894 



(J^LEANl^t.^ IX lilOE CULTURE. 



Ukc. 1. 



best at 15 cts. per lb., and yet the supply is not 

 nearly equal to the demand, and never has 

 been. This new celery culture that has been so 

 much talked about opens a way for raising cel- 

 ery in winter — yes, even out of dooi'S, and we 

 have got one bi-d about 8 feet wide by 7.5 long, 

 where the celery is just growing beautifully. 

 Some of the largest might do for table use now; 

 but it would be a pity to take it while it is less 

 than half grown. Last night we had a temper- 

 ature of only 15 above zero: but the celery is as 

 yet unhaniu'd. Of course, it is protected with 

 boards all around and sash on the top. The 

 boards are about a foot and a half wide, and we 

 have banked dirt nearly up to the top. We are 

 just now making preparations to supplement the 

 dirt with coarse strawy manure. The manure 

 will bi' right on the garden, where we want it. 

 and all that leaches out will go down into the 

 dirt and around tbe celery. As the bed is 8 feet 

 wide, and the sash are only 6 feet long, a board 

 one foot wide is laid on flat and nailed along the 

 north side, and a similar one along the south 

 side. These boards are nailed to strips that 

 connect the stakes, these strips running right 

 under the sash. With plenty of coarse strawy 

 manure, and possibly some shutters over the 

 sash. I think the celery can be kept in such a 

 pit all winter. I am not sure that any glass is 

 needed at all. covering the whole bed with 

 boards; but as this has not grown as large as 

 we wanted it. I thought the glass would help it 

 to grow during nice spells in winter. 



OURSELVES AND OUR NEIGHBORS. 



For the flesh lusteth ag-ainst tlie Spirit, and the 

 Spirit ag-ainst the flesh.— Gal,. 5:17. 



It seems a little singular, friends, that I 

 should choose the above for my text to-day, 

 when I can remember so vividly how I used to 

 dislike these very words. Away back in child- 

 hood, in reading or hearing read portions of the 

 Bible, where it spoke of " lust " and •' lusteth.'" 

 "Spirit." "'flesh," etc., how dry and dull and 

 unmeaning the words used to be I I used to 

 feel very much like sa\ing what a friend said 

 to me in jail one Sunday afternoon when I 

 started to open the Bible. Said he, "Mr. Root, 

 I have got so sick of that sort of stuff that I ab- 

 solutely can not bear to hear it." There was 

 good reason in his ca*e. however, why he should 

 dislike any thing from the Bible just then. He 

 was just recovering from a drunken spree, and 

 had been giving lust full swing; and he had 

 crushed out the Spirit or all the spirituality 

 that he might have, had in his sober moments. 

 And now herein lies the divinity of the Bible. 

 It is dull. dry. and unmeaning — yes. I know 

 that by experii'nee— to those; who do not pro- 

 pose to listen to its pleadings. Sometimes men 

 say, " Well, I guess after all this world is about 

 all there is to it, any way. and for my part I am 

 going to get just as much out of tlie world as I 

 can before I die. If I run against other people, 

 or other people's happiness, they must look out 

 for No. 1." They do not often put in the word 

 "happiness," but they include it all the same. 

 Such people decide as a matter of course that 

 there is no future, and no God. A God of just- 

 ice would be very inconvenient to one in such 

 a state of mind, and hence "The fool saith in 

 his heart, thci'e is no (xod." 



It is only within a short time back that I 

 have begun to comprehend fully what that 

 word " Spirit " in the text means. In our recent 

 Sunday-school lessons, where the Holy Ghost 

 has been mentioned several times, I have been 

 noticing the note in fine print at the bottom of 



the lesson-helps, saying that the American re- 

 visers would substitute •" Holy Spirit " instead 

 of " Holy (rhost." Now, that word " Ghost," 

 even when the word " Holy" comes before it, 

 and when both words are capitalized, has al- 

 ways been more or less repulsive to me. Since 

 I have gotten over all my childish superstitions 

 in regard to gho'^ts, and I since have, through 

 the light of Christ Jesus. learn(^d to fear noth- 

 ing but }ils displeasure, the word ghost has had 

 an unpleasant sound, and it brintrs up unpleas- 

 ant recollections. If you say "" Holy Splrif'' it 

 divests the expression of all these unpleasant 

 recollections and the Holy Spirit is what gives 

 us spirituality. How I do love that word 

 "spirituality"! In talking with some people 

 we see that their thoughts are all about the 

 world and worldly things. Tliey are (dl world- 

 ly. Sometimes we say, "That vvonuin (or man) 

 does not seem to havea particfe of spii iiuality." 

 .Sometimes I am obliged, while waiting for 

 something, to listen to the conversation that is 

 going on about me. A good many times it be- 

 comes my duty to entertain people. Oh howl 

 do love to find something spiritxud about them! 

 How I do love to discover that it is an easy 

 matter to lead them away from worldly things 

 up to something higher — to something spiritual ! 

 And now for the statement of our text, " The 

 flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit 

 against the flesh ; and they are contrary the 

 one to the other." 



It seems a little strange, sometimes, that we 

 as human beings should have both a spiritual 

 nature and a fleshly nature. By the way, that 

 word " flesh " is one that used to trouble me. 

 The word " trouble " is not quite strong enough, 

 however. I think I have told my good old 

 mother that such words disgusted me. This 

 was the time when I was about eighteen or 

 twenty. I knew a great deal more then than I 

 do novV — or. at least, I thought I did. I used to 

 talk " evolution " to her then, and tried to per- 

 suade her that evil would finally go out of fash- 

 ion or get behind of its own accord. Dear mel 

 what a doctrine! When your garden gets ta 

 growing up to weeds, and the weeds are out- 

 topping the potatoes, suppose you excuse your 

 farming by explaining to your friends and 

 neighbors that, in the course of time, the weeds 

 would diminish in vigor, and the potatoes 

 would get ahead of them and crowd them out 

 of existence. Wouldn't that be a bright kind of 

 philosophy and reasoning? Why. you would call 

 such a man an idiot. You would say to him, 

 " My good friend, your potatoes are about ruin- 

 ed already. There never can be a good crop, 

 and your only possible chance for even a poor 

 excuse for a crop is to get right at it this min- 

 ute, yank these big weeds out by the roots, 

 shake oft' t»lie manure and rich soil clinging to 

 said roots, and lay the weeds down between the 

 rows for mulch for your poor abused and long- 

 suffering potatoes." If you get right at it now, 

 and look sharp that not another weed gets 

 a foothold, you may possibly have a few good 

 potatoes. Hut nothing but th(! most prompt, 

 earnest, and immediate effort can give you any 

 crop at all." Just so with spiritual things and 

 fleshly things. They are as much opposed to 

 each other as those great weeds are opposed to 

 potato growing. If you want to raise potatoes, 

 the weeds must be kept down from the start. If, 

 however, you want to raise weeds, and have 

 made up your mind that you don't want any 

 potatoes at all. you had b(^tt.i'r pull your pota- 

 toes up. Come to think of it. I don't believe it 

 would make very much difference, however, 

 whether you pull them up or not. The potatoes 

 (although the plant is a rank grower when it 

 has a fair chance, loving cai'e. and kind treat- 

 ment) would, under ordinary circumstances, 



