612 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Aug. 15. 



Our Homes. 



And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt haiken dili- 

 gently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to ob- 

 serve and do all his commandments which 1 com- 

 mand thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set 

 thee on hig-h above all nations of the earth ; and all 

 these blessing-s shall come on thee, and overtake 

 thee, If thou shalt barken unto the voice of the 

 Lord thy God.— Deut. 28:1 3. 



We are all of us more or less inclined to for- 

 get such promises as are to be found in the 

 Bible like our text above. It does us good—at 

 least it does me good— to read these promises 

 over and over; and, my good friend, whenever 

 you have time, say next Sunday afternoon, 

 after you get home from church, I believe it 

 will do you good to read that whole chapter — 

 the 28ih of Deuteronomy. How nicely the 

 third verse comes in— " Blessed shalt thou be 

 in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the 

 field!" This last verse tells us very plainly 

 that a man may serve God in the city as well 

 as in the country. The only important thing 

 is, that in either case we should be hearkening 

 diligently to the voice of God. A few days ago 

 I told our people that I must make a trip to 

 Lancaster, Fairfield Co., O. When some one 

 asked what I was going there for I replied that 

 God was calling me there. Well, how did I 

 know that God was calling me there ? how did 

 he call? He called in this way: Near the 

 city of Lancaster there is a campground of 

 some note. If I am correct, it is held by the 

 Methodists, something on the line of the camp- 

 grounds at Lakeside, which I have once or 

 twice described. The principal reason why I 

 felt called to go there was that, on the 30tli and 

 31st of July, the Anti-saloon League of the 

 State of Ohio held a meeting. The first meet- 

 ing was to be held on Thursday evening, and it 

 was to be ameeting of the Board of Trustees. 

 As I am one of said board, naturally I was ex- 

 pected to be present. This Anti-saloon League 

 is a league for the defense and protection of the 

 boys of Ohio. Fairfield Co. is in a part of Ohio 

 where I am comparatively little acquainted; 

 and as I grow older I find that I feel interested 

 more and more in every thing pertaining to our 

 beautiful State, and especially in matters per- 

 taining to the education and general welfare of 

 our children. 



In oriier to reach Lancaster by a short cut I 

 found it expedient to ride 22 miles on my wheel 

 This wheelrlde would come about in the middle 

 of the trip. I left the train and took my wheel 

 at New Philadelphia a little after four. I ex- 

 pected the roads to be bad in some places, on 

 account of the recent rains; and I was not dis 

 appointed in this respect. Through some of 

 the low grounds where the roads had been 

 recently flooded, I had to walk, and some- 

 times carry my wheel; but when I got upon 

 to higher ground, on the beautiful graveled 

 road that follows along the old Ohio canal, the 

 wheeling was beautiful, and I praised wod while 

 my wheel carried me almost noiselessly through 

 village after village. 



At one point I was interested and amused by 

 seeing a little tent put up in a vacant lot. On 

 it was painted in boyish letters, " Circus. Ad- 

 mittance ,5 and 10 cts." A little further on I 

 met a boy dressed as a clown, riding on a queer 

 little cart or chariot, inviting people right and 

 left to turn out and see the boys' circus. As I 

 took in the whole situation I felt that I would 

 give more to attend that boys' circus, ever so 

 much more, than the big circuses, providing, of 

 course, there were nothing vicious or bad about 

 It. And I fell to wondering whether I had not 



been objecting too vehemently against circuses; 

 and then I felt a wish that, if the thing were 

 possible, there might be a circus to entertain 

 our children, divested of its sinful features. 

 This has often been discussed, and I have been 

 told the experiment has been tried, but it does 

 not pay. A few good people would give their 

 patronage, but we are told on good authority 

 that neither a circus nor a theater would pay ex- 

 penses unless it catered to the popular demand 

 for something that ministers to the wants of a 

 corrupted and vicious heart. May God help 

 not only our children but the parents as well in 

 this matter of discriminating between innocent 

 and pernicious amusements. 



The sun was going down, and I felt anxious. 

 The tinkle of a cycle-bell made me look around, 

 when I saw that two boys were following me. 

 They slackened up their pace to agree with 

 mine, and we had a pleasant chat by the way. 

 I had been afraid that rain would interfere 

 with my meeting my appointment; and when 

 it began to sprinkle we all began to quicken 

 our speed. To add to our perplexity, the canal 

 had got over its banks, and flooded the road 

 for a little way. Even though it rained, there 

 was no other way than to wade through the 

 water, carrying our wheels and shoes and 

 stockings. I expected to stop over night at 

 Newcomerstown, with the friends who were 

 pictured on page 544; but the rain and the 

 darkness together, with the fatigue of going 

 over rough roads, obliged me to stop with my 

 boyish comrades at the pleasant town of Port 

 Washington. The evening was exceedingly 

 warm, and the people seemed to have gathered 

 mostly on the lawns in front of their homes — 

 that is, after the little shower had slackened 

 up. They were nice-looking people; the homes 

 were neat and tidy; the beautiful lawns in 

 front, that reached clear down to the street, 

 have a verv pretty effect indeed; and I made 

 up my mind that the people of Port Washington 

 must be temperate and God-fearing. The words 

 of our text are true, dear reader. There can be 

 no real comfort and enjoymen and neatness 

 and thrift without godliness. 



I was warmly welcomed next morning by 

 friend Nicodemus and his family. In fact, 

 they had watched and waited the night before, 

 and had kept a lantern burning out on a post, 

 so that I might find their house with but little 

 trouble, if I came in after dark Newcomers- 

 town, like other towns in that vicinity, is sadly 

 in need of thorough and efficient temperance 

 work; and while I write, our Anti-saloon 

 League is, if I am correct, carrying on a cru- 

 sade in their midst. 



I reached Lancaster in due time, and it was 

 almost a reunion to shake hands once more 

 with my comrades in the crusade. Our Board 

 of Trustees does not include a very large num- 

 ber, it is true; but I assure you it was a rare 

 pleasure to meet with the good and pure men 

 of the State of Ohio, who feel as I do, that God 

 calls them to thus meet twice a year to consider 

 the problems that lie before us One of our 

 number was the author of some of our valuable 

 schoolbooks: and. dear reader it is not only the 

 churches of Ohio that are working and praying 

 for the abolition of the saloon system, but 1 be- 

 lieve our feac?icrs, if not all of the pupils, are 

 also hungering and thirsting for the time when 

 saloons shall be gone. The church and the 

 saloon can not flourish together. They are 

 mutually antagonistic in every way. When I 

 say this I recognize that among the readers of 

 Gleanings are not only many who patronize 

 the saloon, but there are also some saloon-keep- 

 ers; but, dear brothers, please remember that 

 it is not the men so much as it is the business 



