Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1893-03-03
ming and one at the close, but both upsi lie

/ mn and down the earth, whether feeding
| the Israelites on their way to the land flow
! ing with milk and honey, or, as we are bet
| ter acquainted with the moilusks, when
| 6uug to the beach OF lake or sea. There are
| three great families of them. If / should
| ask Won TO name three of the great royal
| families of the earth, perhaps you would re-
| sDond the house OF Stewart, the house or
HaDsburg the house of Bourbon, but the
| three royal families OF mollusks are the uni
| valve or shell in one part, the bivalve. or
shell of two parts, and multivalve, or shelf
| in many parts, and see God in their every
| hinge, in their every TOOTH, In thel :
! every cartilage in their every Hgament. lii
Nher every spiral ridge, and in their every
| color prism on prism, and their adaptation
| of thin shells for still ponds and thick coat
| ing for boisterous seas. They all dash upon
me the thought Of the providential care Of
| God.
What is the use Of all this architecture OF
| the shell, and why is it pictured from the
/ outside lip clear down into its labyr!nths Of
| construction? Why the in6nitv OF skill and
radiance in a she'll? What is the use of the
! color and exquisite curve OF a thing so in
! significant as sheilfsh? Why, when the
conchoIogist by dred2e or raka fetchas the
| crustaceous specimens to the shore, does he
| find at his feet whole a1hambras and coli
seums and parthenons and crystal palaces Of
| beauty in miniature, and these bring tolight
| only an infiniteSmal part OF the opulence in
| the great s1lbaqueous world. LieDnRuS
counted $500 species of shells, but conchology
had then only begun its achievements.
While exploring the bed of the Atlantic
Ocean in preparation for laying the cable
| shelled animals were brought up from
| depths of 1000 fathoms. When lifting the
telegraph wire from the Mediterranean and
| Red Seas, shelled creatures were brought
up. from depths OF 1000 fathoms. The Eng
hsh admiralty, exploring in behalf OF
science, found mollusks at depth of 2435
fathoms, or Il, 210 feet deep, What realm
awful for vastnessl
AS the shell is only the house and the
wardrobe of Insignificant animals of the
deep, why all that wonder and beauty of
construction. Gods care for them is the
only reason. And if God provide so munifi-
Gently for them, will He not see that Won
have wardrobe and shelter? Wardrobe and
shelter for puriwinkle! Shall there not be
wardrobe and shelter for man? Won
God give coat Of mail for the defense of q
nautilus and leave you no defense against
the storm? Does He build stone house for
creature that lasts season and leave with
OUT nome soul that takes hold on centuries
and cons?
Hugh Miller found ''the FOOTPRINTS of the
Creator in the old red sandstone" and I
near the harmOnies of God in the tinkle Of
Che sea shells when the tides cone in The
same Christ who drew lesson of providen-
ulal care from the fact that God clothes with
grass the field lnstructs me to draw the same
lesson from the Shells
In almost every mans life. however we'll
born and prosperous for years and in al
most every wonan's life there comes a verv
dark Time, at least once. A conjunction or
circumstances will threaten bankruDtcv and
homelessness and starva ton. 1t may be that
these words will meet the ear or will
the eye of those who are in such a state OF
fOreboding. Come, then, and see how God
gives ivory palace to a water animal that
you could cover with a ten-cent piece and
clothes in armor against all attack coral
l. 49, - aIy
that God will take better care of a bivaive
than of one of His own children.
rake to your feet with the gospel rake
the most thorough evidences Of Gods care
tor His creatures. pile around you great
mounds of shells that they may teach you
a most comforting theology. On, ye of little
faith, walk among these arbors of coraline
and look at these bouquets of shell, fit to be
handed queen on her coronation day, and
see these fallen rainbows OF color, and ex-
anime these lilies in stone, these primroses
in stone, these helotropes in stone, these
cowslips in stone, these geraniums in stone,
these japonicas in stone.
o ye who have your telescopes ready look
ing out on clear nights, trying to see what
is transpir1ng in Mars, Jupiter and Mercury,
know that wltdin few hours walk or ride
of where you now are there are whole
worlds that you might explore, but of which
you are unconscious and among the most
beautiful and suggestive of these worlds is
OueCouCtlOlOTlCaI world. lake this lesson or
providential care. How does that old
hymn go?
We may. like ships, by tempests be tossed
On perilous deeps. out cannot be lost.
Enough satan enrages the wind aud the tide,
The promise assures US the Lord will provide.
But while you get this pointed lesson OF
providentlal care from the shelled creatures
Of the deep, notice in their construction
that God helps them to help themselves. This
house Of stone in which they live is not
dropped on them and is not built around
them. The material for it exudes from their
own bodies and is adorned with q colored
fluid from the pores Of their own neck. It
is a most interesting thing to see these crus-
tacean animals fashion their own homes out
! OF carbonate of lime and membrane.
And all of this Is mighty lesson to those
| who waiting for others to build their
| fortunes when they ought to go to WORK
| and, like the moilusks, build their own
| fortunes out OF their own brain, out of their
own sweat, out of their own industries
| Not a mollusk on all the beaches Of all the
! seas would have a house Of shell If it had
not itself built one. Do rot wait for others
| to shelter you or prosper you. All the
| crustaceous creatures Of the earth from
every fake OF their covering and from every
| ridge of their tinv castles on Atlantic and
| Pacific and Mediterranean coasts say,
! Help Yourself while Got he'll s you to help
| yourself"
| Those people who are waiting for their
| father or rich old uncle to die and leave them
i fortune are as silly as a moiusS would be
to wait for some other moliusk to drop on
it a shell equipment. It would kill the mol
lusk as in most cases it destroys man. Not
| one person out of hundred evsr was strong
! enough to stand a large estate BY inherit