How about Kannan? I haven't heard your voice also in a long time. How are you doing? I am fine. Am I audible? Yeah, yeah, very much, very much. Go ahead Kannan. Thank you. For the Lord, I thank you for the time of the Lord, Lord, for this opportunity, Lord. Lord, I pray for His searching and all of us, Lord, I pray for the Hansi members, Shenpin, and give her a good knowledge, knowledge to the teachers, and also give us a good understanding from their word. Lord, I thank everybody to join on time, Lord. Now, until the end, usually our whole spirit should give us a good guidance, Lord. Lord, I thank you for this wonderful day, Lord. In Jesus' name we pray for the Lord. Thank you. Thank you, Kannan. It was good to have you pray. Thank you for opening out this time, right, through prayer. And how are things in your place? How is the COVID situation? Yeah, normal only. Okay, getting better, isn't it? Yeah, yes. Okay. Yeah, everybody getting vaccinated. Yeah, that's really important. I also... Okay, you finished both? No, no, no, first one. First one, okay. Minus coming October. October, okay. Good, good, good. Yeah, thanks, thanks, Kannan. I hope the others also can get the vaccines. It's really helpful. In fact, I got mine two days ago, but this is my second dose. So, my God's grace, both dark as of now. Hopefully that will be helpful. Okay, so fine, let's proceed. Yeah, so we are starting from the book of Acts, and in the last class we talked about Anadayas and Sapphira. Initially, right, when we saw that the church was birthed, the Holy Spirit was poured out, everything was so exciting. It felt like, wow, revival is here, the church is meeting often, people are sharing their things, and the Holy Spirit is performing wonderful miracles among the people. And it seemed like this setting is so perfect. Nothing can go wrong in this setting, okay. So, we saw external challenges. So, initially, in Acts 3, when Peter and John step out and the minister to the laymen, they laid hands on them and they interrogate them, they threaten them. So, it's an external challenge. So, in the midst of an external challenge, the attitude of the churches to be bold. So, they pray and they say, Lord, let more miracles, let more of the supernatural be done through our lives. So, that kind of a bold attitude the people of God carry. And they all cry out to God, so they are in one accord and they continue strongly before the Lord. Then, while things are still kind of perfect and there's only external challenges, suddenly we read about Anameas and Sapphira. The church is doing so well. We understand that spiritually, there are a lot of wonders, miracles which are being done through the hands of the apostles. At the same time, you know, you find that the people in the church, unfortunately this couple, they did not have the right heart attitude towards God and they did not even fear God and they went to the extent of lying to the Holy Spirit and they thought that they would never be found out. But we said that when there is the greater glory of God, you know, sins also are exposed faster. So, in this case, their sin of misappropriating money, funds was found out and Peter, through the Holy Spirit, recognizes it and the moment he issues a rape, both of them die. And what would you expect to happen when somebody in the church is experiencing this kind of an immediate judgment? We would think that people will not come back to church. Because they might be afraid, oh, what is going on? We should never come back into this environment. But we believe that the church only became stronger and more and more people actually were added to the church. So, that's where we were. And we saw that, you know, a lot of miracles and all were happening through the church and the apostles and people were being added. So, when there is righteousness in the house of God, when there is the right judgment of God in the house of God, what can we expect? We can expect the Spirit of God to work powerful and people to be touched. So, it's a time of great glory. We can put it like that. Great glory because miracles, signs, wonders, the gifts of the Spirit. We can see how Peter, through the gifts of the Spirit, he was able to recognize that the unity of the church, the growth of the church, so much of the work of God. So, what is glory? Glory is the nature of God being revealed. So, the nature of God, the greatness of God is being revealed through the church. And we also read that among the people, there was great fear, oh, who are these people? Seemed something different from the regular traditional Jewish communities that they knew. They knew these are the followers of Jesus and something powerful was happening in their midst. That there was great respect. Great respect, great glory, great judgment. We saw that also. So, so many dynamics within the church. This time around, it's not just the external trouble, but internally, people with wrong attitudes that are judged by God. So, internally also, there are challenges.  So, there is an aspiration to be a pastor. So, I am sure, you know, different ones of us here, we want to serve in different capacities. And we might want the church to be perfect, isn't it? So, external problems, yes, we can handle. What about internal challenges? We don't want internal challenges. And in a growing church, in a church where there is the glory of God, we really don't want, even the thought of having issues doesn't seem holy. But this is the practical side of things. Wherever there are people, there will be problems. Not as a prophecy, but just, you know, or let me put it this way, wherever there is growth, people are experiencing growth naturally, there will be challenges, because they are going through those stages. So, even the book of Acts, you know, things seem to start out so perfect that you notice external issues. Now, one interval issue we have seen, Ananas and Sapphira. And after that happens, praise God, nothing stopped the church, but the church is still growing, growing to the extent that once again they are brought under trial. Why? Because you find that the authorities were insecure. They felt threatened by this thriving church. And as the apostles stand before the authorities, this time around, how is it that the authorities are going to deal with them? Initially, they severely threatened them and they left them. This time they put them in the prison, but look at the supernatural intervention of God. See, this also is something for us to encourage us. What is that? So, these people are being fought. Do you see God's help last time through the authorities themselves? I don't know what Peter and John were thinking.  We might get killed today, but thank God they were released. This time an angel came and opened up the prison. So, God is working for them. God is working with them. So, when we are serving God, what can we expect? We can expect God's help, isn't it? So, it is only God who will protect us, guide us and lead us. Same way, these apostles had God's help. The angel came and opened the prison. They are so strong in serving and following God that the instruction of the angel was, go back to the temple. Continue to preach the gospel. So, they boldly go back and that is the place from where we are caught again. We find that again there is a trial and the authorities are thinking what to do with these people. So, let's go back to our text here. We were at, let's go back to that verse. I think I started sharing a little bit about Gemalayan. Oh yeah, we also saw in the Glory of God we saw how Peter's shadow was also considered to heal people. So, people were coming from all over the place. So, the church is really flourishing and thriving. There is angelic visitations. If you want to look at it that way also. So, there is great glory in the church. Okay, fine. So, now we will start off from verse 20. Yeah, let's again start from verse 24. It will help us. So, when the high priest, the captain of the temple, the chief priest heard these things, they wondered what the outcome would be. So, the authorities are threatened by it. And one came and told them, look the men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people. And the captain went with the officers and brought them without violence. So, you see even the politicians of their times, these you could call them as politicians, they wanted the approval of the people. So, that's why they were so careful. See, if they wanted, they could have immediately killed the apostles. Okay, but they don't want to get into the bad books of the people. That is why they are doing things in a very, very, you know, sort of a cautious way. Okay, and that's what we are observing here. So, they went again, brought them and they had brought them before the council. High priest asked, didn't we strictly command you not to teach in this name? Okay, and I told you earlier that this name of Jesus was problematic for the authorities. How problematic that they did not even mention. So, they could have just said, didn't we warn you last time not to preach in the name of Jesus but see the way Luke records it. Luke is saying that they just said, we warned you not to teach in that, in this name. So, not even the mention of the name of Jesus. Now, and look, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine and intend to bring this man's blood on us. But in a way, you know, even though this is supposed to be part of interrogation and threatening, it's actually a compliment. You have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine. Just think about it. In our times, it's so much easier. We have all the social media and technology to put out the message. But in those times, you know, initially they started out as 120 people, then 3,000 people were added. And the city of Jerusalem, seems like the word and the message were spreading super fast. How is it possible without technology? You could only refer back to the passion which they carried, right? And the power of the Holy Spirit which they had. Through that, they were able to take the message far and wide and even the authorities are saying, your doctrine is spread all across Jerusalem. So it's a great thing. You know, that's what they wanted and that was actually happening. So it's a compliment. Now, standing before the authorities, this is for the second time. The second time Peter is standing. And you see here, Peter and the other apostles, we expect them to be cared. We expect them to respond with fear. But what is their answer? We ought to obey God rather than men.  Him God has exalted to his right hand to be prince and savior. So notice every opportunity that Peter has. Whether he's standing in front of the people, after the baptism in the Holy Spirit, he preached to those who had gathered. After the healing or the miraculous recovery of the lame man Peter preached.  He's actually preaching. Preaching what the message of the gospel. What is the message of the gospel? The Lord Jesus, right? The sin of mankind. The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The forgiveness of sins.  He is proclaiming about Jesus.  But he says God has exalted him right at his right hand to be prince and savior. So what does that tell you? He's proclaiming Jesus as the Messiah. Savior, right? The anointed one. The one who will save Israel. And then he says to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. So he's actually preaching the gospel. Now who knows somebody from one of the one of the people in that group might respond to this message. I don't know until today whether they did or they did not. But every opportunity by the early church was taken to proclaim the gospel. So that shows us what a passion, what a passion they are carrying everywhere without fear. They are obeying God and they are preaching the gospel and they are bold enough. Remember we said, witness means what like martyrs. Martyrs is to be bold enough to die. So they are saying and be our witnesses. We are witnesses to these things and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him. So they are talking about the work of God and they are trying to bring the attention to the authorities that whatever we are doing, we know that you're blaming us but he brings in Holy Spirit. He says this is God. And that's what we want to let you know. Jesus is Messiah and this is God that you are dealing with. So then the authorities hear this. Obviously they understood what they are trying to say because just now on the same basis that Jesus was claiming to be, what was the accusation against him? King of the Jews. Or like the ruler. Again they are saying prince and savior. So as they are proclaiming Jesus as the Lord and Savior the authorities are offended and it says they are furious. They are very angry. Earlier they thought, let's not get blood on our hands. Recently that man Jesus died. So once again getting into killing the disciples of Jesus won't be a good thing. However, they were so furious. It says they plotted to kill them. So now the trouble from outside is bubbling and tripling. Why do you think, God is doing a great work in the church? We don't expect anything to go wrong. And I'm not saying expect things to go wrong when things are going right in the kingdom. But you see we live in a fallen world. And even when we preach the gospel no matter how how sensitively we preach the gospel Paul wrote about it. He said that the message itself can be an offence to the people. And in this case, the authorities are so offended that they finally decide, the thing we have to do is to get rid of we got rid of Jesus. Let's just get rid of these disciples. And you can just imagine how difficult it must have been for the early church to have the authorities threaten them for the truth which they are experiencing. It's difficult isn't it? That you have to be a witness in such an opposing environment. But praise God for the power of the Holy Spirit the baptism of the Holy Spirit that enable them to be witnesses even during this kind of a time. Now moving on. We saw there was a Pharisee by the name of Gamalier. Now we must also understand that the council or the authorities wear a combination. Like you had the chief priest different different capacities of authorities who had come together. So Pharisees and they would have also had some Sadducees and others in the group then. But one of them was very well respected by the name of Gamalier. He was a teacher of the law and held it high respect by all people. So because he was so well respected his words were he didn't do. And he commanded them to put the apostles outside for a while. So what's happening? We usually have like a huddle when you're having your football match when the game is not going so well or you have break time. The people the players will come they'll have this huddle and they'll discuss. So in that way Gamalier says lead those apostles aside come let's discuss what to do about these people. It's getting out of hand now and they're having this discussion. But see this how God works even through you could say unbelieving authority. What is Gamalier saying? Obviously he's not somebody who has accepted Christ and all but he's saying men of Israel take heed to yourselves what you intend to do regarding these men. Okay. And then he points to a man called Feudas. Historically this person was somebody like a leader among the people who had a lot of influence. So what he did is he like you know he led the people 400 people joined him 400 men joined him. And he was slain and all who obeyed him were scattered. And they came to nothing. So basically he's saying there was another person who created such a lot of trouble in this city. But what happened to him ultimately there were 400 people who followed him but we were able to take care of that situation. Isn't it? Obviously he was killed now the people who followed him were nowhere after he was killed. So after this man another person, Judas of Galilee rose up in the days of census and drew many away many people away from him but what happened to him? He also finished and all who obeyed him were dispersed. And now I say to you keep away from these men and let them alone. What is the decision which is coming from an unbelieving leader? He is saying don't worry lot of people rise up but what happens to each one of them sooner or later they die, their followers are nowhere to be seen so don't worry about these people also because if this is a work of man which was what happened to theaters which was what happened to Judas of Galilee it's not a big deal same thing will happen to these people they will be nowhere in some days he says if it is a work of man what will happen? If it is a work of man it will come to nothing but notice what Gamalian says the last part of verse 39 he says but if it is God because these disciples were claiming and they were saying Jesus, God, Holy Spirit so they were bringing God into the picture and Gamalian wonders is it possible that this can be a work of God so he says if it is man's work like all the others they will punch but if this is a work of God then what will happen he says guys I don't think we can handle it if it is God so he says of God you cannot overthrow it lest you even be found to fight against God so you see the openness in the heart of a scholarly man you would wonder is it even possible that an unbelieving person can say something like this but you know God is at work isn't it? so when the apostles of God in such a difficult position through one of the main leaders God is at work and with such clarity he says don't fight God if it is God neither you nor I nor anybody can do anything about what is happening in Jerusalem so maybe Gamalian I don't know maybe he also felt that it could be God's work we have no clue right? this is what was happening in Jerusalem people were all in a state of chaos who is this Jesus why are his disciples like this why is everyone following Jesus how are these miracles happening in whose name oh they found out these people are doing it in the name of Jesus and earlier Peter and John said that in the name of Jesus right rise up and walk so authorities are saying please don't use that name something about that name of Jesus but think about it what a witness what a witness the church of Jerusalem is to the city of Jerusalem that the doctrines spread so fast and even the greatest scholar of the times he is saying if it is God's work you cannot stop what God is doing so that is the manner in which the work is going on in Jerusalem now let's move forward here so what what did the authorities do they agreed with him and when they call the apostles once again like earlier and away from the apostles to discuss all this now when the apostles have come back they decide okay we need to still threaten them so this time the apostles were beaten okay see it's going from back to worse earlier it was verbally threatening this time physically and we know that the kind of cases that used to exist under the Roman Empire then it was not something very simple here it just said beaten but obviously they would have been beaten badly and again they were commanded you should never speak in the name of Jesus and they let them go if we threaten them in this way maybe they will stop from complaining the gospel now the apostles move away right and earlier when they were threatened what was their reaction when they were threatened do you recall what was their heart attitude when they threatened last time the number we were not afraid yeah the word of the Lord rather than the leaders correct and what did they pray for they went into all their brethren and they all prayed together what did they pray for just recall little bit I told you they all prayed together for something very good boldness isn't it so they prayed for boldness so when persecution happens and we are filled with the Holy Spirit and we are doing the right thing when they are doing the right thing what can we expect we can expect to carry the same right attitude in the midst of persecution so the early church demonstrated boldness earlier this time around let's see what they are saying so they are saying the verse is they departed from the presence of the council rejoicing okay earlier boldness this time rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name okay so can you imagine can you imagine going through persecution and thinking okay I did the right thing but I got punished but wow what a privilege that I could go through shame I could go through suffering right for the name of Jesus how many of us would have the have to do that we might come back complaining God why did this happen to me I am serving you faithfully how can these you know the authorities question us we are preaching in the name which is above empty of the name so complain we can complain we can feel sad we can feel disappointed, discouraged so many negative emotions can go through us but look at the early church the apostles it says they came back rejoicing rejoicing right that they were counted worthy to go through sufferings wow it's incredible it's incredible how they could have that kind of attitude and then they continue with their work so once you are threatened what do you do you try to be safe but not these people you find them it says and daily in the temple authorities would have been like what is this we threatened you we beat you and what are you doing again daily in the temple it says and in every house work is not stopping they are continuing to pray continuing to worship continuing to glorify God everywhere so they had these two settings where they would meet so the early church they had them you could say maybe the larger group met at the temple but apart from that they also met house to house something like a cell group setting so they found their own you know what works for them that setting and they had that structure and they would meet very often it says daily and it says they did not see teaching Jesus as God Christ not that they wanted to disobey the authorities but they made themselves clear they said look you only tell us should we listen to you or should we listen to God so because the authorities were saying something which was against what God wanted for them they did not obey the authorities but we also know it's the same Bible that encourages us to honor our authorities and to keep the law given by the authorities as well so by default that's what we do but when we are forced to go against God that's when we have to stand up for what is right now let's continue so I told you about external pressures that are happening in the church and internal challenges as well so we will read about another internal challenge this time in Acts chapter 6 so Acts chapter 6 I think this is familiar because we have dealt with this in a couple of other courses so we are looking at the emergence of the church we are looking at the emergence of church structure in this particular chapter and we are seeing how the leaders of the church are dealing meticulously with every aspect of the church so what do we see here so basically in this chapter we notice that the church is growing it's multiplying and as a part of the church you have a group of people like the Jews who are Hebrew speaking and you have the Greek speaking Jews who are known as Hellenists now there are two communities basically both are Jewish communities but one is from a certain culture the other is from another culture so cultural practices could be different and you know the language obviously the Hebrew speaking, Greek speaking so what happens it says in those days when the number of the disciples is multiplying so it's a positive time for the church it's not at all a negative time it's growing it's thriving in that time there is a difficulty within the church okay so encouragement for the pastors and the ministers if you know you are seeing great glory of God God's work is going on beautifully but there are some challenges here and there don't get discouraged it is normal it's part of the growing up process same thing happens in the midst of the multiplication two communities there is an issue what is that there was a complaint against the Hebrews by the Hellenists because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution so couple of things that we can see about the church here now we don't know whether really one set of widows were neglected or not but it seems like the Greek speaking Jews felt this way okay and if you go little more into the details of it it's possible that the Hebrews speaking Jews who were more authentic you know who were more the people who followed all the the rituals and the customs of the Jewish culture they probably were more like the righteous than thou kind of people because they were better off than the Greeks people they had Greek culture so you know the Hebrews might have looked at them like a little lower who are these people kind of a big so in the midst of these differences we really don't know if the Hebrews treated the Greeks badly but it's the Greeks felt that their widows were not receiving food and you see the church it's a growing church, it's a multiplying church but it's also quite an organized church because you see a rhythm you see a structure, you see some good administration earlier also we saw that the materials were distributed according to the needs of the people in the church so do the apostles take care of the people well definitely it looks like that because just because the numbers are big when the numbers are big sometimes it's hard to keep account of your believers who is this person what are their what is their spiritual journey like what are their needs because the church is so huge but look at the apostles here they had some order so it seems like they were taking care of everybody's needs here the widows they were being fed and it says daily daily distribution obviously if you are not organized then where is the question of daily distribution okay and notice there are two different communities today do we have communities different communities in our churches yeah we have different communities are all communities you know the kind that will get along well with other communities not necessarily so it's nothing unique what we are facing the early church also faced it and it could be a perceived issue or it could be a real issue like we are not we don't know but when a complaint like this comes to he could say what a small problem why do you want to bring up all these problems look at the miracles that are taking place you know we just went and met the authorities and came right so we went to like for example if you are in Bangalore something even like I just went to Vithamsodha and came what are you talking about giving food to the widows let's not deal with small matters okay but that's not what the apostles do they seem to be very sensitive to the needs of the people whom God has entrusted to them so when the issue comes up they don't neglect it what do you see it says that well summon the multitude of disciples and said so they called they called the disciples and said look we want a solution for this problem we are not right that one community feels neglected in the food like their widows are being neglected in the food distribution so there has to be a solution what solution are they looking for so they say that we are quite busy right now what were they busy with the word of God so primarily the apostles now they are focusing more on the spiritual ministry aspect okay now it's not that they should not do the the service kind of activities in the church it's not like that but they were more focused on the spiritual ministry by this time and they said that come on now we cannot leave this because this also is a responsibility and then go and serve right so let's find a solution for this and that would be to identify other people who can help with the food distribution so we know what they did they chose seven men and not just any seven men look at the qualification scriptures say good reputation full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom right they appointed over what over food distribution now you might think apostles have chosen volunteers today we call people like this who serve you know in different capacities volunteers so volunteers were chosen but what is the need to find people of good reputation full of the Holy Spirit and full of wisdom to do what serve food but it was important in the early church the testimony of the one who serves in church right was very important for that sake for a regular task you still find the apostles finding people who are strong spiritually right having a good example in the community and they were given this role and said come on now why don't you take care of distribution of food to the widows and they committed themselves it says to prayer and ministry of the world so there are you know a set of volunteers who will do this food distribution the important thing to notice is that the apostles were keen to resolve issues in the church and again for pastors, leaders it's very important see somebody might come up with an issue and we might think it's not at all important why should I even deal with it but to deal wisely with the matter early is good otherwise what happens you know that small issue it might become a bigger bigger bigger issue and create more division people may come and worship but you know in their hearts that problem is there see I told pastor he never listened to me right he never resolved this problem so we don't want to let those things fester if we by the power of the Holy Spirit we can be sensitive to the needs of the people to the challenges that they are facing and then you know walk it out in a good way it actually helps the growth of the church okay so that's what we see the early church leaders doing here so wisely they came up with the idea of choosing 7 people then they told this to all the disciples and you notice it says it pleased the whole multitude so the church also liked the idea they said oh great if we choose a volunteers I'm sure they will serve food equally to the Greek speaking and the Hebrew speaking Jewish widows now in that list who were the people 7 men who were chosen there was one called Stephen he was also a man full of faith in the Holy Spirit there was Phyllis Prochorus, Nikonon, Timon Parminus, Nicolas right and these were the people who were said to do this duty now once these volunteers are chosen these apostles what did they do they prayed and they laid hands on and laid hand is a way of sort of you know blessing them commissioning them to do the task which they are anointed to do so the work is handed over so these are this is the emergence of deacons to the church deacons it's nothing but they are ministers and ministers referring to service so they are not the people at this point who are serving in spiritual ministry but physical you know physical logistics administration kind of things they are taking charge of but even when they are doing you know administration and all that you notice that they were actually quite spiritual people because full of faith good reputation full of the Holy Spirit full of wisdom these are all descriptions of people who are strong spiritually as well so people were chosen to distribute the food in the early church so I think I will stop at this point we will come back and we will pick up from this portion Acts chapter 6 and I hope it's helpful are your understanding is it good are you able to take back something that you can practice and apply in your life okay nice nice great great wonderful so yes do meditate do meditate on these things think about these things you know it's very practical actually the early church so as you serve God I am sure you can definitely apply these principles this way of working so at this point let's take a break we will come back together and we will continue from the next verse so see you in 10 minutes class thank you


It might be worse, by Anna Koromowit-Ritchie. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Bishop Paul said, For every bad there is a might be worse. When a man breaks his leg, let him be thankful that it was not his neck. Into what insignificance and misfortune we bewelled as unendurable suddenly sinks when compared with the crushing calamity that desolates the home of a friend. The hill-fire, whose far-shining signal light warns an army of the approach of a foe, fades into a mere rush-candle when compared with the angry jets of a liquid flame leaping from the heart of Vesuvius and threatening incalculable destruction. Beauty is heightened or eclipsed, size magnified or diminished, color changed, sound altered, the sense of pain or pleasure intensified or deadened by contrast. We were once forcibly struck by the philosophy of a friend who had disciplined herself whenever she was assailed by a crowd of tantalizing vexations or oppressive troubles to compare her trials with the severer affliction of some greater mourner. And to ejaculate mentally it might be worse. With that reflection came a sense of thankfulness that she had been spared a superlative evil. Friends and cheerfulness ensued, and she was preserved from falling into the common egotistical era of believing that the cross allotted to herself was heavier than that borne by any other shoulders. This friend was asked in what manner she first contracted the above-mentioned consoling habit. In answer she related the following anecdote. Our early youth was rich in promised joys and present blessings, but to this hope-blossoming calm succeeded a sudden whirlwind of trials, the loss of fortune, the treachery of trusted friends, the death-minusing illness of the nearest and dearest, her own failing health combined with the absolute necessity of daily encountering severest toil. She had been struggling with this accumulation of sorrows for a couple of years or more. She was weary of her ceaseless exertions, dispirited, full of repining, fearful of the future, thankless for the past, and fully convinced that her fate in life was the hardest ever apportioned to mortal. She had become a total stranger to that happy philosophy which vids the heart whose sun is low to borrow a smile upon the credit of a golden tomorrow. At this period she was so journeying in a western city to which her duty summoned her. There she constantly visited a charming family at whose fireside peace and content seemed to have raised destructible altars. But our friend says the sphere of joyous serenity by which that home was pervaded made her more impatient when she contrasted her own restless, wandering, unsatisfactory life with the calm existence of that dwelling's inhabitants. The lovely children of the hostess became much attached to this frequent guest. They flew to meet her like a flock of pigeons whenever she came, hung around her with a fondness that soothed her aching heart, and prattled about her continually in her absence. Several times while she was talking to these beloved little ones she noticed half-hidden by an open door figure that seemed to be watching her. If she moved to obtain a nearer view the form invariably disappeared. Day after day her curiosity was excited by this mysterious presence. Politeness closed her lips, for it was hardly possible that the mother and children should not be aware of what she was so conscious. Indeed, several times when she had related some hair-breadthed scape, encountered in her travels, a low sound like a murmur of sympathy or a suppressed groan from the direction of the concealed shape. At length curiosity conquered our friend's sense of courtesy, and one day she turned to her hostess and said, You know I am lamentably superstitious, and at this very moment my imagination is worked up into believing that there is some unearthly visitant near us. Do not think me very rude, though I fear I am, but pray do tell me who that is yonder. I can just see the waving of a white dress, and I have wondered over and over again to whom it belonged.  A dead silence ensued. The mother looked deeply distressed, and the children turned to her but did not speak. Poor Ellen, at last, she exclaimed.  She took so much pleasure in listening to you and watching you. Ellen, who is she? Is she one of the family? Yes. My husband's daughter, by his first marriage, a young girl is sixteen. She is an—and the speaker hesitated, and added in a tone of tender pity, an invalid, one sorely afflicted. But will she not come into the room and be introduced, if she cares to see me? I would like to know her. Do ask her to come. No. She cannot. She would rather not. It would not be possible to induce her, replied the lady, with an embarrassed air. An instant afterwards she turned the conversation. At our friend's next visit—and the next—there was no dress floating to and fro behind that door, no sound which betrayed an unseen visitor. But this unknown Ellen was constantly present to her imagination. Why did she appear no more? What was the mystery attached to her? Why could she not be seen? Tormented by these interrogatories of a curious spirit, the visitor ventured to ask her hostess how Ellen was. About the same, she replied gravely, she is not likely to be any better. Is her disease hopeless, then? Yes, perfectly so. And she conversed on other subjects. A few days afterwards the hall door chanced to be open when our friend called, and she entered the house without ringing or knocking. As she appeared, a young girl fled along the entry and rapidly melted the stair. Surely the step was not that of an enfeebled or hopeless illness. The form was very fragile, but did not lack a certain elastic grace.  Was this Ellen? The guest told her hostess of the accidental meeting, and, taking courage, urged her to confide the nature of Ellen's affliction to one who already felt an indescribable interest in the youthful recluse. With no little reluctance the lady complied. Owing to the death of Ellen's mother, the child was trusted to a wet nurse. This unprincipled woman artfully concealed from the father and the physician that she was a victim to scroffula. The infant was a lovely healthy little girl, a fine promise, but the milk by which she was nourished, diseased, poisoned her blood. Its effects culminated when she reached her fourteenth year. Just at the age when a young maiden begins to value her personal appearance, the venom imbibed in infancy developed itself in a cancer in the nose, an affection of the throat which impaired her speech, and a disease of the eyes which threatened blindness. Her sufferings were intense beyond description. She was forced to submit to the most torturing medical treatment, and after a time the disease was in measure checked. Her sight was restored, her throat better, but the palate had been completely destroyed. Her voice had a guttural, discordant sound. Her nose was partially eaten away, and the disfigurement of her whole countenance was so shocking that she was barely recognizable. It might well make the beholder think, with a shudder, of the story of Akko of classical memory, who went mad when she viewed her own hideousness in the looking-glass, and almost fear that the same fate might befall Ellen. She lived in total seclusion, she fled from strangers, and had a mortal horror of any eye resting upon her, and if she went into the street she was so closely veiled that she could hardly breathe. She heard her younger sisters describing enjoyments which she could never share. She saw them grow in beauty, while her limitable deformity increased. She was morbidly sensitive to her own condition, and keenly felt the irremediable blight that had fallen upon her whole existence. Constant praddling of the children about their favorite guest had awakened Ellen's interest, and she so earnestly longed to see her that, at last, with their contrivance, she had stolen from her retirement and concealed herself behind the door of the drawing-room to hear and see unperceived. After listening to this piteous story, our friend warmly and treated that she might be allowed to make Ellen's acquaintance might behold and converse with her. The poor sufferer was, with difficulty, persuaded to grant this request, but at length she was led into the room by tender and devoted stepmother, who placed Ellen's hand in that of the stranger. Oh, what a terrible revealing of the possible miseries to which humanity might be exposed was this young girl's history to that stranger. Ellen's mercurial temperament heightened her affliction. She had quick sensibilities, ardent enthusiasm, a strong desire to love and be loved, to mingle with her fellow-beings, to shine, to enjoy, and yet life's commonest gifts to humanity were all denied to her. Still she was not wholly miserable. The seeds of piety, early inseminated in her mind, sprang up and bore fruit which nourished her spirit and prevented the mental starvation of utter despair. And one happiness at last was granted her. One unhopeful friendship became hers. She quickly formed a strong, almost idolizing attachment to the stranger, whose visits to the house were henceforth especially her own. When Ellen and her new friend were compelled to part, the wretched girl threw herself into that friend's arms, sobbing violently, and caught the hand lifted to dry her tears, and placed upon it a ring of gold, with a heart in the center saying, Oh, look at it often. Think of me often, often, often. It was strange to hear that harsh, hollow voice, tremulous with emotion, uttering such touching words, strange to see the dim, restless eyes so full of love and tears. Think of her often. Who could have forgotten her? The whole life of the being, on whose hand that ring had been placed, was changed by her intercourse with this stricken girl. As she gazed upon the simple token, she said to herself again and again, Ellen, Ellen, what are my sorrows contrasted with yours? What are my sufferings, sacrifices, privations, compared to the dreary blank of your joyless existence? I will never dare repine or rebel again. When I think of Ellen, I will always remember how much worse my trials might have been. Ellen's devotion to her friend strengthened even until the hour of her death, which took place some years later. They corresponded faithfully, and in her letters Ellen poured out her full heart. After the lapse of a few years they met once more. The storms had blown over the head of the one. Time had soothed some of her sorrows. Success had rewarded her exertions. Many a wound had healed. Many a broken link of friendship had been reunited. But the unmitigated gloom that surrounded Ellen was impervious of a single ray of joy. She grew feebler and feebler, her sufferings and her disfigurement increased, until the joyful hour when her master bade her fling off the poor mangled earthly garment of her soul and stand before his presence, robed in the eternal loveliness of her pain-purified spirit. Her memory was greenly preserved in the heart of her friend. The thought of Ellen blunted the sting of many an arrow, lifted the weight from many a burden, and taught her, with each new trouble to reflect, it might have been worse. End of It Might Be Worse Read by Kelly Taylor Nourishment of the Soul by Chung Tzu This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Chad Horner from Ballyclair, in County Hunter, Northern Ireland, situated in northeast of the island of Ireland. End of The Soul Argument Life too short, wisdom unattainable, accommodation to circumstances, liberty paramount, death a release, the soul immortal. My life has a limit, but my knowledge is without limit. To drive the limited in search of the limitless is fatal, and the knowledge of those who do this is fatally lost. In striving for others, avoid fame. In striving for self, avoid disgrace. Pursue a middle course, though she will keep a sound body and a sound mind. Fulfill your duties and work out your allotted span. Prince Huiz, cook, was cutting up a bullock. Every blow of his hand, every heave of his shoulders, every tread of his foot, every thrust of his knee, every wish of rent flesh, every chick of the chopper, was imperfect harmony. Rhythmical, like the dance of the mulberry grove, simultaneous like the chords of the shing shu. Commentators are divided in their identifications of these ancient morceux. Well done, cried the prince, yours is skill indeed. Sire replied the cook, I have always devoted myself to Tao, it is better than skill. When I first began to cut up bullocks, I saw before me simply whole bullocks. After three years' practice, I saw no more whole animals, meaning that he saw them so to speak in sections, and now I work with my mind and not with my eye.  I follow such openings or cavities as there may be according to the natural constitution of the animal. I do not attempt to cut through joints, still less through large bones. For a curious parallelism, see Plato's Phaedrus 2.6.5. A good cook changes his chopper once a year, because he cuts, an ordinary cook once a month, because he hacks. But I have had this chopper 19 years, and although I have cut up many thousand bullocks, its edge is as if fresh from the whetstone. For at the joints there are always interstices, and the edge of a chopper being without thickness, it remains only to insert that which is without thickness into such an interstice. These words help to elicitate a much vexed passage from chapter 43 of the Tao Ti Ching. See the remains of Lao Tzu, page 30. By these means the interstice will be enlarged, and the blade will find plenty of room. It is thus that I have kept my chopper for 19 years as though fresh from the whetstone. Nevertheless, when I come upon a hard part, where the blade meets with a difficulty, I am all cautioned. I fix my eye on it. I stay my hand, and gently apply my blade until, with a hawa, the part yields like earth crumbling to the ground. Then I take out my chopper and stand up and look around and pause, until with an air of triumph I wipe my chopper and put it carefully away. Bravo! cried the prince. From the words of this cook I have learned how to take care of my life, meaning that which informs life, namely the soul. When Heisen, from the Kung-Wen family, beheld a certain official, he was horrified and said, Who is that man? How came he to lose a foot? Is this the work of God or of man? Why, of course, continued Heisen. It is the work of God and not of man. When God brought this man into the world, he wanted him to be unlike other men. Men always have two feet. From this it is clear that God and not man made him as he is. I was by God's will that he took office with a view to personal aggrandisement, that he got into trouble and suffered the common punishment of loss of feet cannot therefore be charged to man. Now, wildfowl, get a peck once, in ten steps I drink once in a hundred. Yet they do not want to be fed in the cage, for although they would thus be able to command food, they would not be free. And had our friend above kept out of the official cage, he would still have been independent as the files of the air. When Lao Tzu died, Qin Shi went to mourn. He uttered three yells and departed. A disciple asked him, saying, Where, you not, our master's friend? I was, replied, Qin Shi. And if so, do you consider that a sufficient expression of grief at his loss, added the disciple? I do, said Qin Shi. I had believed him to be the man of all men, but now I know that he was not. When I went in to mourn, I found old persons weeping as if for their children, young ones wailing as if for their mothers, and for him to have gained the attachment of those people in this way, he too must have uttered words which had not been spoken, and dropped tears which should not have been shared, thus violating eternal principles, increasing the sum of human emotion and forgetting the source from which his own life was received. The ancients called such emotions the trannels of mortality. The master came because it was his time to be born. He went because it was his time to die. For those who accept the phenomenon of birth and death, in this sense, lamentation and sorrow have no place. The ancients spoke of death as of God cutting down a man, suspended in the air. The fuel is consumed, but the fire may be transmitted. And we know not that it comes to an end. The soul, according to Chung Tzu, is duly nourished and not allowed to wear itself out with the body in the pursuits of mortality, may become immortal and return beatified to the great unknown whence it came. End of Nourishment of the Soul by Chung Tzu The Organ by Henry Ward Beecher From the Wit and Humor of America Vol. 1 This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Read for LibriVox by Dale Grossman. The Organ by Henry Ward Beecher At one of his weeknight lectures, Beecher was speaking about the building and equipping of new churches. After a few satirical touches about church architects and their work, he went on to ridicule the usual style of pulpit, the sacred mahogany tub plastered up against some pillar like a barnswallow's nest. Then he passed on to the erection of the organ and to the opening recital. The organ, long expected, has arrived, been unpacked, set up, and gloried over. The great players of the region roundabout, or of distant celebrity, have had the grand organ exhibition. And this magnificent instrument has been put through all its paces in a manner which has surprised everyone. And if it had had a conscious existence, must have surprised the organ itself, most of all. It has piped, fluted, trumpeted, braided, thundered. It has played so loud that everyone was deafened, and so soft that no one could hear. The petals played like thunder. The flutes languished and coquetted. And the swell died away in delicious suffocation, like one singing a sweet song under the bedclothes. Now it leads down a stupendous waltz with full brass, sounding very much as if, in summer, a thunderstorm should play, come haste to the wedding, or money musk. Then come marches, gallops, and hornpipes. An organ playing hornpipes ought to have elephants as dancers. At length a fugue is rendered to show the whole scope and power of the instrument. The theme, like a cautious rat, peeps out to see if the coast is clear, and, after a few hesitations, comes forth and begins to frisk a little, and run up and down to see what it can find. It finds just what it did not want, a purring tenor, lying in ambush, and waiting for a spring, and as the theme comes in cautiously near, the savage cat of a tenor springs at it, misses its hold, and then takes after it with terrible earnestness. But the tenor has miscalculated the ability of the theme. All it could do with the most desperate effort was to keep the theme from running back into its hole again, and so they ran up and down, and around and around, dodging, yielding, whipping in and out of every corner and nook, until the whole organ was aroused, and the base began to take apart, but unluckily slipped and rolled down the stairs, and lay at the bottom, raving and growling, in the most awful manner, and nothing could appease it. Sometimes the theme was caught by one part and dangled for a moment, and with a snatch another part took it and ran off exultant, until, unawares, the same trick was played on it. And finally all the parts being greatly exercised in mind begin to chase each other promiscuously, in and out, up and down, now separating, and now rushing in, full tilt together, until everything in the organ loses patience, and all the stops are drawn. And in spite of all that the brave organists could do, who bobbed up and down, feet, hands, head, and all, the tune broke up into a real row, and every part was clubbing each other one, until at length, patience being no longer a virtue, the organist, with two or three terrible clashes, put an end to the riot, and brought the great organ back to silence. The End of the Organ by Henry Ward Beecher. The Rescue of Pluffles by Roger Kipling This is a LibriVox recording, or LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. The Rescue of Pluffles Thus for a season they fought it fair, she and his cousin May, tactful, talented, debonair, decorous foes, were they, but never can battle of man compare with merciless feminine fray. Two and One Mrs. Hawksby was sometimes nice to her own sex. Here is a story to prove this, and you can believe just as much as ever you please. Pluffles was a subaltern in the Unmentionables. He was callow even for a subaltern. He was callow all over, like a canary that had not finished fledging itself. The worst of it was he had three times as much money as was good for him. Pluffles's papa being a rich man, and Pluffles being the only son. Pluffles's mama adored him. She was only a little less callow than Pluffles, and she believed everything he said. Pluffles's weakness was not believing what people said. He preferred what he called trusting to his own judgment. He had as much judgment as he had seat or hands. And this preference tumbled him into trouble once or twice. But the biggest trouble Pluffles ever manufactured came about at Simmler some years ago, when he was four and twenty. He began by trusting to his own judgment as usual, and the result was that after a time he was bound hand and foot to Mrs. River's rickshaw wheels. There was nothing good about Mrs. River unless it was her dress. She was bad from her hair, which started life on a Brittany girl's head, to her boot heels, which were two and three eighth inches high. She was not honestly mischievous like Mrs. Hawksby. She was wicked in a business-like way. There was never any scandal. She had not generous impulses enough for that. She was the exception which proved the rule that Anglo-Indian ladies are in every way as nice as their sisters at home. She spent her life improving that rule. Mrs. Hawksby and she hated each other fervently. They heard far too much to clash. But the things they said of each other was startling, not to say original. Mrs. Hawksby was honest, honest as her own front teeth, and but for her love of mischief would have been a woman's woman. There was no honesty about Mrs. River, nothing but selfishness, and at the beginning of the season poor little Pluffles fell a prey to her. She laid herself out to that end. And who was Pluffles to resist? He went on trusting to his judgment, and he got charged. I have seen Hays argue with a tough horse. I have seen a Tonga diver coerce a stubborn pony. I have seen a rioter setter broken to gun by a hard keeper. But the breaking in of Pluffles of the Unmentionables was beyond all these. He learned to fetch and carry like a dog, and to wait like one, too, for a word from Mrs. River. He learned to keep appointments which Mrs. River had no intention of keeping. He learned to take thankfully dances which Mrs. River had no intention of giving him. He learned to shiver for an hour and a quarter on the windward side of Elysium, while Mrs. River was making up her mind to come for a ride. He learned to hug for a rickshaw in a light dress suit under a pelting rain, and to walk by the side of that rickshaw when he had found it. He learned what it was to be spoken to like a coolly, and ordered about like a cook. He learned all this and many other things besides, and he paid for his schooling. Perhaps in some hazy way he fancied that it was fine and impressive that he gave him a status among men, and was altogether the thing to do. It was nobody's business to warn Pluffles that he was unwise. The pace that season was too good to inquire, and meddling with another man's folly is always thankless work. Pluffles's Colonel should have ordered him back to his regiment when he heard how things were going. But Pluffles had got himself engaged to a girl in England the last time he went home, and if there was one thing more than another which the Colonel detested, it was a married subaltern. He chuckled when he heard of the education of Pluffles, and said it was good training for the boy. But it was not good training in the least. It led him into spending money beyond his means, which were good. Above that the education spoilt an average boy, and made it a tenth-rate man of an objectionable kind. He wandered into a bad set, and his little bill at Hamilton's was a thing to wonder at. Then Mrs. Hawksby rose to the occasion. She played her game alone, knowing what people would say of her, and she played it for the sake of a girl she had never seen. Pluffles' fiancée was to come out under the chaperonage of an aunt in October to be married to Pluffles. At the beginning of August Mrs. Hawksby discovered that it was time to interfere. A man who rides much knows exactly what a horse is going to do next before he does it. In the same way a woman of Mrs. Hawksby's experience knows accurately how a boy will behave under certain circumstances, notably when he is infatuated with one of Mrs. River's stamp. That said, sooner or later little Pluffles would break off that engagement for nothing at all, simply to gratify Mrs. River, who, in return, would keep him at her feet and in her service just so long as she found it worth her while. She said she knew the signs of these things. If she did not, no one else could. Then she went forth to capture Pluffles under the guns of the enemy, just as Mrs. Kusak Bremel carried away Bremel under Mrs. Hawksby's eyes. This particular engagement lasted seven weeks. We called it the Seven Weeks War, and was fought out inch by inch on both sides. A detailed account would fill a book and would be incomplete then. Anyone who knows about these things can fit in the details for himself. It was a superb fight. There will never be another like it as long as Jacko stands, and Pluffles was the prize of victory. People said shameful things about Mrs. Hawksby. They did not know what she was playing for. Mrs. River fought partly because Pluffles was useful to her, but mainly because she hated Mrs. Hawksby, and the matter was a trial of strength between them. No one knows what Pluffles thought. He had not many ideas at the best of times, and the few he possessed made him conceited. Mrs. Hawksby said the boy must be caught, and the only way of catching him is by treating him well. So she treated him as a man of the world and of experience, so long as the issue was doubtful. Little by little, Pluffles fell away from his old allegiance and came over to the enemy, by whom he was made much of. He was never sent on outpost duty after rickshaws any more, nor was he given dances which never came off, nor were the drains on his purse continued. Mrs. Hawksby held him on the snuffle, and after his treatment at Mrs. River's hands he appreciated the change. Mrs. River had broken him of talking about himself, and made him talk about her own merits. Mrs. Hawksby acted otherwise, and won his confidence, till he mentioned his engagement to the girl at home, speaking of it in a high and mighty way as a piece of boyish folly. This was when he was taking tea with her one afternoon, and discoursing in what he considered a gay and fascinating style. Mrs. Hawksby had seen an earlier generation of his stamp, bud, and blossom, and decay into fat captains and tubby mages. At a moderate estimate there are about three and twenty sides to that lady's character. Some men say more. She began to talk to Pluffles after the manner of a mother, and as if there had been three hundred years instead of fifteen between them.  She pointed out the exceeding folly, not to say meanness of Pluffles' conduct, and the smallness of his views. Then he stammered something about trusting to his own judgment as a man of the world. This paved the way for what she wanted to say next. It would have withered up Pluffles had it come from any other woman, but in the soft, cooing style in which Mrs. Hawksby put it, it only made him feel limp and repentant, as if he had been in some superior kind of church. Little by little, very softly and pleasantly, she began taking the conceit out of Pluffles, as you take the ribs out of an umbrella before recovering it. She told him what she thought of him and his judgment and his knowledge of the world, and how his performances had made him ridiculous to other people, and how it was his intention to make love to herself if she gave him the chance. Then she said that marriage would be the making of him and drew a pretty little picture, all rose and opal, of the Mrs. Pluffles of the future going through life relying on the judgment and knowledge of the world of a husband who had nothing to reproach himself with, how she reconciled these two statements she alone knew, but they did not strike Pluffles as conflicting. Hers was a perfect little homily, much better than any clergyman could have given, and it ended with touching allusions to Pluffles' mama and papa, and the wisdom of taking his bride home. Then she sent Pluffles out for a walk to think over what she had said. Pluffles left, blowing his nose very hard and holding himself very straight. Mrs. Hawks be laughed. What Pluffles had intended to do in the matter of the engagement only Mrs. River knew, and she kept her own counsel to the death. She would have liked it spoiled as a compliment, my fancy. Pluffles enjoyed many talks with Mrs. Hawks be during the next few days. They were all to the same end, and they helped Pluffles in the path of virtue. Mrs. Hawks be wanted to keep him under her wing to the last. Therefore she discounted and his going down to Bombay to get married. Goodness only knows what might happen by the way, she said. Pluffles is cursed with a curse of Ruben, and India is no perfect place for him. In the end the fiancee arrived with her aunt, and Pluffles having reduced his affairs to some sort of order, here again Mrs. Hawks be helped him, was married. Mrs. Hawks be gave a sigh of relief when both the eye wills had been said, and went away. Pluffles took her advice about going home. He left the service and is now raising speckled cattle inside green painted fences somewhere at home. I believe he does this very judiciously. He would have come to extreme grief out here. For these reasons if anyone says anything more than unusually nasty about Mrs. Hawks be tell him the story of the rescue of Pluffles. End of the rescue of Pluffles by Roger Kipling. Stormship of the Hudson from myths and legends of our own land by Charles M. Skinner. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Read for LibriVox by Dale Grossman. Stormship of the Hudson by Charles M. Skinner. It was noised about New Amsterdam two hundred years ago that a round and bulky ship flying Dutch colours from her lofty quarter was careening up the harbour in the teeth of a north wind through the swift waters of the ebbing tide and making for the Hudson. A signal from the battery to heave to an account for herself being disregarded. A cannon was trained upon her and the ball went whistling through her cloudy and improbable mast. For timbers she had none. Some of the sailor folk talked of mirages that rose into the air of northern coasts and seas, but the wise ones put their fingers beside their nose and called to memory the flying Dutchman. The wanderer of the sea, whose captain, having sworn that he would go round Cape Horn in spite of heaven and hell, has been beating to and fro along the bleak, fusion coasts and elsewhere for centuries. Being allowed to land but once in seven years then he can break the curse if he finds a girl who will love him. Perhaps Captain van der Decken found this maiden of his hopes in some Dutch settlement on the Hudson. Or perhaps he expiated his rations by prayer and penitence. How be it, he never came down again unless he slipped away to sea and snow or fog so dense that the watchers and boatmen saw nothing of his passing. A few old settlers declared the vessel to be the half moon and there were some who testified to seeing that identical ship with Hudson and his specter crew on board, making for the Catskills to hold carous. This fleeting vision has been confounded with the storm ship that lurks about the foot of the palisades and point no point, cruising through Tappan Zee at night when a gale is coming up. The Hudson is four miles wide at Tappan and squalls have space enough to gather force, hence when old skippers saw the misty form of the ship steal out from the shadows of the Western Hills, then fly like a gull from shore to shore catching the moonlight on her top sails but showing no lanterns. They made to windward and dropped anchor unless their craft were staunch and their pilot's brains unvexed with liquor. On summer nights when falls that curious silence which is ominous of tempest, the storm ship is not only seen spinning across the mirror surface of the river but the voices of the crew are heard as they chant at the braces and halyards in words devoid of meaning to the listeners. End of Storm Ship of the Hudson by Charles M. Skinner. A Talk with a Wayfarer by Leo Tolstoy. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org, recording by Chad Horner from Polly Clare in County Antwerp Northern Ireland, situated in the northeast of the island of Ireland. A Talk with a Wayfarer. I have come out early. My soul feels light and joyful. It is a wonderful morning. The sun is only just appearing from behind the trees. The dew glitters on them and on the grass. Everything is lovely. Everyone is lovable. It is so beautiful that, as the saying has it, one does not want to die, and really I do not want to die. I would willingly live a little longer in this world with such beauty around me and such joy in my heart. That, however, is not my affair but the masters. I approach the village. Before the first house I see a man standing, motionless, sideways to me. He is evidently waiting for somebody or something. I'm waiting as only working people know how to wait. Without impatience or fixation. I draw nearer. He is a bearded, strong, healthy peasant, with shaggy, slightly grey hair, and a simple worker's face. He is smoking not a cigar twisted out of paper, but a short pipe. We greet one another. How does old Alexey live? I ask. I don't know, friend. We are strangers here. Not I am a stranger, but we are strangers. A Russian is hardly ever alone. If he is doing something wrong, he may perhaps say I. Otherwise it is always we, the family. We, the artril. We, the commune. Strangers, where do you come from? We are from Kaluga, I point to his pipe. And how much do you spend a year on smoking? Three or more rubles, I dare say. Three, that would hardly be enough. Why not give it up? How can one give it up when one's accustomed to it? I also used to smoke, but have given it up, and I feel so well, so free. Well of course, but it's still without it. Give it up and the darkness will go. Smoking is no good, you know. No good at all. If it's no good, you should not do it. Seeing you smoke, others will do the same, especially the young folk. They'll say if the old folk smoke got himself beds us, do it. That's true enough, and your son seeing you smoke will do it too. Of course my son too. Well then give it up. I would, only it's so dull without it. It's chiefly from dullness. When one feels dull one has a smoke. That's where the mischief lies. It's dull. At times it's so dull. So dull. So dull, drilled he. The best remedy for that is to think of one's soul. He threw a glance at me, and at once the expression of his face quite changed. Instead of his former kindly, humorous, lively and talkative expression, he became attentive and serious. Think of the soul of the soul, you say. He asked gazing questionally into my eyes. Yes, when you think of the soul, you give up all foolish things. His face lit up affectionately. You're right, daddy. You say truly. To think of the soul is the great thing. The soul's the chief thing, he paused. Thank you, daddy. It was quite true, and he pointed to his pipe. What is it? Good for nothing rubbish. The soul's the chief thing, repeated he. What you say is true, and his face grew still kindlier and more serious. I wished to continue the conversation, but a lump rose in my throat. I have grown very weak in the matter of tears, and I could not speak. With a joyful tender feeling, I took leave of him, swallowing my tears, and I went away. Yes, how can one help being joyful, living amidst such people? How can one help expecting from such people all that is most excellent? End of A Talk with a Wayfarer by Leo Tolstoy. To Good a Housewife by Anna Cora Mawit Ritchie This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. What a lovely looking bride was rode a-fielding. What a spring-like aspect she had. What an embodiment of bloom and freshness she seemed. That round, smooth face, tinted like an apple blossom, that furlous brow, somewhat too low and narrow, but redeemed by rich clusters of chestnut curls, those cloudless eyes and velvety lips, theirs was the beauty of untried youth. Bute du diable, as it is too expressively called by the French. Then rhoda was so artless, so frank-hearted, so unsophisticated, just what Edmund Fielding most admired in womanhood. Charmed by the glittering surface of the stream it was but natural that he never dived beneath, to note what shells or pebbles lay within its channel, ready to be cast up by the surging tide of matrimony. He had yearned for the first pure, uncalculating affection of a guileless maiden, and that he had won. A man cultivated mine and highly intellectual taste he expected to find in his youthful wife a plastic, genial, and appreciating companion. But whether rhoda's mental attributes and the precepts instilled by a very ordinary mother had fitted her for such companionship were questions he never asked. That mother had but one distinguishing characteristic. She was a thrifty and notable housewife.  Rhoda was flattered by Mr. Fielding's election, she admired his tall and handsome person, she was proud of his acquirements, and the slight touch of all with which his stately manners and evident superiority inspired her, only heightened her affection for woman like her heart was stirred by an irresistible impulse to look up fondly to what was higher than herself to love what she could lean upon as stronger and cling to as worthier. The newly married pair were starting on their wedding tour as I bade them adieu. Four years rolled on before we met again. Rhoda was now the mistress of an imposing mansion, pleasantly located in one of our largest northern cities. The drawing room which I entered to await her appearance had the air of cold luxury rather than habitable comfort. Costly chairs and sofas stood primely ranged against the walls, looking as though they forbade you to stir them. A few albums and show books were laid in a set way upon the center table, but no volume that appeared as though it were ever read was visible. Though I had called at the usual visiting-hour, some time elapsed before Rhoda ascended from the lower domestic regions where she had been occupied by her monage. She saluted me with, I'm right glad to see you. I was so busy I didn't mind being interrupted by you. This assurance rather discomposed me for it suggested a doubt which would not have otherwise intruded itself upon my mind. Rhoda ran on. This housekeeping takes up so much time, you know, and I always look after things myself. I placed in her hand a bouquet of fragrant freshly gathered flowers. You're very good, she said, taking them in a half-careless, half-reluctant manner. There was no expression of pleasure in her tone, and her doubtful look at the floral offering communicated a secret misgiving that had not politeness withheld her. She would have flunged the odorous wasms out the window. She fidgeted a moment, then rose hastily, and with considerable bustle procured a glass of water, remarking as she inserted the stem, I don't usually allow flowers in this room. They're such untidy things they drop about so and make such a litter. As she spoke she carefully gathered up the fallen leaves of a full-blown damask rose and threw them into the street, with an action which seems to say unclean. Her mean impressed me with a fear that even thus, through over solicitude, she had cast the flowers of her life away and left the bare stalk of utility unendorned by the foliage of taste or or the bloom of beauty. There was a working-day air about her, too strongly on avidance. Her dress was simple and serviceable, but it lacked the tastefulness which makes simplicity charming. Her hair was neatly arranged, but becomingness evidently had not been taken into consideration. With the freshness of her countenance much of its loveliness had passed away. What remained was obscured by total disregard of accordant colors and graceful arrangement of drapery. Her olden look of frank inexperience was displaced by a care-worn, fussy expression. Her buoyancy changed to restlessness. You saw at once that she magnified the most insignificant molehills in her path into mountains of trial, and veritably had become a female Don Quixote battling with domestic windmills. Just as she seated herself once more beside me, the loud yell of an infantine voice made her start up and exclaim, That's Jim! He has knocked his head again. He's always knocking that dreadful head of his. He'll be the death of me. And she rushed out of the room.  I told you Jim had knocked his head.  I never get a moment's peace with the two. Have you no nurse then? I ask. Oh, of course I have a nurse, but I have no faith in servants. I never trust them. As to their having any idea of responsibility, it's out of the question. As she spoke, a neat-looking Irish girl appeared at the door and said, Baby's awake, Mom. May I take her up? No! Don't touch her, exclaimed Rhoda almost fiercely. I'll see to her myself. Excuse me a moment. And all she flew again with Master Jim, making desperate plunges at her gown and roaring lustily as he pursued her. The interval that now elapsed seemed very long. I earnestly desired to have a pleasant chat with Rhoda. To ask her numberless questions about herself, her husband, our mutual friends, but the object of my visit seemed likely to be frustrated.  She did not exhibit, Baby, with that proud maternal delight, which is always beautiful to witness, but as though she felt overwhelmed by the cares and troubles of motherhood and quite unconscious of its joys, she told me what dreadful nights she had passed with her infants. She recounted all the horrors of teeth-cutting, described the numerous infantine diseases by which the young ones had been attacked, illustrating the effects of the various treatments by biographical anecdotes, related what difficulties she had encountered in keeping the scapegraces tidally dressed, mourned over their unreasonable proclivity to soil bibs and tear-frocks, and lamented their unnatural proclivity for dirty hands and daubed faces. The history of her nursery grievances had evidently not reached its climax when Master Jim rushed into the room balling out. Ma! Cook says she wants more butter for the pudding, and she wants you to know the coals nearly out. Dear me, dear me, how annoying, ejaculated Rhoda, with a face as full of distress as if she had learned of some actual calamity. What cartloads of butter that Cook uses, and what a quantity of coals she burns! I am always talking to her about the fire. It's blazing hot, I warrant, at this blessed moment. You must excuse me a moment. I am glad to see an old friend, you know, but household matters must be looked after, business as men say, business before pleasure. I'll be back in a minute. Away she went once more, and I heard her calling to the nurse to relieve her of the baby. A loud shrieking announced when the exchange was made, and that was followed by a more vigorous exercise of somewhat older lungs. Master Jim must have again indulged in that constitutional propensity for knocking his head. Then I could distinguish Rhoda's voice pitched in a high key. It sounded very like scolding, and how shrill that voice had grown. It was positively discordant, and we used to all think it so sweet. Another longer interval ensued, and then Rhoda entered the room once more, panting from her exertion. She was in the act of putting her purse, pencil, and tablets in her pocket. You see, I put down everything I spend. She began without apologizing for absence, and such a time it takes me. What with the children and the servants and the housekeeping, I have enough to do. I get no time to myself. Not even to read a little now and then? I ventured to suggest. Oh, dear, no. I never get a chance to open a book. Edmund does all the reading. He complains bitterly that I don't keep up with the literature of the day. Men are so unreasonable, you know, as if I had time for literature with a house and four servants and two children. But might he not read to you in the evening? That's just what he proposed, but I'm called out of the room so often it interrupts him, and it makes him nervous, and then I have so much cutting out and planning to do besides sewing that I can't listen. Then Edmund's always plaguing me to go with him and hear some lecturer or go to some concert or somewhere or another. But it's quite out of the question. I can't spare the time, but he can't understand it. You know, men never have any thought. He says he wishes I'd hire another servant and so be able to go out with him now and then. Isn't he unreasonable? As if I hadn't servants enough to plague me. Then, you know, men are so selfish. Would you believe it? While I'm slaving at home, he actually goes to places of amusement without me, and he says he needs recreation. But the idea of tormenting me to engage another servant. Why, do you know, my Kate and Martha both have followers, and I had to go down yesterday evening and turn the men out of the kitchen. Of course these followers get their supper here, and that's the reason there's always so little cold turkey left and the hams don't last longer. Rhoda rattled on in the same strain as long as my visit lasted. The rule and guardianship of her house and children wholly engrossed her mind, absorbed all other ideas. I talked to her of our old friends. She had not seen them. She had no time to visit. I related what had occurred to this one and that. She scarcely listened to the information. I spoke of music of which she was once so fond. Her sweet singing, Mr. Fielding, had especially admired. She had quite given up music, she said. She never sang except to put the children to sleep. I tried to turn the conversation to topics of the day. Rhoda might as well lived in Khamchakta for all she knew about them. I sought for a subject after subject that might interest her, but with no success. Her thoughts could not wander out of the little narrow sphere of her household, and yet only dwelt upon its vexations, not its blessings, its responsibilities, not its comforts. Other visits brought but a repetition of the incidents of this. I saw Mr. Fielding. He looked dissatisfied, desponding, disheartened. The instant he entered the house, Rhoda invariably poured into his ears a long history of her domestic bothers, made up of complaints about the smallness of the loaves brought by the baker, suspicions that the butcher cheated, discoveries that the cook sold the drippings, vexations at the breakage of the china fall by a minute account of the misdemeanors of the servants, the naughtiness of the children, the accidents they had met with during the day, the number of knocks received by Master Jim's head being religiously counted, and Rhoda's own fears for their health and morals. If, after a series of patient and considerate replies, her husband ventured to introduce other topics, she charged him with a want of feeling in disregard of her troubles, or else paid no attention to what he was saying. She met his entreaties that she should walk out with him by saying that she had shopping to do, and would go if he would promise to be very patient. The walk only extended half a mile down Broadway, yet it consumed three hours, chiefly passed in shops. Marriage had been a bitter disappointment to Mr. Fielding. He had looked for a companion and found a housekeeper and a nursery maid. Rhoda could not comprehend that he needed the society of one who could sympathize with and appreciate him, and that men demand appreciation almost more than they desire affection. She believed herself very thoughtful of his well-being, and, honestly considered that she discharged her duty towards him by keeping his house in order, no matter through what scuffing and scrambling by superintending the cooking of his meals and being irreproachable on the litanine, button, and stalking question. As a natural sequence of his mistake, Mr. Field will, in time, seek his pleasures away from home and grow more and more independent of his wife's society. She will feel herself neglected and join that large band of female railers who denounce matrimony and bemoan the miserable fate of wives in general and their own destiny in particular. And should she be asked the reason for this change in her husband's sentiments towards her, she would probably answer, with the air of an injured saint, that it will all be because she was, too good a housewife, end of, too good a housewife. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Once upon a time there was a charming young maiden who had two suitors. One of these, who was of a persistent and persevering nature, managed to be continually in the young lady's company. He would pay her a visit in the morning, drop into tea in the afternoon, and call her again in the evening. He took her driving, and he escorted her to the theatre. He would take her to a party, and then he would dance, or sit on the stairs, or flit into the conservatory with her. The young lady admired this man, but she wearied of his never ceasing presence, and she said to herself, If he were not always at my elbow, I should better appreciate his good qualities. The other suitor, who considered himself a man of deep and penetrating cleverness, said to himself, I will go away for a time, and then my fair one will realize my worth, and call me back to her. With a sad visage he made his adduce, and he exacted her pledge to write to him occasionally. But after he had gone she forgot her promise, and soon she forgot his very existence. Morals This fable teaches that absence makes the heart grow fonder, and that out of sight is out of mind. The End of the Two Suiters by Carolyn Wells


We have a set of n values or n items and we randomly select one of those from that set. Then the probability of selecting a specific value is 1 divided by n. In this case, random, we mean that it follows a uniform distribution in that equal probability is selecting any of the possible values. As a first example, let's say we have a box with five color balls, red, green, blue, yellow and black. So we have a set of five items and we select a ball from the box and we do so randomly. So we put our hand in the box and grab a ball. Then the probability of selecting a ball which is yellow is 1 divided by 5. Similar, the probability of selecting a red ball is also 1 divided by 5 or 20%. As a second example, consider IEEE 802.11 Wi-Fi. The medium access control protocol includes a feature called the distributed coordination function or DCF. In that, our works is that each computer must as part of the algorithm select a random time to wait called a random back-off. What they do is they select a random number between 0 and 15 inclusive and that indicates how long that they need to wait. For example, if they select 3, then they have to wait 3 time slots before they get to transmit or attempt to transmit. So in this case, what's the probability that a particular back-off value is chosen? So the probability, for example, that the back-off chosen by a particular station or computer is say 3. Then we're selecting from a set of 16 values, 0 to 15 inclusive. So the probability of selecting a back-off of 3 is 1 divided by 16. Similar, the probability of selecting a back-off of any particular value is 1 divided by 16.


Alright, this week's IMPI. It's Amphenol. It's from Amphenol Advanced Sensors. We featured them like two years ago for their infrared temperature sensors and this week we're sliding over slightly and I'm going to talk about a CO2 sensor that they just released. I should saw it on ditchikey.com slash new. It is the T6793. There's two versions. There's the 2K and the 5K PPM module. It's a beautiful gold sensor. This is a NDIR CO2 sensor. Very handy and very timely. It's a good time to release NDIR CO2 sensors. Why is that? Oh, you can start. Here's the details about it. You can see it next to a pencil. It's very compact, very small. I think Tel Air is the subbrand that makes this and it's a nicely calibrated CO2 sensor with a lot of different output modes, which is kind of neat. CO2. It's everywhere. It's in everything we breathe. We like to exhale CO2 and inhale oxygen and plants to the opposite.  CO2 levels have been going up a little bit over time, which is one of the issues we have with climate change on this planet. Monitoring CO2 is something that scientists do a lot. Recently in the last couple years, more people care about CO2 because it's an excellent way to determine the ventilation of indoor spaces. Outside air is 400 ppm, basically. It starts at 400 if you have the windows open, but if the windows are closed and you're breathing and there's a lot of people and you're in a classroom and there's not a lot of outside air circulation because there's no ventilation. CO2 level will start to rise, rise, rise. We've made projects with CO2 monitors like this one Carter did, just got this adorable cabin and some trees in the background showing that the indoor CO2 level is 782. As long as under a thousand, you're pretty good to go. We had one developer who was working on a CO2 project and they were showing off their readings and it was like 2,000 plus. I was like, hey, you want to open the window? I think Digikey also came by. They built their projects and they're like, wow, the basement needs more ventilation. It's good to know because it can make you a little drowsy as well as it means that there might not be enough air circulation if you want to reduce flu or COVID transmission because there's just not enough air circulation to keep the air moving around. We have sensors in the store like this ENS-160 and they're a lot less expensive, effective CO2 sensors, but these I just want to make sure people know that there are two kinds of sensors for CO2. There's like true NDIR CO2 sensors which are kind of expensive. They're like 50 bucks plus and then there's the effective CO2 sensors and this, if it says ECO2, what it means is it's actually a sensor that uses MOX, volatile organic compound sensing elements. It's a resistive, it's a doped material that when volatile organic compounds are nearby, it changes the resistance and you can tell if there's gases or volatile organic compounds like ethanol and stuff. By measuring that, you can use it to estimate air quality and the effective CO2. Here you see this ECO2 reading of about 700 ppm, which is again, if we're indoors, that's about right. The only thing is this isn't a true CO2 sensor. It's estimating it based on overall volatile organic compounds in the air. Whereas this sensor, the T6793, is a true NDIR infrared sensor. It uses how IR light is affected by CO2 concentrations calibrated to give you a really good precision, accurate reading. This one, it has really good temperature dependence and accuracy plus or minus 45 ppm plus 3% of reading, which is really great. You can always calibrate it to be even better. There's a built-in algorithm that if this is being used for outdoor reading or readings indoor where there will eventually have an open window so that the minimal CO2 ppm is 400, it will recalibrate because it does drift a little bit over time. The module is quite small. I'll show it on the overhead, which I really like. There's a lot of interfaces, which I thought was kind of like the powerful, the size and the interface is what kind of sets this module apart, as well as, of course, the accuracy. It has a 6-pin IO header. You can see there's a typo, I think. It's TX-SDA. I think it's RX-SCL. There's power and ground, which you want to give it 5 volts, which is not uncommon. You need 200 mA for the sensor peak, about 100 average. There's control test, PWM output, UART output, and I-squared-C output. Oh, and sorry, can you just get that out of the world? The first update I thought was interesting was PWM. There's two modes of PWM. There's a 1 kHz, and I think there's a 10 kHz version, which I thought was really neat. If you have a sensor that doesn't have an analog input, maybe doesn't even have I-squared-C, but can read PWM pulse width, you can use that. It'll always go low for two milliseconds, high for two milliseconds, and then you can calculate the PPM based on the PWM width. I thought that was kind of neat. I don't have any sensors offhand. I don't have any macros offhand that don't have UART or I-squared-C, but do have PWM. But if you're dealing with, there's some legacy systems that use old-style sensors, this can be used in those places. So I-squared-C, so this is my favorite interface. So you can use modbus I-squared-C registers, you write addresses, and then you can read versions of the firmware, the PPM reset device. So basic stuff, the ABC logic enabled, disabled, that's the auto calibration based on if it's outdoor enough to or getting low enough measurements, it'll eventually reach 400 PPM. You can measure on demand for low current, or you can of course have it being continuous mode and get measurements every five seconds. So I like I-squared-C, but that's the second option. And then the third option is UART, and they also have RS485 transceiver support, which I thought was really smart because a lot of people do want to have the sensor far away. They want to use RS485 to do a differential signal from far away. I-squared-C doesn't work for far away. I wouldn't use PWM for long distance, but 485, you know, yeah, why not, as long as you give it good power. So plain UART, I think 9600 BOD, or RS485. So that's all good. So again, most CO2 sensors don't have all those options. They have maybe one or two. I like that there is on this one, there's four or five different ways you can connect to it. There is some code that I found on Github. It's a little old, it's for earlier versions, but I think the register maps are the same, using I-squared-C for their sensor. That said, you know, the protocol is pretty simple. I think, you know, you would read this code, you'd look at the data sheet, the app note, with the I-squared-C instructions, and they have example pseudocode in the app note for I-squared-C as well. So that's the sensor, so I thought I would- Available on Digikey. It's in stock. It's one of those things that you can actually get. At the time of this printing, by printing, I mean screenshot and sending photons, there is 999 in stock. Yes, so maybe we can show it on the overhead because I want to show, it's much smaller than I expected. I really thought that this would be larger. A lot of CO2 sensors are quite big. That looks gigantic on the screen. It looks, what's a really good photo. It's like, ooh, golden, but it's actually, you know, very tiny. It's like a miniature satellite. Yeah, and then this is the IO, and then this is a little mic controller that does the readings and interfacing for you. But it's a very cute little sensor, and I like that, you know, it's through a hole, and there's, you know, you can put headers on both sides. You can just have it plug into your system, because these only last, they're not meant to last more than, you know, maybe five, 10, 15 years before maybe they have to be pulled or, you know, they can get contaminated, especially if they're in a caustic environment. So they're easy to replace. And that is this week's IonMPI.