Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1881-09-21

we seluom nau nOlluayt anu poor enough we
dressed,
While Ebenezer swung the sYthe, followed,
spreading hay;
Then loaded in the afternoon, and moved it all
away.
But still the farm kept running down.; the barns
let in the rain;
1t took half my time to keep the cattle from the
grain;
And when prosperous day appeared most surely
drawing nigh,
Some handsome crtter we had raised would just
lie down and die.
The daisy and the yellow weed, Canadian thistle
spread
Across the fields until they struck herds grass and
clover dead;
1t worked upon the children's mind complete as
any charm
TO have a monster posy-bed big as their iathers
farm.
Though w1l they serve for poets song, or May
queens gaudy crown,
You can't make cheese and butter out of flowers
and thistle down.
The daisies satisfy the eye and scent the passing
gale,
But never yet were known to ill a ten-quart milk
ing paI.
/ tell you, parson, things went hard with Ebenezer
then,
Though he was Just as capable and smart as Other
men;
And deacon Finch said how the Lord was 'hictin
of us sore
That we might love the world the less and his com
mandmeDts more.
And maybe deacon Finch was right, but stlll
nev er knew
The Lord was vexed when people did the best thai
they could do;
Or when man was tong hard along the Heaven
ly road,
That He would come and pile heap o. sorrow on
his head
For EOenezer always was man o. faith and
prayer,
And in the vineyard of.the Lord he carried on his
share.
But, parson, faith and prayer alone, nor farm mol
church will run
1t needs for both straight forward work nteligeny
done.
The purest saint that ever leaned upon his Makers
WIN lind he needs some common sense to cultivate
farm:
Not all the psalms that David sung, or prayers
breathed here below,
viii pay the mortgage on farm, or make potatoes
grow.
The best religion is to cast on God our every care
And then 20 out and work as though we'd never
prayed prayer;
Nor dream that in some mystic way the Lord will
carry through
work that He has given us the strength and sense
TO do.
Your teachin' Parsons, mostly clear,-we dom
mean TO complain
But when you preach faith without works, it goes
agin the grain.
And, then, this mlngling with the world-the Mas
ter put it right
He said her Children wiser were than children OF
the light.
That means s'pose, more practical more business
like, AMI quick
To see the best side of traded or spy aiknavish
trick.
I know you feel my man has gone beyondlhis prope'
range,
Although the best of men, to-day, are meetin' with
the Grange;
But if the world has. better ways of managing
farm,
And Christians go to aud.them out, now, Parson
Wnere'S lne uii
For Ebenezer, lhoughlhe prayed aud trusted every
day,
Inst failed because he did his work the poorest klnt
of way"
saws l, "r That Grange which you suppose has mor'
of chafT than wheat
Found Ebenezer on his back and set him on hi
feet;
And,if he neededlany ything,to speak in his defence
Time gives him one tiecsivei voice-the logic o
events"
The Parson rose to go: says l, . Just wait and hea
me out:
wish to rid your mind good sir. of every lingering
doubt.
That Grange for EOcnczer wrought like Moses TO
He led from Egyprs bondage to the fair and prom
ised land.
He heard successful IA rmers tell the story of the
toll;
By what experiments they learned the secrets
the soil;
What crops rewarded Labor's hand; what imple
mentsIwould charm
The pestiience of hi ed help away from home AM
farm
There, in that Grange, disheartened men in hour
of sorest need
Took lesson, from Success and rose determined Il
succeed;
From all the country round, men came by cords o
friendshp.drawn,
And every iarner,dd sibest to help his neighbo
on;-
Through Households scattered. far apart, wit
gracious influence ran
The spirit of the gospel ofthe blessed Son of Man.
In Iau hp
homesteads round about
Have been improving every way, within doors an
without.
Our farm has been redeemed, since lhen-to borrow
words from YOU
The whole two hundred 'acres care converted
through and through;
heavy debt upon the place has all been clearet
away
We've got little laid aside agin rainy day
Close under Ebenezer's face and he not seem u
know9
EOenezer's name,
Pll warrant you, stands squarely out to meet th
preachers clam
mind
'Taint something we can't use ourselves he ain
one % that kind.
And what, you ask, has brought about so late il
life this change?
Why, Parson, Ebenezer learned good gospel at th
Grange
fair and honest testing OF the things he heard an
read
Just worked revolution of ideas in his head.
He found II hard, at first, to break his father
ancient rule,
For noble husband though he be, he's stubborn a
mule.
He changed his stock OF native COWS for COWS {
| foreign breed;
The Grange supplied him well, at cost, with pure'
kind o. seed