Connecticut western news., 1897-10-14
THE CORN HARVEST.
REV. OR. TALMAGE DISCUSSES 4 1 REASONABLE TOPIC.

REASONABLE lOflC. His Graphic Word Pictures of Rural Life In Autumn The Heavenly Harvest. aCometh as . Shock of Corn In His Sea- son." ICopyright, 1897. by American Press Asso-
 ciation.1
 WASHINGTON, Oct. 10.-Thls sermon by Dr. Talmage is peculiarly seasonable at the present time, when the teemlng harvests all over the land are awaiting the husbandman. His text is Job V, 26, "As 8 shock of corn cometh in in his season"
 Going at the rate of 40 miles the hour 8 few days ago, 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 man came with bundle of straw and twisted 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 1t with this wisp of straw and then stood it in the field in what is call ed a shock
 It is estimated that there are now pevera1 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 one farm, another day on another farm, and they will put on their rough huaking apron, and they will take the husking peg, which is piece of iron with e. 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 1t to the cornorib.
 How vividly to all those of us who were born in the country comes the re- Imembrance of husking time. We waited for 1t as for gala day of the year. It was called a frolic. The trees having for the most part shed their foliage, the kArmers waded through the fallen leaves and came through the keen morning air 70 the gleeful company. The frosts, which had ilvered everything during the night, began to melt off of the top of the corn shocka While the farmers were waiting for others they stood blow dng their breath through their fingers or khrashing their arms around their bodies to keep up warmth of circulation.
 The Cornheld.
 Roaring mirth greeted the late farmer ias he crawled over the fence Joke and .ko. ,fo<f Ial All ready nowi The men take hold the shook of corn and hurl it prostrate, while the moles and mice which have lsecreted 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 sita 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 . crack as the root of the corn is snapped oil 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 hlithe, that some laugh and some shout and some sing and some banter and some tease a neighbor for romantic ride along the edge of the woods in an eventide in carriage that holds but two and some prophecy as to the num- Der of bushels to the field, and others go into competition as to which shall rife the most corn shocks before sundown.
 After awhile the dinner horn sounds k1n Ror hn toh fo surrounded by 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 are carnival and neighborhood re- union and scene which fills our mem- ory, 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 8 shock of corn cometh in in his season.
 There is 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 orypts and exhumed from hiding places where they were put down many centuries ago, and they have been planted in our time and have come up just such Indi- an maize as we raise in New York and Ohio, so am right when say that my text may refer to 8 shock of corn just as you and bound it, just as you and l threw it, just as you and 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 shock of corn coming in in his season.
 It is high time that the king of ter TOTS 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 g good man the blessing of blessings. It is moving out of cold vestibule into a warm temple. It is migrating into groves of redolence and perpetual fruit age. It is a change from bleak March tc roseate June. It is change of mana Cl0b TOT RaTl6uub lb lS LILO UrulASIAutAAe of the iron handcuffs of earthly inoar. ceration into the diamonded wrtstlet, of bridal party, or, to use the sugges tion of my text, it is only huskine time. It is the tearing off of the rougf sheath of the body that the bright ant the beautiful soul may go free. Com ing in "like shook of corn cometh II in his season'' Christ broke up flu neral procession at the gate of Main by making resurrection day for youns man and his mother. And would tha could break up your sadnesses and hal the long funeral procession of tn, worlds grief by some cheering ant cheerful view of the last transition.
 The Frost.
 We all know that husking time was { time of frost Frost on the fence. Eros on the stubble. Frost on the ground Frost on the bare branches of the trees Frost in the air Frost on the hands q