lSi>-' 



GLEANlNtiS IJS' BEE CULTURE 



S53 



Ki'om tin- iiuHiM'iu 1 sidoil lip and \ olimlccrcd 

 to take tlir ollii-o thai noliody waiiti'd. I tVIt 

 happit-r. I was plad wlicii tlie day ranic to y:o 

 to coiifofciu'i', and a sjiccial spiritual blessing 

 se«^nied to attend nie during tlic whole session. 



A word aiumt dry sermons, ete. There was 

 jnst one sermon thai iiii.uht be ealled, by a good 

 many, dry and belli ml th(> times. It was a 

 revival of liie old doctrine of ek-otion. If any 

 of you do not know what that is. don't stop to 

 inquire— you are just as well off. A young 

 minister, who delivered the sermon, received so 

 much criticism, right and left (of course, good- 

 natured and kindly criticisnu. that very lik(>ly 

 he wil! not i)reach in that line much mor(\ 



The pretty country churdi was tilled with 

 people, and tliey were bright, wide-awake, in- 

 telligent people, fully up to the times, even if 

 they were mostly farmers and farmers' families. 

 In fact, a great'part of tlie blessing I received 

 came from tlii> fact that 1 was among not only 

 laboring people, but good, pure-minded, godly 

 people— those who are not only intelligent and 

 well educated, but who love righteousness and 

 hale iniquity— gathered together to talk over 

 the evils that threaten the church of .lesus 

 Christ. To get acquainted, and lay plans for 

 protecting our people and our church, was cer- 

 tainly inspiring. 



The sermons and lectures were not all from 

 country clergymen, either, for we had some 

 rare good talks from college professors who 

 stand high in our State and nation; and one of 

 these forms the subject of my talk to-day. 

 Prof. H. C. King, of Oberlin, O.. gave us a lec- 

 ture in the evening on (>ducation and its relation 

 to community. In this talk he presented us 

 with a lot of statistics that had been gathered 

 with considerable pains and expense. He first 

 asked the question. *• \^'liere do our college 

 graduates and our great men in the interests of 

 education come from ■? ■' Most people have got 

 into a way of thinking that tdw)i!i and riiies 

 offer great advantages in the way of education. 

 Come to think of it. 1 rather think they do. 

 And then most people jump at the conclusion 

 that it is a misfortune for a boy to be obliged to 

 grow up in the country. He has not the facili- 

 ties for getting about among the people that a 

 town boy has. He can not attend lectures, 

 meetings, and the various societies, that the 

 town or city boy does, and for various other 

 reasons he labors under a great disadvantage; 

 and on this very account our farmers give up 

 the farm and move itito town in order to facili- 

 tate giving their children an education. If a 

 toirn boy enjoys advantages that the farmer's 

 boy does not. the great (Mies must afford still 

 greater advantages; therefore the city boy, 

 especially if his parents are v/ell to do, so he 

 does not have to work all the time, would be 

 likely to far oustrip the town, village, or coun- 

 try boy. Good logic, isn't it? But facts are 

 proverbial for being stubborn. Let us turn to 

 the hard statistical figures. 



How many successful and really valuable 

 college graduates are brought up in the city, 

 and with all the advantages of the city? Less 

 thao three i>er cent. I do not suppose you are 

 astonished, for you have heard this before. 

 Prof. King did not say any thing about success- 

 ful husineKfi men: but I want to ask you to look 

 about your own home and see where your great 

 and good men come from — you may include 

 men of capital, if you choose, but, plea.se, only 

 those who are making a good use of their capi- 

 tal — who are using it to help community in 

 general, and hold up tin- standard of righteous- 

 ness and purity so far as he can. Where do 

 these men come from ? Were they brought up 

 in a city, with the advantages that at least 

 moderate wealth gives? I think you will agree 



with me that it is just tl tiier way. Moder- 



ate-si/,ed towns jiave furnished rather more 

 good rising men than the citii's; but the (//•cat 

 ImlUoi the colli'ge graduates— the men of lirain, 

 lione, and muscle, come fiom the/arz/i or ftiriii- 

 inij rillages. They are children of parents who 

 did not make farming iiay in the sense that 

 most iieople would use it. S'ou all know |)retty 

 \»('ll, 1 think, if you use good seiise and look at 

 the matter sqv;arely. that the farms and farm- 

 ing towns are eonstrtntly furnishing boys of in- 

 tegrity and worth to fill important and fesjjon- 

 sible places. These boys are the outcome of 

 something that made it necessary for them to 

 work hard for a living. The boy who is brought 

 up in ease, whether in town, city <- or country, 

 never amounts to verv much— that is. this is 

 a great gen(>ral rule. There are exceptions, of 

 course. Some boys will />C(/r ease and i)amper- 

 ing, and still dev(>lop into great and good men. 

 But it se(»ms that, to develop to its highest 

 extent, either the physical, mental, or moral, 

 there must be an incentive that nothing can 

 give except poverty, or, at least, moderate pov- 

 erty. Why. you know it by your own experi- 

 ence. The most profitable schooling I ever got 

 in my lif(! was whiMi I was obliged to walk two 

 miles and a half every morning, and chop all 

 the wood besides, for a fair-sized farmhouse 

 and farmer's family. Yes, one year before this 

 I had the advantages of a city school. I was 

 living with relatives, and didn't have very 

 much to do. The high school was so near my 

 home that I had quite an easy time of it. A 

 sudden change to wood-chopping, a walk of 

 two miles and a half, and farmers' fare, built 

 me up bodily, mentaJUj, and, I hope. rtwraUy. 



Why, it is only the same thing that has come 

 to light in the wheel business, mentioned in 

 other columns in this issue. God intended that 

 w'e should use our brains and muscles — yes, he 

 expected us to use them vigorously. If we 

 don't, they will become dwarfed and "compara- 

 tively useless. Prof. King told us that statis- 

 tics show plainly and overwhelmingly that the 

 men who stood in the front as the saviors of our 

 nation were those who had been brought up in 

 the country or in country villages — villages 

 where the greater part of the people are farmers 

 and have their farms near by their homes. Of 

 course, there is an advantage in living where 

 there are sidewalks and good roads. We can 

 train our muscles in some better way than 

 pulling our feet out of the mud and clay. There 

 is also an extreme in both directions, JNo doubt 

 many boys have been deprived of the advan- 

 tages of education because of extreme poverty; 

 but a hundred more have suffered because they 

 had to(i cdKji a time. Now then. The very 

 men and women who have been complain- 

 ing, getting disheartened and discouraged, and 

 possibly getting soured because farming does 

 not pay, may have been greatly blessed in what 

 they regarded as a calamity and a misfortune. 

 Why, my good friend, your earnest, heartfelt 

 prayers have been answered by this very thing 

 you lament. You have been praying for the 

 influences of the Holy Spirit, for a spiritual 

 revival in your heart.s, and in the hearts of 

 your families. God^ could not answer that 

 prayer and give you fhe worldly prosperity you 

 had in mind at the same time. In his infinite 

 loving kindness he has spared you from great 

 trials and great calamities that would have 

 been sure to come with wealth. We have been 

 told a little fable where a good man held out a 

 valuable coin and apiece or gingerbread to a 

 child. ■■ Which will you have? " said the phi- 

 losopher. The child chose the gingerbread, 

 without any hesitation. My friend, are you 

 going to choose the gingerbread ? 



A very good friend of mine, who worked hard 



