The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1883-08-25 00:00:00

Eke 3tharbriby &seder.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 2.5 th, 1883.

THE HARVEST.

To those who live "in populous city pent" the
dwellers in great towns, there is something
wonderfully attractive in the stories of Harvest
Time which find their way into the newspapers.
The unrestrained j idity which is poptf!arly sup-
posed to prevail in the lately reaped fields on
such occasions causes the denizens of peopled
areas to sigh for the freedom of such happy
times, either by day or under the bright beakns
of the harvest moon at night. The distance
which in large towns is kept even by near neigh-
bours, the lack of sociability, and the absence
of ordinary civil intercourse between house and
house, so common in the country, often surprise
those who live in rural localities, and the towns-
folk, recognizing the fact that such things do
exist, only regard with all the more envy the
harvest celebrations which in many parts of the
land are made the subject of so much rejoic-
ing.
Once a year the attention of both town and
country is fixed upon the prospects of the great
agricultural interest, whose success or failure
pl Is such an important part in the welfare of
the State. The occupation of the tiller of the
soil commands respect in every way. It is the
most venerable known in history, whether sacred
or profane. The sons of Adam were respec-
tively a keeper of sheep and a tiller of the
ground. That was before the building of greak
cities, the construction of gigantic decks, and
the rearing of stately bridges across mighty
str urns. By degrees, as the populations
ga*hered in the to nns , and devoted themselves
to commercial or maritime pursuits, agriculture
ceased to command that exclusive degree of at-
ten ion which it possessed at first. Some com-
munities devoted themselves to war and conquest
othe.s to trade and commerce. For instance,
the Tyrians and the Plicalicians were chiefly
engaged in the latter; the Assyrians and the
Cualdieaus in the former. But aithouo, as the
world advanced the occupations of its people be-
came more numercus and varied, agriculture
never lost that importance with which it was
ori;inally invested. It was always a great inter-
est. The records of the Bible, with their hetero-
gLateous chronicles of famine and of pestilen2e
of wars and of rumours of wars, of long captivi-
-ies and wonderful deliverances, of the areai( s
of ;he Kings of Old Testament story which were
ga hered together to battle, contain none more
,ouching or interesting in fifteen hundred years
Useu the many referenc-s to the cultivation of
Lhe soil. These are scattered throughout Es
p.,gk s from first to last. '1 he Plains of shinar
are as clear to the mental vision as though the
description had been given to us to-day. 6o far
US the New Testament is concerned, the illustra-
tions drawn from the harvest fi Ads were always
of the most beautiful and effec ive charac.er.
" Uhe Harvest truly is great, but the labourers
are few; lift up your eyes and behold the fielda
already white unto the harvest,"—these and
o- her injunctions, tylliug at the time, have fur
ck nturies afforded tex a for reflective lessous,
and wil, c.mtinue to oo so for ages to come. The
passing away of the 'lllniner ant the ending of
the harvest is one of these which is never for-
ge:ten when a moral has to be pointed or a tiVe
keorued in the mune of religion,
[be weather, favourable by comparison with
.11 .t of previous years, which has charaeterigd
a considerable part of the month of August has
given rise to the expectation and the belief tirit
the harvest of the present year will be more
Lvourable than has been known for many years.
Uerteinly the farmer has had a great deal to face
daring several seasons past. The time since
1876 might in a qualified way be described as
seven years of famine. i\lr. Bright once ota
served in one of his eloquent passages that there
were many showers and touch sunshine between
the sowing of the seed and the reaping of the
harvest, but the harvest was generally reaped
after all. Cer,ainly for some pars past the
showers have prepeuderated, and the suusiaine
has been in small and ulcer sin quantity. Tee
must disastrous of these years wa 4 1879, when
the incessant rain washed away not only the
hopes of the farmer, Env, mese of the results of
tiis hard werk for long tuonths. No avocation is
se precarious, or so much depends fer its succees
upon the weather. The tiller of the ground ;le-
serves all he g ts, and a gr: a., deal inure, atet
has all good wishes for the contieuauce of tlett
bright aunalliae lately preva hug. s , as to euebie
time to ingather the kindly frai a of the earth'