The alfalfa plant is a rank species of grass that grows in the
western sections of our country. It is valuable for horses and
also for enriching waste land. It thrives in a soil where other
plants would fail because of its power to find water. Roots in
search of moisture have been found that were eighteen inches in
length. The stalk makes heavy drafts on the surrounding air for
nitrogen. Its powers of assimilation are remarkable. Its rapid
and sturdy growth is a result of its habit of drawing upon all
the surrounding air and the soil to build itself up.
If we wish to grow we must avail ourselves of every possible means.
Soul culture depends not only upon hearing the truth, but upon
assimilating the truth. (Text.)
(152)
* * * * *
Are there not moral and religious “bolters and chewers.” Some men try
to get their religious pabulum by “bolting” all their experience in
a revival; others, with a more quiet deliberation, are intent upon
growing in grace through the years.
In an address at the Royal Dental Hospital, London, Dr. Osler,
as reported in _The Hospital_ (London), asserted that the
public may be divided into two great groups, the bolters and
chewers. Says this paper: “He maintains that it is the business
of dental students to endeavor to convert the overwhelming
percentage of bolters into a select group of chewers. This is
their mission of utility; but Professor Osler also affirms that
they have a mission to beautify the race. He holds that if there
is one thing more beautiful than another under heaven it is a
beautiful set of teeth. To promote these missions he would have
attached to every elementary school a dental surgeon to inspect
the mouths of the children; and total abstainers will learn with
a shock, that he considers the question of teeth more a national
problem than that of alcohol. If people generally had good teeth
instead of bad, the chewers would be many and the bolters few,
and a potent cause of human suffering and physical deterioration
would be arrested.”
(153)
=Assistance=--See HELPFULNESS.