A Christian Science testimony meeting is usually characterized by a sense of joy, quiet efficiency, harmony, and peace. It appears to have nothing in common with the clamor and confusion, the excitement and danger, of the horse yard on the large Australian outback cattle runs. Yet the two places have something in common. To each there is always a lifting sense of expectancy, of opportunity, the challenge to achieve. The stockyard advice, "Don't ride the rail," given to aspiring young horsemen, could well be given to the timid, inarticulate student at the midweek testimony meeting.
This advice is a warning against a negative complacency and a consequent loss of helpful opportunities. Riding the rail instead of the fresh, rebellious, young buck-jumpers when they are first being testridden for the mustering camp is the safe but unproductive resort of the unprogressive and the fearful. Seated on the rail, the timid seek to share vicariously some sense of the victory, even if not experiencing the necessary practice and sacrifice which alone make victory possible.
Active participation in an activity tends to fashion one into an effective unit in which he successfully takes an essential part. It matters not whether that part is in the rough and tumble of the cattle camp or in the more dignified serenity of an active Christian Science testimony meeting.
