Lewiston teller. [volume] (Lewiston, North Idaho) 1878-1900, 1890-09-04
TALMAGE TO FARMERS.
Honos Of tbs Agss Paid to Agriculture
in All Ovilis,d Land.

Deep Flowing for Crop; Deep Plovin, for
soul-Broken Heart or No Religion;
Broken Soul or No Harvsst-About Crooked
Burrows in Life
Rev. T. Dc Witt Talmage, the Brooklyn
preacher, discoursed last Sunday to an
immense gathering Of farmers at Mount
Gretna pear Lebanon, Pa. Representa-
tivcs of the great farmers associations
from all parts of the country were present
at an encampment, preparations for which
had been going on for many weeks. DIR.
! Talmage addressed the great throng on the
subject, Farming gospel type" His
text was, l. Kings 10 :l9.--"Elisha the son
of Shaphat, who was ploughing with
twelve oxen before him. and he with the
twelfth"
Farmers OF America said he, accept my
salutation. Our text puts US down into the
plow's furrow, where many Of us have been
before My boyhood passed on farm, and
my father IA farmer, your style Of life Is
familiar to me. One of my earliest recol-
lections is that of my father coming in from
the hot harvest-field exhausted, the
perspiration streaming from his forehead
and chin, and fainting on the doorsill, and
MY IlOtASI ICouSSlOutAH5 Hill, AhVAA cSSAA6
the alarm Of the household, he said, Don't
be frightened. got little tired, and the
sun was hot, but am all right now" And
remember mother seated at the table,
often saying, well, Inn too tired to eat"
The fact is, that do not think the old folks
got thoroughly rested until they lay down
in the graveyard back of Somerville, to
take the last sleep.
Office-seekers go through the land and
they stand on political platforms, and they
tell the farmers the story about the indie
pendent life of farmer, giving dattery
where they ought to give sympathy. indie
pendent of what. No class of people in
this country have it harder than farmers
Independent Of what! OF the curculiO that
stings the peach trees: Of the rust in the
wheat. of the long rain with the rye downs
Independent of the grashopper! of the
| locust! of the armyworms of the potato
bug! Independent of the drought that burns
| up the harvest. Independent of the cow
with the hollow horn! or the sheep with
the foot-rot. or the pet horse with the nail
| in his hoof! Independent of the cold that
freezes out the winter grain! Independent
| OF the snowbank out OF which &c
must shovel himself. Independent Of
| the cold weather when he stands
| threshing his numbed fingers around his
+! body to keep them from being frosteds In
/ dependcndent of the frozen ears and the
| frozen feet. Independent Of what! Fan
cy-farmers who have made their fortunes
| in the city and go out in the country to
build houses with all the modern improve
ments and make farming a luxury, may not
need any solace, but the yeomanry who get
their living out of the soil, and who that
| hov, m r1pt thar, fu m iliaa and
cate their children, and pay their taxes and
meet the interest on mortgaged farms
such men find a terrific struggle. And my
hope is that this great National Farmers
Encampment may do something toward
bearing the burdens of the agriculturists
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 afield, our
bare feet wet with the dew, and rode the
horses with the halter to the brook unit
we fell Off and hunted tho NOW for nests
until the feathered occupants went cack
ling away. So we all understand rusti.
illusions The Eitlc is full Of them. II
| Christ's sermon on the Mount, you see tn.
ull-blown lilies and the glossy back of the
crows wing as it flies over Mount Olivet
David and John, Paul and Isaiah find II
country life source of frequent inustra
ton, while Christ takes the responsibility
4 { calling God a farmer, declaring: my
Jather is the Husbandman. -
Noah was the first farmer We say
nothing about Cain the tiller of tho soil
Adam was gardener on a large scale, bu
to Noah was given all the acres Of tn
earth. Elisha was an agriculturist, no
culturing ten-acre lot, for in my text yol
find him blowing with twelve yoke of oxel
before him, and he with the twelfth. Il
Bible times the land was so plenty and tn
Inhabitants so few, that Noah was RICH
when he gave to every inhabitant certain
portion of land; that land, if cultured, eve
after to be his own possession.
There were not small crops raised i,
those times, for though the arts were rude
the pillow turned up very rich soil, and bar
} ley, and cotton, and fax, aud all kinds o
grain came up at the call of the hsrvesters
Pliny tells of one stalk of grain that had o
IL between three and four hundred ears
The rivers and the brooks, through art
/ ficial channels, were brought down to tn
roots of the corn, and to thk habit Of TURF
ing river wherever 1t was wanted, Sole
, mon refers when he says; s'The king
, heart is in the hand Of tho Lord, and H
turneth it as the rivers of water are turne
whithersoever He will"
The wild beasts were caught, and then
! hook was put into their nose, and then the
, were leo over the field, and to that Go
, refers when He says to wicked Sci
nacherib: II will put hook in thy nos
and will bring thee back by the way whic
thou earnest" And God has q hook
: every mans nose, whether it be Nebuchat
a nezzar or Ahab or Herod. He may thin
himself very Independent, but some tin
1 in his life or in the hour of his death,
g will find that the Lord Almighty has
|, hook in his nose.
This was the rule in regard to the cultul
of the ground: Thou shalt not pillow wit
$ IN OK and an ass together" ilustratin
t .he folly of ever putting intelligent an
e useful and pliable men in association wit
Z the stubborn and the unmanageable. III
vast majority of troubles in the church,