St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1902-06-07

| sell the dearest. All these results come
| from the specialization of talent. The
realization must come that some mel
can do things better than we. We il
turn in another line of business ought
to do some things better than those
who are not proficient in our trades
| 4 good gunsmith does not always
make crack marksman. An expert
yacht builder cannot always be turned
| into trustworthy sea captain.
The intelligent traveller gathers infor.
nation wherever he goes. When talk
| ing with motorman upon the street
car, with the farmer in the field, with
| the mechanic at his bench, with the
sailor upon the ships deck, with the
| engineer in his cab, he can obtain an.
swers to questions which he himself
man who knows more, in at least
some special field. than he himself
knows, no matter how intelligent the
questioner might be. The servant i'll
the kitchen in all probability knows
how to bake bread better than her
master, even though the head of the
house may be the chief owner of the
great Pillsbury flour mills, where
thousands and tens of thousands of
bushels of grain are daily turned into
the white substance which forms the
staple of every meal. The skill of the
eminent surgeon is never lessened by
seeing carpenter handling saw, and
there never comes time, when the
man of ten talents can afford to de-
spise the lessons he may learn from
the man of one talent.
Proficiency being granted to us in
mental or manual abilities, there il
also proficiency given to us in spiritual
abilities. Certain temptations which
assail one sinner do not appeal to an
other sinner. One man may have a
lurking propensity for gambling, an
other for drink, another for licentious-
ness, another for sloth, another for
profanity, another for theft, still an
other for perjury. Some men are born
liars. Parents testify that certain chill
dren in one family have tendency
to falsehood from their cradles; other
children born in the same famij y never
show disposition to prevaricate. Par
ents can often trace the lies weak
nesses of their children almost from
the time those children began to walk
and talk. They can distinguish certain
satanic characteristics as distinctly as
a stranger can tell whether child by
the color of the skin is born from
white of black parents. OF course it is
often great deal harder to tell wheth
er the white child has black heart or
black skinned child has white heart
than to tell the color of the outside
epidermal covering.
In helping brother bear his burdens
we make the back stronger by which
we can bear our own. A few years ago
a dear friend of mine was threatened
with the loss of one of his eyes. He be.
came very much depressed. The sur
geons said the eye must be cut out. For
some time he stayed at home and
brooded over his nearing misfortune.
He was rebellious against God and
would not be comforted. But one day
he started down Broadway. Ahead of
him he saw an old blind colored woman
standing upon the street corner wait
ing to pass over. She dare not without
help. This old colored woman had
long stick in her hand by which she
would find her way along. Upon her
arm she carried market basket. The
gentleman went up and accosted her
with the words: well, auntie. can I
help you over the street?" The col
ored woman's face was wreathed in
smiles as she answered: "Thank tou,
massa; thank you, subj" On the way
across the street the colored woman
said: "Massa, some people say [ am
old and blind and no account to any
one. But, massa, life is very sweet to
me. I find the goodness of God every
where. He has taken away my two
eyes, but the people are always kind
er to me than to any one else-I am
blind. And then, sir, have still my
hearing. My children love me, and
can never cease to praise God for the
mercies with which He has surrounded
my life" Ny friend stopped his brood
ing then and there. Surely" said he,
eff God can make poor old blind col
ored woman happy, He does love and
care for me-" When a man tries to help
carry his brothers burdens, he finds
that his own become lighter to bear.
Members of a Christian church are
in the sight of God one spiritual fam
lily and therefore have a right to ex-
pect help one from another. Every
mariner has claim upon
every stout keel floating the wide seas.
The religion of the Lord Jesus Christ
cannot be hemmed in by the four walls
of religious edifice. The parable Of
the good Samaritan teaches that we
should love our neighbor as ourselves.
Our neighbor is not alone the friend
who lives next door. He is also the
stranger of foreign birth who has fall
en- among the thieves on the road to
Jericho. Any traveller who is naked,
ahungered, athirst, any wayfarer who
is lost upon the mountains far away
from home, whose guide we can be, is |
our neighbor. We as Christians have |
duty to foreign missions as well as to !
home missions, to the savage living in
the jungles of Africa as well as to the |
heather in the back alley half a block
away from our kitchen door, to the
waif Of the street who has fallen |
asleep upon our doorstep.
But the words of the text have still |
another application. Paul was ad-
dressing the members of the Chris
tan churches. Those churches were
in Ga1atia. The MEMBERS
sturdy, warm hearted, but hot head
I'd mountaineers-had internal dis
sensions. In the course of his letter