THE COUNTRY CHURCH PROGRAMME 183 



may understand mechanism at a glance, and by nature's 

 gift move fearlessly among machinery as its conscious 

 king. Another may be as eminently fitted for the 

 field of commerce ; he is at home amidst the forms and 

 calculations of business, and comprehending the laws 

 of trade is the very wine of life to him. Another may 

 be as markedly musical in his tastes, and still another 

 a lover of literature ; while to another, spiritually 

 minded, there comes the call of the Spirit to the service 

 of Christ in His ministry. For such the field of duty 

 lies elsewhere. But for the man who loves the soil, 

 whose delight is in the care of stock, the man who 

 though he may make his way in the city for he is 

 country-born and therefore strong, country-bred and 

 therefore versatile yet must ever look back with long- 

 ing to the farm, for him the farm is the place of duty. 

 He is called to furnish men's daily bread. To live in 

 this spirit is to make husbandry a noble form of human 

 endeavor. Such an one need never ask the question of 

 the discouraged: 



"What is there left for me beneath the sun? 



My labor seems so useless; all I try 



I weary of before 'tis well begun; 



I scorn to grovel, and I cannot fly." 



" Hush! hush! repining heart! There's One whose eye 



Esteems each honest thought and act and word 



Noble as poet's song or patriot's sword. 



Be true to Him: He will not pass thee by. 



He may not ask thee mid His stars to shine 



And yet He needeth thee, His work is thine."* 



And this is but to say that his duty is part of a univer- 

 sal human duty to serve. We must preach that the 



* John Reade, " The Prophecy of Merlin." 



