74 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 15. 



bvely creeping- hachward, clear across the room. 

 You couldn't have kept a straight face to save your 

 life had you seen her and heard lier merry laugh. 

 Poor Tommy had early learned througrh sad experi- 

 ence that ii. was safer to " sail stern foremost ; " and 

 although past five years old when admitted to the 

 kinderg-arlen, that was the "way lie walked," as 

 Lizzie said. When I saw him a little later that af- 

 ternoon come walking- erect as a soldier into the 

 schoolroom, get his kindergarten exercise, and im- 

 mediately commence work, I felt renewed thank- 

 fulness to all the dear friends who had made it 

 possible for this soul to be rescued from its worse 

 than Egyptian darkness, and be brought into the 

 marvelous light of intelligence and education, with 

 all its blessed possibilities. I inclose you pictures 

 of Lizzie and Tommy as they appeared when I saw 

 them. 



I am afraid I am forgetting what a busy man you 

 are, by spinning out this long letter. 



Geo. O. Goodhue. 



Danville, P. Q., Canada, Jan. 1. 



Of course the readers of Gi>kanings will be 

 interested in what friend Goodhue tells us about 

 Helen Keller and herdeaf and dumb and blind 

 comrades. Yes, It Is indeed wonderful: it is 

 one of the encouraging wonders of the present 

 age, to realize that one whose misfortunes it 

 would seem almost place them beyond the pos- 

 sibility of education should, by intelligence, 

 diligence, and painstaking care, become intel- 

 lectual wonders. Evervbody has said, you 

 know, that Hellen Keller was endowed by 

 nature with something more than often falls to 

 the lot of humanity: but n^w it transpires 

 that Tommie Sirineer and Willie Kohin too 

 promise to come something near Helen her- 

 self; and then it is that we begin to understand 

 the great lesson that God himself is teaching 

 us through these little unfortunates — that al- 

 most any child may be enod and great by pro- 

 per teachings and environment*. But now for 

 that other question — war between two great 

 peoples. 



After reading the. article (from the Witness) 

 alluded to, it meets my approval so well, and 

 seems to be so exactly what Gleanings oxhjM 

 to say at a time like this, that I have decided 

 to give it also entire: 



THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. 



Some of the mosf deplorable of the many far- 

 reaching consequences of the President's ill-advis- 

 ed message have as yet lieon scarcely felt, but are 

 none the less sure to come unless the Christian peo- 

 ple of l:)oth nations speedilv unitf like true brothers 

 in frowninff down this wicked effort to set them at 

 variiin'^e. 



There will Ije no war between the two great 

 Christian ^lations of the world. I sav it reverently, 

 but fully convinced of its truth— God will not per- 

 mit the light of the world, tlie Bible, to which both 

 nations owe all their wonderful greniness— to go in- 

 to such obscurity as such an unholy contiiet would 

 entail. 



Disastrous as has already b»en and still may be 

 for a time the financial loss resulting from this 

 message, it pales into utter insigniticance beside 

 the far greater lo.=s resulting to the American na- 

 tion through having so willfully sinned against its 

 mother country, and throwing away for an empty 

 bauble the priceless trust of all of England's real 

 intelligence and conscience. No one in Ensland 

 pretends to justify her action toward her coliinial 

 daughter in 1776; and while her sympatlietic re- 

 ponse to the periodical outbursts of Fourth of .luly 

 "yelloquence " has been a silent one, and perhaps 

 almost unconscious to herself, still it has been none 

 the less real, and America has continually benefited 

 through it in a thousand ways. This kindlj' feeling- 

 has deepened and strengthened as the years liave 

 sned on their course, entirely healing, in so far as 

 England was concerned. the breach caused by the 

 events of 177H; and «p to the time of the issuance 

 of this message England looked with afl'ectionale 

 pride upon the great nation speaking its language 

 and ruled by those whose blood came from lier veins. 

 To what extent suspicion and distrust will now take 

 the place of esteem and priceless trust time alone 

 can determine. 



To illustrate more fully, by contrast, some of the 

 far-reaching consequences to which I at first refer- 

 red, let us suppose for a moment that America liad 

 joined the assembly of nations at the Bosphorus, 

 and had said to them, " We are here as England's 

 all.v and friend to compel this slaughter of Armeni- 

 anChristians to cease, and are ' fully alive to the full 

 responsibility incurred, and keenl.y realize all the 

 consequences that may follow.'" That such action 

 would have resulted in war I do not believe; nay, 

 rather the peace of the whole woild would never 

 have been in so sound a position as for these two 

 Christian nations to have thus joined hands in re- 

 fusing to longer endure "a supine submission to 

 wrong and injustice" to the Armenian Christians. 



Would any one attempt to calculate the immea- 

 surable impetus which such an alliance would have 

 given to all that makes for the best welfare of the 

 whole human race 'i Remember that the whole 

 conscience of Germany. France, and Russia, and of 

 the other nations, would have been overwhelmingly 

 in their favor, and that conscience would have par- 

 alyzed any threatening arm sought to be raised 

 against them. "When a man's wiiys please the 

 Lord he maketh even his enemies to be at peace 

 with him." Would he do less for a nation ? 



How long well-wishers of the race have vainly 

 scanned the otttroubled horizon of the Old World, 

 hoping to see indications of a settled peace which 

 would lead to a general disarmament — what an aid 

 to this movement such a union under these circum- 

 stances would have been! What an impulse such 

 an alliance would soon have given, not only to the 

 success of foreign missions, but also to the impor- 

 tant work of Christianizing cur careless heathen at 

 home in both countries. "See how these Christians 

 love one another ! " would have been an open sesame 

 to countless millions of the gold and silver which 

 ought now to be in the Lord's service, as well as to 

 the hearts of millions wlio should enroll under his 

 banner for active service. 



Humanly speaking, this all appears to have been 

 lost: yet is if;:' And must we in pursuance of our 

 illustration attempt to measure the contrary effect 

 —the untold loss arising out of this lamentable 

 action, and accruing to all benefic'^it objects, in- 

 cluding the failure to rescue our Armenian breth- 

 ren whose blood still crif s from the ground against 

 America as well as against England '/ 



Were we to attempt to do so, without putting our 

 whole trust in God, whose kingdom shall surely 

 prevail in his own good time over all the earth, we 

 might well gi-<iw sick at heart in utter despair. But 

 the omnipotent Jehovah lives and reigns, and ever 

 "moves to his great purposes unhindered by aught 

 that seeks to thwart his will." In this shall be our 

 trust. 



When I attempt to decide what should be done 

 between great nations like Great Britain and . 

 the United 8Laies 1 feel so overpowered by the 

 fact that I am so ignorant, comparatively, espe- 

 cially in the great political and financial mat- 

 ters, that I hesitate to say any thing; and yet I 

 am sure friend Goodhue is right; and T am sure, 

 too, that the text at the head of this talk is 

 safe for nations as well as individuals, as friend 

 G. expresses it. 



The pleasure of ray trip up Lookout Moun- 

 tain was greatly mam d by the constant re- 

 minders of the bloody conflict between Ameri- 

 ca's own boys in that " battle above the 

 clouds." as it has been termed. I was talking 

 with utter strangers; but whenever reference 

 was made to it I could not help giving utter- 

 ance to the thought, " Oh ! why did our people 

 get into such a state of affairs as to imagine 

 that such bloodshed was needed, or that it 

 could ever be possible God, shonlcl he pleased to 

 see neighbors murclering each other '? " 



In one sense, perhaps, it was necessary that 

 there should be bloodshed Let me give you 

 an illustration which I have several times al- 

 luded to: 



When I was a boy in my teens there was a 

 rebellion in my school. I restored order and 

 tranquillity by— may God for give me. but, to 

 tell the truth, there was at least a little shed- 

 ding of blood ; and that, too, the blood of one of 

 my own puinl^. As the matter stood just at 



