Work and Education
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ends meet, and parents decide that the children shall not be farmers;
they have not the courage and hope to educate them to till the soil.
What is needed is schools to educate and train the youth so that
they will know how to overcome this condition of things. There must
be education in the sciences, and education in plans and methods
of working the soil. There is hope in the soil, but brain and heart
and strength must be brought into the work of tilling it. The money
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devoted to horse-racing, theater-going, gambling, and lotteries; the
money spent in the public houses for beer and strong drink,—let it be
expended in making the land productive, and we shall see a different
state of things.
This country needs educated farmers. The Lord gives the showers
of rain and the blessed sunshine. He gives to men all their powers; let
them devote heart and mind and strength to doing his will in obedience
to his commandments. Let them cut off every pernicious habit, never
expending a penny for beer or liquor of any kind, nor for tobacco,
having nothing to do with horse-racing or similar sports, and then
commit themselves to God, working with their endowment of physical
strength, and their labor will not be in vain. That God who has made
the world for the benefit of man, will provide means from the earth to
sustain the diligent worker. The seed placed in thoroughly prepared
soil, will produce its harvest. God can spread a table for his people in
the wilderness.
The various trades and occupations have to be learned, and they
call into exercise a great variety of mental and physical capabilities;
the occupations requiring sedentary habits are the most dangerous,
for they take men away from the open air and sunshine, and train one
set of faculties, while other organs are becoming weak from inaction.
Men carry on their work, perfect their business, and soon lie down
in the grave. Much more favorable is the condition of one whose
occupation keeps him in the open air, exercising his muscles, while the
brain is equally taxed, and all the organs have the privilege of doing
their work. To those who can live outside of the cities, and labor in the
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open air, beholding the works of the great Master Artist, new scenes
are continually unfolding. As they make the book of nature their study,
a softening, subduing influence comes over them; for they realize that
God’s care is over all, from the glorious sun in the heavens to the little
brown sparrow or the tiniest insect that has life. The Majesty of heaven