442 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 1. 



do service if you pulled wide the throttle- 

 valve and took the engineer from his post. The 

 locomotive would go crashing through the 

 land, bringing wreck and ruin, and, possibly, 

 devastation and death. But the havoc that 

 the locomotive might make would be mild in 

 comparison to the average child that has its 

 own way. and is entirely without restraint. 

 This is a terrible statement; but I am afiaid it 

 is true. And there are children in our land 

 who are growing up in that very way. If they 

 have any property, the law appoints a guar- 

 dian: but a child-tramp, going here and there 

 hunting up a job. may have no guardian what- 

 ever, unless some good man or woman takes 

 pity on him, and tries to be a guardian to him. 

 A parent who is harsh and severe, and overdoes 

 the matter in the way of exercising authority, 

 is better and safer than the one who gives his 

 child unlimited liberty and lets it do exactly as 

 it pleases. Better any sort of restraint rather 

 than no restraint at all. But this is no excuse for 

 letting our lower impulses lead us to be unjust to 

 children. '"Ye fathers, provoke not your chil- 

 dren to wrath." 



A father came home from his worK at night, 

 tired and hungry, and perhaps feeling fretful 

 and impatient. A bright new saw lay on the 

 ground near the gate. The father meditated, 

 "That boy is getting to be heedless and care- 

 less. He needs a good thorough straightening- 

 up." As the boy came in sight the father com- 

 menced: 



"John, pick up that saw and put it in its 

 place. Haven't I talked to you enough about 

 leaving tools lying around on the ground?" 

 " But, father—" 



" Not a word, sir; do as I tell you." 

 The boy once more attempted to say some- 

 thing in his defense; but the father's anger had 

 been rising, and he cut the boy short by saying, 

 " Not a word, I tell you. Go upstairs and go to 

 bed, and learn after this not to answer back 

 when I reprimand you." 



The boy was a chip of the old block, as a 

 matter of course, and by this time /lis temper 

 rose also. With the hot tears of anger cours- 

 ing down his cheeks, he did as his father bade 

 him. slamming his door as he threw himself on 

 his bed, sobbing, and stung to the very core at 

 his father's injustice. The father began to feel, 

 too, after the boy was out of sight, that perhaps 

 he had been more severe than the occasion 

 demanded. A neighbor, who was at some little 

 distance, heard the whole matter, and had by 

 this time reached the spot. lie was also some- 

 what excited, but he undertook to reprove his 

 neighbor. 



" Look here, Mr. Jones; you are making a 

 mistake. If you look a little closer you will see 

 that that saw is not yours at all, and your boy 

 had nothing to do with it. A man left it there 

 and is coming back after it presently." 



What did the father do? Well, I suppose 

 that, like you and me, he hated to own up that 

 he had been wrong and foolish; so he tried to 

 laugh it off. and replied, " Well, perhaps you 

 are right about it; but if the boy did not need 

 \tthis time, he will before long; and it will not 

 do him very much harm if he did get his pun- 

 ishment a little in advance." 



Because the father was ashamed to own up 

 before his boy that he had made a mistake, and 

 had been unmanly and cruel, he let the boy lie 

 there on his bed, with his heart in just the 

 right state to receive almost any prompting 

 that Satan might whisper. 



As our pastor told this story it almost made 

 me start in my seat. I do not think I ever did 

 any thing so unreasonable and cruel as the 

 above; but different phases of the picture 

 came home to me and rebuked me. T3ear 



brother or sister, can it be possible that this 

 little incident is a picture of the things that do 

 sometimes happen in or about your own home? 

 If so, may God help you. I know it takes hard 

 earnest work and earnest prayer to keep your- 

 self free from such mistakes and shortcomings 

 as these; but "there is no]); great.^excellence 

 without great labor." It is the price of wisdom. 

 Daily prayer, night and morning, that you may 

 be kept from such thoughtless sinfulness is not 

 enough. You need to pray every hour; and 

 when conscience whispers that danger is near, 

 you need the little prayer, right on the instant, 

 "Lord, help!" When the warning note is 

 ringing in our ears, if we can stop long enough 

 to utter mentally even those two short words, 

 we are comparatively safe. 



I am reminded right here of a little incident 

 in the great business world. It was told in the 

 American Florist; and I fear, too, that it was 

 told by an editor who has little or no faith in 

 prayer. Last spring, when there threatened to 

 be a panic, owing to the scarcity of onion seed, 

 some men of large capital undertook to buy up 

 the visible supply in order to make a "corner." 

 They found a seed-merchant in San Francisco 

 who did not happen to be posted in regard to 

 the market, and they had so nearly succeeded 

 in buying his complete stock at some thousands 

 of dollars less than its real value, that the 

 money was already taken out and ready to be 

 counted. He had not accepted their offer, and, 

 to their great surprise, he said, " Gentlemen, 

 before I conclude this bargain you will please 

 excuse me for a very few minutes." He came 

 back and declined to sell his stock of seed. 

 They increased the offer, but he would not sell, 

 even then. They were surprised at the strange 

 behavior of a smart and capable business man, 

 and employed a mutual friend to get an explan- 

 ation as to why he changed so suddenly. The 

 explanation was this: He retired to his private 

 room, and asked (rod to direct him that he 

 might not be a victim of any evil plan of those 

 men. The result was, that he was impressed 

 to make no deal with them whatever. I may 

 not have got the above exactly as it occurred, 

 but it was essentially as I state. The matter 

 attracted my attention, and the editor of the 

 American Florist gave us some further facts 

 afterward. Tliere seemed to be a chain of cir- 

 cumstances reaching out a good ways in differ- 

 ent directions, hinging on this one deal; and 

 the very men who were at tirst disappointed in 

 not getting the seed, said afterward that the 

 delay occasioned by the time our Christian 

 friend was occupied in praying over the trans- 

 action, was a Godsend to them. Events after-' 

 ward transpired, showing that his fashion of 

 praying over important business matters, be- 

 fore committing himself fully, saved a good 

 many people from losses, as well as the parties 

 mentioned. The editor explains- it by saying 

 that it all came about by this trifling " hitch" 

 in the business that was going on. Now, 

 friends, you and I would have been better off 

 in peace of mind, and perhaps money too, had 

 there been some little providential "hitch" in 

 our affairs just as Satan was getting us well 

 under his thumb. And the way to bring about 

 such a hitch is to stop long enough to ask God's 

 help before you push ahead in any crisis. Es- 

 pecially do we need this little prayer in home 

 matters; for it is not only true that " the hand 

 that rocks the cradle is the hand that moves 

 the world," but it is true that God's kingdom 

 is to come here on earth, and his will is to be 

 done here in this nation of ours, by the work 

 that commences in a still and quiet way around 

 the hearthstone, and in these homes of ours. 

 May God's blessing and love and peace find a 

 resting-place in these homes. 



