The Newtown bee. (Newtown, Conn.) 1877-current, 1906-12-28

were lower bencReS Win DacKS TOT tne
smaller children. a
During the Winter, Robin usually
left his Freshton home, early Monday
morning, in order to kindle the .hre
and have the scboolroom warm when
the other children arrived. One par
ticular Monday morning he recalls.
It had showed on Sunday, long and
deep and cleared with q swapping cold
wind from the northwest. With
books and other belongings, Robin
plowed his way through the several
miles of snow, but it was not until the
fire had been made at the schOolhOuse
that he noticed that his ears were
frozen. The snow was SO deep End
the cold SO intense that but few schOl-
arS were present and lucky 1t was Tor
Robin, as bis ears swelled to great size.
Ludicrous and painful as the situation.
he did not lose q school session, teach
ing lesson of persistence and perSe-
veTance that nothing but such an ob-
iect lesson could have 50 we'll enforced.
The true Christian Science is not in
ignoring pain, but in recognizing and
rising superior to it. Obstacles are
but steps In the progress Of the res0-
lutte and dauntleSs. Christ recognized,
but conquered, death and hell and
Satan and all his myriad hosts are bqf
baffled demons ever since. Their CHIEF
power Is now with fearful, faithless
souls.
The close of school was with q feast
the teacher and it was with q sigh of
relief that Robin stepped down from
the teachers platform, vOWing that
he would never inflict himself again
on plastic childhood, until possessed OF
more years, more self control and more
character. To impart to others what
is contained between the lids of books
is the least part of education. To be
truly educated is to be led out OF sell.
and into Christ, SO that, instead Of
merely absorbing like q sponge, one
acquires to impart, one surrenderS to
emulate the great Teacher, one serves
because God is Father and
every man. woman and child
A refreshing feature OF the life In
FreshtOn was the summers on the
farm OF Forward Child. Robin went
to the farm tender from school cOntine-
ment, but left it sturdy and robust
with vigor won by honest toll and out
door sun and ozone. Mr. Child, resem.
bling Abraham 4 Lincoln In his big
heart, his sterling honesty, his wide
information, his generous appreciation
and his manly frame, was more Ikea
father than an employer and Mrs Child,
one Of those wholesome cooks who can
make the simplest and most forbidding
materials into delicacies that the palate
welcomes and the stomach receives
without distress, like her husband, one
of New England's famous band OF
instructors, was kindly sympathetic
and motherly. 1t was an ideal stu
alton for bOy'growing into manhood.
The moving machine was not then
universal and the Child acres were cut
over with the scythe, which Robin
learned to swing with the rest. I'M
agine the young teacher coming fr to
the hay field some hot June day for the
first time. The task is made as easy
for him as possible, but ere the sun
has sought western coverlet, his
mouth is thickswith froth, his hands
tigued in every nerve, tissue and
sinew. Doggedly he hangs to the
meadow and even goes to the pasture,
about two miles distant, to help tex
tract the tactical fluid from the bovine
quadrupeds, :" though to do this the
bliStered hands must first be SOftened
with the warm milk. They were long
days, rising at a. m. to milk, and
supping, after the evening milking,
about p. NJ, but they were not SO
long but games kept the workers up
for several hours after the late supper.
Robins hands and back, his nerves
and muscles gradually adapted them
selves to the new demand upon them,
and the hay rolled into the NOW with
the thrill of joy felt by exuberant vi
tality. -
What scent so sweet as.that of mown
grass? What work SO exalt-
Ing as that which brings
the creature close to the heart of that
Nature whose increase betokens it's
Creators blessing upon honest en-
deavor! Your wage may seem higher,
ye slaves cooped in brick walls
by day, nerveless by the cease
less hum of cruel, monOtOn-
GUS machinery and frayed by the
friction Of rival toilers, but no saw
ings bank deposit, no vaudeville sug-
gestions Of vulgarity and worse, no
endless pavements can ever atone for
the loss of Gods green turf, His I'M
poisoned air, the comfort OF behold
ing Ills bounty in field, flock and pOul-
try yard, the privilege of getting close
to what is natural, real and enduring!
Our land is shop and Office mad and
the rage will end in ap8mic condi-
lions, sanitariums, multitudes of doc
tors and nurses, with final decay and
humiliation before race brave and
honest enough to work outdoors with
their hands. When people become
so proud and aristocratic as to scorn
to work in the dust of which they
themselves are made, they cease to
TO BE CONTINUED