--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Tanner, Joseph M. collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 11 number: 6 published: 1908-04 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Joseph M. Tanner, "Thoughts of a Farmer—VI. Inequalities," *Improvement Era* 11, no. 6 (April 1908): 443–445.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1106unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera1106unse start_page: 443 end_page: 445 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1908-04) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1106unse publication_year: 1908 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1908, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Thoughts of a Farmer—VI. Inequalities THOUGHTS OF A FARMER. BY DR. JOSEPH M. TANNER. VI.— INEQUALITIES. Matching teams on a farm is often a very difficult task. In the first place, there is, of course, the question of size. A large horse and a small horse never look well together. Pride sometimes suggests that the horses be of the same color; and yet, size and color and age may be very imperfect standards for matching a team. One who is not familiar with horses may ask what difference does it make, after all, if one horse is a little stronger than another, or a little slower. Now, what the farmer is after is real service, service that can be performed at the greatest possible advantage. He wants his horses suitably matched, for sometimes it happens that one horse is killing himself when matched to another horse that is growing fat. One horse has high life, the other is lazy. If you strike the lazy horse, the high-lifed one is thrown into a fit of excitement, and wastes his nervous energies by jumping about in a state of fear. It can be easily comprehended how one of the most important items on the farm is a well matched team, without which the work is often retarded and there is a constant loss. How true the same principle is in the life of man. Men are not only often illy matched, in the midst of their fellowmen, but they are often unevenly yoked to the peculiar circumstances of their lives. Some say we are the creatures of circumstances, but that is only partially true; for many men have the ability to rise above the unfavorable conditions that surround them. A man's environments may be dreary and lazy while he is possessed of ex- 444 IMPROVEMENT ERA. traordinary energy and aptness. A man's home surroundings may be quite out of harmony with the tenor of his own life. While he is a part of the family life into which he is born, there is often in him a spirit of progress and a power of thought that make him wholly unlike the rest of his family. Men suffer from inequalities of association and environments, just as an animal in a team suffers from a lazy horse beside him. The high spirited animal is often worn out and made useless at an early age by the excessive work which the inequality puts upon him, or may become lazy by being held back constantly. So in life men fret away their energies and spirit because they are constantly trying to lift their surroundings to the plane of mental and spiritual activity which they occupy. Again, men often become dull and unambitious in an atmosphere of calm indifference to the higher duties and higher life of man. The service of the horse may be improved by the judgment of a wise and skilful master who matches and rematches his team with a view to the highest economy in farm labor. But horses are often forced to work in their unequal conditions by a dull and indifferent master. So in the life of man. One set of conditions regulate and correct, while another set of circumstances leave a man just where it found him. The horse is not a free agent; a man is; so here analogies cease. Men hitch themselves up, match themselves with their f ellowmen and with various conditions of life. How easy, then, it is to see that we should be good and wiae teamsters in driving ourselves, as in driving animals. We should aim to match ourselves with conditions that prompt and lead us to a higher and a better life. If the circumstances which surround us are hopelessly bad, or wholly out of harmony with the progressive nature of our lives, we should abandon them and seek new ones. In our associations with our f ellowmen we should avoid: the deadhead and the indifferent man. We should seek those who have gait that we are capable of taking, so that our march in life side by side with our associates may be a victorious march — a march of conquest and strenuous activity. Every thoughtful man will naturally study his surroundings; he will soon learn whether they are in harmony with his own purposes and ambitions in life. He will find out, if he can, if there THOUGHTS OF A FARMER. 445 is advancement in the spirit of his environments, if the life about him is one of growth. He will want to know whether it is possible for him to aid that growth and in turn be aided by it. He knows that if he is to have good, strong, vigorous lungs that will impart vitality to his whole body, he must breathe the pure and healthy atmosphere. If there are stenches about him, he will either remove them or remove himself to a healthier and purer spot of earth; for he knows that no man can render the best and highest service of life of which he is capable if he be unevenly yoked with men or circumstances. Men ought to feel that in their associations they are well matched, that they can work in harmony; for they must realize that if improperly matched they may either become lazy and indifferent themselves or fret their lives away to no useful purpose. Lastly, there is implanted in the heart of man a faith in se - cret promptings and divine guidance. Men of sublime faith feel that God is over all. They study his purposes and seek to place themselves in harmony with them. They have an ambition to match themselves with divine influences whose uplifting power will carry them up to a higher, purer, and more useful life. They would place themselves in partnership, even though their interests be small, with an Allwise Being. They firmly believe that if they are in harmony with the higher spirit of life, a divine voice will call them to those vocations and duties of life which by nature and effort they are best fitted to accomplish. Men of such faith feel that over and above them is a wise and skilful teamster who both guides and calls. Men who thus cultivate a sublime faith, and respond to its promptings, are most likely to find themselves evenly yoked in life with both men and conditions. If we would do our best, we must be evenly matched and so matched that there is a constant struggle not only to hold our own but to make headway. We should feel an inspiration from our surroundings and aspiration in the presence of our associates. By thus matching ourselves well in life, we not only render our own best and highest service, but we help others to do the best that is within them. Our life, then, has a double purpose, our service a double importance. Lastly, "be ye not unevenly yoked." Alberta, Canada.