1896 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



269 



Not to be ministered unto, but to minister.— Matt. 

 20:28. 



Some time last fall, when the nights were 

 cool, a farmer was returning home after hav- 

 ing disposed of a load of produce in the city of 

 Cleveland, some 35 miles away. His home was 

 but a few miles from the town of Medina, 

 among the hills of Hinckley. Down in a hol- 

 low between two great hills there is a spring 

 and a watering- trough. It was after night; 

 for in order to make the trip, one has to start 

 very early in the morning, and return late in 

 the evening. Our friend got off his wagon to 

 uncheck his horses to let them drink; and as 

 he was chilly he was striking his arms across 

 his chest to get warm. The watering-place is 

 out of sight between the hills, and I believe 

 there Is no dwelling near. Now, while he was 

 occapied as I have described, somebody came 

 up from behind, knocked him down, or threw 

 him down, rifled his pockets, and escaped in 

 the darkness. 1 believe they got between 

 twenty and thirty dollars. The man was a 

 farmer. Without question, he had been having 

 the same difficulties that all the rest of us have 

 had to contend with during the past year — 

 severe drouth, and then small prices for the 

 small crop tliat was secured by unusual pains 

 and labor. I do not know what his product 

 was that he took into the city, but it could 

 hardly have been potatoes, for he would not 

 have received so much money from even a very 

 large load of potatoes. This money may have 

 been needed to pay his taxes. Perhaps he rents 

 a farm. If so, it may have been a part of the 

 meager result of his hard labors during the past 

 season, and needed to pay the rent. Perhaps 

 his wife and children were depending on the 

 money for necessary food and clothing. Who 

 could have the heart to take. a /rrrmer's hard 

 earnings, without rendering an equivalent? I 

 have sometimes wondered how business men can 

 have the heart to drive a hard bargain with a 

 farmer; and I confess that I have more than 

 once paid more for their produce than I could 

 really afford, because I felt sorry for them. It 

 is enough to sadden one's heart to witness 

 occurrences that are going on in almost every 

 neighborhood, to say nothing of reading the 

 reports of crime that fill our newspapers, indi- 

 cating there is a large class of humanity who 

 have so little heed or care for the rights of 

 others. Now. I am not going to take the 

 ground that the world is all bad. for it is not 

 true. A great majority of our people mean to 

 be fair and upright in deal— that is, they mean 

 to after a fashion. Sometimes they are biased 

 by prejudice; sometimes they get contrary and 

 wicked because others have wronged them; 

 but to one who is looking for glimpses of the 

 noble and Godlike and true, they will always 

 be found. A great many times they will be 

 coming up unexpectedly. Yes. every little 

 while we see glimpses of that Christlike spirit 

 that is embodied in our text — "Not to be min- 

 istered unto, but to minister." That is. there 

 is a great amount of that trait in humanity 

 whose foremost thought and anxiety is not 

 self, but the general good of humanity at large. 

 Oh how T do love to see that spirit! Something 

 turns up, and one neighbor savs to another, 

 "There is your chance. John. Why don't you 

 go ahead and make all you can out of it?" 

 John replies, " Yes, there is a chance, and I 



should be very glad indeed to avail myself of it 

 were it not that it is going to cut oft' the bread 

 and butter, or inconvenience some other poor 

 fellow." But let us go back to our story. 



I do not know who the person was who knock- 

 ed that farmer down and robbed him of his 

 hard earnings. They did not get him to put 

 him in the county jail; or. at least, if they did 

 it was for some other offense. He is probably 

 at large; and as he succeeded without detec- 

 tion, he is ready for another job of the same 

 kind, for this is the sad result, dear friends, of 

 letting the criminal go unpunished. To tell 

 the truth, there has been a second attempt at a 

 similar thing in that very neighborhood. 



Let us consider for a moment the state of the 

 man's heart who did this deed. Although I 

 have talked with great numbers of criminals, 

 I do not know that I ever found a man so base 

 and low and inhuman as to undertake to defend 

 himself in doing an act like this. I have seen 

 quite a good many who claimed it is all right 

 to rob a ric/i man. They would say, " He has 

 more than he needs, anyway; he could not 

 have come by it honestly, or why should he be 

 so rich and I so poor?" and similar excuses; 

 but I have never talked with anybody who 

 even tried to excuse himself for knocking down 

 and robbing a poor hard-working man. Quite 

 a few have admitted they did it, but that it 

 was done (at least so they said) while they were 

 intoxicated. Whisky obliterates every spark of 

 humanity. Very likely, highwaymen fortify 

 themselves with liquor before committing 

 crimes of this kind; but if this is true, they 

 must admit a heart so depraved that it could 

 coolly and deliberately plan such robbery. 

 There are those among our readers — a very 

 few — who call my religious enthusiasm a sort 

 of craze or hobby of mine; but I think that 

 even these people acknowledge it is a grand and 

 praiseworthy hobby, where it leads one to 

 devote his life to the thought embodied in our 

 text— " Not to be ministered unto, but to min- 

 ister." 



Every little while nowadays, some one says 

 there are too many people in the world; there 

 is not room for them all. Mv friend, there is 

 wide room— room for the untold thoxisands who 

 feel that their mission is "not to be ministered 

 unto, but to minister." Perhaps you wonder 

 why I am taking up things so directly opposite. 

 I am doing it to show you the contrast. The 

 highwayman deliberately tramples upon every 

 thing Christlike. He puts under foot every 

 humane thought. He says by his acts, "I do 

 not care if this man did earn the money honest- 

 ly by the sweat of his face; I do not care if he 

 is poor and needy; I do not care how hard he 

 has worked, nor how patiently he has deprived 

 himself of the comforts and necessaries of life. 

 He has got some money in his pocket, and I am 

 going to have it, right or wrong. If he is stub- 

 born and unmanageable, I expect to Mil him if 

 I can not get his money otherwise. I do not 

 care for retribution. If they catch me and pun- 

 ish me. I shall have to take it, for I am going 

 to have his money anyivay." 



The thought has often occurred to me, " What 

 do these men do with this money after they 

 get it— the money they are willing to barter 

 soul and body for? Is there any comfort or 

 satisfaction possible to such a one? Does he 

 enjoy his food, or is there any enjoyment in 

 drink, and in the indulgence of the lower 

 sensual appetites?" Then, again, I wonder, is 

 a man ever converted to Christ Jesus after he 

 has gone down to such depths? Does he ever 

 turn round and devote his life toward our text 

 — " not to be ministered unto, but to minister " ? 

 Bad men of almost all kinds have been reform- 

 ed and converted. I should be glad to know if 



