Try
Charles Spurgeon · John Ploughman's Talk; or, Plain Advice for Plain People
"We shall get through it now,' said Jack to Harry, as they fin-
ished up the pudding." — Page 205.
OF all the pretty little songs I have ever
heard my youngsters sing, that is one
of the best which winds up —
" If at first you don't succeed,
Try, try, try again."
(204)
TR K 205
I. recommend it to grown-up people who
are down in the mouth, and fancy that the
best thing they can do is to give up. No-
body knows what he can do till he tries.
" We shall get through it now," said Jack
to Harry as they finished up the pudding.
Everything new is hard work, but a little
" TRY " ointment rubbed on the hand and
worked into the heart makes all things
easy.
Can't do it sticks in the mud, but Try
soon drags the wagon out of the rut. The
fox said Try, and he got away from the
hounds when they almost snapped at him.
The bees said Try, and turned flowers
into honey. The squirrel said Try, and
up he went to the top of the beech tree.
The snowdrop said Try, and bloomed in the
cold snows of winter. The sun said Try,
and the spring soon threw Jack Frost out
of the saddle. The young lark said Try,
and he found that his new wings took him
over hedges and ditches, and up where his
father was singing. The ox said Try, and
ploughed the field from end to end. No
hill too steep for Try to climb, no clay too
stiff for Try to plough, no field too wet for
206 JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S TALK.
Try to drain, no hole too big for Try to
mend.
" By little strokes
Men fell great oaks."
By a spadeful at a time the navvies
digged the cutting, cut a big hole through
the hill, and heaped up the embankment.
" The stone is hard, and the drop is small,
But a hole is made by the constant fall."
What man has done man can do, and what
has never been may be. Ploughmen have
got to be gentlemen, cobblers have turned
their lapstones into gold, and tailors have
sprouted into Members of Parliament. Tuck
up your shirt-sleeves, young Hopeful, and
go at it. Where there's a will there's a
way. The sun shines for all the world. Be-
lieve in God, and stick to hard work, and
see if the mountains are not removed. Faint
heart never won fair lady. Cheer, boys,
cheer, God helps those who help themselves.
Never mind luck, that's what the fool had
when he killed himself with eating suet
pudding ; the best luck in all the world is
made up of joint oil and sticking plaster.
TRY. 207
Don't wait for helpers. Try those two
old friends, your strong arms. Self's the
man. If the fox want's poultry for his cubs
he must carry the chickens home himself.
None of her friends can help the hare; she
must run for herself, or the greyhounds will
have her. Every man must carry his own
sack to the mill. You must put your own
shoulder to the wheel and keep it there, for
there's plenty of ruts in the road. If you
wait till all the ways are paved, you will
have light shining between your ribs. If
you sit still till great men take you on their
backs, you will grow to your seat. Your
own legs are better than stilts ; don't look
to others, but trust in God and keep your
powder dry.
Don't be whining about not having a fair
start. Throw a sensible man out of a win-
dow, he'll fall on his legs and ask the near-
est way to his work. The more you have
to begin with the less you will have at the
end. Money you earn yourself is much
brighter and sweeter than any you get out
of dead men's bags. A scant breakfast in
the morning of life whets the appetite for a
feast later in the day. He who has tasted
208 JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S TALK.
a sour apple will have the more relish for a
sweet one ; your present want will make
future prosperity all the sweeter. Eighteen-
pence has set up many a pedlar in business,
and he has turned it over till he has kept
his carriage.
As for the place you are cast in, don't
find fault with that. You need not be a
horse because you were born in a stable.
If a bull tossed a man of mettle sky high he
would drop down into a good place. A
hard-working young man, with his wits
about him, will make money where others
do nothing but lose it.
Who loves his work and knows to spare,
May live and flourish anywhere.
As to a little trouble, who* expects to find
cherries without stones, or roses without
thorns? Who would win must learn to
bear. Idleness lies in bed sick of the mulli-
grubs, where industry finds health and
wealth. The dog in the kennel barks at
the fleas ; the hunting dog does not even
know they are there. Laziness waits till
the river is dry and never gets to market ;
"Try "swims it and makes all the trade.
TR Y. 209
Can't do it couldn't eat the bread and but-
ter which was cut for him, but Try made
meat out of mushrooms.
Everybody who does not get on lays it
all on competition. When the wine was
stolen they said it was the rats ; it's very
convenient to have a horse to put the sad-
dle on. A mouse may find a hole, be the
room even so full of cats. Good workmen
are always wanted. There's a penny to be
turned at the worst booth in the fair. No
barber ever shaves so close but another bar-
ber will find something left. Nothing is so
good but what it might be better ; and he
who^sells the best wins the trade. We were
all going to the workhouse because of the
new machines, so the prophets down at the
taproom were always telling us ; but, in-
stead of it, all these threshing, and reaping,
and hay-making machines have helped to
make those men better off who had sense
enough to work them. If a man has not
a soul above clodhopping he may expect to
keep poor, but if he opens his sense-box,
and picks up here a little and there a little,
even Johnny Raw may yet improve. " Times
are bad," they say; yes, and if you go gap-
14
210 JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S TALK.
ing about and send your wits wool gather-
ing, times always will be bad.
Many don't get on because they have not
the pluck to begin in right earnest. The
first pound laid by is the difficulty. The
first blow is half the battle. Over with that
beer jug, up with the "Try " flag, then out
to your work and away to the savings bank
with the savings, and you will be a man yet.
Poor men will always be poor if they think
they must be. But there's a way up out
of the lowest poverty if a man looks after it
early, before he has a wife and half-a-dozen
children : after that he carries too much
weight for racing, and most commonly he
must be content if he finds bread for the
hungry mouths and clothes for the little
backs. Yet, I don't know; some hens
scratch all the better for having a great
swarm of chicks. To young men the road
up the hill may be hard, but at any rate it
is open, and they who set stout heart against
a stiff hill shall climb it yet. What was hard
to bear will be sweet to remember. If young
men would deny themselves, work hard,
live hard, and save in their early days, they
need not keep their noses to the grindstone
TRY. 211
all their lives, as many do. Let them be
teetotalers for economy's sake ; water is the
strongest drink, it drives mills. It's the
drink of lions and horses, and Samson
never drank anything else. The beer money
would soon build a house.
If you want to do good in the world, the
little word " Try " comes in again. There
are plenty of ways of serving God, and some
that will fit you exactly as a key fits a lock.
Don't hold back because you cannot preach
in St. Paul's ; be content to talk to one or
two in a cottage ; very good wheat grows
in little fields. You may cook in small pots
as well as in big ones. Little pigeons can
carry great messages. Even a little dog can
bark at a thief, and wake up the master and
save the house. A spark is fire. A sen-
tence of truth has heaven in it. Do what
you do right thoroughly, pray over it
heartily, and leave the result to God.
Alas ! advice is thrown away on many,
like good seed on a bare rock. Teach a
cow for seven years, but she will never learn
to sing the Old Hundredth. Of some it
seems true that when they were born Solo-
mon went by the door, but would not look
212 JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S TALK.
in. Their coat of arms is a fool's cap on a
donkey's head. They sleep when it is time
to plough, and weep when harvest comes.
They eat all the parsnips for supper, and
wonder they have none left for breakfast.
Our working people are shamefully un-
thrifty, and so old England swarms with
poor. If what goes into the mash-tub
went into the kneading-trough, families
would be better fed and better taught.
If what is spent in waste were only saved
against a rainy day, work houses would
never be built.
Once let every man say Try>
Very few on straw would lie,
Fewer still of want would die ;
Pans would all have fish to fry;
Pigs would fill the poor man's sty;
Want would cease and need would fly;
Wives and children cease to cry;
Poor rates would not swell so high ;
Things wouldn't go so much awry —
You'd be glad, and so would I.