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https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/25778/archive/files/e70bbc5ec4a43f0cf70fe87e6dfa576d.pdf?Expires=1712793600&Signature=VoW8Ei1HCX56-QcKllTd0CVfdKZzKqnR1K3cEL--63aBgPdvryfHXUgW77a1AxmnyyAKvB2q%7EiatjpEHekPVEtaULXOiO4rNObo4uqg%7EHwBEQ3oeWW3MLIdOXZgsP7DhmEDSCgWuYt78hBOggHVwdiLRvV44mHbwNP52ebKMFv4q5dh74TidI3GKgIq%7EiLpsLzSfSeC0sHMVVZBdTJ5HDCV0FMlB6OZ7T%7E84dh2xTDBPLGd9f1ubKOjuxwbSL6GnxbV6FycVwyURmidLN6GwB102qxUXTB75vS%7E3LJwXM7HxfYret0t0Swx9ew0-h0aV5IO0rUAmqi53JI3f3vGh4g__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM
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THE LEGEND OF THE FROZEN LAKE.
(Translated from a Collection of Norwegian Folk-Lore and
Village Legends, L~c., published at Christiania.)
Once upon a time, in the early part of the winter, a traveller
had to cross over a frozen lake where the ice was of varied and
unknown thickness. Before venturing out on the ice he lighted his
pipe, and, sitting down on a stone by the side of a road (which
ran close to the lake shore, nearly at right angles with his own
course), he thus communed with himself: “ I am bound to cross
this lake ; but in so doing I run a considerable risk of losing my
health, or even life, by falling through the ice. If I can manage to
keep on the thick ice, and avoid the thin, of course I shall be all
right as far as safety is concerned ; but the road over the ice is not
staked out yet, and there is not so much as a footprint on it. Perhaps
some of these good people passing to and fro on the road may be
able to give me some useful directions. At any rate, I will just ask
them.” And so he did, there being no lack of people to ask ; they
all spoke kindly to him at first ; and though they did not answer his
questions satisfactorily as to the thickness of the ice, they seemed as
willing and as anxious to direct his course as if their own safety had
depended on it. What surprised the traveller immensely, however,
and perplexed him not a little, was that, whereas all advised him
earnestly, and some vehemently, no two of them gave him the same
counsel, and no one seemed to speak from experience or trustworthy
information. In a very few minutes the conversation became somewhat
general, the counsellors became more and more excited; some
warned him in rather discourteous terms against following the advice
of others ; and at last they began to quarrel amongst themselves.
The poor man returned slightly disgusted to his stone, his pipe, and
his meditations. “Now,” thought he, “if I had only met one of
these good people, I should as likely as not have followed his advice ;
but in the multitude of such counsellors there seems to be anything
but wisdom.” Just then two persons, evidently of superior rank,
appeared upon the scene; and these were a Bishop and an Arch
bishop. The Bishop, taking on himself the office of chief speaker,
did not wait to be asked, but at once thus addressed the traveller:
“ My son, I see thou art about to cross the frozen lake ; and I come
to tell thee that the ice is such and such a thickness, here and there
respectively, and it is thy duty to believe me.” “ Well ! ” said the
traveller, “ it is scarcely fair or reasonable to talk about duty in such
a matter; but if you really do know more about the ice than those
good people yonder, and if you will give me any accurate information
about it, I shall be most truly grateful to you.” “ My son,” said the
Bishop, “ I perceive thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond
�[2]
of iniquity. Here is no question of accurate information, but of
saving faith. As for knowing more about the ice than those good
people, the fact is that I know considerably less. All my knowledge
of ice is derived from ancient history. I have not made myself in
any way acquainted with this year’s ice; nor do I consider that I am
at liberty to do so with any view of forming, or helping others to
form, an independent opinion. From my early youth 1 have been
trained, and from early manhood hired and pledged, to declare to
such as you that the ice is just so thick and j ust so thin, respectively
here and there (no more and no less), as it was voted to me, or as it
was supposed to have been voted to me, many hundred years ago by
an assembly of good men, not one of whom ever saw ice in his life.
The actual thickness or thinness is of no real importance. To adopt
what we call the orthodox dimensions, is the one thing needful, and
there is a special over-natural efficacy in adopting these, by which
you will be enabled to skim over the thinnest ice in perfect safety,
while the thickest ice will melt away under the feet of him who
doubts, or is so unfortunate as to be influenced by measurement,
testimony, calculation, or otherwise to consider it as thicker or thinner
than he has been taught to believe it. Of course, when I say you
must believe, I mean you must profess to believe, and act as if you
did. Go now, my son, and be of good cheer.” The traveller, if the
truth must be told, did not think much of the Bishop’s reasoning ;
but he was much taken with the good prelate’s reverend appearance,
peculiar dress, and phraseology ; and still more by his authoritative
and yet benign and fatherly manner. So, after remaining a few
seconds, “perplexed with doubt and afraid of condemnation,” he
declared that he believed every word that the good Bishop had said
to him, went boldly forth on the ice, was soon out of sight, and has
never been heard of since. The Bishop tells everyone that the
traveller got safely over the lake, and the Archbishop adds that it is
“ a most wholesome doctrine and very full of comfort.”
[From Teubner’s American and Oriental Record.
�
Dublin Core
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Title
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Victorian Blogging
Description
An account of the resource
A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
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Conway Hall Library & Archives
Date
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2018
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
Text
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Pamphlet
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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The legend of the frozen lake
Description
An account of the resource
Place of publication: [s.l.]
Collation: 2 p. ; 18 cm.
Notes: From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. "From Trubner's American and Oriental Record". Translated from a collection of Norwegian folklore and village legends etc. published at Christiana. Tentative date of publication from KVK.
Publisher
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[s.n.]
Date
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[1885?]
Identifier
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G5531
Creator
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[Unknown]
Subject
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Faith
Folklore
Rights
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<a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /></a><span> </span><br /><span>This work (The legend of the frozen lake), identified by </span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk"><span>Humanist Library and Archives</span></a><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span>
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application/pdf
Type
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Text
Language
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English
Conway Tracts
Faith