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254
Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students
Does It Pay
In many minds the question will arise, Can industrial work in
our schools be made to pay? and if it cannot, should it be carried
forward?
It would be surprising if industries could be made to pay imme-
diately on being started. Sometimes God permits losses to come to
teach us lessons that will keep us from making mistakes that would
involve much larger losses. Let those who have had financial losses
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in their industrial work search carefully to find out the cause and
endeavor to manage in such a way that in the future there will be no
loss.
Let us remember that we are all members of God’s family; and let
us remember, too, that Satan and all his host are seeking constantly
to force us into making mistakes, that our confidence in ourselves
and in others may be destroyed. But when perplexities arise, shall
we sit down on the stool of ignorance, and do nothing? God forbid.
There will be apparent drawbacks in the work, but this should
not discourage us. The account books may show that the school has
suffered some financial loss in carrying on industrial work; but if
in these lines of work the students have learned lessons that will
strengthen their character building, the books of heaven will show a
gain far exceeding the financial loss. How many souls this work has
helped to save will never be known till the day of judgment. Satan
finds mischief for idle hands to do; but when students are kept busy
in useful labor, the Lord has opportunity to work for them.
If, after carrying on manual training for one year, the managers
of the school find that there has been a loss, let them seek to discover
the reason for this, and guard against it in the future. But let not
the spirit of censure prevail, for the Spirit of Christ is grieved when
words of unkind criticism are spoken to those who have done their
best. In the word of God there is encouragement as well as caution.
God forbid that the hands of those who are trying to carry forward
this line of work should be weakened.
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I urge that our schools be given encouragement in their efforts to
develop plans for the training of the youth in agricultural and other
lines of industrial work. When, in ordinary business, pioneer work
is done and preparation is made for future development, there is