1910 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



129 



Our Homes 



By a I. Root 



Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.— MATT. 

 16:16. 

 Lord, save us; we perish.— MATT. 8 : 25. 



Most automobiles— in fact, I think I may 

 say all automobiles — have a special and ex- 

 ceedingly important mechanism called the 

 " brake;" and this brake, or system of brakes, 

 is for the purpose of not only checking speed 

 but of bringing the machine spf^edily to a 

 standstill when occasion may require. J he 

 machme I have run for so many years (and 

 so many thousand miles) was made with ihree 

 brakes. First, if you pull the starting-lever 

 backward instead of forward it acts as a 

 brake. Be^idep this brake there is a pedal 

 to be operated by the left foot. This is more 

 powerful, and will, if pusiied hard, br.ng the 

 engine almost "up standing" at once You 

 might at first thought say, "Why, these two 

 brakes are surely enough;" but, lisren and 

 consider. Suppose the chain (or other ma- 

 chinery) that connects the engine to the 

 drivewheels should suddenly br^ak. Chains 

 wear out, and are often run when they are 

 liable to break and drop clear off the machine. 

 Of what use is your brake on the engine when 

 the chain is gone? Suppose you are going 

 up a long steep hill and your chain gives 

 way. Your machine will at once go down 

 backward at a speed requiring the utmost 

 skill of the most expert chauffeur to keep it 

 from a disastrous wreck. 



Well, to guard against such contingencies 

 all good machines have what is called an 

 "eme gency brake." This brake has no 

 connection with the engine, but clutches 

 with a grip of s-teel the powerful driving- 

 wheels of the craft; and the lever that works 

 the device, although out of sight, and as a rule 

 unused, is so close to the driver's right hand 

 that he can grasp it firmly, if need be, in the 

 fractio'^ of a second. I hardly need tell you 

 of the importance of thoroughly testing this 

 emergency brake often. If a dog suddenly 

 rushes in front of you, you should be able 

 not only to save the dog, but possibly save a 

 smashup of the whole outfit, endangering 

 the limt)s and lives of the occupants. Run- 

 ning over a worthless dog recently overturn- 

 ed and made an expensive wreck of a big 

 and valuable machine. 



Let us now change the subject a little. 

 Last evening (Wednesday) the leader of our 

 prayer-meeting took the subject of prayer 

 He asked different members present several 

 questions, and finally gave me the question, 

 "To whom should we go in prayer?" In 

 reply I gave the above ab 'ut the automobile, 

 and finally added we should go to the Lord 

 Jesus Christ, and that it is every Christian's 

 privilege to find in him an "emergency 

 brake " fully adequate to arrest our frail hu- 

 man bark and pilot it safely through all life's 

 emergencies That little prayer, "Lord, 

 help," has been my "emergency brake" 

 ever since I started to follow the lowly Naza- 

 rene. 1 have before told you that I have used 



it so much thatitrings out in my heart like an 

 alarm bell {all of itself I might almost say) , 

 whenever danger or a crisis app- ars When 

 the danger is very great, the prayer is, "Lord 

 Jesus, help." 



I want to give you two instances of how 

 this "emerg<-ncy brake" works. 



One morning years ago, I came over to 

 the factory just before the whistle blew and 

 found the janitor (an elderly man who had 

 been long in my employ) talking vehement- 

 ly to a group of the hands. He was so mu' h 

 stirred up iie did not notice my pre.-ence, 

 and kept on. I soon gathered from the smiles 

 from those present that it was my poor self 

 he was rating. Finallv he turned so as to 

 discover I was present and had heard his 

 tirade. He stopped a little; but as he was 

 still angry he turned on me and gave me, 

 right before a lot of hands, a regu'ar "blow- 

 ing-up." I think his charge was that I was 

 •too tasy with certain ones that I had partic- 

 ular fdvori es who broke rules as they pleas- 

 ed, etc. I had opened my mouih to reply and 

 tell him. as plensan'ly as I could to hunt up 

 a better lot of folks to work with; but, sharp 

 and clear, came the " I ord, help! ' The 

 "emergency brake" gave orders to say 

 nothing to him at all while he was angry, 

 even though he had been stirring up disre- 

 spect to his employer. I l<^oked around smil- 

 inglv on the crowd that had gathered, then 

 walked away with long rapid strides amid 

 the roars of merrirr ent from- the group of 

 bystandf rs. I f« It happy over my victory 

 (as the Christian always does), and forgot 

 all about the incident until a'ong toward noon 

 when the janitor followed me into one of the 

 basements, and, with tears in his eyes, said 

 som- thing as follows: 



"Mr. Root, I do not know how I can ever 

 thank you enough for not turning me off on 

 the spot this morning as I deserved. I am 

 out of tiealth, and touchy, I suppose. I don't 

 think you know how some of them take pains 

 to vex me and hinder me from look'ng after 

 the interests of the busmess. You have al- 

 ways been my best friend; and if you will 

 forgive me this time I will try to show you 

 my penitence is not all empty words. I am 

 trying to be a Christian; but I make such 

 poor work of it I sometimes think I had bet- 

 ter give it all up " 



He was in our employ several years after- 

 ward; and. wtien near to death, he sent for 

 his old employer; and it was my privilege to 

 cheer him up as best I could ere he took the 

 trip across the dark valley. 



Now, friends, suppose I had on that partic- 

 ular morning told him with harsh words to 

 "get off our premises, and never show your 

 face here again!" What would have been 

 the result? He and I would have been ene- 

 mies the rest of our lives. His Christianity 

 would have received a shock, and mine too, 

 for such things always "cut both ways." 

 Don't you think you had better adopt my 

 "emergency brakes"? It will cost you noth- 

 ing, for the Savior's love is as free as the air 

 we breathe and the water we drink. I have 

 outlined in the above two ways of settling a 



