The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1874-10-16
THE SITUATION IN KANSAS.
sermon Of she Rev. Richard
COrdIey, of Lawrence, Kan.

Sermon Of 1he Rev. Richard
COrdIey, of Lawrence, Kan.
The following is an extract from
q sermon recently preached by the
Rev. Richard Cordley, of Plymouth
church, Lawrence, Kansas. His |
text was:
His truth shall be thy shield and buck
ler.-Ps. xcI., II.
The present year is one Of almost
unparalleled calamity to our StaI.-.
Disasters have come in groups. One
calamity has followed on the heel,
of another, and one has added to
the severity OF the other. On the
heels of the great financial disaster,
OF which we bore our full shore,
came first drouth. then locusts. The
financial explosion Frustrated all
business and unsettled all values.
Everything was at q standstiil, and
our only hope was that q plentiful
harvest would cOunteract the inf1u-
ence of disaster. But q plentiful
harvest has been denied US when we
looked to it as the one source of re-
lief. There is no Disgusting the fact
that it is sore disappointment. To
many it is an almost irreparable
loss. Neither can we disguise the
fact that the newer portions of our
State are cut off even from supplies
of bread, and must depend upon
the generosity of those more highly
favored.
But-in the language ofone whose
courage we can initiate, If not his
character-"All is not lost" Even
the immediate outlook is not so dark
as it seemed-not so dark a. the
blackwinged prophets of evil would
have us believe.
The financial storm has about
spent its force, and the elements
will soon quiet down to their nor
NAL state. The loss of our harvest
is great, but it is not as complete as
we feared it would be. The situa-
tian is bad, but not SO bad but that
it might have been worse, and l
think we all expected it would be
| worse. We have saved a wheat
crop of unusual breadth and excel
lence. The fruits of the season have
been reduced in size and quantity,
but there has been, and will be, an
| abundance. The vegetable products
are scant, but there will scarcely be
lack. The corn crop has been
scorched by drought and devoured
by locusts, but il shows q wonder
full tenacity of life. In spite of all
draw backs in the eastern part of the
State, where the heaviest popula-
ton is found, there will be q fair
crop of even this product, which we
supposed would be entirely destroy
ed. In this same eastern portion l
really believe there will be more re-
allied from the soil this year than
last, and doubt if, on the whole, it
will be SO hard year. All will
suffer loss in the shrinksge of their
crops, and some in their total fail
ure, but there is much left to be
thankful for. God has blessed the
people with unusual health; some
portions He has blessed with health
and plenty; most all parts with
something, and He has put a gen.
erous spirit into the hearts of the
people to help the needy.
These ar: bright features in the
present outlook. This much for
softening the present distress. These
are the stars that shine in our night !;
the sunny days in the winter of our
discomfort.
But, looking beyond the present,
what are the prospects for the flu.
turei The disasters ofa year or two
are not to guide our judgment of g
country. There is q permanent
truth on which we can rest and wait
in the hours OF calamity. The ex
perience of one season does not
measure the worth OF a country any
more than the Uleakness of winter
measures the fruiJtulness of the
whole year.
But there are many who would
thus judge and condemn our State.
Many would measure it's future
prospects by what the past season
mas been. Many see only gloom in
the outlook. They are prophets Of
evii,-ravens croaking over the des-
olate fields, making them more des-
olate still. Because there has been
a drouth once In fourteen years, and
an invasion of grasshoppers once in
eight years, they would have US
think that this can never be a farm.
ing country, and that it had better
be remanded to the Great American
Desert of the old biographies.
This country has been settled but |
q few years. Its cultivation has |
been Of the most desultory kind. |
The best that has been done has been |
applying the methods of other States |
to this, and in most cases there has |
been no method at all. There has |
been no study of the climate and |
RnyI-nn adonfSn0 Of n.
their peculiarities. There has been
no careful study of the most fitting
and profitable crops, yet the results
have often been acknowledgement
generous Yields, such enormous
growths, and such superior Qusli-
ties. The indolent husbandry of
many of our people, that has put in
the same crop year after year on the
same land, shows the exhaustless-
ness of our soil. Twenty years in
and yet it fails aot,
though growing faint and weary.
No country can show 8 greater va
riety of grains and fruits than It is
possible TO raise here. The climate
and fruits of the North and South
IN measure meet here.
Such q soil, OF course, has been
he product of varying conditions ,
of extremes Of heat and cold, wet
md dry, years of growth and years
II rest. Dame Nature farms better
han we dc, and enriches her soils !
~ alternating seasons and groWths. &
The tropics have their alienation {
# wet and dry; the North of sum. (
ner's heat and winters cold. Our Z
,tate lies between the two and par
akee some what OF the conditions :
4 both, and of course will have
lcre peculiar conditions of her
wn. It is not surprising that those
Fho know only the culture Of some e
Their region should not be able to q
raw the richest and most regular b
esults from this Whei. we have . d
zee OF farmers who know the con- =,
itions of their own soil, and have .
ne enterprise and patience to full =
II them, these prairies will become =
hat they are so often called-"the u
arden of the world" o.
But these fruits will not fall of y
lemseives into the lap Of indo- Z
nee, nor will they come at the call VI
ignorance. They must be earned a,
? Industry and won by patient a,
I'LL These soWers OF fertility 20
Inter frosts and summer heat, 'o
rains and perchiDg
'ouths-Which In ages and cycles sc
one by have been packing this soil 81
it'll richness, viii sometimes so &C
inspire as to blight the harvests M
ey naturally tend to foster. A or
nd so profuse and abundant in its =
'oducts will be profuse and abund- :,
ov rsnE there corn orovs rs,E vi
d a land of abundant fruits viii N
70 be alIYe with the consumers and oil