1893 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



823 



urday morning I put in an earnest plea to have 

 them talie that same horse and buggy that was 

 to take me to Wadsworth, and go to church on 

 the morrow. Mr. T. urged that it was so late 

 In the fall the weather would be bad; but that, 

 when the weathei' would he good next spring, 

 they would start going to church regularly. I 

 had become pretty well acquainted by this time, 

 and I commenced pleading: 



"No. no 1 don't wait until next summer. 

 Make a start to-morrow. The Weather Bureau 

 says it will be a fine day. I am sure the baby 

 will bi'have all right; and even if she does not, 

 it will not, by any means, spoil the services. 

 Go and tell that Lutheran minister I sent you." 



Here the wife put in, that they (at that par- 

 ticular church) could not afford preaching oft- 

 ener than once every other week, and the mor- 

 row was the wrong day. 



'• Well, my friends, if you do not go to-morrow 

 give me your promise that you will attend the 

 Sunday after, providing it does not rain. I do 

 not want to leave this pleasant home of yours 

 until I see you both started once more back in 

 the straight and narrow path from which you 

 have been so long straying." 



As I rose up I took some money from my 

 pocket, and was going to pay for my breakfast. 

 My host, however, insisted that he would not 

 take any pay from any one who had tried so 

 hard to have them do what they ought to do. 



1 have seen this state of affairs before. When 

 I have undertaken to exhort people toward 

 God's kingdom and his righteousness they will 

 not let me pay what is justly their due. But 

 this time I was equal to the occasion. I laid a 

 half-dollar on the table, and told them that, if 

 they would not accept pay for the breakfast, 

 they must take that coin as their first offering 

 to the church from which they had so long 

 absented themselves; and I got the promise. 



The little incident I have mentioned is what 

 suggested my text — especially the fore part of 

 it referring to the lost sheep of the house of 

 Israel. Go where I may, I find much of this 

 state of affairs— people who used to be church- 

 members, but who have backslidden; and very 

 often they confess, as frankly as did friend T., 

 that there is no happiness nor satisfaction in 

 deserting God's cause. How bright the morn- 

 ing seemed, and how easy it was to spin over 

 the ground after that little bit of spiritual 

 exhortation! I was happy because I had had 

 just a little taste of laying up treasures in 

 heaven instead of on earth. " where moth and 

 rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break 

 through and steal." 



Shall I tell you why those six saloons have 

 just started up in full blast in Wadsworth? 

 Why, it is just because Christian people have 

 backslidden and deserted. Do you remember 

 the text from Malachi — " Bring ye all the tithes 

 into the storehouse; prove, me now herewith, 

 saith the Lord of hosts "?— you know the rest. 

 The whole trouble with the temperance cause 

 — the whoU» trouble with our nation — is because 

 of the indifference of professing Christians. 



Last wt^ek somebody went into my neighbor's 

 carriage-house and took not only his double 

 harness, but his single harness; in fact, they 

 stole all the harnes.ses he had. When I wa'^ off 

 on my wheel in the adjoining county of Sum- 

 rait, a relative told me that his new buggy 

 harness had just been stolen. He is not a 

 professor of leligion; in fact, he has been 

 known far and wide for bi'ing a good deal the 

 other way; but when I said, " Look here, 

 friends, the shortest and quickest remedy for 

 this state of affairs is to start more Sunday- 

 schools, and all of us lend a hand," he said he 

 heartily agreed with me— at least, he believed 

 that the shortest and quickest remedy was to 



educate our children so that they should not 

 grow up thieves, I have bi^en told that thiev- 

 ing is getting to he more common all over our 

 land. Stealing harnesses is a new departure, 

 and there are other new departures coming on. 

 Let me give you a hint. 



The man who owned the farm where I got 

 my breakfast is the owner of ./Jve farms. He 

 has five, and his neighbors do not have any. 

 Yes, I agree with a great lot of you who insist 

 that this is a wrong state of affairs; but the 

 blame by no means rests entirely with the man 

 who has five farms. What effect do you sup- 

 pose those six new saloons will have on the 

 state of affairs where one man has five farms 

 and his neighbors do not have any? Will it 

 help matters? And then suppose the people all 

 around get into a fashion of staying at home 

 from church. Will tlmt help matters? Cer- 

 tainly not.* "Seek ye first the kingdom of 

 God, and his righteousness," and all these 

 things will be mended. The Bible says so. It 

 will stop saloon-keepers from getting the upper 

 hand; it will stop folks from stealing harnesses; 

 it will bring about a pleasant and friendly so- 

 lution of the difficulties between labor and cap- 

 ital. How shall we proceed toward seeking 

 God's kingdom and his righteousness? Why, 

 wake up and help to fill the places of worship 

 that our fathers have scattered over our land. 

 Go next Sunday; take everybody along you 

 can get hold of. Do not wait till spring; do 

 not stop on account of the weather; lend a 

 hand toward hunting up the lost sheep of the 

 house of Israel, and ye shall have pi'ace on 

 earth and treasures in heaven. By ih^way, 

 some of our unbelieving friends suggest that we 

 Christian people are looking toward heaven 

 after this world is done with. Well, I want to 

 tell you that such people are behind the times. 

 The Christian people of the present day— that 

 is, the intelligent and wideawake ones— be- 

 lieve in heaven here on earth, and they believe 

 in it right along every day. and are trying to 

 bring it abouL "Thy kingdom come, thy will 

 be done on earth as it is in heaven." Does that 

 mean that we are to wait until we are dead f I 

 am rather afraid the Christian who does not 

 try to make a heaven or to hunt up a heaven 

 here on earth will never find one when life is 

 past. 



High-pressure Gardening. 



BY A. I. ROOT. 



HIGH-PKESSURE GARDENING NOV. 1. 



Did you ever! This month of October — at 

 least the latter part of it — has been almost the 

 best month for gardening during the whole 

 year. There has been no frost, but abundant 

 warm rains, and every thing that was not kill- 

 ed by the frost three or four weeks ago has just 

 been booming. The value of elevated land for 

 late garden crops comes in finely right here. 

 Potatoes and tomatoes on a hillside are still 

 green and growing, when on tln^ low grounds 

 they wi^re killed long aco by the frost; and the 

 late tomatoes bring fully as good prices as they 

 did during the first of the season. 



*The professor of relig-ion wlio stops going to 

 cliurcli will be just the man to listen to a sugges- 

 tion from Satan, that tliere is somctli ng unfair 

 about his neighbor having^rr farms while lie has 

 none at all. After awhile he will lie ready tor the 

 suggestion that it is no more tliaii fair tlijit he 

 should help himself, in order to make things right. 

 May be he would not lake a harness rigiit away, 

 but he will after awhile. When he becomes harden- 

 ed a little more he will be ready for bloodshed and 

 all the rest. 



