1SS2 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



357 



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It is not by mi^ht nor bv power, b ut by my Spirit, 

 saith the Lonl of liosts.— Zech. 4: 6. 



EMAT have used this text before, fiieiuls; 

 but even if I have, it seems to be just 

 the one I want asain to-day. It was 

 suggested by a letter I have recently re- 

 ceived. This is the letter : — 



Do you think it is rijiht, or that a man is doing his 

 Christian duty as a husband and father, who con- 

 tinues (against his wife's entreaties) to use tobaeco, 

 and still says he could quit it if he wanted to? Now, 

 I know a gentleman who has four boys (oldest thir- 

 teen years old), who insists that he has a right to 

 smoke or chew; and when one of his boj'S picked up 

 a cigar, that his exemplary father had laid on the 

 mantle, and commenced to smoke, he gave him a 

 downright scoldmg, an<l told him lie never wanted 

 to see him smoking again. How is that for consis- 

 tency? Now, 1 claim that it is more harm for a man 

 to continue in any evil habit, when he knows, as 

 this one does, that it injures his health, and when 

 his wife is so anxious for him to quit, on account of 

 the example to his boys, and especially when he says 

 he can either use it or let it alone. I think him less 

 excusable than one who says he can not give it up. 

 Arc parents not to set the example to their children, 

 or has any one a right to correct a child for doing 

 what he himself does? Is a man capable of govern- 

 ing a child, and of " training him up in the way he 

 should go," who can not govern his own appetites or 

 passions? Please give us a little lighten this subject. 

 I was much impressed by reading Our Homes in June 

 No. Vour account of the little boy "Lovey " shows 

 that we can not be too careful in the training of our 

 children. I am of the opinion, that if we permit 

 whisky and tobaeco in our homes, and especially if 

 our children have inherited a taste for such, that we 

 are guilty of a great wrong, for which wo will surely 

 have to give an account. For, as friend Mercer has 

 said, "the liesh is weak;" and, unless assisted by a 

 higher power, our children will surely fall. And 

 who shall be responsible? Mrs. li. 



HoUiday's Cove. W. V^a. 



My dear friend, the case you state is a sad 

 one, and I presume it is not so very unlike 

 the trials and conliicts almost every Chris- 

 tian must meet. To our eyes, this man's 

 conduct seems very inconsistent. We want 

 him to do better. He can not well inlbi- 

 ence his boys very much, unless he sets a 

 better example. No matter how much he 

 talks, or how strongly he reproves, his boys 

 will quite likely smoke and chew, in spite 

 of all he can say. If there Avere a law 

 against such inconsistency, we might take 

 the law on him ; or if he were afraid of his 

 wife, and dared not disobey her, she might 

 just set her foot down and give him to un- 

 derstand that henceforth and for ever no 

 more tobacco was ever to be put between 

 his lips. His wife is a Christian woman, I 

 believe, (did you not say so V) and she must 

 therefore be right and he wrong ; and if she 

 had the power in her hands, she might make 

 him a good Christian too. I beg pardon, my 

 friend, if what I say sounds like jesting, for 

 I assure you it is a most serious and a most 

 sad matter. As in our text above, we have 



all to learn, I believe, sooner or later, that 

 we can not convert the world to God by 

 might nor by power, but only by the gentle 

 spirit that Clirist has taught us ; by a spirit 

 of love and kindness. I know how hard it is 

 to stifle and put down all feelings of a desire 

 to m((ke people do right, for I have had much 

 sad experience. It has been with this very 

 tobacco matter too. In my case God seems 

 to have put all the power in my hands I 

 could wish for, for he is sending, day after 

 day, men and boys to me for employment, 

 lief ore commencing work they give me a 

 fair and square promise not to swear, drink, 

 nor use tol)acco. It would seem from this 

 that the matter is all in my hands, for a boy's 

 or man's pocket is a pretty sensitive part of 

 his being. They all know by experience 

 that the pay for their daily labor comes eve- 

 ry Saturday night in hartl cash ; and as the 

 greater part of our work is comparatively 

 light, and the company and surroundings 

 pleasant, it places in my hands a pretty long 

 and a i)retty strong lever. I need hardly re- 

 mind you, however, that the God who gave 

 me tliis power would take it away very 

 quickly if it were not used wisely. If I 

 have a lever that bears directly on their 

 pocket-books, they have also one that bears 

 on mine. If they should all put their heads 

 together some bright morning in June, and 

 declare they would not work another hour 

 unless I would give in on tobacco, or raise 

 their wages, or something else of the kind, 

 the long end of the lever would be in their 

 hands, and they might fetch the other down 

 on my poor — pocket-book in a way that 

 would make me beg for mercy, I tell you. 

 Suppose, during the swarming season, with 

 letters coming in at the rate of over a hun- 

 dred a day, and customers imploring us to 

 hurry up (some of them, perhaps, throwing 

 it in my teeth that one who professes as 

 much as I do ought to be prompt in busi- 

 ness), our whole force should at once stop 

 and refuse to go ahead, unless I complied 

 with some condition of theirs ; do you not 

 see how I should be in their power? Well, 

 friends, I am glad it is so. I am glad the 

 power is not all in my hands, and I thank 

 God that I am depeiident upon them, in 

 very much the same way they are dependent 

 upon me. Do you not see now what a very 

 foolish thing it would be in me to imagine 

 the i)Ower is all in my hands, and that I 

 could, if I choose, be harsh and overbearing, 

 or tyrannical V ISIow, with this in view, sup- 

 pose I should see one of my boys smoking a 

 cigar — one who had given the promise, if 

 you choose ; what should I do ':* If my sole 

 object were to have my own way, or to avoid 

 being annoyed by the smell of tobacco on 

 my own premises, I might discharge him 

 and hire somebody else in his place. And I 

 might, too, as a parting injunction, sting his 

 young mind with reproaches for having bro- 

 ken his word, and proven untruthful. I 

 might defend myself in such a course by say- 

 ing that I had told only the truth. I might 

 say, too, that I would gladly try to help boys 

 who were truthful ; but with those who were 

 not, I wanted nothing to do. 



Well, now, let us suppose my motive in 

 life to be, not to have my own way, nor to 



