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--- what_a_little_seed_did_to_one_man [2026/05/03 23:44] – iam
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-====== The Inner Life 1938 ======
+====== The Inner Life ======
-== THE HERALD OF THE NEW AGE ==
+== THE HERALD OF THE NEW AGE | MARCH 1938 ==
+----
-WHAT A LITTLE SEED DID
-TO ONE MAN
-The following article was sent us by a student who
+<WRAP centeralign>
-was impressed by the truths in a recent Editorial on
+==== WHAT A LITTLE SEED DID TO ONE MAN ====
-“The Soul as a Seed.” May it help others to get the
+</WRAP>
-full meaning of the Editorial.
-HE WAS a farmer boy of 16 years whose parents were God-
+<WRAP center 90% justify>
-fearing people. He was studying to become a lawyer. A
+The following article was sent us by a student who was impressed by the truths in a recent Editorial on “The Soul as a Seed.” May it help others to get the full meaning of the Editorial.
-woman whom his mother had known before marriage in the city
+</WRAP>
-wrote and wanted to come and spend the summer on the farm
-that she might rest. The parents consented to her coming and
-she stayed over a year. The boy fell deeply in love with her.
-After she left and went back to the city the boy read of her in-
-tended marriage and became insanely jealous.
-He rushed off to the city and found the woman and her fiance
+<WRAP justify>
-together, and killed them both. For this he was sent to prison for
+HE WAS a farmer boy of 16 years whose parents were God-fearing people. He was studying to become a lawyer. A woman whom his mother had known before marriage in the city wrote and wanted to come and spend the summer on the farm that she might rest. The parents consented to her coming and she stayed over a year. The boy fell deeply in love with her. After she left and went back to the city the boy read of her intended marriage and became insanely jealous.
-life. He was shifted about in the prison from job to job for five
-years, when the warden placed him in an “A” shop under an in-
-structor whom the prisoners all respected and loved. The follow-
-ing portion of the story we quote from the Jan. 1938 True Story
-Magazine.
-“One day, after I’d been in school a year—it was late in Au-
+He rushed off to the city and found the woman and her fiance together, and killed them both. For this he was sent to prison for life. He was shifted about in the prison from job to job for five years, when the warden placed him in an “A” shop under an instructor whom the prisoners all respected and loved. The following portion of the story we quote from the Jan. 1938 True Story Magazine.
-gust—a seed blew into the window. It was a large fuzzy thing
-with a minute black seed in the center, and it floated about, rising
-and falling on the air currents like a feather. Our teacher talked
-about that seed, explaining how it had been born, how it had
-risen on the wind in some far off field and had been carried to us.
-He explained a lot about nature, and I got to thinking hard.
-Finally I said, ‘There must be something behind that.’ The
-teacher looked at me over the top of his glasses in his kindly way,
-and said, softly, ‘Yes, Croddy, there must be something.’
-“Strange how such small things can shape the destinies of men.
+“One day, after I’d been in school a year—it was late in August—a seed blew into the window. It was a large fuzzy thing with a minute black seed in the center, and it floated about, rising and falling on the air currents like a feather. Our teacher talked about that seed, explaining how it had been born, how it had risen on the wind in some far off field and had been carried to us. He explained a lot about nature, and I got to thinking hard. Finally I said, ‘There must be something behind that.’ The teacher looked at me over the top of his glasses in his kindly way, and said, softly, ‘Yes, Croddy, there must be something.’
-That seed, blowing in, from I know not where, somehow stirred
-up thoughts in me and led me back to God. I had repeatedly
-refused to see Father Christian, the prison Chaplain, because I had
-turned away from God, and because I had seen so many criminals
-without a spark of Christianity in their souls professing religion
-in front of the Chaplain, the Welfare and Social Workers, in hopes this ruse might hasten their parole. Now I went to him honestly,
-and we had a long talk.
-“There is not much opportunity in prison for quiet meditation.
+“Strange how such small things can shape the destinies of men. That seed, blowing in, from I know not where, somehow stirred up thoughts in me and led me back to God. I had repeatedly refused to see Father Christian, the prison Chaplain, because I had turned away from God, and because I had seen so many criminals without a spark of Christianity in their souls professing religion in front of the Chaplain, the Welfare and Social Workers, in hopes this ruse might hasten their parole. Now I went to him honestly, and we had a long talk.
-The men are noisy and restless. They call back and forth to each
-other and make all sorts of sounds, until the lights are out at
-nine and the count is made. It was at this time that I sat on my
-bunk and thought about myself, my body, my mind, my soul,
-and God.
-“One night I discovered something within me more important
+“There is not much opportunity in prison for quiet meditation. The men are noisy and restless. They call back and forth to each other and make all sorts of sounds, until the lights are out at nine and the count is made. It was at this time that I sat on my bunk and thought about myself, my body, my mind, my soul, and God.
-than my body and mind. I had always thought of myself as
-being my mind in my brain. But this something I now found
-could sit back and direct the activities in my brain, could turn off
-thought at will, could weigh my thoughts.
-“What was it? I thought it must be my soul. Yes, that mo-
+“One night I discovered something within me more important than my body and mind. I had always thought of myself as being my mind in my brain. But this something I now found could sit back and direct the activities in my brain, could turn off thought at will, could weigh my thoughts.
-ment I discovered my soul. My whole life changed in a second
-From that moment I lived to become worthy of my soul, of that
-bit of God within me.
-“It was not long after that, that I was made an inmate teacher,
+“What was it? I thought it must be my soul. Yes, that moment I discovered my soul. My whole life changed in a second From that moment I lived to become worthy of my soul, of that bit of God within me.
-and for the first time the days sped by swiftly.
-“Then I made another great discovery. There was happiness
+“It was not long after that, that I was made an inmate teacher, and for the first time the days sped by swiftly.
-such as I had never known in helping others. I worked tirelessly
-and patiently, and began to draw about me a circle of young
-prisoners. Hardly more than boys, as I had been, and they were
-in on their first conviction.”
-The balance of the story is of this man’s service to mankind.
+“Then I made another great discovery. There was happiness such as I had never known in helping others. I worked tirelessly and patiently, and began to draw about me a circle of young prisoners. Hardly more than boys, as I had been, and they were in on their first conviction.”
-During a fire in the prison, in spite of the guard’s orders and a
-chance to escape he risked his life to save many of his prison
-comrades. For this the prisoners chipped in $5.00 apiece and the
-warden presented the total of $5000.00 to him that he might
-buy back his parent’s farm, if he should ever get out. After
-serving 15 years he was released on parole. After his parole ex-
-pired he got married and bought the farm.
-But his serving did not end here, he took boys (homeless waifs)
+The balance of the story is of this man’s service to mankind. During a fire in the prison, in spite of the guard’s orders and a chance to escape he risked his life to save many of his prison comrades. For this the prisoners chipped in $5.00 apiece and the warden presented the total of $5000.00 to him that he might buy back his parent’s farm, if he should ever get out. After serving 15 years he was released on parole. After his parole expired he got married and bought the farm.
-from the city who had made their first offence toward society,
-and schooled them in the real principles of life. This work even
-caused others in his locality to do the same thing, and through
-his mistake and the little seed came a blessing to many people, and
-to the nation.
+But his serving did not end here, he took boys (homeless waifs) from the city who had made their first offence toward society, and schooled them in the real principles of life. This work even caused others in his locality to do the same thing, and through his mistake and the little seed came a blessing to many people, and to the nation.
+</WRAP>
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