Lessons from Floating Logs and Trees.
By Stephen N. Haskell
The Mississippi River, in 1876, changed its course, cutting a new channel for itself, and leaving the city of Vicksburg two miles inland. As we were lying anchored at the Vicksburg landing, on the Mississippi, I was much interested in watching the floating logs and trees that were rapidly being taken down the stream for the benefit of the poor who live near the river, from Vicksburg to New Orleans. Around Vicksburg, and up the river and some of its tributaries, especially the Yazoo River, the country is heavily timbered; but below Vicksburg the wood becomes more and more scarce until finally poor persons can scarcely obtain sufficient wood for fuel. These logs and trees floating down the stream are fished out by the poor, and are used or sold. This provision made by the Lord for the poor reminds me of the instruction that God gave to his people: “When thou cuttest down thine harvest in thy field, and hast forgot a sheaf in the field, thou shalt not go again to fetch it: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow: that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hands. When thou beatest thine olive tree, thou shalt not go over the boughs again: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow. When thou gatherest the grapes of thy vineyard, thou shalt not glean it afterward: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow. And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt: therefore I command thee to do this thing.” Deut. 24: 19–22. It is evident that the Lord led his people to forget the sheaf in the field, in order that he might provide for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. He himself led them to miss now and then olives that were on the boughs of the tree, for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. This is also true in occasionally leaving grapes on the vine. The Lord led them to miss certain clusters, and in this way God provided for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. So, in the thousands of logs left upon the river bank below high-water mark when the stream rises, the Lord’s providence may be seen to provide for the poor, the widow, and the fatherless, who have been bondmen in time past, and are destitute on account of circumstances under which they are now placed. S. N. H.