Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1907-08-23

fense. In the hand Of a strong man
the precious thing became benefcent.
This is Gods way in nature. The
supremely destructive forces Of the
universe are among the supremely great
and supremely blessed Of the educative
agencies of life. Man has entered into
conflict with them, and, contending
with them, has grown strong and wise.
Where nature is prodlgal of her
bounty, where a suit Of clothes grows
on every tree and a dinner is found
under every bush, man slumbers.
Where nature enters into conflict
with man, bids him try conclusions
with this old earth, its storms and
seas, surrounds him with hardship and
hazard, he finds himself. He puts
forth his hand and the serpent becomes
rod.
But these forces of nature have their
terrors. They crush, main, blind,
burn, destroy, overwhelm, appall. And
no man becomes not only stronger
and cunninger man, but better man.
He is educated by adversely, and his
heart Is educated not less than bis
head. He learns pity. He enters Into
compassion. He develops philanthropy.
The shipwreck launches the llfe-boat.
The physician Is bred Of pestilence.
Living men in our part hasten to die
that dying men across the bar may
live. The plague is stopped because
the bacteriologist has lived and loved
and died.
Gods way in nature, Gods way In
history, is Gods way for each Of us
in our own life. Let us grasp the ser
pent, that it may become rod.
This is the story OF all glorious con-
quest of adverse circumstance. Stroll
ing along the bank Of my native Trent,
| have seen a parable-with rod and
line in its hands. Some townsman,
magnificently equipped with outfit that
must have cost little fortune, flung
his line In vain. The shadows Of even
ing fell and his face heightened, and
there was never a fish in his creel.
And beside him a ragged rascal Of a
village schoolboy, playing truant, with
bare feet and unwashed hands, with
his homemade rod and two-penny line,
and penny float and half-penny tackle,
swinging out the roach and dace or
greedy perch at almost every swim.
These things are written allegorically.
1t Is not the costliest outfit which
takes the biggest fish.
Cardinal Wolsey, Daniel De Foe and
Henry Kirke White-it would be impos-
sible to name in a breath three men
more utterly unlike each other-were
all the sons Of butchers. Jeremy Tay-
lOr, one of the greatest of English
preachers; Richard Arkwright, the
real founder of our cotton Industries,
and Turner, the painter, were all bar
bers. John Bunyan was tinker, Rob-
ert Burns a plowman, Ben Johnson
bricklayer, Livingston a weaver, Stan
ley a workhouse boy, Carey cobbler,
Copernicus was the son of baker
Kepler came from a German inn,
Whtetield was barman at the Bell
Tavern in Gloucester, Haydn was a
wheelwright, Hildebrand a village car
penter, George Stephenson was an en-
gine fireman and taught himself arith-
metic on the side Of colliery wagons,
Wllkie learned art with piece Of
chalk and barn door, West made his
first brushes out Of cats tail, Watt
constructed his first model out Of an
old syringe, Humphrey Davy extempor-
lied his scientific appliances from kitch.
en- pots and pans, and Farady his from
glass bottles. Elhu Burritt mastered
eighteen ancient and modern languages
while earning his living as black
smith.
Believe then, that neither feeble
health nor cramping poverty, nor crush
ing sorrow, nor accomplished sin, mol
evil habits need paralyze the asplra
tions of your essential manhood, mol
quench Its Immortality. Put forth youl
hand, my brother and the serpent shall
become rod.