over. When the end came he gave back the sword of Lee, and said to the
worn-out Confederate soldiers: "Take your horses with you, you'll need
them on your farms. Go back to your homes and peace go with you." That
manly strength of character that enables a man to face shot and shell
on the battlefield, is not any more sublime than the manly weakness of
heart which "weeps with those who weep."

While we should not judge one by a single trait in character we must
not overlook the importance of little traits. In this age of great
movements, great schemes and great combinations, our young people are
disposed to ignore little things. A little thing in this great big age
is too insignificant. Yet, we are told it was the cackling of a goose
that saved Rome; the cry of a babe in the bull-rushes gave a law-giver
to the Jews; the kick of a cow caused the great Chicago fire; the
omission of a comma in preparing a bill that passed Congress cost this
republic a half million dollars; while the ignoring of a comma in
reading a church notice cost a minister quite a bit of embarrassment.
Among his announcements was one which ran thus: "A husband going to
_sea_, his wife desires the prayers of this church." The preacher
read: "A husband going to see his wife, desires the prayers of this
church."

Little things are suggestive of great things. We read that a
ship-worm, working its way through a dry stick of wood, suggested to
Brunell a plan by which the Thames river could be tunneled. The
twitching of a frog's flesh as it touched a certain kind of metal led
Galvani to invent the electric battery. The swinging of a spider's web
across a garden walk led to the invention of the suspension bridge.
The oscillation of a lamp in the temple of Pisa led Galileo to invent
the measurement of time by a pendulum. A butterfly's wing suggested