The Yale expositor., 1897-10-15

you know that corn
Is nearly all cut. The sharp knife
struck through the stalks and left
them all along the fields until a man
came with a bundle of straw and
twisted a 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 1t in the
field in what is called a shock.
1t is estimated that there are now
several billion bushels of corn standing
in the shock, waiting to be husked.
Sometime during the latter part of next
month, the farmers will gather, one day
on one farm, another day on another
husking apron, and they will take the
husking peg, which is a piece of iron
with a leather loop fastened to the
hand, and with it unsheath the corn
from the husk and toss 1t into the
golden heap. Then the wagons will
come along and take it to the corn
crib.
How wildly to all those Of us who
were born in the country comes the re-
membrance of husking time. We wait
ed for 1t as for a gala day in the year.
1t was called a frolic. The trees hav-
ing for the most part shed their foliage,
the farmers waded through the fallen
morning air to the gleeful company.
The frosts which had silvered every
thing during the night began to melt
off of the top of the corn shocks.
While the farmers were waiting for
others, they stood blowing their breath
through their fingers, or threshing their
arms arounds their body to keep up
warmth of circulation.
Roaring mirth greeted the late farm
er as he crawled over the fence. Joke
and repartee and rustic salutation
abounded. All ready, now! The men
take hold the shock of corn and hurl
1t 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 husking peg is thrust in
until 1t 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, disimprisoned, is hurled up
into the sunlight.
The air is so tonic, the work is so
very exhilarating, the company is so
blithe, that some laugh, and some shout
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 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 sun
down.
After a 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
and the cellars and the perches of fowl
on the place the richest dainties come,
and there is carnival and neighborhood
reunion, and a 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 hands gather in the fields, and
many of those who mingled in that
merry hpsking scene have themselves
been reaped like as a shock OF corn
cometh in in his season."
{ There is a difference of opinion as to
whether the Orientals 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 the
corn picked up out of ancient crypts
and exhumed from hiding places where
they we're 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 say that my
text may refer to shock of corn Just
as you and bound 1t, just as you and l
threw 1t, just as you and / husked Il.
There may come some practical and
useful and comforting lessons to all
our souls, while we think of coming in
at last like a shock of corn coming in
in his season."
It 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 being
to good man the blessing OF blessings.
1t is moving out of a cold vestibule in
to a warm temple. 1t is migrating
into groves of redolence and perpetual
fruitage. 1t is a change from bleak
March to roseate June. 1t is a change
of manacles for garlands. II is the
transmitting of the iron handouts of
earthly incarceration into the diamond
ed wristlets of bridal party; or to use
the suggestion Of my text. it is only
husking time. II is the tearing of OF
the rough sheath of the body that the
bright and the beautiful soul may go
free. Coming in like a shock of corn
cometh in in his season." Christ