The Rural Voice, 1999-12, Page 14LESLIE HAWKEN
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10 THE RURAL VOICE
Robert Mercer
Other people's words of inspiration
It is once again time to tune up the
vocal chords for Christmas carols,
seasonal melodies and some hymns.
Yet as I write this I have just
completed eating the last of the
everlasting
Thanksgiving
turkey that
started its
appearance just
after the singing
of that wonderful
old hymn, "We
plow the fields
and scatter the
good seed on the
ground".
It is a hymn
that I will
continue to
associate with a
cheerful Ontario feed and seed
merchant, Bud Goode, who always
maintained that those seeds were his
"Goode seeds". Some of them may
well have been.
I don't sing in any choir, and they
wouldn't want me to either, but
singing to whatever music you like
is, in my book, good therapy. There
are those who sing in the shower,
those who sing driving the car when
they are alone, and no doubt there are
some who practice their skills in the
cab of a tractor or combine.
The sound of Christmas carols,
and Auld Lang Syne at this special
New Year, will likely fill many a
rural home, church or municipal
community hall this season. But
during this seasonal time of getting
from Thanksgiving to the year-end
there are those days when the air gets
calm, the frost coats the cobwebs
with early morning lace, the colours
are rich in the laneways and the starts
bright before the rising of the full
harvest moon. It is a time of year I
enjoy, and 1 noticed an apt quotation
the other day that seemed to catch
much of that feeling.
"To plow is to pray, to plant is to
prophesy and to harvest answers and
fulfills." When I looked it up it was
by Robert Ingersoll who died in
1899. This act of checking out a
quotation led me to more quotations
and one or two that I thought might
be a welcome inner boost to farmers
this time of year, especially in a year
when farming has not been the most
rewarding activity in Canada.
As this is the time of year when it
is possible to draw away from the
pressures of everyday life, it is also
that time to sit back and contemplate
some of the reasons why we do what
we do. I find that other people can
often express how I feel or act, far
better than I can. So that is why I
enjoyed looking up some "rural"
quotations.
A succulent turn of phrase with
meaning and depth can be just as
rewarding, and possibly longer
lasting, than a T-bone steak with a
side dressing of mushrooms.
To me it was well said by
whoever said "Pray for a good
harvest but continue to hoe." Another
two sayings that gave due credit to
the plow, came from the famous
Bartlett's book on quotations. They
were: "When tillage begins, other
arts follow. The farmers therefore are
the founders of human civilization."
I like that one almost as much as
the next: "No race can prosper 'til it
learns that there is as much dignity in
tilling a field as in writing a poem."
I hope your harvest has been
good, and your year rewarding. 1
finish with another quote from a
hymn for those who sing or enjoy the
thoughts expressed by this verse.
"Come ye thankful people come,
Raise the song of harvest -home;
All is safely gathered in,
Ere the winter storms begin."
Happy Christmas to all and a
peaceful and happy new year.0
Robert Mercer was editor of the
Broadwater Market Letter and a farm
commentator in Ontario for 25 years.