What We Are Learning at the Nashville Agricultural and Normal Institute
By M. Bessie DeGraw
The Bible gives an account of a certain missionary whose experience always reminds me of the instruction the Lord has given concerning the work to be done in the South, and the methods that will prove most effectual in this field. The missionary I have in mind is Isaac. He was living on a farm in the borders of the country of Philistia. He followed divine instruction in the cultivation of the soil, for he was educated in the industrial school (“Patriarchs and Prophets,” page 141) of his father Abraham, where this instruction was made practical. The first results of his adherence to these principles of agriculture and fruit raising and dairying were that his grain fields yielded enormous crops,—one hundredfold,—and his fruit did equally well, and his pastures were filled with flocks. The second result was that his neighbors looked upon his fields and “envied him.” They came to inquire the cause of his great success, and gave him an opportunity to explain his methods of soil cultivation which God had taught him; his belief in the Lord's ownership of the land, which he recognized by the payment of the tithe; the Sabbath, which he kept week by week, and which the land kept every seventh year; the health principles, for he raised what he and his large family required to sustain them. Not a few isolated Philistines came, but the fame of this farm was carried to the ears of the chief magistrate of the country, and he came to see. His chief counselor and the captain of his army came also, and the question was thoroughly investigated. Now the grand result of all this was that those neighbors, and that king and his counselors when asked, “Wherefore come ye to me?” answered; “We saw certainly that the Lord was with thee.” “Thou art now the blessed of the Lord.” Whenever I read this bit of personal history which is to be found in the twenty-sixth chapter of Genesis, I think of the South, its needs, and the manner in which the Lord's work is to be done here. A few quotations with which you may be already familiar will show that God's plan for carrying the gospel to the world to-day is the same as in the days of Isaac. “Let Sabbath-keeping families move into the South, and live out the truth before those who know it not.” “In fields where the conditions are so objectionable and disheartening that many workers refuse to go to them, most remarkable changes for the better may be brought about by the efforts of self-sacrificing lay members.” Much is said in the Testimonies about the good that may be done by families who live out the truth as Isaac did. The minister and the canvasser are needed, but they are not to carry the whole burden. “Men and women should now be offering themselves to carry the truth into the highways and hedges of this field.” “God calls for missionaries, and asks us to take up our neglected duties. Let farmers, financiers, builders, and those who are skilled in various arts and crafts, go to this field to improve the land, and to build humble cottages for themselves and their neighbors.” Families who live the truth will have the same experience as did Isaac. Men of the world will come inquiring for the truth, and saying, “Surely God is with you.” It requires patience and faith to do missionary work in this way. It may be some time before the fruit appears, but does not the Lord say, “Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it”? He calls attention to the farmer and his method of work because in all the world the farmer's work is most nearly like the Lord's work for the salvation of souls. That is why he would have his people live in the country and cultivate the soil. This is why we are exhorted to locate our schools in the country and to train missionaries to work the soil. Many may think the Lord's way a difficult one, but it is not. In fact, when the Lord bids his people do anything, he prepares the way before them. And this is so in this matter. The South throws her doors wide open to progressive men, and gives them a hearty welcome. During the past few years manufactories have greatly increased throughout the South. The opening of factories calls many from the country. This depopulating of the country is greatly deplored by statesmen and others, and there is a desire to have those who love the country and who understand agriculture move into communities to show what country life should be, and what the soil will yield. Plantation life is not the most attractive to the white man. In slavery times the white man was the gentleman in the plantation home, and the work was done by the negro. Since then only the poorer class of white men work the soil, and consequently this manner of life is considered degrading. There are many who want to learn better ways of living, and there is a growing desire to improve the agricultural condition of the South. Are there not men in the North, the East, and the West who will read the signs of these times and accept such opportunities? The Nashville Agricultural and Normal Institute on its four-hundred-acre farm in middle Tennessee is working out some of these problems in the training of self-supporting missionaries. Your co-operation is solicited, and correspondence is invited.