THE PALM TREE IS NOTED FOR ITS UTILITY
The uses to which the different palm tree varieties are put are
something marvelous in the extreme. There is nothing like it in all the
vegetable world. All parts are utilized, from the trunk and branches to
the sap. From the branches they make cages for poultry, and fences for
gardens. From the leaves they manufacture couches, baskets, bags, and
mats. From the fiber they make thread, ropes, and rigging. From the sap
is manufactured a drink, while seeds are ground up for provender for
camels.
The following will show some of the many uses of the various kinds of
palms: Fuel, clothing, building material, tents, cages, crates, fences,
thatching, bridges, masts, boats, oars, canes, umbrellas, umbrella
sticks, couches, baskets, bags, matting, mattresses, hammocks, pillows,
cushions, carpets, sail cloth, oakum, paste-board, kites, thread,
fishlines, bowstrings, ropes, rigging, tables, stands, chairs,
bedsteads, cradles, window blinds, brooms, brushes, utensils, cooking
vessels, weapons, shields, tools, hooks, spear tips, arrow heads,
needles, fans, ornaments, hats, bonnets, musical instruments, paper,
writing paper, candles, wax, resin, tannin, dying materials, medicines,
tonics, refreshing drinks, vinegar, sugar, starch, meal, bread, sago,
syrup for cooking, substitute for salt, oil for butter, oil for light
and lubrication, and for making soap. And the carnal ingenuity of
depraved man has even discovered how he can get drunk on the fermented
juices. Besides all these a substance is used in tanning leather. The
shell of the stems is used for making gutters, timber for flooring and
wharf material, stems for blowpipes for poisonous arrows. One kind of
palm is used in the construction of rude suspension bridges. Another
affords a substitute for ivory. One part is used for fattening hogs. It
is said that the various uses are declared to be three hundred sixty.
Thus we see that it could be of some use about every day in the year.
Reader, are you flourishing like this, and good for something every day
in the year?
God certainly intends us to be useful. It means something to fill one's
sphere in the world as Christ intended. There is something more to do
than to plow corn, milk cows, and feed hogs; something more than to keep
house, wash clothes and scrub floors. There is more at hand than the
mere avocations of life, necessary as some of them are. God never called
anybody to labor alone for the perishable things of this life. "A man's
life consisteth not in the abundance of things which he possesseth." The
real business of every Christian is primarily to serve God, and glorify
Him; the other services are merely incidental. The old shoemaker had it
right. When asked what his business was, he replied: "My business is to
serve the Lord; but I make boots and shoes to pay expenses."
Even those who are shut indoors through feeble health may find avenues
for usefulness, and do service that will tell for eternity. In Pasadena,
Cal., is a blind girl, and almost entirely deaf, yet she applies herself
to the Lord's work, and makes articles for sale, devoting the proceeds
to the foreign missionary work.
A remarkable story has been published in the _Ladies' Home Journal_ of
March 1, 1911, showing what a girl can do without hands and arms.
Through the kindness of The Curtis Publishing Company, we are permitted
to insert the article in this book. It was written by the young lady
herself.
"I was not born a cripple. Even as a child I did not always have to make
hands of my feet. Indeed, till I was nine years old, I not only had arms
and hands like other children, but I was also a strong, healthy, normal
child like my two brothers, who were older than I, and my sister, who
was two years younger. Our family was in poor and humble circumstances
as far back as I can remember. My parents were both English, but my
father became naturalized as a citizen of this country in 1882--the year
in which I was born.
"Since I grew up I have learned that my father and mother were in good
circumstances at the time of their marriage, and for some ten or twelve
years afterward; that my father was a steady, hard-working, kindly man;
and that he and my mother were devoted to one another and were very
happy together. But after the birth of my brothers my mother was taken
ill and was in poor health for a long time. Then, just as she was at the
worst of her illness, my father lost his position, and matters speedily
began to go from bad to worse. A tendency to strong drink, which he had
kept well curbed for my mother's sake, now began to get the better of
him. Her failing health made it impossible for her to look out for him
as she had hitherto done. The new work which he succeeded in obtaining
was hard and distasteful, and the family grew poorer and poorer until at
last there were times when we had not enough of food and clothing, and
the charitable societies of Chicago, where we lived, began to look after
us.
"In the summer just before my ninth birthday, I was one of a number of
children who were sent into the country for a two-weeks' outing by the
managers of a fresh air fund. Those were the two pleasantest weeks of my
life. The beautiful, green country, the grass, flowers, trees, and birds
delighted me. I was well and robust, and I ran and picked flowers and
played and enjoyed myself to the utmost. A few weeks after I came home
from this wonderful outing my mother died, and I became the housekeeper
of the family. I was then just nine years old. I did the work as well as
I could, although there was not much to do nor much to do it with, in
the bare place which we called 'home,' in the basement of a small city
dwelling. Soon after I had lost my mother's companionship I lost my
sister's also, for she was adopted by well-to-do people, whose identity
I did not know and have never learned.
"On the afternoon of the following Thanksgiving day, while my brothers
were playing outdoors and my father and I were alone in the house, I was
puttering about when I found a bottle filled with what I afterward knew
must have been whisky. Being only a child, and possessed of a child's
thoughtless curiosity, I took a long drink from the bottle. The effect
was almost instantaneous. I grew weak and stupefied. At that moment my
father, who was in an adjoining room, told me to go and put some wood on
the kitchen range. I said that I felt sick and could not go, but he
insisted and I obeyed. No sooner had I got the lids off the range,
however, than the combined effect of the liquor and the heat overpowered
me, and I fell forward upon the open fire, unconscious.
"My younger brother, who came in from play and lifted me off, saved me
from death. But at the hospital it was found necessary to amputate both
my arms. The burns about my neck and chest were severe, but not serious,
and two months later I was discharged from the hospital. A state society
for the care of children had already arranged with my father to take
full control of me. A fund contributed to by generous people far and
near was raised for my support and education, and after spending some
months in a nursery I became an inmate of the Home for Destitute
Crippled Children in Chicago.
"In this home I was given instruction in the common school studies, and
I learned to write and sew with my feet. After four years I was
transferred by the Illinois Home Society to the care of a private family
in Wisconsin, where I lived for eight years, going to the public school
and practically completing the high school course. During all this time
I continued to learn how to make hands of my feet, and I have kept on
perfecting myself in this necessary acquirement ever since. It has, of
course, taken a great deal of perseverance and determination, and has
required constant effort and practice, coupled with no little physical
skill and suppleness. But it must be borne in mind that for nearly
twenty years I have been without hands and arms, and that during most of
this time I have had to wait on myself. So my feet have been in almost
continual training. I have never found a task too hard to undertake nor
too tedious to finish, and no one appreciates the truth of the old
saying, 'Where there's a will, there's a way,' better than I do.
"As a result, I have learned to dress myself, almost completely. I can
take a bath by myself, wash my face, brush my teeth, put on most of my
clothes, and comb my hair when it is not too long. I can put on and take
off my eyeglasses. I can use the scissors to cut paper, cloth, or any
other material with which I am working, and then thread the needle, knot
the thread and do the necessary sewing. I can sweep and dust, mop and
scrub, and even blacken stoves. I can sketch and draw, although I have
never had a lesson in these accomplishments and have acquired the little
knowledge and skill I possess in this art solely by practice. In the
same way I have also learned to sharpen my own pencils, opening and
closing the knife myself. I have even made articles of furniture, such
as small bookcases and writing desks, sawing all the lumber, driving the
nails, putting on the hinges, and finally varnishing the completed
article. In short, I do with my feet almost anything that others do with
their hands.
"At the close of my high school course I found myself, at the age of
twenty-one, left practically on my own resources. The fund which had
been raised for me was exhausted, the obligation of the state society
which had taken charge of me had ceased, my father had passed away, my
brothers were poor and could not help me, and my sister had gone out of
my life. For a while I earned a little money by selling my drawings,
name-cards and other work. Then I gave exhibitions, in homes and
elsewhere, of my skill with my feet. Eventually I found it possible to
attend Taylor University at Upland, Indiana, and while there the hope I
had long cherished of some day being able to be of some help to poor,
deserving, crippled children took shape and my life work was made plain
to me.
"A Home for Disabled Children was planned and eventually started in
Maywood, Illinois. I took special studies to qualify me to handle
properly and capably the work of financial secretary of the Home. During
the year and a half between the starting of the Home and the writing of
this article five children have been cared for and a great deal of
improvement has been observed in all of them.
"It is not the intention to overcrowd the Home with children, or make it
institutional in any way, but to give them a real home with good care
and Christian training, and also an education which will enable them to
become self-supporting. In this way I hope to show that even a girl
without arms, born and raised under the most unfavorable circumstances,
can accomplish much good by lending a 'helping hand' to other cripples,
and thus make their lives better, sweeter and more useful."
This lady's name is Kittie Smith, and the written article would be much
more interesting could we accompany it with the dozen or more
illustrations in the _Ladies' Home Journal_, where she is seen writing a
letter, using the telephone, making fancy-work, drinking water at
dinner, using the typewriter and cutting out material for a dress.
Pictures of her drawings, the desk, the table and quilt she made are
also given.
Here is a lady, educated, trained, and equipped for a life of special
usefulness, who has had to battle through difficulties which would tend
to discourage the stoutest hearts. Yet, in spite of all, she is engaged
in Christian work and proving to the world what one is enabled to do who
will.
We have lately seen the half-tone picture in _Popular Mechanics_, of a
man who had lost both legs and both arms in a railroad accident, yet he
makes his living by selling the pictures which he paints. He brings
into requisition his chin and the stump of his right arm in handling the
brush.
About fifty years ago there was a member of the British Parliament by
the name of Cavanaugh. This man was born with no legs whatever and with
no arms, save stumps half way up to his elbows. His penmanship was good,
using a false hand for his writing. He was wheeled in each time by a
valet, and was the only member who was allowed to address the Parliament
without standing.
There are some men who will not down, even from the standpoint of the
world. May we not take a lesson from these "unfortunates" and rise above
every impediment, and yet succeed in the kingdom of God?
How many powerful revivals have occurred, when it was discovered that
they were the result of the faithful, intercessory praying of some
shut-in saint, who had on the prayer list the very ones who got saved!
Let me cite a quotation from Charles G. Finney's Revival Lectures:
"A pious man in the western part of this state (New York) was sick with
consumption. He was a poor man, sick for years. An unconverted merchant
in the place had a kind heart, and used to send him now and then
something for his comfort, or for his family. He felt grateful for the
kindness, but could make no return, as he wanted to do. At length he
determined that the best return he could make would be to pray for his
salvation. He began to pray and his soul kindled, and he got hold of
God. There was no revival there, but by and by, to the astonishment of
everybody, this merchant came right out on the Lord's side. The fire
kindled all over the place, and a powerful revival followed, and
multitudes were converted.
"This poor man lingered in this way for several years, and died. After
his death, I visited the place, and his widow put into my hands his
diary. Among other things, he says in his diary: 'I am acquainted with
about thirty ministers and churches.' He then goes on to set apart
certain hours in the day and week to pray for each of these ministers
and churches, and also certain seasons for praying for the different
missionary stations. Then followed, under different dates, such facts as
these: 'Today,' naming the date, 'I have been enabled to offer what I
call the prayer of faith for the outpouring of the Spirit on----church
and I trust in God there will soon be a revival there.' Under another
date, 'I have today been able to offer what I call the prayer of faith
for such a church, and trust there will soon be a revival there.' Thus
he had gone over a great many churches, recording the fact that he had
prayed for them in faith that a revival might soon prevail among them.
Of the missionary stations, if I recollect right, he mentions in
particular the mission of Ceylon. I believe the last place mentioned in
his diary, for which he offered the prayer of faith, was the place in
which he lived. Not long after noting these facts in the diary, the
revival commenced, and went over the region of country, nearly I
believe, if not quite in the order in which they had been mentioned in
his diary; and in due time news came from Ceylon that there was a
revival of religion there. The revival in his own town did not commence
till after his death. Its commencement was at the time when his widow
put into my hands the document to which I have referred. She told me
that he was so exercised in prayer during his sickness, that she often
feared he would pray himself to death. The revival was exceedingly great
and powerful in all the region; and the fact that it was about to
prevail had not been hidden from this servant of the Lord. According to
His Word, 'The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him.' Thus,
this man too feeble in body to go out of his house, was yet more useful
to the world and the Church of God, than all the heartless professors of
the country. Standing between God and the desolations of Zion, and
pouring out his heart in prevailing prayer, as a prince he had power
with God, and prevailed." (Finney's Lectures, pp. 112, 113).
Fanny Crosby was blind, yet see how she has blessed the world with her
thousands of beautiful hymns, written even down to her old age. Let the
weak ones look up and take on fresh courage. "My grace is sufficient for
thee," and "He giveth more grace," are promises that should encourage
those who are seemingly shut off from opportunities of service.
"Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might." The avenue to
God in prayer, and the way to hearts are still open. Be of some service
still. Like the palm tree, every Christian can be of much use in the
world.
Three young ladies had just graduated from school and were talking over
their ambitions in life. One said her great ambition was to be an author
and write some great book. Another said her ambition was to be an artist
and paint some great picture which might be hung up in some gallery for
people to see. The other young lady was silent, and hung her head. Her
teacher saw her and remarked that she had not yet expressed her
ambitions in life. Finally, she replied: "I know that I do not amount to
much, and that I have not much talent, but I was just thinking that my
greatest ambition is so to live in this world, that when Jesus finally
sees me coming, He can say, 'There comes one who has filled just the
niche in the world that I wanted her to fill.'"
As all parts of the palm tree are utilized, so will all of the palm tree
saint be consecrated to God, so that God may call upon him at any time
for any service which He in His infinite wisdom may require. But it will
take a complete yielding up of all one's parts; his spirit, soul and
body; his hands to work, his feet to walk, his eyes to see, his ears to
hear, his tongue to talk, his mind to think, his heart to love, his
talents, time, and earthly store at God's disposal, his family, his
service, his all simply abandoned to the Holy Ghost.
Reader, this is the way to be useful, and the way to have all there is
of you used. If you are not thus consecrated, look into your experience.
Fifty years ago seven shoemakers in a shop in the city of Hamburg said,
"By the grace of God we will help to send the gospel to our destitute
fellow-men." It is said that in twenty-five years they had established
fifty self-supporting churches, had gathered ten thousand converts, had
distributed four hundred thousand Bibles and eight million tracts, and
had carried the gospel to five million of their race. How many men would
it take like that to carry the gospel to the world in twenty-five years?
Mrs. Adelaide L. Beers, wife of Rev. Alexander Beers, principal of the
Free Methodist Seminary at Seattle, Wash., has furnished the following
information concerning a family who moved to Seattle a number of years
ago. It beautifully illustrates the thought before us of utility in the
Christian life. It not only illustrates utility itself, but like the
palm tree, utility of all parts.
Mr. and Mrs. M----, formerly of Goldendale, Wash., had a family of six
boys and two girls. Having received the blessing of entire
sanctification, and wanting their children educated for God, they felt
they could not endanger their souls by placing them in worldly,
Christless schools.
They owned a farm at Goldendale, but had little means available. They
were not daunted, however, by the difficulties in the way, but with the
heroic spirit of the "ancient worthies," they arranged to move to
Seattle. The mother took the train, while as many as could, rode in a
large wagon, and the others walked, leading several horses and cows. In
turn they rode and walked, making the wearisome journey across the
mountains, filled with hope and courage for the future. Soon after the
mother's arrival in Seattle, a girl baby was born, being the ninth and
last child.
The first year of their stay in their new home was one of great hardship
and self-denial. They lived on the plainest food, while every member of
the family except the baby worked very hard to obtain a livelihood. The
two older girls were already saved and sanctified and were placed at
once in the Free Methodist Seminary. The boys were soon entered as
students, and one by one converted to God. Two of the little boys, with
knee trousers were clearly saved in the children's meeting which was
regularly conducted by Mrs. Beers.
A few years of consecrated service and Christian education have passed
and we sum up the results. A faithful father and mother have trained
their family for heaven, and gladly yielded their all to Christ. The
mother has left the toils and cares of earth, and has gone to be with
Jesus. One is now at the head of the Free Methodist missionary work in
China. Another has been accepted as a missionary to China by the General
Missionary Board and is to labor with his brother. One of the daughters
is a successful missionary, laboring with her husband, who is at the
head of the missionary work in Japan. She received her call while a
student in the Seattle Seminary. Another heard the Macedonian call and
gladly left all to go to China. One son is filling the principal's chair
at the Free Methodist Seminary at Spring Arbor, Mich., while another is
principal of a high school in Seattle. All the family are saved, and are
proving the Scripture true: "Train up a child in the way he should go,
and when he is old he will not depart from it." While Sister M---- has
finished her work and gone home to heaven, "her children rise up and
call her blessed."