St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1910-11-05

- come message for our toll
ing brothers who are look
Ing SO earnestly, so pathetically for the
breaking of the day. The workers
think we are out of touch with them
They say we are so snug in our assur-
ance of a golden city beyond the skies
that we have no thought or passion for
that city which is to come down out of
heaven from God to the people.
Whether that be true or not, it is time
for us to bestir ourselves, to demon
strate that we are not our of touch
with the masses; that in all their
struggles for juster conditions, for so
cial righteousness, for higher ideals.
the Christian church Is with the work
ers."
We wonder sometimes when this
sort of thing is going to stop. The
patroEsz1ng air which SO many assume
when they begin to talk about the day
laborers is enough to fill those very
laborers with disgust. In the first
place, lot Of sentimental pity is be-
ing wasted over the laboring man.
He asks none of this, and it does him
no good when 1t is expressed. The
laboring man is the happiest man
alive. OF course, there are few ex-
ceptions here, just as there are good
many exceptions among those who
have received a self-appointed place
among the gentlemen of leisure. Ma
ture has no blessing for that which
doesn't do anything Everything Is
life, activity, animation. When a
thing in nature no longer works we
call it dead and begin to search for a
spade to bury it. Nor does God have
blessings for the idler That isn't the
way he dispenses what is in his hands.
He has mapped out six days of every
seven for work, and it is the universal
human experience that, when his COM
rades are kept, the keeper is the hap
pier, even though he doesn't labor the
six days for the sole purpose of being
obedient to the Lord. =
Privilege Of the Toiler.
The necessity for work is inwrought
into the constitution of things and
persons. The very fact that a man is
a toiler puts him in line with one of
the greatest commandments of God.
In some places the conditions under
which he tolls ought to be improved,
improved. And here those
who have been trying to express pity
need to put their attention. If safety
devices can be installed where there
has been danger heretofore, If sun
shine can be admitted to drive out the
darkness and dry up the mold, If prop
or ventilation can make it healthier
for the toiling men and women, If i'm
provement can be made in the moral
If children are kept out
of body stunning and mind destroying
factories, and whole catalogue of
other things remedied, there will be
no appreciable chasm between work
ing men and women and other mortals.
But this long drawn out strain over
working men, because they are work.
Ing men, is out of harmony with the
whole makeup Of men and the pur-
pose of the Lord The church which
ends itself to this kind of music is
osing its opportunity and destroying |
he possibility ever Of finding one. }
No Possible Gulf.
Again, there is not that impossible
gulf between the Christian church
md the common toilers which some
speakers and magazine correspond
,nts would have us believe. Some
opics for disquisitions are found in
he rich churches of New York, but
my such are misrepresentation Of
American Christianity as whole.
The toiler six days in the week is the
backbone of the church on Sunday
md during the week. There Is no
,etter man in church than he who Is
ngaged In honest industry during the
week. Such a man Is providing for
lis family. Conscientiously, or uncon-
he is cbeying the Sab
'ath commandment, the great part of
which Is to work six days on order to
ppreciate rest on the seventh day.
20 claim that the toiling masses, put
ing the noun with it's modifler in quo
alton marks, are out of touch with
be church, Is a SANDER against these
1en who work. There are some, to be
ure, who have a grievance, with or
Without foundation; but we cannot
raw a universal conclusion from such
lsuf1 cient data. The working man be-
ongs to the church, and the church be-
ongs to the working man, and the two
elong to each other, and both belong
, God.-Religious Telescope.
The Reward Of Obedience.
1,;o In,