts, authorities, or statements, the rule has been to exclude everything subject to such doubt.

This effort at accuracy has led to the practise of citing the source of each extract, wherever it could be ascertained.The occasional exceptions to this have been cases where the matter was a generally circulated piece of news or some extract wherein, from the nature of the case, no question of accuracy or authorship could be involved.In addition to this, there are a few extracts, the sources of which we have been unable to trace.

It is intended that the topic heads shall cover about all the subjects which a preacher or public speaker would ever wish to discuss.But it should be said that these topics are not intended as titles for discourses.They are topics that may sometimes serve as titles, but that are primarily subjects or ideas rather than titles.They are intended to be fairly comprehensive of the range of ideas of the average speaker, and may often represent only a subhead or a passage in his discourse.

If it happens that the user of this book, coming upon these topic heads from new angles and view-points, should not at first deem them exactly descriptive or definitive of the extract with which they appear, it need only be said that such difference of instinct and judgment is inevitable to different men, and if more is seen in any extract than the editors saw, that will add nothing to the confest sense of their undoubted fallibility.

The manner in which such a work as this shall be used will be determined—and should be—by each user for himself.It may not be wholly irrelevant, however, to suggest that so far as the prose extracts are concerned, they are mostly susceptible of profitable paraphrasing and of every sort of manipulation that may fit them to the particular use desired.The chief profit in a book of illustration, doubtless, will be found, for every really vital user, far more in the suggestive values of the extracts than in the actual material furnished.Many of them are in themselves seeds and nuclei capable to be developed into a discourse.They should serve to set the mind working, provide the stimulus for new thought, and lead on to something far greater than they contain.

The editors have been assisted in the gathering of this collection by the staff of contributors whose names are given below, and whose valuable aid we take pleasure in acknowledging: The Rev.G.L.Diven; S.B.Dunn, D.D.; the Rev.William Durban (London); the Rev.Benjamin L.Herr; Mrs. Delavan L.Pierson; the Rev.David Williamson (London); Miss Z.Irene Davis.Editorial acknowledgment is extended also to Franklin Noble, D.D., for valuable suggestions, and to many clergymen who kindly responded to our request for criticism and comment upon the prospectus.

For permission to use extracts from copyrighted books, granted by publishers and authors, who, for the most part, have responded kindly to our requests, we desire to extend our thanks.Among those so responding are the following:

Felix Adler; H.R.Allenson, Ltd.; American Unitarian Association; D.Appleton & Company; The Arakelyan Press; The Arcadian Press; A.C.Armstrong & Son; Edward William Bok; Character Development League; Dodd, Mead & Company; Doubleday, Page & Company; James J.Doyle; Duffìeld & Company; E.P.Dutton & Company; Eaton & Mains; Paul Elder & Company; Ginn & Company; Gospel Publishing House; D.C.Heath & Company; Hodder & Stoughton; Henry Holt & Company; Houghton, Mifflin Company; J.B.Lippincott Company; Longmans, Green & Company; Lutheran Publication Society; The MacMillan Company; A.C.McClurg & Company; Morgan & Scott, Ltd.; Neale Publishing Company; The Pilgrim Press; G.P.Putnam’s Sons; Fleming H.Revell Company; Seeley & Company, Ltd., London; Sherman, French & Company; Small, Maynard & Company, Inc.; Smith, Elder & Company; Frederick A.Stokes Company; Student Volunteer Movement; Sunday-school Times Company; E.B.Treat & Company; University of Chicago Press; The Young Churchman Company; Young People’s Missionary Movement.

A great many of the illustrations have been taken from periodical literature, including monthly and weekly magazines and daily and weekly papers, both secular and religious.We desire to acknowledge our obligation to all these publications, some of which are here indicated:

Ainslee’s Magazine; Andover Review; Appleton’s Magazine; Atlantic Monthly; Art Amateur; Belford’s Magazine; Book Chat; Building; Cassell’s Family Magazine; Chamber’s Journal; Christian Statesman; Christian World Pulpit; Collier’s Weekly; Contemporary Review; Cornhill Magazine; Cosmopolitan; Country Life in America; Decorator and Furnisher; Electricity; Electrical Review; English Illustrated Magazine; Everybody’s Magazine; Forest and Stream; Fortnightly Review; Forward; Good Health; Grace and Truth; Hampton’s Magazine; Harper’s Bazar; Harper’s Magazine; Harper’s Weekly; Health; Home Magazine; Indoors and Out; Journal of Education; Judge’s Magazine; Leslie’s Weekly; Life; Lippincott’s Magazine; McClure’s Magazine; Machinery; Magazine of American History; Metropolitan Magazine; Missionary Review of the World; Munsey’s Magazine; National Geographic Magazine; National Monthly; New England Magazine; Nineteenth Century; North American Review; Open Court; Overland; Penn Monthly; Phrenological Journal; Popular Science Monthly; Pottery Gazette; Progress Magazine; Puck; Putnam’s Monthly; Reader Magazine; Review of Reviews; School Journal; Scribner’s Magazine; St.Nicholas; Strand Magazine; Success Magazine; Sunday-school Times; Sunset Magazine; System; Temple Bar; The American Journal of Theology; The American Magazine; The Argonaut; The Automobile Magazine; The Booklover’s Magazine; The Bookman; The Century Magazine; The Chautauquan; The Critic; The Delineator; The Epoch; The Forum; The Gentleman’s Magazine; The Independent; The Literary Digest; The Metropolitan; The Mid-Continent; The Monthly Review; The National Magazine; The Outlook; The Popular Science Monthly; The Quiver; The Reader; The Saturday Evening Post; The Scrap Book; The Statesman; The Sunday Magazine; The Survey; The Tennesseean; The World To-day; Washington Craftsman; Revue Scientifique; Wide Awake; Wide World Magazine; Woman’s Home Companion; World’s Work; Youth’s Companion.