COUNTRY LIFE by Frederick Griggs

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Apr 4, 1900

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 26, No. 14.

COUNTRY LIFE.

By Frederick Griggs

"The groves were God's first temples." God speaks to the heart and mind of a child who lives in the country, in a far more positive way than He can to one who lives in the city.

The purpose of God is to bring to Himself every child born into this world. In this work He should have the co-operation of parents and teachers. But when we have the children so far removed from the environment in which He particularly manifests Himself, obviously the work is much harder. While it is true that many parents are so situated that it is quite impossible for them to have their children in the country, yet it should be the endeavor of every parent, each year, to spend some time with his children away from the bustle and noise, the excitement and overstimulation, of the city.

The country is the native home of every child, tho it is true that many of them do not live in the land of their nativity. The fresh air, beautiful sunshine, and fragrant flowers have a life-giving influence upon the developing child. Aside from this physical effect, there is the additional leading to worship and reverence, given by this same sunshine, fresh air, and flowers.

One element of every child's nature is that of worship. Every being seems bound by the laws of his nature to worship something. If the child is taught that the heavens declare the glory of God, and that the sunshine, fresh air, flowers, birds, and rocks are but means that God is employing to speak to them of Himself, he can but come to have a reverence for the Creator and Preserver of these wonderful things which bring so much happiness to him.

Power of Unconscious Influences.

That which affects us most is that which we receive unconsciously. We receive more from the unconscious influence and association of our friends than by the direct effort which we may make ourselves to imitate them. So it is with the child in the country. As various flowers take from the soil sunshine, air, and water, just those elements which are needed to produce the particular form of life that they manifest, rejecting all others, so will the child drink in from nature in all of its various forms, just those ingredients of character which are necessary for his individual needs. This should be qualified, however, by saying that the benefit which he derives or does not derive, will depend largely upon the attitude which his parents and instructors themselves take toward the works of God.

Every one in the world is seeking after pleasure, but few know what true pleasure is. This is due largely to errors in education. True pleasures, those which make up the life of mind, are, after all, the simplest and most unassuming. The man of wealth and leisure may traverse land and sea after happiness, and find it not, unless he takes it with him in his heart day by day. On the other hand, examples are abundant of men who have never been more than a day's journey from home, and yet whose lives are filled with contentment and happiness.

God in Nature.

Christianity is the only source of the real happiness and enjoyment of this life, the only place from whence one may receive a philosophy that will meet the perplexities and annoyances incident to life, as they should be met. And when one knows that this religion embraces the love of nature, the soul is brought into closer contact with our Creator, and the ability to meet with and overcome the perplexities of life is greatly increased.

These perplexities of life are caused largely by one's thinking of himself. Every one should have some wholesome lines of thought, which will take his attention away from himself and center it in something else. What better can be suggested as a field of thought than the works of Almighty God? They are full of beauty and power, sweetness and grandeur.

But how few people there are in the world who see the works of nature at all, much less see the presence and love of God in these works! It requires education and training to notice and observe the things about us, and to take from these objects the lessons which they are endeavoring to teach us. This education comes to the child who lives in the country, if he has wise teachers, and this education leads him in the path of contentment, because it presents to him lines of thought and action which lead him outside of himself.

It can not be said there is more in the country to attract the attention of the child than in the city; probably there is less. But that to which he does give his attention in the country is wholesome, while in the city, or even in villages, this is not always or generally true. In the country everything lives for the child; in the city everything seems to live for itself. In this, the country teaches

A Lesson in Unselfishness.

For the child the birds sing, the flowers bloom, the bees work, the blue sky bends down to kiss him, and the stars keep watch over him. Everything works for the good of something besides itself, and he can but unconsciously learn the lesson of unselfishness.

Further than that, there is also something for him to do with his own hands, in a sense which there is not in the city. Work is one of the greatest blessings which can come to childhood. Those children who learn this lesson early will correspondingly early develop strong characters, characters in which there is much of sunshine and helpfulness; for they have drunk it unconsciously in childhood. Give the child the country, where, unfettered by the trammels of modern civilization, he may be natural.

An old cart-horse, which had traversed the cobblestones of a great city, dragging his heavy cart after him, for years, was considered to have done his life's work, and was, therefore, turned out into a green pasture in the spring-time to spend his last few remaining days. He was old and stiff, but he caught the inspiration of the new life around him, lay down and rolled, got up, and ran from one end of the field to the other like a colt, nibbled a bit of grass here, sprang into the air, took a short run, nibbled a bit there, and, in short, acted as tho he were mad and beside himself. And he was beside himself. The old cart-horse had become his own self, because new life had come into him.

If the green grass, the fresh air, and the bounties of nature can so affect a poor, dumb animal, will it not correspondingly influence human beings? Give it a chance.

FREDERICK GRIGGS.