Silent Forces by Alexander Clarke, D. D.

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Dec 11, 1884

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 10, No. 47.

Silent Forces.

By Alexander Clarke, D. D.

WORKMEN in the stone quarries sometimes find a very hard kind of rock. They pick little grooves for the iron wedges, and then with great sledge-hammers, drive and drive the wedges into the flinty rock. And yet, once in a while, they fail to divide the solid mass. The iron wedges and the sledges prove useless, and the workmen wonder at the stubborn rock. But there is yet another way. The iron wedges are removed from the narrow grooves. Then little wooden wedges, of a very hard fiber, are selected. Now you begin to shake your head and think, "Well, if iron wedges will not do, how is it possible for wooden wedges to be used successfully?" Just wait, until we explain. The well-made wooden wedges are tightly inserted in the grooves, and then wet, and water is kept in the grooves, and no sledge is needed to drive them. They would break under the severe blows of the ponderous hammer. But the workmen just let the wet wedges alone. They will do what the driven iron fails to do. How so? The dampened wood swells. The particles must have room to enlarge. And the granite hearts of the rocks cannot withstand this silent influence. In a little while this solid rock parts from top to bottom, and the workman's will is accomplished. It is so, often, in other things. What noise and visible effort fail to do, some quiet power, when applied, will surely achieve. Teachers may remember this fact in mechanics, and manage some very stubborn natures by the application of the silent forces. The iron and the sledge-hammers often fail; but tears, prayers, and a patient example never fail.—Alexander Clarke, D. D.