Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1901-05-11

April weather, and you will find that
last summers supply is not yet ex-
hausted- Examine them next July and
you will find them being replenished.
Go to the ant, thou sluggard, consider
her ways and be wise, which, having
no guide, overseer or ruler, provideth
her meat in the summer and gathereth
her food in the harvest
This is no argument for miserliness
Avarice and penuriousness destroy a
man about as soon as any of the other
vices. We have heard of those who
entered their iron money vault for
business purposes and the door acct
dentally shut and they were suffocated.
their corpse not discovered until the
next day. But every day and all up
and down the streets of our cities there
are men. body, mind and soul, forever
fast in their own money vaults. Ac-
emulation of bonds, mortgages and
government securities and town lots
and big farms just for the pleasure of
accumulation is despicable but the put
ting aside of surplus for your self
defense when your brain has halted
or your right hand has forgotten its
cunning or your old age needs a man
servant or for the support of others
when you can no more be a breadwin-
ner for your household-that is right
that is beautiful, that is Christian,
that is divinely approved That shows
that you have taken Solomon's ant hill
for an object lesson
Does Nut Decline Work.
Furthermore, go to the ant and con-
slider that it does not decline work
ters r
ment of seed it hauls into it's habita-
ton may be SO small that the unaided
eye cannot see it, but the insectile
work goes on, the carpenter ant at
work above ground, the ma
son ant at work under ground
Some of these creatures mix
the leaves of the fir and the cat
kins of the pine for the roof or wall
of their tiny abode, and others go out
as hunters looking for food, while
others in domestic duties stay at
home. Twenty specks of the food they
are moving toward their granary put
upon a balance would hardly make
the scales quiver. All of it work on
a small scale. There is no use in our
refusing a mission because it is insig-
nificant Anything that God in his
providence puts before us to dc is
important. The needle has it's office
as certainly as the telescope and the
spade as a parliamentarian scroll. You
know what became of the man in the
parable of the talents who buried the
one talent instead of putting it to prac-
teal and accumulative use. His apol-
ogy was of no avail.
There is no need of our wasting time
and energy in longing for some other
c,r.I,0 r,1@,
do the big and resounding work of the
church and the world. No lack of
brigadier generals or master builders
or engineers for bridging Niagaras or
tunneling Rocky mountains. For every
big enterprise of the world a dozen
candidates. What we want is private
soldiers in the common ranks, masons
not ashamed to WELD a trowel, candi-
dates for ordinary work to be done in
ordinary ways in ordinary places.
Right where we are there is something
that God would have us do. Let us
do it, though it may seem to be as
unimpOrtant as the rolling of grain
of corn into an ant hill.
Furthermore. go to the ant and con-
slider its indefatigableness. If by the
accidental stroke of your foot or the
removal of a timber the cities of the
insectile world are destroyed, instantly
they go to rebuilding. They do not sit
around moping. At it again in a sec
ond. Their fright Immediately gives
way to their industry. And if our
schemes of usefulness and our plans
of work fail, why sit down in discour-
agement? AS large ant hills as have
ever been constructed will be con-
structed again. Put your trust in God
and do your duty. and your best days
are yet to come. You have never heard
such songs as you will yet hear, nor
have you ever lived in such grand
abode as you will yet occupy, .and all
the worldly treasures you have lost
are nothing compared with the opu-
1ence that you will yet own If you
love and trust the Lord, Paul looks
you in the face and then waves his
hand toward heaven full of palaces
and thrones, saying, All are ysurs,"
So that what you fail to get in this
present life you will get in the coming
life. Go to work right away and re-
build as well as you can, knowing
that what the trowels of earthly in
dustry fail to rear the scepters of
heavenly reward will more than make
up. Persistence is the lesson of every
ant hill. Waste not a moment in use
less regrets or unhealthy repining.
Men fret themselves down, but no man
ever yet fretted himself up. Make the
obstacles in your way your coadjutors,
as all those have who have accom-
plished anything worth accomplish
ment.
V-saful