The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1897-02-04
THE GOLDEN AGE.
IT IS SURELY COMING.
Some Rambling Thoughts.
BY "NEMO."
copyrighted.

| homes, scattered IN every State OF the
Union. In this county they will be
found week by week In the columns O
this paper only, as we have made ar
rangements with the author for theil
exclusive publication.)
A sub-soil plow, a harrow, roller
and cultlvator are all good things il
their proper place and time; but there
are soils in which the deeper you &C
the more you impoverish your farm
and there are stages in plant growth
| when the use of a roller or any other
implement is agricultural suicide
Because these are facts maintainable
against all argument, and because sc
many hundreds of thousands of my
readers are farmers, I wish to make
these out-of-door truths the starting
point for another Rambling Thought y
Humanity has from time immemo-
rial been likened to field, a vineyard
&C., wherein laborers need to plow and
to harrow, to reap and to garner. And
the call to thrust IN as the field Is white
unto harvest has always found increas-
Ing response since the moment when
man first began to understand that the
claims of his neighbor are urgent upon
him the moment his own absolute
needs have been attended to.
But enthusiasm in relation to good
work has to be combined with common
sense; it certainly must not be ahead
Of it I; or we shall find ourselves embark
ed in another fateful Children 5 Crusade,
like that of the middle ages. Enthu
siasm alone Will sink into helplessness,
just as with the rearing and straining
of mired horse. To make amply clear
my meaning I will go little further
There is hardly a community in which
you will fail to find men and women,
working for the benefit OF their race
from the purest motives at the outset.
But In almost as many communities
you will find lines of effort crossing and
re-crossing one another. So eager be-
comes the strainlng after statistical pre-
eminence-so many garments made, so
many hungry fed, so many souls saved,
&c.,-tnat the real object of the hui
manning work, the reaching Of human
hearts, is almost lost to sight IN the
rush. Then, here and there some extra
one instead of trying, or
pretending to try, to water where others
have planted, starts his answering
plow or his drastic harrow right over
the growing crops and standing sheaves
of others excusing himself by asserting
that their methods have been wrong.
Thus he not only undoes the work of
othi rs but he wastes his own strength,
by dong at an improper time, a thing
proper In Its own time and
place.
So while our voices should undoubt-
edly be raised in strength these closing
years OF the century, for freedom for all
to work as they will, Wisdom being
justified of her children there is equal
need for securing a certain unity OF
effort, so as to economic the moral
strength of a neighborhood. Eagerness
to work is not alone sufficient, else we
would praise the child that pulls up
corn to see it grow, or that tears open
a drum to see where the sound comes
from. The human race, looking back
ward can truly say, "when was child
l thought as child )" but it is not yet
able to say, "when / became a man, l
put away childish things" If it could,
we should see less pettiness, Indirect
ness, and stupidity among those who
clam to be children of Light, and yet
grope In the selfish, narrow stages of
human development.
What then shall be said to your heart
this week? You need in deep humility
to acknowledge to yourself that the
stone age has passed, when every mans
enemy was the very next man he hap
pened to meet that the iron age is
passing, when men learn the power Of
combination but use it for oppression !;
that the Golden Age is coming, when
the cooperation of those who loye, Tor
the benefit of those who suffer must be
the rule. If it be true that as il man
thinks in his heart, so is he; then you
will promptly lie found ready to sink
individual gain and fame, ready to
forego the praise OF men, ready to seek
the greatest good for the greatest num-
ber even it your own personality be-
comes merged in the common effort.
Would it not be of advantage to form
IN your town-what shall / name it,
a Get-Together" society: It's MEM
bership to be male up of those who in
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