The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1882-11-23
TALMAGE, THE GIFTED.
Out of the Frost into the Sun
shine.
He Uses Some Agricultural Metaphors to
Point the Way to the Heavenly
Kingdom.
Opening hymn:
The morning light is breaking,
The darkness disappears,
Sons Of men are waking
To peniteutial tears.

Sons of men are waking
TC peniteutial tears
Before the sermon DR.. Talmage ex-
pounded passages of the book of Job.
TExT-JOb 5:26: Like as shock of
corn cOmeth in in his season."
Going at forty miles an hour last We'd
| nesday | caught this sermon. If you
have been in the fields of New York, or
| Pennsylvania, or New England, OF al
most anywhere the past few weeks, you
know the corn is all cut. The knife
struck all through the stalks, and they
lay all along the fields till some one
came with bundles of straw, and twist
ing few wisps of these straWs tOgeth-
er, band was made, and so much OF the
corn as man could compass with his
two arms, was fastened together in what
is called shock. All over the land you
will find corn in that posture. In few
weeks the neighbOrs will gather tOgeth-
er for few days, coming to this neigh
boris field and then to that neJghbOr's
field, and the rough husking aprons will
be put on, and the husking peg, sharp
piece of iron with leathern loop fast
ened to the hand, will unsheath the ears
of corn, and they will be thrown into
golden heaps, and afterward, by wag-
on, taken to the cOrn-crib. How VividlV
comes up in the mind of those of us who
were born in the country the remem-
brance of -huSking time We waited
for it as the grand gala time of the year.
1t was called frOlic. By that time the
woods had shed most of their leaves, and
the neighbOrs waded through the fallen
foliage as they came on through the
keen morning to the gleeful company.
The frost which had silvered everything
in the night was melting off the tops of
the corn shocks. Waiting for others,
the men stood occasionally blowing
their breath through their fingers, or
thrashing their arms around them to
get up better circulation OF blood.
There was roaring mirth in the fields
at some late farmer crawling over the
| fence. Joke and repartee and rustic
salutatiOn banded. All ready now. The
men lay hold of the shock of corn and
hurl it prOstrate on the ground, and the
| mOles and mice secreted under this
warm shelter attempt to escape. The
/ withe of straw is unwOund from the
shock, and the stalks, heavy with their
wealth of grain, are rolled into two
| bundles, and the husker sits down be-
tween. The peg is thrust In until the
corn Is reach d, and the fingers tear Off
the swarth of leaves, and with a crack
the root of the ear is severed from the
husk, and thus disimprisOned tossed out
into the sunshine. The air is so tonic,
the work so exhilerating, the company
so blithe, some sing, some banter, some
shout, some tell stories of Olden times,
or tease each other as to where they
were going some night all with Sunday
clothes, and in carriage that would
hold but two. Some prophecy the num-
ber of bushels to the field; some go into
competition as to which shall finish the
most shocks before sundOwn. After
awhile the dinner horn sounds from the
farmhouse, and the table is surrounded
by jolly and hungry men. From all the
pantries and from all the cellars the
richest dainties are brought, and it is
time of carnival and neighbOrhoOd re-
union which fills our memory somewhat
with smiles, but more with tears, be-
cause the old farmhouse now belongs to
other owners and those fields are gath
cred by other hands, and most of those
who mingled in the husking scenes have
themselves been Teaped. Like as a
shock of corn cOmeth in in his season."
There is some difference of opinion as
to whether the 0rientals knew anything
about the corn now standing in our
fields. Recent discoveries show that
what we call Indian maize, was raised
by the Hebrews, and some of the grain
of these Olden times found in crypts and
eXhumed from hidden places have been
planted, and produce in Palestine just
such corn as we have in Ohio and New
York, so feel have right to take my
text as referring to shock of corr, such
as you and | have bound, such as you
and l have thrown, such as you and |
have husked. 1t is high time the king
of TerrOrs" be turned out of the Christ
ian's vocabulary. 1t is a simple fact
that multitudes look upon death as the
disaster of disasters, W hen 1t is to a good
man the blessing of blessings. 1t is go
ing out Of the cold vestibule into the
warm temple. 1t is migration into
groves of redOlence and perpetual fruit
age. 1t is a sudden passage from bleak
March to rosy June. 1t Is an exchange
of manacles for garlands, and the trans
mitting of the handouts of earthly in
generation into the diamOnded wrist
of a bridal company; or, as my text Sug-
gests, it is only husking time; the TAX
king off the sheath of the body from the
bright and beautiful soul-the coming
in like as shock of corn cOmeth in in
his season." Christ broke up funeral
at the gates of Main by a resurrection
day; made for one man and his mother;
and wish / could break up the terrors
of the services, and halt the long funer-
al procession of the worlds grief, by
some cheering view of the last transit
ton.
OF course the husking time in the
fields IL time of frost. Frost on the
I6uCoSJ 1IO0b Ou bn6 BIOuuuJ lTOSL Oh Ln6
stubble; frost on the fallen leaves; frost
on the hands Of the reaper. We hid our
selves from the wind as we'll as we could
between the stalks; but OH how flushed
the cheeks, and how shivering the body,
and how numb the handsl Cold, sharp,
penetrating atmospheric But after
awhile the sun was far up, and the frosts
were out Of the air, and the hilarities
woke up the echoes. From one shock
of corn the sound went up: Ha! hal hal
and was answered from those busy at
another: hal hal hal So we may not
hide the fact that death nips and chills
and freezes many hopes and many ex-
pectatiOns. 1t is far from being a south
wind. 1t comes out of the f.Ozen north
and we stand benumbed under its pow
er. Our hearts break now over our dead
children, our dead companions, our
dead parents, and it seems as if we never
would get over it. An. we will get over
it, for the sun VI, bD up, and the joys
and shOntings of reunion will make us
forget tho past, and we will look back