1885 



GLKAiXlNHS IN BKK CULTURE. 



1.^9 



dm ji@MEg. 



Fear not, little flock : for it is yoiar Father's good 

 pleasure to g-ive you the kingdom. —Luke. i2:3i. 



J\ WANT to talk to-day principally to those 

 I out of employment. Those who have 

 I plenty to do, and whose time is fully oc- 

 ' cupied, may listen if they choose ; but a 

 large portion of my talk will perhaps 

 not interest them particularly, unless it is 

 through sympathy for their less fortunate 

 fellow-men. Thousands are out of employ- 

 ment, and wanting something to do. I have 

 been told, that in the city of Cleveland alone 

 there are 1.3.000 people "out of a .job,'' as the 

 saying is. Perhaps many of these are Chris- 

 tian people — people who belong to the 

 various cliurches, and who are trusting God. 

 IIow comes it, then, that they sliould seek 

 in vain for something to doV " By the 

 sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread,'" is 

 the command; and yet many all over our 

 land are feeling sad because they can not 

 obey the (Jod-given decree ; or, at least, they 

 think they can not. and I hope you will not 

 think me uneharital)k' when I suggest that 

 people many times make a mistake wlien 

 they say tliey can not find any thing to do. 

 This is an old subject, I know, and it is one 

 on wliich 1 have talked and written (|uite 

 frequently, and may be tlie ))lace which I 

 occiii)y lias a tendency to make me a trille 

 uncharitable: but every year that is added 

 to my life, strengthens aii(l confirms the 

 position 1 have been slowly taking, that 

 those who are consistently trusting (iod 

 will seldom if ever l)e out of emi)loymeirt ; 

 and I can not have very much sympathy for 

 a big strong man who tells nu' he " has 

 searched evei'\ wliei-e. and can luid notliing 

 to do. Feeble women, a great many times, 

 seem to have fiillilled almost all the Veciuire- 

 ments, and yet find ditliculty in getting any 

 kind of honest work tiiat will i)ay even mod- 

 erate wages, ilany times younger people, 

 too. from want of judgment, or because of 

 their youth and inexi)erience. seem to fail in 

 their 'eiforts to find something to work at. 

 Tliere is another class of people witli some 

 property, who become restless and discon- 

 tented, and sny they have nothing to do, and 

 long for something to work at. Sometimes 

 a. suggestion, or a little assistance to such, 

 may <lo them much good. 



Did yon ever wonder, dear reader, what is 

 to be the ultimate end, if the p(M>nlation of 

 the earth kee])S on increasing as it is in- 

 creasing now? China has given us an 

 illustration, to a certain extent, of the results 

 of " overstocking ■" (if I may use the word) 

 with the human family. Iknow some good 

 people who seem to be'a little frightened at 

 the prospect ; and suggestions have even 

 been made that something ought to be done 

 toward stopping the enormous increase of 

 human beings. I say, these are good people, 

 but 1 fear they lack faith in (4od. Our lit- 

 tle text of itself ought to cover the ground, 

 and ought to allay their apprehensions. 

 The Creator who planned the universe, and 

 this world with all the rest, certainly includ- 

 ed all such contingencies in his plan. And 

 then the question comes up, '• What does he 



intend to do with us, and what are his plans 

 now?" You see we come on to the question 

 of trust here ; and before we get through I 

 shall have a little more to say in regard to 

 this. I think his plans are, that we should 

 help ourselves to a much larger extent than 

 we do now. When J see a'great strapping 

 youth, or a good stout girl, if you choose, 

 mourning because nobody will give them a 

 job, I feel like saying, " For shame, for 

 shame, my friends. You have no business 

 waiting for anybody to give you a job. Go 

 and get a job yourselves.'" Very likely the 

 reply would be. " Why, the factories are all 

 full.' I have l^een here and there, and been 

 everywhere, and nobody wants to hire."" 

 A big stout German boy told me yesterday 

 he could not get a job anywhere. Just be- 

 fore he came in. a stout strong young man, 

 whose acquaintance I formedin our county 

 jail, came to me saying the same thing. 

 Said I. " Have you been around to the 

 farmers, and inquired for wood to chop?'' 

 They both replied that they had, but they 

 could not get a bit of work anywhere. The 

 next day Neighbor II. informed me that he 

 found a' whole row of men sitting on the 

 hitching-posts in town, waiting for some- 

 thing to do. Not one of them would go and 

 help him in the woods, during these short 

 winter days, for less than Sl.oO iwr day. 

 Now, I liave no sympathy at all for any one 

 of this class who Is out of a job. They oi(y/(^ 

 to be out. 



A few weeks ago, one of our neighboring 

 factoiies shut down, and. of course, many 

 were wanting something to do. A coui)le of 

 stout young men came to Neighbor II. for 

 something to do, and he told them if he 

 could gel wood cut for -"iO cents a cord he 

 would set them at work. They cut for him 

 all he intended to have cut, and then made 

 an otter to cut another lot at 4.') cents a cord. 

 lie took them up, and they were olT through 

 the snow before daylight, and worked as 

 h»ng as they could see— worked like • bea- 

 vers," so lie says, and made, perhaps, not 

 much over a dollar a day. This they did 

 while their comrades loafed around the town, 

 probal)ly engaged in sowing the bad seeds, 

 which I have si)oken of in another page. 

 Their factory is running now, and. of course, 

 they can do better than to chop wood. But 

 Neiglibor II. told me yesterday 1 might tell 

 every man or boy who came to rne in distress, 

 that they could all have wood to choj) at 4o 

 cents a cord. Now, then, boys. I presume if 

 I myself were obliged to go out and ciiop 

 wood at 45 cents a cord, I should not make 

 more than 25 cents a day— at least, for the 

 first few days ; but rather than sit around, 

 and say I could not find a job, I would work 

 for the 2') cents a day, willingly ; yes, I 

 would work for tirelve and onc-haJf cents a 

 dan; and if I did not earn enough to pay my 

 boiird. I should at least have the satisfaction 

 of feeling I paid part of it. 



I have been accused of being extreme in 

 my views, and perhaps I am ; but, thank 

 God, there are a good many who are ready 

 to follow me with their coats off, and their 

 sleeves rolled up, metaphorically speaking. 

 Tlie extreme thing I am going to advocate 

 now is, that we should not onlv worK hard 



