Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1892-12-02
HUSKING THE CORN.
TALMAGE TELLS OF THE GATH
ERING OF SHOCKS.
A Sermon from Job-"As Shock OF
Corn cometh In la His SEASON., 5;@6
"A Vivid Picture of the Day Of Final
Judgment,

SCdHOlA. AAO oNNOA
of the Thanksgiving day still remained
on the platform and the galleries, and
long rows of yellow and white corn on
the front and back of the platform
were in accord with the sermon. The
text selected was "As Shock Of Corn
Cemeth in in His Season." dob 5: 26.)
This is the time of the year for huslS-
ing corn. If you have recently been in
the fields of Pennsy or New
Jersey, or New York, or New England,
or in any of the country districts, you
know that the corn is all cut The
sharp knife struck through the stalks
and left them all along the fields until
a man came with bundle of straw
and twisted few of these wisps of
straw into band, and then gathering
up as much of the corn as he could
compass with his arms, he bound
it with this wisp of straw, and then
stood it in the field in what is called a
shock. There are now at least two
billion bushels of corn either standing
in the shock, or having been already
husl1ed. The farmers gather, one day
on one farm, and then another day on
another farm, and they put on their
rough huslxing apron, and they take
the husking peg, which is a piece of
iron with leathern loop fastened to
the hand, and with it unshea:h the
corn from the husk and toss it into the
golden heap. Then the wagons come
along and take it TO the corn crib
About corn as an important cereal
or corn as metaphor the Bible is
constantly speaking. You know about
the people in famine coming to buy
corn of Joseph, and the foxes on fire
running into the standing corn" and
about the oxen treading out the corn,
and about the seven thin ears of corn
that in Pharaoh'C dream devoured the
seven good ears, and the "parched
corn handed To beautiful Buth by the
harvesters Of Bethlehem, and Abigail's
five measures of "parched corn" with
which she hoped TO appease the enem-
les of her drunken husband, and
David's description of the valleys
covered over with corn" and 'the
handful of corn in the EARTH" and
"the full corn in the ear" and Christ's
Sabbath morning walk through corn
fields, and the disciples 'plucking ears
of corn" and so / am not surprised to
find corn-huslxing time referred to in
my text: GAS shock of corn cometh
in in his season."
How wildly to all those of us who
were born in the country comes the
remembrance of husking time. We
waited for it as for gala day of the
year. 1t was called Il frolics The trees
having for the most part shed their
foliage, the farmers waded through
the fallen leaves and came through
the keen morning air to the gleeful
company. The frosts which had sill
vered everything during the night be-
gan to melt off the top of the corn
shocks While the farmers were
waiting for others they stood blowing
their breath through their fingers, or
thrashing their arms around their
body to keep up warmth of circulation.
Roaring mirth greeted the late farmer
as he crawled over the fence. Joke
and repartee and rustic salutation
abounded. All ready, now! The men
take hold of the shock of corn and hurl
it PROSTATE, while the moles and mice
which have secreted themselves there
for warmth, attempt escape. The
withe of straw is unwound from the
corn shock and the stalks heavy with
the wealth of grain are rolled
into two bundles between which
the husker sits down. The huslSing
peg is thrust in until il strikes the
corn, and then the fingers rip off the
sheathing of the ear, and there is
crack as the root of the corn is snapped
off from the husk, and the grain dis
imprisoned is hurled up into the sun
light The air is so tonic, the work is
SO very eXhilarating, the company is
so blithe, that some laugh, and some
sing, and some banter, and some tease
a neighbor for a romantic ride along
the edge of the woods in an eventide,
in a carriage that holds but two,
and some prophesy as to the num-
Der of bushels to the field, and
others go into competition as to which
shall rifle the most corn-shocks before
shutdown. After while the dinner
horn sounds from the farmhouse, and
the table is surrounded by a group of
jolly and hungry men. From all the
pantries aud the cellars and the
perches of fowl on the place the rich
est dainties come, and there is carnival
and neighborhood union. and scene
which fills our memory, part with
smiles but more with tears, as we
remember that the farm belongs
now to other owners, and other
bands gather in the field, and many of
those who mingled in that merry huslS-
ing scenes have themselves been
reaped, like as shock of corn cometh
in in his season."
There is a difference of opinion as to
whether the Orienta knew anything
about the corn as it stands in our fields;
but recent discoveries have found out
that the Hebrew knew all about Indian
maize, for there have been grains Of
corn picked up out of ancient
cryps and cxhumed from hiding
places where they were put
down many centuries ago, and
they have been planted in our time
and have come up just such Indian
maize as we raise in New York and
Ohio; so am right when l say that
my text may refer to shock of corn
just as you and bound it, just as you
and l threw it, just as you and /
husked it There may come some
practical and useful and comforting
lessons to all our souls. while we think
of coming in at last like shock of
corn coming in in his season."
1t is high time that the King of Ter
rors were thrown out of the Christian
vocabulary. A vast multitude of peo-
pie talk of death as though IL were the
disaster of disasters instead of beincr