The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1897-12-18

M&EuA@ 4HMW of sun or moon.
REV. But the botanical
and pomological productions came on
Wednesday-frst the flowers and then
the fruits. The vail of fog Is lifted
and there stand the orchards. Watch
the sudden maturity of the fruit! In
our time pear trees must have two
years before they bear fruit, and peach
trees three years, and apple trees five
years; but here, instantly, a complete
orchard springs into life, all the
branches bearing fruit. The insectile
forces, which have been doing their
worst to destroy the fruits for 6,000
years, had not yet begun their inva-
sion. There stood the first orchard,
with a perfection of rind, and an ex-
quisiteness of color, n a luciousness
Of taste, and an afiuence of production
which it may take thousands of years
more of study of the science of fruits
to reproduce.
Why was the orchard created two
days before the fish and the birds, and
three days before the cattle? Among
other things, to impress the world
with a lesson it is too stubborn to
learn-that fruit diet is healthier than
meat diet, and that the former must
ICCCoC u AdNbCAs 4HO AOdooh IAAOAC
are in the world so many of the i'm
bruted and sensual is that they have
not improved by the mighty, unnoticed
fact that the orchards of paradise pre-
ceded the herds, and aviaries, and fish,
ponds. Oh, those fruit-bearing trees
on the banks of the Euphrates and the
Gihon and the Hiddekel! 1 wonder
not that the ancient Romans, igno-
rant of our God, adored Pomona, the
goddess of fruits, and that all the
sylvan deities were said to worship
her, and hat groves were set apart as
her temples. You have thanked God
for bread 1000 times. Have you
thanked him for the fruits which he
made the first course of food in the
menu of the worlds table? The acids
Of those fruits to keep the worlds
table from being insipid, and their
sweets to keep it from being too sourP
AS you pass through the orchard on
these autumnal days and look up
through the arms of the trees laden
with fruit. you hear humping on the
ground that which is fully ripe, throw
ing your arms around the trunk, you
give a shake that sends dow a shower
Of gold and fire on all sides of you.
Pile up in baskets and barrels and bins
and on shelves and tables the divine
supply. But these orchards have been
under the assault of at least 60 GEN.
turies-the storm, the drougths, the
winters, the insectivora, What must
the first orchard have beenp And yet
Ii the explorers evidence that on the
site of that orchard there Is not an
apricot, or an apple. or an olive
nothing but desert and desolation.
There is not enough to forage the
explorers horse, much less to feed
his own hunger. In other words hat
arst orchard is a lost orchard. How
did the proprietor and the proprietress
Of all that INSTRUMENTATION of fruit
age let the rich splendor slip their pos
sessionP 1t a as now most of the or
ohsrds are lost; namely, by wanting
more. Access they had to all the hg
trees, apricotsr walnuts, almonds, ap-
ples-busheIs on bushels-and were
forbidden the use of only one tree in
the orchard. Not satisfied with all
but one, they reached for that and lost
the whole orchard. Go right down
through the business marts Of the
great cities and find among the weigh.
srs and clerks and subordinates men
who nee commanded the commercial
world. They had a whole orchard
Of successes, but they wanted just
n more thing, one more house,
OF one nor country seat or
one more store, or M more rail-
road, or one more million. They
elutched for that and lost all they had
gained. For one more tree they lost q
whole orchard. There are business
men all around US worried nearly to
death. The doctor tells them they :
ought to stop. Insomnia or indigestion
Or aching at the base of the brain or
ungovernable nerves tell them they !
ought to stop. They really have enough
for themselves and their families.
Some morning you open your paper.
and, looking at the death column, you
ind he suddenly departed from life.
In trying to win just q moro tree he
lost the whole orchard.
Yonder is a man with many styles of
innocent entertainments and amuse-
ment. He walks, he rides, he plays
ten-pins in private alleys, he has books
on his table, pictures on his wall, and
occasional outings, concerts, lectures,
baseball tickets and the innumerable
delights of friendship. But he wants
q key to the place of dissolute onvoc
ton. He wants association with some
members of a high family as reckless
rs he is afnuent. He wants, instead Of
q quiet Sabbath, one of carousal. He
wants the stimulus of strong drinks.
&c wants the permissions of u prof
iigate life, The one mem bership, the
one bad habit, the Il carousal robs
him of all the possibilities and inno-
cent enjoyments and noble inspirations
of a lifetime. BY one mouthful of for
hidden fruit he loses u whole orchard
OF fruit unforbidden.
The story of Eden is rejected by
some as IN improbability, If not an
impossibility, but nothing on earth Is
easier for mo to believe than the truth
of this Edenic story, for l have seen
the same thing in this yea of our
Lord, 1897. I could call them by name,
If 1t were polite and righteous to do
so, the men who havs sacrificed a
paradise on earth and a paradise in
Heaven for one SIM. Their house went.
Their library went Their good name
went. Their field Of usefulness went.
Their health went. Their immortal
soul vent My friendsl there Is Just
one sin that will urn you out OF para
disc if you do not quit it. You know
what 1t is, and God knows, and you
hdu peItST uTOP luo bdHo anu III"
lifted toward that bending bough be-
fore you pluck your own ruin. When
Adam stood on tiptoe and took IN his
hand that n round peach, or
apricot. or apple, Satan reached up
and pulled down the round, beautiful
world Of our present residence.
But ! turn from Adams orchard to
orchard. With his own
L.. Ia al - 49, -a.1
and orchards" Not depending on the
natural fall Of rain, he irrigated those
orchards. Pieces of the aqueduct that
those gardens l have seen,
and the reservoirs are as perfect as
when thousands of years G the
mason's trowel smoothed the mortar
over their gray surfaces. No orchard
olden or modern time. probably,
had It's thirst so well slaked. The