Newspapers / The Roanoke Beacon and … / July 21, 1911, edition 1 / Page 2
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ft3S3 iJOSIAH'S DEVOTION TO GOD Sunday School Lesson for July 23, 1911 Specially Arranged for This Paper IX' I s , - s ; v j: ;15"'A HE most vivid recollections of every man and woman brought up on a farm must be of the golden harvest time. Even the persons whose farm experience has been limited to protracted visits to the country are likely to retain mental pictures of the gathering of the grain as the most lasting impressions of such intervals provided, of course, they remained in the rural domain long enough to witness all phases of the harvest-time activity ad long enough to contrast the rush and bustle f this busy period with the more placid existence of more normal times "down on the farm." Tho average city dweller whose early years were spent on a farm harks back to nothing so fondly as tho picturesque annual drama of the bringing in the sheaves. And the country-bred or not Indi cates the fascination of become imperative cn the large farms of the west, California and the Pacific northwest, owing tr the immense force of men needed to Earner the grain on those baronial estates of the "wheat empire." On one of these big farms in Oklahoma, which may be cited as representative, there are in use twenty-two har vesters and binders, each of which average a cut of 250 acres of wheat per season. Similar ly, on some of the Dakota farms one may see in season anywhere from twenty to forty ma chines in one far-flung line, charging into the golden sea of undulating grain. Merely the drivers of these machines make a goodly force, to say nothing of the other members of the harvest crew, and when anywhere from fifty to one hundred horses are employed in harvest ing operations, the care of these animals is in itself something of a chore. Perhaps the most picturesque feature of harvesting on the bis farms beyond the Mis touri river comes when the operation Is carried cn at night by means of the Illumination of torches and locomotive headlights, supplements .this phase of farm opera j tlons by his longing to ""pitch hay when he in Tades the agricultural reg ion for his vacation. That is. he is enthusiastic about pitching hay until he tries it. Perhaps he would not deem it quite so much fun if he had to !o it for a livelihood and if he could not quit his Job whenever he happened to get tired. So, too, the farmer boy, transformed Into a city dweller who looks back so longingly at the good old ;ktrvest times on the old j homestead, Is very prob al'ly, after the fashion of j mankind, remembering the 'pleasant things only and z krm - - 1111 I ' V3'' -' - .4? 1 jyyjpysr Jc&yfsv 77-JVKAr iwr 1 : -T? M mm null I in I STOPS? ??? WACW Of? X7Ttff Off WfTxJ r z-jj XAIAfX.3 going to and from the farm house This latter was a considerable item if the farm house was located sev eral miles from the harvest field in which the men happened to be work ing at noon. These kitchen cars have been in use to some extent for sev eral years past, but great improve ments have been made in them of late. There are now provided for the use of the big traveling harvesting crews "range wagons," with several of the largest size kitchen ranges mounted on a truck, and more won- ing the light of the moon, if the latter be available. Eought and other causes may im pel the western farmer to work his harvest crews double time in order to hurry in the sheaves, but as a rule the grain grower in these favored sections of the country is not consianily menaced by thunder storms such as have, from time out of mind, caused anxiety in every eastern farming community until the precious grain is safely in the barn. The se curance of adequate help in harvest time is one of the big problems of almost every farmer east or west who raises much grain. The im proved harvesting machines that cut down the forgetting the disadvantages of the harvest season. It has quite escaped his memory, meat likely, how he was routed out of bed at daybreak or earlier when there was har vesting to be done and how he turned in with .the chickens and slept like a log from sheer exhaustion. He has lost all recollection of the nerve-racking anxiety, shared by every member of the .family, lest it rain before the harvesting was finished, and he passes lightly over the reminiscences of those weary hours under a scorching sun with no protection save a broad-brimmed straw hat, its lofty peak filled with leaves to help break the force of old Sol's shafts. Harvest time on the farm, past and present, marks the climax of the year in hard work and In worry in short, in nerve and muscular strain, generally. Of course, It will be under stood that reference is made to the season of the grain harvest. To be sure, there are what night be termed harvest seasons at intervals all through the season, from the time the strawberries are ripe in the spring, only the farmer never thinks of dignifying the garner fag of these crops by the name of harvest. In the eyes of the tiller of the soil harvest time means the crucial juncture for gathering the grain particularly the wheat and storing it away in barns and elevators, or mayhap load ing it direct on the railroad cars that are to carry It to the flour mills or to tho ship, which will carry it overseas to supply the bread caters of Europe and the Orient. In the old days practically every farm in the land had its harvest time and it held the secret of the profits of the whole year's work on the farm. That this is true no longer is due simply to that tendency to specialization which has Invaded the farmer's occupation as it has every other field. Nowadays we have chicken farms and truck farms and fruit farms and ether kind3 of farms, where attention is so e$sncetftrated upon the one product in hand Jfcat the proprietors do not raise enough grain ,for the need3 of their own stock. On such apecfal farms the once universal "harvest time" Is unknown. But to make up for them we have vast farms In the west and on the Pacific slope, where wheat is the product specialized, and in consequence we see on these big farms harvesting operations which in magnitude and picturesque features so far overshadow the corresponding operations on the old-fashioned farm east of the Mississippi tiat there is literally no comparison. One odd thing about harvesting is that al most 'all methods are yet in vogue In one eection or another of the country. The ex planation is found, of course, in the fact that the first cost and the operating expense of (the great steam harvesting outfits designed for the bonanza farms of the west are such as to make them impracticable for the farmers controlling small areas. Consequently, these farmers are getting along, and getting along very well, with the old-time equipment, modern- feed by the introduction of some of the im provements devised originally for the big power machines. We are not any longer har vesting, the grain with sickle and flail, as they do to this day in certain European countries, but the small farmer is, perforce, putting a great deal more manual labor into the gathering of his grain than is the owner .of .one of the west's 5,000-acre wheat fields, where combination harvesters, drawn by traction engines or 40 or 50 horses, perform automatically every function from cutting the stalks as they stand in the field to delivering to the waiting wagons the threshed, cleaned and sacked wheat, all ready for the market, without the touch of a human hand. Under'' the old conditions harvest time on the farm meant hard work for the women folks as well as for the men and this is still the case just in proportion as the old-time condi tions yet prevail. The burden of responsi bility that fell upon the farmer's wife and daughters was that of feeding the harvest hands. To be sure the wife, had help, for her; neighbors all pitched in and helped even as their husbands and brothers, on a similar co operative basis, were assisting the farmer in getting in his grain a service that would be repaid in kind as the turn of each came in the round of harvesting activities that em braced the whole countryside. Under this plan, when harvest time meant a continual succession of neighborhood gatherings, there were compensations of the farmers' wives in the opportunities for gossipy gatherings that went the time-honored sewing circles one bet ter, whereas the farmer girls might behold romances grow under their eyes as the lads, fresh from the harvest fields, had most con vincing evidence as to the prowess in cookery of the local belles. As a development of this system, that was scarcely an improvement from the feminine standpoint, came the plan of harvesting by means of hired hands possibly through the medium of a, "crew" that accompanied a portable steam harvester that made its rounds from farm to farm. Under this plan, which is yet the approved one ' In most sections, the farmer's wife and daughters have to get up three meals a day for a dozen or a score of husky harvest hands and yet they are not so sure of assistance from the other women of the neighborhood as was the case when these latter had no similar duties at home through the presence of the men folk at the common harvesting rendezvous. Worse yet, the young ladles have scarcely the interest that was mani fest when the volunteer harvesters to be served were the eligibles of the neighborhood instead of, as now, nomadic laborers or, at best, college boys working for funds to put them through school. Latterly there has been some relief from that phase of the harvesting system which has meant so much hard work for the fair sex. It has come through the introduction of cook wagons or kitchens on wheels which accom pany the big threshing outfits from farm to farm and serve food to the harvest hands right at the scene of their work thereby saving, by the way, the time that was formerly Bpent li .-Mm 1 - r 1 'v-'" derful yet is the "steam cooker," which looks very much like a fire engine, but which per forms marvels in quick cooking. Why, in the early morning, for instance, coffee will be ready for all the members of the largest harvesting force within twelve minutes of the time the fires are lighted. This plan of cooking for the harvesting crews has virtually number of men required for the task have helped some, of course, but it requires a cer tain number of men to operate the machines and in times of prosperity when labor Is scarce the farmer often finds that heavy inroads have been made in his season's profits by the fancy prices he has had to pay for the hired hands to handle the crop. WHEN THE SHAH TRAVELED Each time the shah of Persia went to Eu rope, where he spent large sums, he procured the money needed for his journey not only by raising a loan, generally in Russia, but also by another method, which was both ingenious and businesslike. "Before leaving his possessions," writes M. Paoli in McClure's, "he summoned his chief officers of state ministers, provincial gover nors and the like and proposed the following bargain to them: Those who wished to form part of his suite must first pay him a sum of money, which he fixed in accordance with the importance of their functions; it varied be tween 50,000 and 300,000 francs. In return, he authorized them to recoup themselves in any way they pleased. "Here we find the explanation of the large number of persons who accompanied the shah on his travels, and the quaint and unexpected titles they bore, such as that of 'minister of the dock yard' (though Persia has never owned a navy), and one still more extraordi nary, that of 'attorney to the heir apparent.' "Although they sometimes had romantic souls, they invariably had terribly practical minds. Eager to recover their outlay as quickly as possible, they practiced on a huge scale and without scruple or hesitation what I may describe as the bonus or commission system. This explained how on each of his trips to France the shah was able to spend from eight to twelve million francs in pocket money. "He always carried a loaded pistol in his trousers pocket, though he never used it. On one of his journeys in France he even took it into his head to make n high court official walk before him when he left the theater car rying a revolver pointed at the peaceable sightseers who had gathered to see him come out. As soon as I saw this I ran up to the threatening bodyguard. " 'Put that revolver away,' I eaid. It Is not the custom here.' "But I had to insist pretty strongly before he consented to lay aside his weapon. "The shah, for that matter, was no less dis trustful of his own subjects. I observed that when the Persians were in his presence they adopted a uniform attitude, which consisted in holding their hands crossed on their stom achs, no doubt as evidence of their harmless intentions. It was a guaranty of a very cas ual sort, we must admit. "For the rest his 'alarms' displayed them selves under the most diverse aspects and in the most unexpected circumstances. For in stance, there was no persuading him to ascend the Eiffel tower. The disappointment of his guides was increased by the fact that he would come as far as the foot of the pillars; they always thought that he meant to go up. "But no, once below an immense iron frame work, he gazed up In the air, examined the lifts, flung a timid glance at the staircases, then suddenly turned on his heels and walked away. They told him in vain that his august father had gone up as far as the first floor; nothing could induce him to do as much. "The instinctive dread of darkness and soli tude was so keen in the Persian monarch that he required his bedroom to be filled during the night with light and sound. Accordingly every evening, as soon as he had lain down and closed his eyes,-the members of his suite gathem round his bed, lighted all the can delabra and exchanged their impressions aloud; while young nobles of the court, re lieving o,ne another in pairs, conscientiously patted his arms and legs with light, sharp little taps. "The king of kings imagined that he was in this way keeping death at a safe distance, if perchance it should take a fancy to tlsit him in his sleep; and the extraordinary thing is that he did sleep, notwithstanding all thi massage, light and noise." IVESSON TEXT-1I Chronicles 34:1-13. MEMORY VERSES 1, 2., GOLDEN TEXT "Remember now thy Creator lii the' days of thy youth." Ecel. 12:1. TIME Joslah began to reign B. C. 638. In the 345th year of Jutlah as a separate kingdom. - - -. . lie reigned 31 yeara, till B. C. 608. PLACE Judah and Jerusalem. But his reforms extended over a considerable part of the territory of the Northern Kingdom which had become extinct in 722-718, 8' years before Joslah came to the throno. Josiah was . the grandson . of Man asseh, whose career we studied in our last lesson. He was horn at Jerusa lem, B. C. 64C. His father was Amon, who followed the example of his fa ther's earlier years. He reigned but two years, when he was murdered by his courtiers In his own palace. The people rose against the conspirators and made his eight-year-old eon king in his place. Joslah's mother was Jedidah, the daughter of Adaiah. They belonged in Boscath, a town near Lachish in southwestern Judah, in the plains toward the Mediterranean sea. While King Amon was an idolater, and his court was corrupt, it Is possible that Josiah's mother kept the true faith. He began to re'gn when ho was eight years old. Like his grandfather, Manasseh, he must for several years have been guided, and his kingdom controlled by his mother or by prime ministers. The worshipers of Je hovah must have been in control at the palace, the wise and religious teachers of the true God and the true religion. So that for the first sixteen years of his life the ybung Josiah must have been under good influences, while he also would know of his father's tragic death, and his grandfather's sins, sufferings, and repentance. And his ancestor, David, was ever before him as his ideal, his hero, his saint. About the time when Josiah was twenty years old, and in the twelfth year of his reign, when he had begun his reforms, there came an invading host from the far east like a cyclone, an overwhelming scourge. Jeremiah foretells them in vivid pictures. But Herodotus tells us who they were, the Scythians "from the regions over Cau casus, vast nameless hordes of men, who sweeping past Assyria, un checked, poured upon Palestine. We can realize the event from our knowl edge of the Mongol and Tartar inva sions which in later centuries pursued the same path southwards. Living in the saddle, with no infantry nor chari ots to delay them, these Centaurs swept on with a speed of invasion hitherto unknown. In 630 they had crossed the Caucasus, by 626 they were on the borders of Egypt. The prophet, Jeremiah, describes in picturesque terms this invasion. "The lion is come up from his thicket;" "The destroyer of nations is on his way;" "Behold he cometh as clouds, and his chariot shall be as the whirl wind;" "Their quiver is an open eep ulcher, they are all mighty men;" "They are cruel and have no mercy; their voice roareth like the sea; and they ride upon horses, set In array as men of war against thee." It is easy to see how this terrible invader, coming so near, just as Jo Biah was beginning his reforms, must have interfered with his plans. Josiah began his reformation In his twelfth year, but the Invasion of the Scythians scon after this beginning lnterferred with the work. The sav age and cruel host came close to Judah's borders. Scattered bands may have entered the kingdom. Terror reigned. Defenses must be strength ened. Outsiders rushed to Jerusalem and the fortified cities. How far the reformations had progressed we do not know. But the chronicler having recorded the beginning simply goes on with the story, as is frequently done by historians. The restoration of the Temple was intrusted to a committee of three Shapan, the secretary of state; and Maaseiah, the governor of the city, the mayor of Jerusalem; and Jcah the recorder, the keeper of the rec ords, the historian. The temple built , by Solomon, was completed 390 years before. It was repaired by Joash 240 years before Josiah began his restora tion. The ravages of time, with neg lect and abuse during the sway of idolatry must have rendered it sadly in need of repair. It Tras during these repairs that the Book of Law was found. The work Interrupted by the Scyth ian hordes Is now resumed with great ly increased intensity and enthusiasm, through the new consecration of king and people, due to the finding of the Book of the Law. The first condition of salvation for individuals or nations is the putting away of sin at any cost. The second is the building up of the good. He that confesseth and forsaketh shall find mercy. Ye Are the Temple of the Living God. What Repairs Does This Temple Need? Cleanse away the remains of selfishness, and cast out all "the works of the flesh." Set up the family altar, repair your study of God's word. Re new the love whose decline is ex pressed in the neglect of courtesies and services to man. Repair your ap plication of the fruits of the spirit to business dealings and all departments of life. Repair your habits. Repair your temper. Cleanse your bodies from habits that lead to ill health, and make your bodies perfect instruments for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
The Roanoke Beacon and Washington County News (Plymouth, N.C.)
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July 21, 1911, edition 1
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