Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1908-12-20
OUR SERMON "
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NJ NEE in while a lad with barley
whiskers i'm his hair comes into
~ my study and asks me to help him
| find job And sometimes he says: Il
expect it will be pretty hard for me to
find anything to do; I'm only a boy
from the country" Well, that's
enough. That gives him the best and
biggest kind of a chance. For he has
had ample opportunity to get his
growth well started. The country is
many times bigger than the city. 1t Is
wider and longer. 1t runs out into
space. You can't just tell where the
country ends, whereas the city stops
short at the "city limits" The biggest
city in the world, London, isn't so
much of a muchness. 1t covers an area
of only 122 square miles. Whereas Ari-
iona, which is all country, has an area
of $4,000 square miles-enough to con-
| tain a hundred LondonS. So If a boy
wants room to grow he had better stay
in the country. The largest city in our
own state-at present-San Francisco,
has an area of 1880 acres. But the
appropriated acreage of the state, the
country part of 1t, Is Al, 491, 129 acres.
The farm is the place for growth.
But" the boy says, "I want to make
money" Then, boy, nail yourself down
to the home acre; drive the nails clear
through and clinch them on the China
side. Give bonds never to leave the
farm. During the past year the farms
have made about all the money in
sight.
The value of farm property in the
United States is over twenty billions
Of dollars. And there are only about
seventy-six millions OF people in the
entire country, including Los Angeles
and Pasadena. If the United States
were sold for taxes and brought Its
full value 1t would only fetch S26, 49,
AIS. About four-fifths of our great
wealth Is in farm property. Why do
you want to come to town?
And yet, If you will come, come. But
remember 1t isn't the city nor the
country that makes the money. It's
the boys who run the farm OF come to
town. If you can't make a living on
the farm the chances are that you'll
starve to death on Spring street. But
If you are making big money on the
crops you'll surely earn board wages
on Broadway.
This youth Joseph was a country boy
much more of a country boy than
you are because there was much more
country in the world then, and Joseph's
family lived all over 1t. He didn't want
to come to town particularly. He came
because hate and envy and greed made
him come He came as a slave. He
came with every chance against him
except one. That was the one sure
think In all the world--a good charac-
ter. Not q good reputation. He ac-
quired very bad reputation soon after
he got to town. But reputation and
character are not blood relations, They
are not even neighbors; frequently, as
in Joseph's case, they are enemies.
Joseph was a slave when he came
into Egypt Then he was sold a Sec
ond time as a slave. Then he got into
jail. Not for crime, but for righteous
ness. Brought up in a tent, moving
from place to place wherever there was
water and grass, what did he know
about the ways and wiles of q great
city? Not so much as you do. my boy.
All that he did was to live in the city
streets and in the prison, just as he
had lived in his fathers tent. Loving
truth and honor and purity and hon
esty, serving God; living the righteous
life and keeping his heart clean. He
didn't quit going to church as soon as
he struck the town. He didn't start out
to "see life" between 10 p. m. and 3
a. m. in company that he wouldn't
have dared to bring into his fathers
honest household. He didn't put a lit
tie on the ponies just for the thrill of
1t. He didn't loaf in a pool room half
the day and part of the night, waiting
for some bank president to come and
offer him place at the assistant CASH
ier's window. He didn't make the kind
of a fool of himself that so many boys
do who come to town to make the
fortune He didn't live as you have
been living, my son. He never went to
anybody with hard luck story that
changed every time he told 1t. He didn't
walt till he went broke before he got
religion. He kept the religion he
learned in his mothers arms-from his
fathers prayers. And he couldn't be
laughed out of 1t. And he lived in a
far wickeder, more goddess city than
you ever saw.
And every day he prospered. Every
day when fate seemed to be most
against him he was coming little
nearer to the throne behind which he
was to stand and rule the great king
dom into which he came as slave.
And all because he lived the right life,
the true life, the honest life which
any boy from the country can live. Jo-
seph did not know the niceties of
Egyptian etiquette, but he knew what
was right. So do you, you child OF the
alfalfa patch. You may be confused
when you sit down at your first society
dinner and use the wrong fork every
time for everything except the right
thing. But If you left home with tenn
D6EdIlCA
" what not to do with the two or three
wine glasses at your plate. You may
not know which arm you should offer
q lady when you should offer neither.
But YOU do know the great law of
purity. Of chastity--when there sweeps
over your senses a great temptation
"How can I do this great wickedness
and sin against God?' You may get
lost a dozen times in the crowded
streets, but you know how to get out
of the way of the trolleys. You may
not know at which window of the bank
to present the pass book, nor what to
do with the checks you are sent to de-
posit or cash. but you do know enough
to keep on the outside of the saloon.
You don't have to know how to dance.
But you do know how to walk up
rightly" You may not know what
manicure is. But you do know how to
keep "clean hands," They may be call
oused with hard work, bronzed with
sun and wind and rain, hard as an old
harness, but you can keep them clean
as q brides-clean enough to go to
heaven with.
"Jehovah was with Joseph, and he
was q prosperous man." And he Will
be with you, just as closely and as
constantly If you will permit him. But
he won't take your left hand while you
offer the devil your right To whom
are you keeping the closer these early
days in town, my boy? Hey? On,
'your're not very prosperous?" Well,
that settles 1t. That tells your story
I'll tell you how to change your for
tune. my boy. Change your habits.
rNMIEPC