Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1890-08-18


ing from his forehead and chin, and
fainting on the doorsill, and my mother
reSuScitatng him. until seeing the
alarm of the household, he said, Don't
be frightened. l got little tired, and
the sun was hot, but am all right now.
And l remember mother seated ut the
table. often saying, "Well. / am too
tired TO eat" The fact is. that | do
not think the old folks got thoroughly
rested until they lay down in the grave
yard back of Somerville, TO take the
last sleep.
Onice-ScekcrS 20 through the land and
they stand on political platforms, and
they tell the farmers the story about
the independent life of a farmer, giving
fattery where they ought to give sym
pathy. Independent of what? No class
of people i'm this country have it harder
than farmers. Independent Of what?
OF the curculio that StingS the peach
trees? of the RUST i'm the wheat? of the
long rain with the rye down? Inde-
pendent of the graSShopper? of the
locust? of the army-wOrm? Of the
pOtatO-bug2 Independent of the
drought that burns up the har-
veSt2 Independent of the COW with
the hollow horn? or the sheep with the
fo0trOt? or the horse with the nail in
his hoof? Independent of the cold that
freezes out the winter grain? Indepen-
dent of the snowbank out OF which he
must shovel himself? Independent of
the cold weather when he stands threSh-
ing his numbed fingers around his body
TO keep them from being frosted? In
dependent of the frozen ears and the
frozen feet? Independent of what?
Fancy-farmcrs who have made their
fortunes i'm the city and 20 out in the
country TO build houses with all the mod
ern improvements, and
MAKE FARMING A LUXURY,
may not need any solace; but the yco-
manry who get their living out of the
soll, and who that way have TO clOthe
their families and educate their chill
dren, and pay their taxes and meet the
| interest ON NOR gagged farms-Such men
| find q terrific struggle. And my hope is
| that this great National Farmers En-
Icampment may do something toward
/ lifting the burdens of the agricuturiStS.
| Yes. we were nearly all of US born in
/ the country. We dropped corn in the
/ hill. and went on Saturday TO the mill,
tying the grist in the centre of
| the sack so that the contents on
either side the horse balanced each
other; and drove the cattle afcld, our
/ bare feet wet with dew, and rode the
horses with the halter to the brook until
we fcl. Off, and hunted the NOW for
nests until the feathered occupants went
cackling away. So we all understand
rustic illusions The Bible is full of
them. In ChriStS sermon on the Mount,
YOU see the full-blOwn lilies and the
glossy back of the crows wing as it flies
over Mount Olivet. David and John,
Paul and Isaiah find in country life a
source of frequent Illustration, while
Christ takes the responsibility of call
ing God a farmar, declaring My
Father is the HuSbandman.
Noah was the first farmer. We say
nothing about Cain, the tiller Of the
soil. Adam was a gardener on large
scale. but to Noah was given all the
acres of the earth. Elisha was an agri-
culturiSt, not culturing ten-acre lot
for I'm my text YOU find him plOwng
aud he with the twelfth. In Bible
times the land was 50 plenty and the in
habitantS so few, that Noah was right
when he gave to every inhabitant
certain portion of land; that land, if
cultured. ever after to be his own pos
session.
HONOR TO AGMCULTUIE.
In nh agos tbcrc has becn great honor
paid to agriculture. Seyen-eighthS of
the people i'm every country are dis
cipleS of the plow. A government is
strong i'm proportion as il is supported
by an athletic and industrious yeoman-
ry. So long ago as before the fall OF
Carthage. Strabo wrote twcnty-eight
books on agriculture; HesiOd wrote a
poem on the same Subject-"The Weeks
and Days" Cato was prouder OF his
work ON huSbandry than of all his mill
tary conquestS. But l must not be
tempted into a discussion Of agricultur-
al cOnqueStS. Standing amid the harry
estS and orchards and vineyards OF the
Bible, and standing amid the harveStS
and orchards and vineyards OF our own
country want to run out the analogy
between the production of crops and the
growth of grace in the Soul-all these
sacred writers making use of that anal
ogy.
In the first place remark, in grace
as in the fields there must be a plOlc.
That which theOlOgianS call conviction
is only the plowShare turning up the
sins that have been rooted and matted
i'm the soul \ farmer said to his indo-
lent son: There are hundred dollars
buried deep i'm that field" The son
went TO work and plowed the field from
fence TO fence. and he plowed it very
deep, and then complained that he had
not found the money; but when the crop
had been gathered and sold for a hun
drcd dollars more than any previous
year, then the young man took the hint
as 20 what his father meant when he
said there was hundred dollars buried
down I'm that field Deep blowing for a
crop. Deep plOwing for soul. He
who makes light of sin will never
amount to anything in the church or in
the world. If man speaks of sin as
though il were an inaccuracy or mis-
take. instead of the lOathSome, abomin-
able. consuming, and damning thing
that God hates, that man will never
WELD q harvest of usefulness.
When ! was a boy l plOwed held
with a team of spirited horses. plow-
ed il very quickly. Once in while l
passed over some Of the sod without