The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-12-28
acknowledged sovereignty of
the

acknowledged sovereignty OF the
King?
This sense of the significance Of
Il own time, as well as of the sacred
ness of Of every life's mission, is Sc
riously neede today. There are TWO
strongly-flowing tides diScernible in
our modern life. One sets back
thOughtfuineSS, simplicity and spirit
uality; the other flows swiftly to-
ward restiessness, Superficiality, mate
rialisn. The latter is the more appa-
rent Of the two. Evidences of it arc
the worship Of wealth, the eaGsrness
Tor notoriety; the mao pursuit OF d.
version, the pathetic effort to ward off
safety, The growing luxury IN personal
and domestic adornment and in food,
the popularity CT problem" plays and
novels, and the vogue OF uch coTn-
mon and lnane notices as "Life'S Just
one blanked thing after another"
Anywhere but where We are" Moth
ing can be Verse than this and
others more distinctly vulgar.
The antidote or this sort Of thing il
2 john the Baptist sense Of a mission.
Life means something. and it means
1t tremendously No man is born
into the world whose wor is not born
with him. Such q magnificent life
and Matthew he still offers to every
serious spirit today. Life becomes
worth living when it is lived for
something worth while.
The Anch0rite In the Wilderness.
The cook who serves half-baked
cakes IS not 50 reprehensive as the
iife which offers the world half-pre-
pared abilities. The old apprentice
ship system q been abolished; and
many young people foolishly aspire
to become master workers before they
have learned the rudiInents of their
calling. The schools which offer to
train nurses by mail, or by a six
weeks course, are more illogical and
more dangerous than the whole sys-
tenn Of thinking which pervades
modern society. In the older days;
when tool time to get ready.
John the Baptist went off in the
wilderness to learn the prophet trade.
He dressed in camels hair and ate
locusts and honey, not III order to be
picturesque, OF to make the crowds
stare, but simply because that was the
natural way for a poor man to live
in the wilderness. He stripped life Of
all it's essential t~rappings.. The infinite
calm of h solitudes hlled ana
steadied his soul. Could even the
Baptist a become u prophet amid
the complex life of a modern city?
Somehow, contemplation of this les
son has filled my own heart with q
great longing for the radiant peace
Of the Libyan Desert: / would be
once more on the swaying back of q
drolnedaTy, with a contenlplative Arab
by nay side and with time and in
clination for indistracted thought
amid natures teaching silences.
This majestic rugged old figure OF
John calls us back to the duty OF
taking time for the things worth
while. We putter too much and ac-
complish too little. Let us be brave
enough for best things. DR.. H. Clay
Trumbull wrote al editorial on Tho
Duty Of Refusing to Do Good It
takes courage to be true to ones own
call. Tennyson refused to be q social
lion, and was criticised for his dire
gard of h amenities: but he left the
world a great II age, which it needs
more sadly than it needs dancing
masters. Who will Sc heroic enough
to follow John, the anchOrite, into the
wilderness, t o learn how to live his
own life back in the conventionalized
of men?
Success Is IN the s1lences
Though fame is in the song"
The Man With Something to Say.
In the wilderness. job came to
GENERALIZATION and acquired his mes
Some preachers r affecting
camel's hair cloth and the leather
girdle and brusQue speech, without the
message. But the message alone is
the thing. TO hear that. the world
will seek out q nan in the remOtest
wilderness or will not shrink from the
fashionable Of churches. Why .
is it that Philadelphia crowds flock
every Sunday to hear DR.. Floyd w
TOmkins, While our down town
are almost empty? Sim
ply because he has a message
bout Gcd He does not rehasfi
days news from the pulpit
hoose topics that will COM
rn2nd space in the
nor have p]rologues or e%pilogues or
shows. He just breaches