414 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 



stigmatize any class or sect, or even any body 

 of your fellow-men, as to call them " con- 

 centrated selfishness " ? You and I are op- 

 posed to intemperance ; we regard those who 

 put the bottle to their neighbor's lips as a 

 class of fellow- men who are greatly, nay, 

 fearfully in the wrong. We wish to turn 

 them from the evils of their ways. We are 

 in the habit of going to see them, and trying 

 to reason with them in regard to the evil of 

 their manner of obtaining a living — at least, 

 I hope we are. Sometimes I meet a body of 

 them in our county jail, and try to do them 

 good. Well, do you think it would be the 

 wisest and best thing for me to do to say, 

 "• Gentlemen, the American liquor business 

 is concentrated sellishness " V If you do, I 

 do not. I should expect to have them turn 

 around and say to me, " Who are you, to 

 stand up and judge us in that way ? You 

 are very likely entirely free from the sin of 

 selfishness ; very likely you thank God every 

 night, before you go to bed, that you are 

 not selfish and bad and wicked, as other 

 men are. Hadn't you better gather up your 

 Bibles and hymn-books, and visit somebody 

 who wants to see you V '' Jesus once direct- 

 ed those who were without sin to throw the 

 first stone. Friend L.,have you not pitched 

 a pretty big stone at a class of people you 

 may not know very much about V Judge 

 not, that ye be not judged. 



Shortly after I took my stand among 

 Christian people, I arose to speak in meet- 

 ing ; and, with my usual awkwardness, I 

 said something I did not mean to say, and 

 felt worried and troubled about it. After 

 meeting, I spoke of it to one of the elderly 

 sisters, but she assured me that no one there 

 would for the world think of ridiculing the 

 blunders of a new beginner, or, in fact, any 

 one else. " Mr. Root, you are among friends 

 here. We never speak or think unkindly of 

 each other, and no one ever thinks of criti- 

 cising the actions of another. We all make 

 mistakes, and so we all overlook them." I 

 have often thought of the kind old lady's 

 words, and I have found them the truth. 

 Nay, she did not tell all the truth. Our 

 Christian people think kindly of all the 

 world. I have never heard anybody say 

 that infidelity is concentrated selfishness, 

 for, even if it were, infidels would have to 

 tell it, if it ever were told, for Christian 

 people have too much gentleness and polite- 

 ness to ever make such a speech. AVe have 

 had such struggles with selfishness that we 

 know exists in our own hearts, that we do 

 not dare to speak of anybody else. 



What do we think of a man generally who 

 continually speaks of the faults of others V 

 My friend, what do you think of men and 

 women who continually speak of the faults 

 of bodies of men and women who band them- 

 selves together for any ostensibly good pur- 

 pose V 



Friend L., if we wanted to pick out a good 

 man to go into heathen lands, and civilize 

 the savages, should we select one who would 

 go over there and learn their language, es- 

 tablish schools and printing-presses, and 

 then occupy his time in telling how bad the 

 rest of the world are? "Why, it would be a 

 fearful waste of time, if nothing more. I 



shall have to revert to the little incident I 

 may have told you before, but which I think 

 will bear telling again. An individual who 

 was considerably the worse for liquor, 

 thought he would get home if possible by 

 some by-street, without meeting anybody 

 he knew; but almost at the first turn he 

 made, he, to his consternation, saw the min- 

 ister coming rapidly toward him. lie would 

 have turned off again, if it would have been 

 of any avail ; but as he was fairly caught, he 

 resolved to turn a bold face on it, and do the 

 best he could. As he came up, he assumed 

 the air of one who feels it his duty to admin- 

 ister a rebuke, and commenced with ■'Par- 

 son, you're drunk ! " Of course, the parson 

 was exceedingly astonished, if nothing more; 

 and before he could recover himself, our 

 friend, catching hold of the pickets to steady 

 himself, went on with, ''Now just look a 

 liere, my friend, there ain't a bit of use of 

 your tryin' to deny it, for both your face and 

 your walk betray it too plainly." He then 

 went on, congratulating himself that there 

 wasn't very much danger of the parson tell- 

 ing anybody of it, and very likely he was 

 right. I often think of this when I hear 

 somebody severely condemning another. A 

 man is caught in a dishonest trick, and he 

 turns round and charges everybody else with 

 dishonesty. One whose soul" is seared with 

 impure crime, declares there is not a virtu- 

 ous man or woman, even in the churches. 

 The churches and the Bible seem to be es- 

 pecial objects of hatred, in just the propor- 

 tion that one becomes steeped in sin and 

 crime. Selfishness is sin . but not necessarily 

 a crime ; but one who b!t'.erly declares the 

 world is all selfishness,— my friend, what 

 do you, as a rule, think of him ? I know I 

 am getting on dangerous ground here, for I 

 shall soon be accused of calling fiiend Ji. a 

 selfish man, whether I am guilty or not, and 

 so I will haste to point out nly moral. I 

 do not know you, fi lend Leonard, and so I 

 have no right to infer you are selfish. Still 

 furtlier, L know, from your having contrib- 

 uted this dollar, unsolicited, that you are 

 not selfish, so 1 would simply warn you 

 against such harsh speeches, lest you may be 

 thought to be so. We should all of us be very 

 care'ful of doing or saying anything that may 

 place us in a bad light. 



One more point: Our missionaries and 

 great philanthropists, I believe, as a rule 

 never lind fault with the way other individ- 

 uals or societies mnnage. Nothing hinders 

 a good man's work so much as a habit of 

 fault-finding. Those who deal with savages 

 and barbarians must have a bright, cheerful, 

 happy disposition, and be far — yes, very 

 far — removed from a disposition to say or 

 think, I am honest and good, and everybody 

 else is selfish and bad. is it net so, friends V 

 As I go over the matter, I am condemning 

 myself; for I lack, lack fearfully, in this one 

 element of charity for others. Only just 

 this morning I started one of the small boys 

 out to pick pens. We raise excellent mar- 

 rowfat peas for the lunch-room, and this boy 

 has it for his task to pick the peas, straw- 

 berries, etc. " Why ! has not L. come in 

 with any peas yet V " asked I. I was told he 

 had not. He had marked his time at 6, and 



