1893 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



857 



Our Homes. 



Thou slialt teacli tliese words diligently unto thy 

 fhildren, and thou shalt talk of llieni when thou 

 sittest in thine liouse, and when tliou walkest by 

 the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou 

 risest up.— Deut. 6 : 1. 



A good many years ago. when there was but 

 one little boy and one little girl in our home, a 

 dear friend o\ mine, who had also settled down 

 and started a home in another State, wrote me 

 a letter. In this letter he urged upon me the 

 importance of not only leading a Christian life, 

 but of reading the Bible daily in the family. 

 He said I would be a better man, and escape 

 many trials and troubles, if the reading of the 

 Scriptures were a part of every day's duties. 

 He especially urged upon me the effect it would 

 have upon our children, of having the father 

 read to them from the Bible, and asking God's 

 blessing on the home every day. This letter 

 came to me with a peculiar significance, for this 

 friend was a younger man than myself. I knew 

 he was honest, and meant what he said; and I 

 rather think I knew, too, at that time, that he 

 was right. I did not take his advice, however, 

 for there were good reasons why I could not 

 take his advice. If I read the Bible to my chil- 

 dren, and asked God's blessing on my home, it 

 would require, in the first place, that I should 

 be a ditt'erent man from what I was at that 

 time. Nevertheless, this exliortation from this 

 friend took a deep hold on me. The letter was 

 soon lost, and, I was going to say, forgotten — 

 no, not forgotten. It was engraven on the tab- 

 lets of my heart and memory. Oftentimes I 

 thought of that quiet friendly appeal. It had 

 the greater effect because he had never made 

 any profession of Christianity that I knew of at 

 the time. 1 was surprised to learn that he was 

 a Christian. In fact, he had always been such 

 a rollicking, reckless, outdoor sort of boy, that 

 I could hardly imagine he could sober down his 

 face enough to ask a blessing at the table, and 

 lift his heart to God in prayer before a family 

 of his own. My friend, did you ever write a 

 letter like that to some one whom you knew 

 would take it kindly from i/on., when perhaps 

 he would not take it kindly from any one else? 

 If you have, then you have at least once or 

 twice in your life been laying up treasures in 

 heaven, and may be you did not know it or 

 think of it. 



Years have passed, and I find myself not only 

 trying to teach these same Scriptu.'es in my 

 own liome, but sometimes I try to teach them 

 in other homes Thank God for the recollection 

 that I Jidiie tried to do so. Well, not very long 

 ago I heard more or less of the family I have 

 mentioned in my opening paragrapji; and what 

 kind of news do you suppose it was that I 

 heard ? Why, that this man and especial 

 friend of mine — this one whom I had loved 

 from my childhood up (and I loved him more 

 when lie urged me to be a Christian), well, it 

 was said that this man and one of his grown-up 

 boys— at least, the boy was pretty nearly grown 

 up — could not get nloiig together. Some friends 

 who do not believe as we do would suggest that 

 even his Bible-reading and prayers did not 

 avail very much after :ill. Steady, friends. 

 Let us look into the matter. I finally happ<'iied 

 to meet this boy who did not get along well 

 with his father, and he and I had a very friend- 

 ly talk. He said at the outset he, guessed it 

 was all his own fault, for he owned up that he 

 had not been a very good or obedient boy. I 

 questioned him more closely. I believe he is 

 now between IT and IS. It did not seem to me 

 as if he could be a very bad boy when he seem- 



ed so frank and honest, and so ready to admit 

 the fault — at least the greater part of it— as his 

 own. Like his father (is it not funny that this 

 boy should be so exactly like his father in many 

 things'?) — well, like his father he was impa- 

 tient of restraint — especially any sort of restraint 

 that kept him indoors. He liked to be teaming 

 around at something, and to have something 

 going on. Of course, he rides a wheel; and, by 

 the way, he won a prize among a lot of wheel- 

 men, leaving them all behind, old and young. 

 He does not like to go to school; but neither 

 did his father. Dear me ! what a time the 

 parents did have to make that/<)t?ier get even a 

 tolerable amount of schooling when he was a 

 boy I The boy likes to push things. If he is 

 set at work sweeping out a store he will have 

 it done in about a fourth the time it would take 

 a good smart sweeper to do it. But he would 

 not do it Kwli. And then he would make things 

 hustle to such an extent that, very likely, some 

 of the goods would be knocked off the shelves 

 on to the floor, and, may be, swept out with the 

 dust and dirt. Now, this very thing is an ex- 

 cellent trait — that is, this disposition to push 

 things and get along; but it needs to be under 

 proper restraint. I have had to do with many 

 boys of both kinds; but I believ(> I would rather 

 prefer a boy who likes to make things get along 

 than to have one so slow that you never have 

 the heart to charge anybody what it cost if you 

 have him do the work. Both sorts of boys need 

 careful watching and training. They need a 

 good kind mother to show them how, with gen- 

 tleness and love. Oh, yes! they also need a 

 good kind fatJier to show them how, with gen- 

 tleness and love. Does that latter part describe 

 you, my friend — that is, if you are the father of 

 grown-up boys? May God help you if it does 

 not. Well, I did not mean to "tell stories out 

 of school ■' if I could help it; but for the sake of 

 helping fathers and boys to get along in love 

 and peace, I wish to tell at length of one little 

 transaction in this friend's family. 



The father and two sons have charge of a 

 postoffice in quite a considerable town. When 

 the father secured the office, all three were very 

 ambitious to do the work faithfully and well. 

 Their reports to the Postoffice Department 

 were most carefully made out, every copper 

 was accounted for. and the cash was balanced 

 regularly in a most model manner. As the 

 town was a growing one. different plans were 

 discussed among the three for serving the great 

 public more quickly and easily, and enabling 

 them to do their work more expeditiously. It 

 was a real pleasure to me to see how prompt 

 they were in all the appointments of the office. 

 A very early morning train made it necessary 

 to deliver the mail quite a spell before daylight. 

 I never heard one of them grumble about being 

 obliged to gi t up at such an unseasonable hour. 

 Their mails were always ready, and Uncle Sam 

 was never annoyed by any delay on their part. 

 Like most other towns there were two factions 

 in this one, and the opposite faction was quite 

 disposed to watch for some chance to criticise 

 or catch the new postmaster napping. For a 

 long while there was no chance for complaint 

 in any direction. Finally an extensive business 

 concern deposited some letters one afternoon, 

 to go to a neighboring town. At just about 

 this time the father and boys were moving the 

 office from the back part of the store to the 

 front, and things were necessarily more or less 

 mixed up. Tliey supposed, however, that every 

 thing was carefully looked after as usual. 

 Some time next day. however, this business 

 man found that the hstters he put in th(>. office 

 were not carried to the next town as they ought 

 to have been. As the distance was not great, 

 and some of the letters were especially impor- 



