The Monitor-register., 1897-10-15

In Autumn The Heavenly Harvest.
"Cometh as a Shock of Corn In His Sea-
son."
Copyright, 1897, by American Press Asso-
ciation.1
WASHINGTON, Oct. 10.-This sermon
by DR.. Talmage is peculiarly s~easonable
at the present time, when the teeming
harvests all over the land are awaiting
the husbandman. His text is Job V, 90,
"As a shock of corn cometh in in his
season"
Going at the rate of 40 miles the
hour a few days ago, l caught this SER
mon. If you have recently been in the
fields of Pennsylvania or New Jersey or
New York or New England or any of
the country districts, you know that the
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 a 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 it in the field in what is call
ed a shock.
1t is estimated that there are now
several billion bushels of corn standing
in the shock, waiting to be husked.
Some time during the latter part of next
month the farmers will gather, one day
on n farm, another day on another
farm, and they will put on their rough
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 it into the gold
en- heap. Then the wagons will come
along and take it to the corncrib.
How wildly to all those of us who
were born in the country comes the re-
membrane of husking time. We waited
for it as for a gala day of the year. 1t
was called a frolic. The trees having
for the most part shed their foliage, the
farmers waded through the fallen leaves
and came through the keen morning air
to the gleeful company. The frosts,
which had silvered everything during
the night, began to melt off of the top
of the corn shocks. While the farmers
were waiting for others they stood blow
ing their breath through their fingers or
thrashing their arms around their bodies
to keep up warmth Of circulation.
The Cornfie1d.
Roaring mirth greeted the late farmer
as he crawled over the fierce. Joke and
repartee and rustic salutation abounded.
All ready nowl The men take hold the
shock of corn and hurl it 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 husk-
ing peg is thrust in until it strikes the
corn, and then the fingers rip off the
sheathing of the ear, and there is a
crack as the root of the corn is snapped
off from the husk, and the grain, disim-
prisoned, 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 a carriage that holds but
two and some prophesy as to the mum
Der Of bushels to the field, and others 20
into competition as to which shall rifle
the most corn shocks before shutdown.
After awhile the dinner horn sounds
from h 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 Oh
the place the richest dainties come, and
there are carnival and neighborhood re-
union and a scene which fills our men,
Dry, part with smiles, but more with
tears, as we remember that the farm be-
longs now to other owners, and other
hands gather in the fields, and many of
those who mingled in that merry husk-
ing 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 were put down many centuries
ago. and they have been planted in u
time and have come up just such Indi- I
an maize as we raise in New York and
Ohio, SO | am right when l say that my !
text may refer to a shock of corn just
as you and | bound it, just as you and
/ threw it. just as you and 1 husked it.
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"
1t is high time that the king of ter
rors were thrown out of the Christian
vocabulary. A vast multitude of people
talk of death as though it were the dis
aster of disasters instead of being to a
good man the blessing of blessings. 1t
is moving out of a cold vestibule into a
warm temple. 1t is migrating into
groves of redolence and perpetual fruit
age. 1t is a change from bleak March to
roseate June. 1t is a change of mana
cles for garlands. 1t is the transmitting
Of the iron handouts of earthly incar-
ceration into the diamonded wristlets |
of q bridal party, or, to use the sugges-
ton of my text, it is only husking
time. 1t is the tearing off of the rough
sheath of the body that the bright and
the beautiful soul may go free. Com
ing in like a shock of corn cometh in
in his season." Christ broke up a fu-
neral procession at the gate of Main by |
making a resurrection day for a young
man and his mother. And l would that
i could break up your sadnesses and halt
the long funeral procession of the
worlds grief by some cheering and
cheerful view of the last transition.
The Frost.
We all know that husking time was a
time of frost. Frost on the fence. Frost
on the stubble Frost on the ground.
Frost on the bare branches of the trees.
Frost in the air. Frost on the hands of
the huskers. You remember we used to
hide behind the corn stacks so as to
keep off the wind, but still you remem-
Der how shivering was the body and
how painful was the cheek and how be-
numbed were the hands. But after
awhile the u was high up and all the
frosts went out of the air, and hilarities
awakened the echoes and joy from one
corn shock went up, "Aha, ahal' and
was answered by joy from another corn
shock, "Aha, ahal"
So we all realize that the death of
our friends is the nipping of many ex-
pectations, the freezing, the chilling, |
the frosting of many of our hopes. 1t is