s doing,
and said to the people, "Behold a sower went forth to sow," and then
called the attention of the people to the character of the soil in the
different places where the seed fell.

In the country the farmers use a sack or bag. After having tied the
opposite ends together, they hang this over their neck and shoulder, and
with the right hand left free, they march up and down the field, sowing
the grain. This sowing is not so common any more, because farmers now
often plant their grain fields with a machine called a drill.

With this sack suspended about the neck, in this way, the farmer reaches
in and takes out a small handful of seed, and then swinging his hand,
throws the seed over a considerable portion of the ground. Thus he walks
from one end of the field to the other, sowing the seed, until he has
the entire field sown and ready for the men who follow with the harrow
to cover up the grain.

Well, boys and girls, this is the spring-time of life with you. These
are the pleasant days and years of your life. You have very little care.
Yet it is, nevertheless, the spring-time. You are now making
preparations which will tell what is to be the harvest in the later
years of your lives. As the farmer goes out and plows the field, so by
discipline and by counsel, and by instruction are your parents preparing
your minds and hearts that in after years you may enjoy a harvest of
great blessing.

[Illustration: Behold a Sower went Forth to Sow]

In the spring-time of life, when young persons are to do the sowing,
they need much careful counsel and instruction. I suppose that there are
many boys and girls who, if they were to go into the country, could not
tell the difference between wheat and barley, or oats and rye. Some
might not even be able to distinguish between oats and buckwheat. If
the farmer were to send you out to sow, you would, most likely, sow the
wrong kind of grain. In the same manner, it is important that you should
be directed by your parents, because they can distinguish between right
and wrong. They know what you should do, and what you should not do.
Therefore it is important that they should direct you in the
spring-time, lest you should sow the wrong kind of grain. And you know
the Bible says: "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap."

[Illustration: Wheat and Tares.]

It is not only difficult for those who have never seen something of life
in the country, to distinguish between the