The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1906-08-08
OPP &C LESSONS.
sPE aKERs DRAW FA'
M1L1aR COMPARISONS.

Nan 8 Pleased TO Learn ny ou ais
sons qhs PARALLELS Of Christ
Prove This Fsc
The success.u. public spsake rs Of
she world have been men who lived
close to nature and knew hoE to draw
t. cir imagery the.efron. q rein lay
the wonderful power OF L'acoln.
Born In a log cabin, accusdom I'd 70
ahe sce1es OF farm and wood, deep
versed in the vernaculaf OF those
around him, he was irresistible peiole
a rural audience. Imagine how tnau
audience It z ;ntucky stock breeders
we're convulsed when they heard Hen
~ Clay describe q mule as that use.
full animal which has neither pride cl
ancestry nor hope Of poste-ity." >an
Randolph, the great rival Of the I'M
mortal K:ntuckian, was equally nap.
OF before his constituents, nearly ali
VI whom were slaveholdipg farmers.
ae illustrated his arguments by ailus-
IONS to the unfaithtui overseer, and IN
one OF his famous campaigns described
lis opponent as having been imported
into the district, Ike stallion, to
run against him. Audiences are al
ways fa tered when they hear alus-
| lcrs to the calling with which they
are familiar, and be is the wise SPEAK.
II whc comprehends this truth.
Toe greatest Of all the teachers, ne
"who spaks as nsyer man spake,
drew nearly all o; his imsgery aud
storeis from farm life. BE was reared
on a farm and knew all about tbs
sim pie agriculture OF that people ana
period, which consisted largely OF
grape grew ng, interspersed with a
few cereals and small herds. OF goats
and sheep. Thus We find the parallels
and potable sayings colOred with al!u-
sions to the shepherd the viney arc,
the lost sheep, the bu4bandnan. the
fl aers and tlees peculiar to Psles.
ulue. Oas dsy a great audience vas
assembled on a hill overlooking Lake
Gennessaret. They were Simple 1olk,
rude, dull OF understanding, perhaps
not one of them able to read OF write.
To reach them the teacher must talk
in language that they could under
syand. Childhood wants It's teach
ings in story form. Everybody likes
to have the facts with which he Is
familiar interpreted afresh to him.
The weaver does not care for ilustra-
tions drawn from the Graeco Roman
game;; but he wiil prick up his ears
when the preacher talks plainly about
tha work Of the loom. All Of Us like
10 have the life we knoW used to make
vivid tue great truths which we are
Willingly, or unwittingly, trying to
onprehend.
It was to the muititu !e On the hill.
side from boat that had bean pushed
| cff the shore that the celebrated par
able Of tbs sower was daltVersd. Prob
ably az be talked q farmer was sowing
uhe grain In full slgat OF the speaker
and the people. How natural, there
fore, to lift forth hand toward him
and gay: Behold, a sower went ,torth
20 SOW" Simply, easily and natural
ly, the thoughts Of the hearers ware
led up from what was commonplace
and everyday to what was new and
eternal. Jesus recogniz d that all OF
life Is a parable. Wnen We consider
the marvslt Us application made Of
the simple PEASANT life OF Galilee, we
are constrained to wonder what teach
irgs be would draw from the complex
civilization Of today. How electricity,
wireless telegraphy, steam and the
m ,dern city, with its wonderful build
lugs, would be made eloquent with
his teachings Of the higher things OF
tue spirit. IL IL the offaoe OF the par
able to invest the material with the
spiritual meaning, bus no imagery is
% suitable for this purpose as that
drawn from rural scsnes and the sur.
roundings Of farm life. The fate OF
the sown grain teaches an agricultu-
raj as well as a moral lesson. That
which fell on the trampled wayside
was lost. So also the portions which
!, fell on stony ground and that which
was choked by the thorn bushes.
Only the grain which fell on fruitful
soil yieldsd results, and this produced
many fo!d. Tue good farmer under
stands that II he would have good
crops be must use only pure seed and
plant it in the right place.
Tae great literature Of the world
likewise owes It's chief charm to i'm
sgery drawn from nature. Homer de-
s;ribes q ys:es, returning home after
bis long wanderings, as finding bis
wife, Penelope, spinning among her
handmsids." Poor old Macduff. heart
broken over the murder of bis wife
and children, uses the illustration
most familiar to his life in the excla.
nation: They have killed the hen
and all her brood at one fell swoop:
fGray's immortal elegy, in almost
every starza, draws on rural scenery
Fto point bis moral and adorn his tale.
1t Is the lowing herd wind slowly
DER the lea,' OF 'drowsy tinklings lull
the distant fold," and innumefsble
other metaphors drawn from the fields
that lend beauty to this incompatible
product OF genius Take the farm
and what 1t teaches out OF our poetry
| and great would be the loss thereof.
On the contrary, but the poetry sug.
gested by those things which he deals
into the heart Of the fIrmer, and
great would be the addition to the
charms Of his existence. Unless we
are able to appreciate the natural
beauties around us, to extract sent1-
ment from leaf and grass an1 Fl 3Wer,