Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1915 edition. Excerpt: ...and women in distress or from performing those elementary duties of kindness and compassion which are presented to us every day. This is the great commandment of the law, and it is so great that, if broken, the keeping of the other commandments is of no account.... "No doubt the priest and the Levite had duties to perform, and probably they were religious duties. Very likely the priest was going down to Jericho to preach to the inhabitants of that wicked city on the error of their ways and the Levite was going with him to read the lesson. We instinctively feel that the passing by of the wounded man rendered that service of no account, and we cannot help wondering what the priest preached about that morning--probably a sermon on the discipline and rites of the Church, or on the frame of mind one should be in on the seventeenth Sunday after Trinity. There is a very mischievous little beast called the praying mantis. He looks very devout, a very paragon of insects for piety. His arms are ever folded, and his head bowed as if in prayer; but let another insect trust these appearances to approach him, and he becomes a spectre to affright, and his revenge is like the tiger's spring. There are many praying mantises in the world. Some assume that posture to leap upon their prey. Others are so sunk in their reverie that they perceive not when men are perishing." Yes, the neighbour is not only the one living in the same house, in the same block, in the same street or village. It is any one in the world with whom we come in contact--any one who crosses our path, whatever his condition, station, or equipment. Wherever there is a call for service, we fail in doing our duty when we fail in responding to that call for service. This leads us to...
