oon. The leaves were rustling about my
feet, and the first nip of winter was in the air. It was Saturday, and
I was out for a stroll. Suddenly a crowd attracted my attention, and,
impelled by that curiosity which such a concourse invariably excites, I
drew near to see whether it meant a fire or a fight. It was neither.
As I approached I caught sight of young fellows moving in and out among
the people, wearing light many-coloured garments, and I guessed that a
race was about to be run. Almost as soon as I arrived, the men were
called up, arranged in a long line, and preparations made for the
start. At a signal two or three of them sprang out from the line and
bounded with an easy stride along the load. A few seconds later, three
or four more followed; then others; until at last only one was left;
and, after a brief period of further waiting, he also left the line and
set out in pursuit. It was a handicap, I was told, and this man had
started from scratch. It was to be a long race, and it would be some
time before any of the runners could be expected back again. The
crowd, therefore, dispersed for the time being, breaking up into knots
and groups, each of which strolled off to while away the waiting time
as its own taste suggested. I turned into a lane that led up into the
bush on the hillside, and, from that sheltered and sunny eminence,
watched for the first sign of the returning runners.

Sitting there with nothing to do, it flashed upon me that the scene I
had just witnessed was a reflection, as in a mirror, of all human
experience and endeavour. Most men are heavily handicapped; it is no
good blinking the fact. Ask a man to undertake some office or assume
some responsibility in connexion with the church, and he will silence
you at once with a narration of the difficulties that stand in his way.
Ask a man to act on some board or committee for the management of some
charitable or philanthropic enterprise, and he will explain to you that
he has not a minute to spare. Ask a man to subscribe to some most
necessary or deserving object, and he will tell you of the incessant
demands to which he is subjected. Now it is no good putting all this
down to cant. We have no right to assume that these are merely the
lame excuses of men who, in their secret souls, do not desire to assist
us. We must not hastily hurl at them the curse that fell upon Meroz
because it came not to the help of the Lord against the mighty.