332 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 15. 



of course, thanked him for his friendly interest, 

 and gradually excused herself for having noth- 

 ing more to do with Henry. So far all went 

 well. But this incident seemed to have opened 

 the way, as it were, for further acquaintance 

 and friendship between John and Mary. His 

 better judgment told him again he had better 

 not go on; but as Mary evidently preferred he 

 should, it was a rather hard matter for a boy 

 yet in his teens to break away. My friend, 

 have you not, at some time in your life, had 

 more or less of a similar experience? Duty 

 points the way. but inclination does not run 

 exactly the same way duty points; and it is no 

 easy thing, I tell you, to always follow duty 

 instead of inclination, especially when an in- 

 teresting young woman stands in one direction 

 and duty in another. However, John finally 

 declared in his own mind that things had gone 

 far enough, and turned to his studies with an 

 earnest and manly determination to follow 

 duty, no matter what influences were brought 

 to bear in any other direction. 



By this time, however, both John and Mary 

 were getting past boyhood and girlhood; and 

 when he held aloof from her she remonstrated, 

 and finally told him that, had it not been for 

 his interference, she might have married Henry, 

 and all would have been well; but now it was 

 too late. If he did not want her himself when 

 he cautioned her about being intimate with 

 Henry, what did he want? I do not know for 

 sure, but I suspect a woman's tears came in 

 somewhere along here. Dear friends, it occurs 

 to me just now that I am (perhaps unconscious- 

 ly) reflecting a little severely on Mary. May be 

 be some of my fair readers will say, "That is 

 just about the way it generally goes. The nian 

 is all right, and the woman is enti7'e?!/ to blame." 

 You remember how Adam, away back in olden 

 time, undertook to make out that he would not 

 have got into any trouble if the woman — yes, 

 the very woman whom God had given tiim — 

 had not led the way. Well. I did not mean to 

 blame poor Mary. Very likely she was more 

 or less at fault; but the truth is, the story came 

 to me from John's standpoint, and not from 

 Mary's. I still think, however, that John 

 meant to do right, for they were married soon 

 after, and every thing should have been pleas- 

 ant and lovely — yes, I am sure every thing 

 might have been pleasant and lovely had Christ 

 Jesus and not Satan been taken into that 

 household. I feel sure that neither one of the 

 two meant to take in Satan, and I know they 

 will both claim that Satan was not invited by 

 either one; but yet he got a foothold almost at 

 the outset. My friends, I am a great believer in 

 letting every young couple start out in married 

 life by themselves— that is, if it can be so man- 

 aged. For a time at least they do not need a 

 third party to manage or suggest; and if there 

 is ever a time in the life of any person when 

 Satan is not needed, it is when man and wife 

 first begin to ?f7Km' each other. "What there- 

 fore God hath joined together, let not man put 

 asunder." I told you Mary was a professing 

 Christian. I am afraid, however, her Chris- 

 tianity was not of a real practical kind. If I 

 could talk with her about it she might insist 

 that it was. I think John, at this stage, made 

 no profession whatever. Very likely he was 

 skeptical. Still, I believe he aimed to do right 

 — at least, as nearly right as anybody is likely 

 to do without Christ Jesus to guide and direct. 

 You may guess, from what I have told you, 

 that their start-out in life was not just the 

 best kind of a start-out, and it was not long be- 

 fore little disagreements arose. John was cash- 

 ier in a bank, earning a fair salary, and gave 

 promise of being a good careful business man. 

 He had saved a little money. Of course, his 



wife knew just how much, and where it was. 

 That is right. She ought to have known. 

 Some of you may object to this, and there may 

 be circumstances that would justify the hus- 

 band in keeping his business from his wife: but 

 as a rule they two should be one. in business 

 and every thing else. But Mary had seen a 

 piece of furniture that could be bought for just 

 about the sum of money laid aside. John pro- 

 tested that it would be wisdom to keep a little 

 laid up for a rainy day, or for sickness. She 

 suggested he could earn more, and there was 

 no peace in that little household of two until 

 the piece of furniture was bought, to be put 

 into a rented house. Even the coveted object, 

 however, did not bring permanent peace, and 

 dissension and discord soon began again to be 

 the rule. The advent of a bright little boy did 

 not seem to make much difference, or the dif- 

 ference did not last very long, and things pass- 

 ed on until there were two boys and a girl to be 

 part and parcel of that home. John was get- 

 ting farther and farther away from religious 

 influence; and I am afraid the wife was only 

 professor and not possessor. 



Dear married friends, do you know what a 

 terrible thing it is for discord to get possession 

 of a household? I wonder if you have ever 

 resolved, over and over again, that you would, 

 on your part. stop. I wonder if you have felt 

 sad to see this thing steadily gaining a hold, 

 and growing, almost in sjylte of any thing you 

 can do. I remember once, years ago, of visit- 

 ing a home where Satan seemed to have become 

 so thoroughly intrenched in his work that it 

 was really fearful to contemplate. I changed 

 the subject again and again; but every new 

 topic seemed to raise the same trouble as the 

 others. I remember I praised the meat that 

 was served for our breakfast, and innocently 

 asked what it cost in that region. Somebody 

 said it was 14 cents. The mother replied that 

 it was no such thing— they got the best kind of 

 steak for 12. The man of the house retorted 

 that he oueht to know, for he bought it and 

 paid for it. And so they went on until I was 

 really afraid they might come to blows, not- 

 withstanding my presence. Then I said some- 

 body told me there were a good many rattle- 

 snakes in that vicinity. But they disputed, 

 and almost called each other names, because 

 they did not agree any better about the 

 "snakes." 



My good friend, were you ever in a hurry in 

 the morning, when breakfast happened to be 

 late? Did you ever, almost before you thought, 

 suggest that things were always late in your 

 especial household ? If the good wife had been 

 trained to the business — but I sincerely hope 

 she had not— she might retort that you ?c?icu; 

 you did not have to wait for your breakfast 

 once a month. You see, husband and wife get 

 so well acquainted with each other that it is 

 their p?'(/tnicge to talk plain; and some people 

 pride themselves on their habit of plain speak- 

 ing. God forbid. You have no more business 

 to give pain to your wife by your plain speak- 

 ing than you have to wound or hurt the feel- 

 ings of some good wife whose guest you are. 

 Bv the way, shall I tell you that a great many 

 of my sins come right along here with that 

 restless and impatient disposition of mine? 

 When business is pushing— and it is almost 

 always pushing when I am around — I am up 

 early in the morning; and if breakfast is de- 

 layed, it is the most natural thing in the world 

 for me to become impatient, and to scold. We 

 expect our men, as a rule, to get to their work 

 at about 7 o'clock; and a great many times, if 

 I am not on hand when they start out, some- 

 thing goes wrong. The team may go in the 

 wrong direction, or the team and two or three 



