Article August 20, 1910 Issue

RECLAMATION

MARY WOOD GRIFFITHS.

In the Standard Dictionary we find the following definition of the word reclaim: "(1) To demand or to obtain the return or restoration of; recover, or seek to regain; (2) To bring from a wild or useless condition into subjection or under cultivation; subdue; tame; as, to reclaim swamplands." During the past summer I spent two months in a place where the work of reclaiming desert land was being done, and the word reclamation has taken on new meanings since this experience. A rather desolate view greeted us as we entered this valley which was to be transformed by being reclaimed. In the distance were beautiful mountains, but the valley was one great waste covered with sage–brush. A large river flowed through the valley, an irrigation system making its water available to each farmer on the tract.

We saw this work of reclaiming the desert done very differently by different farmers. Near us was a piece of land from which the sage–brush had been carelessly cleared, many stones left, the ground poorly leveled and not thoroughly prepared for the seed. The ditches were badly planned, so that the ground was unevenly irrigated. Later in the summer this field plainly showed by its poor crop the slipshod work which had been done, while many small sagebrushes were visible. This farmer had a crop of oats growing and so could "prove up" his claim of cultivating the land. Just across the road another piece of land was being reclaimed, but the work was carried on in a very different manner. The large sage–brush had been broken down, any small brush thoroughly grubbed out, then all removed. Great care was taken in removing stones, and equal care was exercised in using plow, harrow, and heavy scraper, so that the ground was level, while good judgment was displayed in the running of the ditches. This field had a fine harvest, as all the work of reclaiming had been well done.

During my first week, I read "The Life of Mary Baker Eddy," by Sybil Wilbur. As I read of the struggles and sacrifices which our beloved Leader underwent that she might give us demonstrable truth, these thoughts presented themselves to me: This mighty river had flowed through the valley for years with a few farms here and there on its banks, but when the irrigation system was perfected every foot of the land in the valley could be reclaimed; so the world has had the Bible all these years, but not until Mrs. Eddy gave us Science and Health was it possible for human thought to be reclaimed from all its woes. Surely, when we come to Christian Science our thought is like a desert which needs to be reclaimed. The growths of wrong belief regarding both God and His creation are to be uprooted and removed; the rocks of pride, criticism, selfishness, self–love, and self–pity to be disposed of—and these rocks have a great way of coming to the surface when we least expect them. The mounds of laziness and procrastination need to be leveled; the hollows of poverty, lack, and limitation must be filled.

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