The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1914-11-25
WHAT rs THE MATTER
(Rev. S. A. Steel, D. D., in Christian
Advocate.)

Hto
"buy a bale" these unmanly moan
ings about hard times, these out-cries
to the legislature and ven to Uncle
sign. What has become Of the good
old doctrine of self-help, our noble
Anglo-Saxon pride of self-reliance the
splendid spirit of the old South that
preferred to "tote her own skillet to
the humiliation of asking help from
anybody under the heavens. or above
them, except Almighty God Himself!
I don't like it. 1t means a soften1ng
Of the fibre of our manhood. Here
is a letter from a young man who
SAYS he feels called to the ministry,
foT etaoin shrdl taoi hrdl taoi shrd la
and wants an education, but ne Is
afraid, unless he can gel help he will
have to give it up. I think he a
better examine his "call." I don't
care how poor he is, any young nan
who is called Of God to preach the
gospel, can get an education and pre-
pare himself for the work. Let him
help himself, and as soon as 1t IS
shown that he has Tim him, he will
will find all the help he needs. I was
as poor as the poorest when I strated
We were just out Of the war. Sherman
had been to see us-that means that
nothing was left. 1t was winter, and
snow was on the ground; but the per-
petual summer of a living faith was
in nv heart, and I went to school or
ny own will-power. I slept on a pal
let of straw, scraped the SNOW away,
and roasted my potatoes, and broil-
ed my rabbit, which I had cross-ties
to get money to buy my books; and
now and then sent home a few stamps
and told my father If he needed any,
thing just let me know! o, the dignity
and the nobility, and the inspiration
there is in depending on ones SELF
paddling his own canoe, and splitting
in the face Of Encouragement, laugh
ing at impossibilities and saying 1T
shall be done!"
A wide-awake presiding elder found
me at work, and the Methodist arp 40
at that work, and the Methodist
church then held out a friendly help
ing hand. 1t can afford to helpthose
who intend to win whether anybody
helps or not; and it cannot afford to
help any other sort. Now here Is q
whole State, and that the State OF
South Carolina, that sixty years ago
cot her dander up, shook her fist IN
the face of the civilized world, and
declared her independence, on her
knees begging for help! I tell you
sir, something is wrong.
We are too ready to ask the public
to do for us what we ought to do Tor
ourselves. I don't like this proposition
to say by law what, or how much a
man shall or shall not plant on his
farm. 1t is very dangerous legisia-
ton. Only the most desperate cir
cumstances could justify it. No such
circumstances exists among US. Inc
greater part of the trouble with US
is an unmanly scare. I have sold cot
ton at a dollar a pound, and then l
have seen it sold at five cents ana
the country lived through both ex-
tremes. The present stringency Is
to a sudden emergency, and Is tenn
porary; and while it works great hard
ships for the time it lasts, yet we
should meet the crisis with a bouy-
ant and s~elf-reliant spirit, and not
sit down and boo-hoo like a big baby.
No man in the world ought to be
more Independent than a South Caro-
lima farmer. What more could God DO
for anybody than He has done for a
South Carolina farmer! He has CIV
en- him a soil that responds prompt
ly to all intelligent culture; climate
that favors every effort in the field,
seasons that encourage the highest
hope. Diversified agriculture IN
South Carolina would make it n OF
the most s%elf-reliant and independent
States in the nation. And this sug-
gests that not only has nature done
all that he could ask for him; but
science holds out her helping hand,
and in bulletins from her. great agri-
cultural college %instructs him as to
what he may do to the best advantage
telling him what to. plant, how to
plant it, and the. way to cultivate 1t
to make the largest yield. How do
YOU mix your paints to produce such