Norwich bulletin. [volume] (Norwich, Conn.) 1895-2011, 1911-12-09

written Specially for The Bnletin-)
The longer 1 farm it, and the more
see OF farmers. the drmer grows my
conviction that lack OF foresight is one
OF our greatest hOldbackS- Indeed,
sometimes IL seems as IL this were the
greatest obstacle of all 1t Is forced
upon me by my own experience, and 1T
Is reinforced by my observation. that
we don't look ahead often enough nor
There's an old phrase which describes
the way too many or US 1tve-from
hand 10 mouth" We follow too liter
OF the MORROW As II there were no
difference betEscn the simple lie OF
Palestine two thousand years ago and
tka highly complex lives We must lead
noW1 I don't mean that we actually
take no thought of tomorrow, for We
should all starve to death II we didn't
But as life goes these latter days. it
is less tomorrow that we need TO think
OF than next week and next month and
next year. We all think = little ahead
OF course we do. we must We think
ahead when We draw manure; we think
ahead when We plow; we think ahead
vhsn we save seed and when we SOW
it, ve think ahead when we cultivate
the growing crops
Those of us who think far enough
ahead and wisely enough come out of
the years as they pass a little farther
ahead. ourselves. each time But too
many OF US don't think far enough;
more Of US don't think wisely enough.
And such either stay where they be-
gan or actually lose ground With too
many or us. our last estate is worse
than our first
What then7s I imagine some of you
thinking; we cannot foresee the fu-
tures do you mean that we are re-
sponsf6le for ou< failure TO do that
which. in the nature of things, is out
Of our DOW 20
All dear friends, right there is one
tsrsous thing We call life It doesn't
seem right does II, that We should
suffer Tor what we don't know? Yet
that II exactly what happens whether
Gently eat an '.Amanita phalloides.y
ulistahng 1t for an edible mushroom.
the fact that you don't know won't
save you from the snderfaker's hands.
II you walk or q precip1ce in the night
when II is too dark ror you to see the
brink. your ignorance won't save you
from broken bones II your creeping
baby doesn't know that the stove is
hot, IT'S ignorance won't save it from
painful burns IL II touches the heated
t-ol
Al Of this seems cruel and unjust
TO you perhaps admit 1t does to me
] can't understand it; I can't explain
it. I can't make 1t square with my
human ideas OF justice Nevertheless.
that failure Of ours to understand what
i too deep for US does not give US the
right to denounce the order of things
as wrong There are more things in
heaven and earth than all the wisdom
OF all the ages has gathered. There
are deeps in the infinite which all the
Diuumets of-aH the philosophers have
never sounded There are mysteries in
the En1itless outreaches OF the vast in
COMPREHENSIVE which We have never
solved, and. perhaps, never may. Shall
we then deny the oeeps our sounding
lines VIII not touch, and ignore the
mysteries our finite intellects cannot
H. p
finger Of humility on the lips of silence
and stand humbly still in the presence
or the Eternauy Inscrutable-
Indeed, we have none OF us been ap-
pointed TO rule the universe It is not
OF our making nor of our ordering. We
ere In It not OF our choice will. We
e--e not charged With Its management,
TOR have we the slightest influence
Herewith We are not here to boss it
nor TO reform it. but to find out as
much as we can about its prearranged
order and IT ourselves to tiff we can
II we can't, much the worse for US:
the universe won't mind Nor will its
eternalIy fixed course be changed by
the breadth of a single hair because
we creatures OF a day. don't think its
movement strictly according to our
cphemeral ideas of governmental poll
cy-
Thersfore-to come back to our mutt
<ons-the fact that we can't forete1I q
summer drought in the preceding
spring won't help our crops a single
little BIT when the drought really comes.
The scorching. rainless July will burn
out our grass and stunt our potatoes
and kill our oats just as certainly as
II We had known all about it the April
before Nor viii the drought break for
cur benefit. whether we piteously i'm
r,7ore the universe TO be what we call