MRS. JONES'S OPINION by M. W.

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · May 29, 1879

MRS. JONES'S OPINION.

By M. W.

It is of no use, wife, for you to remonstrate any more about this matter; for I have fully made up my mind to carry out our original plan. Our land is quite as good as that of neighbor Brown's, and you know that his fruit is always in demand, and yields an immense profit for the time and means expended. It is quite true, I will admit, that our attempts in the past to compete with neighbor Brown in fruit-raising have proved a failure; nevertheless, it is no reason why we should abandon the project and give up in despair. Doubtless you remember the old adage, “If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.”

Yes, Mr. Jones, replied the devoted wife, I remember most distinctly the adage referred to; my mind has been refreshed with it annually for the past twenty years. And as you have again broached this subject, I will give you my opinion of the matter, then leave you to act as seems best.

Of course you know that I am acquainted with your many attempts and oft-repeated failures to eclipse Mr. Brown in fruit-raising; and I tell you now, as I have told you heretofore, that unless you prune, strengthen, and support the few remaining trees, our fruit will be nothing but leaves. It is my opinion that planting a tree here, another there, then leaving it to wither and blast, is not only a shameful waste of time and means, but is well calculated to bring reproach upon us, and discouragement upon our friends. Had you heeded the advice repeatedly given relative to this matter, and followed the example of Mr. Brown, doing your work systematically, there would have been no such thing as failure, and to-day we could look over the broad field upon much fruit as the result of our labor. But instead of a thrifty, healthy orchard, there are withered branches, dead trees, and in every part of the field we find the remains of what might have been, with proper care, trees bearing fruit, some an hundred-fold, some fifty. When you commenced laboring in the vineyard, you were upon an equal footing with Mr. Brown; if anything, the odds were in your favor. You had a deeper experience, and your qualifications generally for a successful husbandman were superior to Mr. Brown's. It was generally expected when you planted that young orchard, the finest selection in all, that Mr. Jones would bear off the palm as a successful nurseryman. But you worked and toiled, studied and planned, devising ways and means to procure additional numbers to your infant orchard. It was numbers you regarded and sought for more than anything else. You should not have left the nursery to care for itself until the young trees were firmly rooted and able to stand the withering storms. Notwithstanding repeated admonitions to watch, water, and protect the young and tottering plants, they were left to the mercy of the “little foxes,” which speedily commenced their work of destruction, and ceased not from their gnawing and undermining until they had completely undone your work. The advice of those who had long labored in the vineyard as successful workmen you have disregarded, and have followed your own inclination. In short, when your work had just begun, you left it for another part of the field to go through the same experience in preparing the soil for the reception of the good seed, gathering out the stones, staking off the ground, and fencing it in with impassable barriers. After several weeks or months of hard labor, you have succeeded in planting another little orchard, to share the same fate as its predecessors. That is the way, husband, you have been laboring for a score of years. And the orchard which was the pride of our hearts, and the envy of our neighbors, where is it to-day? Scarcely a vestige of it remains. A few dwarfs only are left to mark the place of the once beautiful orchard that promised so bountiful a harvest.

Instead of watching the young scions with a parental care, until they become deep-rooted, settled, and grounded, you leave them for the wild birds of the forest to perch upon, or the ruthless hand of an enemy to destroy. Now, husband, it is my opinion that Mr. Brown's success is attributable mainly to his unceasing efforts to make every blow count. Where he planted one tree, you set out a dozen. He acted the part of a faithful husbandman, and as one who must give an account of his stewardship. In his declining days he has the satisfaction of looking over the broad fields and counting his fruit-bearing trees by scores, while you have scarcely a dozen live, healthy trees toward which you would like to call the attention of your friends as the result of your life labors. While you were spending time and means experimenting in different localities, Mr. Brown was carefully guarding every root and twig from the destructive palmerworm or caterpillar. Early and late he was seen passing from tree to tree. A limb was taken off here, another there. The pruning knife was not spared until the tree was brought into proper shape and good fruit-bearing condition. He not only planted, but he pruned and watered. He felt content to make haste slowly.

It is my opinion, husband, that you would not be under so great condemnation if you would visit your old orchard occasionally, and bestow some labor upon that which was once as choice to you as the pupil of your eye. Do not look so much to quantity as to quality. One tree firmly rooted, bearing fruit, gladdens the heart more than a thousand half-rooted, wavering, tottering dwarfs. Get your trees into good thriving condition, that they may not be blasted by every wind that blows. Prove yourself to be a workman that needeth not to be ashamed. By so doing you will find that your labor will not be in vain.

As husbandmen, we are accountable, and the fearful responsibility will rest where it rightly belongs.

Comments unnecessary. M. W.