Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1896-03-04


Listen my soul to the glad refrain!
And spite Of all sorrow and old SHINING,
And puzzle forecasted, and possible pain.
Take heart with the day, and begin again.
The Field and the Man.
Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields
John, w., %.
There is a curious and instructive
resemblance between a wheat field and
q man. The field can teach us many a
moral lesson to which we may prOfita
bly, give heed.
First, the soil is full of dormant pos.
sibilities. Under right conditions 1T
will yield an abundant crop, but the
conditions are imperative, and we must
accord with them, or the crop will ney
er be reaped. If you allow the field to
do as it will, unless it is disciplined and
cultivated; unless something is given
to it and something taken away from
it, it will be valueless to the end of time
Left simply to itself, you will find it il
the autumn just what it was in the
spring.
This is strictly true of man also
He, too. is full of possibilities and they
are all dormant. Give him the right
environment, put into him noble i'm
pulse and holy aspiration, give him
the training which will suppress GER
tain tendencies and substitute others
the education which will enable him to
see his best self, the very sight OF
which will render him ambitious to
reach it, and you will produce man.
hood which will render him little lower
than the angels. On the other hand
let him lie fallow, or let him follow the
of hi
appetites and passions, and in middle
life you WilAhave a ruin, wasted years
and no achievement worthy the notice
of either earth or heaven.
1t is perfectly natural for the field to
grow weeds. It would seem that it
prefers weeds to grain, and, though
this fact is puzzling, every tilIer of the
soil must face it. Weeds require
less nourishment than grain. and they
need no care or attention. Only let the
field alone and the weeds will flourish
abundantly.
It is equally curious that evil habits
need no cultivation. They appear to
come by kind of spontaneous genera
ton. If man simply lets himself alone
to go where the uppermost impulse
may lead him, he very seldom takes the
road to heaven. but, on the other hand
is apt to sink even in his own estima
ton. Moral weeds flourish with very
little sunshine and multiply themselves
with surprising rapidity.
3s1nsthe second place, the field must
be plougHed, narrowed and sewed with
seed. There are forces, very produc
tive forces, under the sod which can
find their way 10 the surface only after
the plough has torn the sod to pieces
1t seems ruthless kind of work to do,
to run that ploughshare down deep in
to the soil, and while it is being done
the soil may groan with pain and won
der why such implacable intrusion
should be thought necessary. But we,
who have some information on the sub
ject, know that the plough is the soils
best friend as well as the best friend OF
the farmer. The most valuable and the
where only the ploughshare can reach
them. It does reach them, and, in
spite of the apparent roughness, it does
bring blessing to the field, mo plough,
no CROP" is the motto of nature.
The same is true of man. The no.
blest elements of character are deep
down in the soul. They can never be
brought to the surface and can never
obtain control of the mans life until
Gods plough is driven as far as the
share will go. When the depths have
been brought up where the sun and
dew can reach them, and when the man
has been so torn by the harrow of ex-
perience that he becomes conscious of
his manifest destiny and of the achieve
ments which are possible, then the real
spiritual life begins. If you ask why
a man should be ploughed up in order
that he may bring forth something
worthy of himself, can only answer
with perfect frankness that l do not
know. 1t is one of the strangest prob
lens in the universe, and l doubt if
we shall reach solution until we stand
on the further shore and look back
The fact, however, is not to be denied
in the case of the man any more than
in the case of the field.
Gods plough has a close relation to
spiritual excellence. The noblest souls
that walk the earth have suffered
Greatness cannot be attained without
trial and struggle, any more than wheat
will grow in an unploughed field. There
is more power for good in a life of hard
work than in life of luxury, and there
is more of the higher kind of happiness
in the years which so rudely tossed us
about that we were compelled to cry
to heaven for help than in the years
when we had all we desired and were
with the earth.
1t is the carefully titled soil that is |
covered with rich grain, and it is the /
soul that produces a true
and wOmanhood. The mex |
orable law is that your own way shall
prove itself the worst way, and that
dOd'S way, which is sometimes Dlenti- |
fully sprinkled with disappointments,
is after all and in the long run the best
way.
True religion, therefore, consists in
recognizing these facts and in seeing
,he purpose which God has in forcing
1pon you varied experience. The
Christ spirit is a spirit of resignation
Ind cheerful submission to the higher
Ind the wiser WILL 1t is a hard lesson
% learn, but heaven is ahead of us, and
When we get there we shall be glad to
nave learned it.
GEORGE H. HEPWORTH.