Saturday press. [volume] (Honolulu, H.I.) 1880-1885, 1883-01-13
plchING ROCKS.

The native Of New England, farm bred,
will readily remember this disagiceablc kind
Of spring work In April, OF ~ early a. the
weather would permit, just as the ground was
thawing, the hardy youngstcr was sent ahcld
TO gather up the stones, that somehow had
worked their way to the surface, and cast them
upon the yearly increasing heaps that hid the
oulcrops Of the granite lcdges. Or else they
were to be flung beside the old wall, built oi
former stony spoils, TO dispute with wild
blackberry vines the possession Of the halfrod
Of waste land, that skired the field. The
air, bleak an chilly, was bu, scantily warmed
by the pale sun, and the surface of the ground,
sofening as the frost slowly yielded, formed
mud beneath the feet. The boy, often alone,
wrought at his unwelcome task with cold
fingers and moody face. There was nc
stimulus in the work, and the bare fields and
lcancss woods in sight wore dfeary aspect.
To him i, was a toll Of merely physical cndur
ancc But the good farmer seldom omitted
TO have it done preparatory to the spring plow
| ing. All the stony, sterile soil OF new
England II was the hard and persistent
effort to subdue and cultivate it, and the rigid
economy in the use Of its products, that trained
and equipped many young man to conquer
difficulties and achieve success in the fresl
feldsof action which his vast country opened
before him.
Whether there be not something typica
in that "rock picking" was the query sug
gested as the vision Of early days glided acros'
the magic mirror Of memory.
In the culture Of the individual man, in tn,
intellectual and moral progress Of society, il
the growth and elevation Of the nation, somt
of the hardest Of the Spring work is still the
removal of the stones from the field. Ignor
| coming to the surface, and not seldom is tn,
weather-,he circumstances Of the time
favorable for the work. Sometimes still tn,
resolute stone.picker must toll alone, and the
aching hands, the muddy feet and the cherries
prospect of the farmer boy do not lack theil
analogies. Now, as of old, it is question o
endurance, not physical, but moral.
And the stones, whH becomes Of them :
part perhaps, are hurled into the limbo Of for
gotten things, and we are quit Of them forever
But it may happen that some eager philosopher
OF experimental scientist will have hot fit tC
investigate the bedrock, long hidden beneath
heap of them, and forthwith he excavates
plants his dynamite, and with a crash scatter
far and wide the accumulations of years
A sorry job for the farmer in the coming spring
Or me,aphorically, behold the waste stones
| thickly piled on some barren spot-aSing Sing
San Quntenl Or again, some restless limo
water grubs up the tangled briars along th'
edges Of society, and affronts the sun with th'
rocky desolation, perhaps dragging it dowI
once more upon the borders of the fertile land
driving out the black snake, and the dur
adder to seek shelter in the standing corn.
And so perhaps it must be, till the last ston
of the mountain is carried by the floods to tn
plaintiff the plain has been cleared Of it
last bouder-till the waste heaps have decom
posed and crumbled into sol-so long must tn
ever repeated process go on, and the goo,
farmer reformer and statesman must year b,
year patiently clear his land, and make read,
for his precious crops Y.