The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1912-02-13
THE PREACHER IN THE WILDER
NESS.
The International Sunday School Les
son for February Is is, The Min
fstry Of John The Baptist" Mark
/: Is; Luke 3: 1-2O.

(I;y WILLIAM T. ELL1S.)
A strange bit Of news learned by |
.he traveller between Bagdad and In
dia is that on the lower Tigris, at a |
place called Amarra. are a colony OF !,
S.beans who are reputed to be still
disciples Of John the Baptist. That is
an amazing survival. Come to med-
tate upon it, however, is it any more
amazing than the survival OF the int1u
ence Of John the Baptist in the minds
of mankind SO that to this day his
life and words affect the thinking Of
millions?
Here are the hosts Of Sunday school
members the world around, sitting for
two weeks at the feet Of the hairy
ascetic in camel's hair and girt by a
leather thong. Wherever in the civ
ilized world today men hate shams
apd love rugged integrity, disdain
conventiOnalitieS and respect virile in
dependence, there the name OF John
the Baptist is hOnored. On the pages
of history his uncouth figure stands
out as personality.
Only a COuntryman.
Philistines and insurgents delight
in the spectacle Of this magnificent
tconoclast. John was the anuthesis
of the well-dressed. carcfully-groom-
ed. conventionalized and sophisticated
city man. keen to observe the usages
OF SOOQ form. we can scarcely
imagine this friend Of the rocks and
sands. this dweller IN caves, this eater
Of locusts and wild honey, this her
nit of the Wilderness as moving in
the polite society Of his time. The
urban and polished dweller in the
town had little in common with this
rough fellow from the wilds.
Yet the anchorte, with uncut hair
and rude garb, drew the men from the
cities out to the wilderness to hear
him. "Only country fellow a
Jerusalem dandy might remark, as he
looked cOntemptuously upon this un-
conventional preacher. Somehow, by
an illogical process Of public think
ing, city folk consider the man from
the country as joke. 'Countryman'
is counted a term Of reprOach in some
circles. whose members have got most
of their manhood from the tailor, the
barber. the manicuriSt, the bOotblack
and the haberdaSher. Certainly 1t is
clear to anybody above the grade Of
a broadway fOp that man is really
no more of a man than he is when he
goes in swimming In all final tests,
il is the naked worth OF character that
counts. The city man knows more
about hotels and theatres and stores
than his cousin from the country; but
he knows less about mother earth anC
the primordial tasks Of primitive hui
nanity. When it comes to taking care
of ones self amid the forces Of nature
the cOnntryman usually has the al
vantage; and even III the grand strug-
gle for survival in the city. - is gen
orally the country bred man who car
res off the best prizes
Respect for humanity in the raw
humanity of the Garden Of Eden
Robinson Crusoe SORTS taught b,
the example of John the Baptist. H.
u =
was not afraid of the dark, nor O.
unknown ways and places. Single
handed. he could go back to the mos
elemental conditions, and live q grea
life and do a great work.
Where Great Lives Grow.
Anywhere is good soil for the grow
Ins Of a great life, if the seed be Wig
orous; but the desert and lonely place
produce an extraordinary proportion
Before a man can do his best will
men he must live apart from men, il
order to adjust this sense Of perSpec
tive and relative values. All boy
are 10 be pited VINO denied
youth spent in the country. but espe
cialiy those who are marked for
great work. Jesus and John wer
blessed with an Out-of- doors bOyhooc
close to life in it's most elementa
and natural forms.
The great raVinc at the bottom {
which runs the Brook Cherith, an
along which Elijah had his cave, dc
pouches upon the Jericho plain. whic
IS IN the wonderful Jordan valley-th
most extraordinary depression on tn
lace Of the globe. Three hundred fee
below sea level, it lies in tropical fer
Unity. Somewhere between the Dea
sea and the Lake of Galilee, alOn
the Jordan. John the Baptist livet
PROBABLY he ranged over the Who'll
region 1t is even possible that tn
very cave which once sheltered ELIZA
also sheltered him.
Nazarite, whose hair had neve
neen cut and who had never taste
we Juice OF the grape, the austere ist
latlon OF an anchorite's life was cor
R'lllal TO him. We know that he G.
cnewed the fine, flowing rainier