I can remember hearing my father fret when a plowshare was not working correctly. He would use all his mechanical ingenuity to get it adjusted so the furrows would roll over evenly. And how pleased he was when at last he could look behind and see the soil turning over, deeply and smoothly, and in straight furrows.

Early in life we farm children were indoctrinated with the idea of plowing our furrows straight. How can you be sure your rows are going to be straight? we would ask. Set your sights on an object at the end of the field. Never take your eyes off it. Plow toward it, and your row will be straight, we were told. And although we girls never were permitted to put the principle into practice in the field, we never forgot the lesson.

Frederick Griggs, at one time one of our leading educators, used to delight in telling how he had been told this same thing by his father. He determined to put it into practice. Out into the field he went. He turned the horses, set his plowshares, sighted his objective, and clucked to the horses. Off they went. Faithfully he kept his eyes on his goal. But he was amazed and chagrined when he reached the far end of the field, to look back on a furrow that wandered crookedly across the land. Was the rule wrong? No, there was nothing wrong with the principle. The failure was caused by the fact that he had chosen as his goal a cloud!

Let's compare ourselves to a plowman. We have the field of the world in which to work. As workmen that need not be ashamed we want our lives to be representative. How do we do it? Remember the rule: Set your eyes on a goal and plow toward it. But let's make sure we have a solid, firm, sure goal toward which to work.