The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1901-10-22

said that q man has failed until he
in dead.
Not only do we thus secure the
benefit of every faculty we possess
ourselves, but we attract to as all
that others may be able TO give. "No
man lives TO himself" and for the
accomplishment of our highest pur-
poses we must enlist to some extent
the interest and co operation of 9th
ers. Their faith in us and in our
work will be measured by u own,
and we cannot expect their enthusi
astic support of a thing to which VT
give ourselves but indiferently.
Hanging on the wall in my library
where my eyes fall on them when
ever they are lifted from my work,
are two portraits one is the kindly,
rugged face of Abraham Lincoln,
and the other is the less familiar
features of the potter Palissy. They
hang there not as works of art, but
for the purpose of inspiration.
When 1 grow discouraged with my
own m9ager requirements, when
there are longings for richer endow-
ment and larger opportunities, l
look at the face of the rail-splitter.
1 think of the boy working at his
''sums' with a charred stick on the
wooden howell, I remember the long
years of patient toll as the man la
boriously gathered together ittlesby
little things that were necessary TO
quality him for the high place to
which he was called, nothing too in
significant, nothing too difficult of
attainment if it only be necessary
for his equipment and development.
Then / take courage and say "Only
a little every day, Only the learning
of a simple truth, only the compre
hension of one great principle, only
the grasping of one high thought,
and 1 shall be a little wiser, a little
stronger to morrow than / am to-
day-and there are many TO NOR
rows in d lifetime"
Then there are other times when
doubts creep in, when the fruit of
toll seems long delayed, and l wonder
if it were not better TO take the
bread and herbs and leave king
dOms and stars and sky that holds
them all" for stronger hands TO grasp.
Then l look at the other face, and
if 1 AN very low down indeed, l
take the book from it's place and
read over again the story of his
struggles, of his patience, and his
triumph. l think of the strange en-
thusiast tOiling year after year with
his broken bits of pottery and pow
der, grinding, mixing, burning, wait
ing, hoping, failing; then taking
hear and going over 1T all again. |
e him growing poorer and poorer,
forssken, ridiouled, and despised,
but going or unmOved with his work.
Money gone, credit exhausted, starv-
ing, but still he goes on. Then
comes that last time when even he
can see nothing ahead, and if this
effort fails, all is lost and the starv-
ing, emaCiated man sits at the mouth
Of the furnace waiting for the 9
suits of this last firing no money
to buy food, faint with exhaustion,
the last bit of wood in the furnace,
and still the precious powder will
not melt. In a frenzy Of fear he
rushes into the house and tears up
floors, and thrusts them into the
furnace, a last sublime sacrifice on
the altar of his faith.
And he has his reward. Out of
the furnace which has consumed his
all-yOuth, health, strength, and
friends-come the beautiful, per
feet vessels which have been the
wonder and admiration of the world.
Every year thousands Of people pass
through the Louvre at Paris and
pause before some priceless pieces of
Palissy a which are held among
its choicest treasures. Instead of
these rare works of art graceful in
form, exquisite in ooloring, and per
feet in finish, l see the eager, bag
gard face of the man peering for
ward in the glow Of the furnace fire.
I near the jeers of his friends and
the pleading of his wife, 1 see him
thrust chairs and tables into the
flames to keep the precious fires 60
ing until his family fee from him in
alarm, crying "He is mad"
Was he mad? Perhaps, The world