1890 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



228 



lieve my experience may be helpful to you. 

 Let me illustrate what I have in mind by 

 some /((miliar exani'ple in the way of fight- 

 ing temptation. 



Thirty years ago I was in the habit of tak- 

 ing a glass of beer now and then, and per- 

 haps I might as well say that I had become 

 quite fond of lager beer. Nova', although it 

 is certainly 25 years since I have tasted a 

 drop, the old appetite comes back yet with 

 astonishing power, once in a while. When 

 I hear my German friends talk about their 

 social glass of lager, a great many times I 

 have said in my heart, ■' Oh, how I do wish 

 it were not wicked to tell them that I love 

 their favorite beverage too, and to ask to be 

 one among them, and drink with them I'' 

 In some respects I am ashamed of this con- 

 fession, dear friends, but in others 1 am not. 

 I love to get acquainted with the German 

 people, and I want to bring them to the 

 Savior that I have found, and 1 am glad to 

 join in every thing that is innocent and 

 harmless, in the line that Paul suggests 

 when he says, " I am made all things to all 

 men, that 1 might by all means save some." 

 Well, now I want to tell you that, when I 

 am alone in our great cities, Satan often 

 whispers to me, '' Why shouldn't you have a 

 glass of beer now? What harm would it do? 

 There is not a soul here that knows you. and 

 no one need know a thing about it. There 

 is certainly no danger that you would ever 

 drink more than is good for you." And 

 while he is whispering these suggestions I 

 look into the saloons with their attractive 

 and inviting placards. At just such times I 

 have said to myself, "• If there were nothing 

 lorong about it I would give a loliole dollar 

 for just one single glass of lager." Now, 

 please do not understand that I have ever 

 thought of doing such a thing. It would be 

 wrong for me to waste a whole dollar in the 

 purchase of any thing in the way of drink, 

 as a beverage, that the world has ever fur- 

 nished. The money that I call my own is 

 not mine to use in any such foolish way. I 

 know there are people who pay several dol- 

 lars for a bottle of wine ; but I should be ill 

 at ease with such a class. When such sug- 

 gestions come (in some way they alwa>s 

 seem to come most when I am in an un- 

 known city, and among entire strangers) 1 

 have always, sooner or later, said, " Get 

 thee behind me, Satan ;" but my tempera- 

 ment is somewhat imaginative, as you may 

 know, and I am afraid 1 do not rebuke Sa- 

 tan soon, enough. It is this same old tempta- 

 tion that I spoke of in regard to the ma- 

 chinery of the universe. The study of the 

 machinery employed by the evil one, some- 

 how or other has something fascinating 

 about it to me. Now in regard to the dan- 

 ger that has been threatening me : He who 

 has monev and property intrusted to his 

 care usually meets temptations that other 

 people do not have to meet. While in Cal- 

 ifornia I saw some beautiful gardens be- 

 longing to a man of wealth, and people 



would say to me, " Mr. paid $10,000 



for that live acres of fruit, just as it stands 

 now." David C. Cook gave $go/xjo for his 

 California ranch ; and now he is investing 

 ever so many thousand more to make it a 



little paradise here on earth. In another 

 case an ideal orange-grove in full bearing 

 presented such a beautiful sight that a man 

 of capital paid $5000 for it, cash down, just 

 that he might be able to say that such a 

 thing of beauty was his own. Our business 

 is getting to be, as you know, one of consid- 

 erable magnitude. Single purchases of more 

 than a thousand dollars are now comparative- 

 ly common. Sometimes such a purchase is 

 made by the demands of the business, when 

 I hardly know any thing about it until 1 see 

 the bill. It is all right and proper. The 

 boys are beginning to exercise so much 

 judgment and wisdom in managing these 

 matters that I do not feel as anxious now 

 as I used to in regard to them. In order to 

 make our extractors all of one sheet of tin 

 we were obliged to get our tin imported 

 from the old country, and I had almost forgot- 

 ten about it until the bill came through the 

 mails, for over one thousand dollars. John 

 had made the purchase, and had made it 

 wisely. Our new printing - press, that is 

 making us all happy, was purchased entire- 

 ly by Ernest. I was not even introduced to 

 the agent until the purchase was completed. 

 I was busily occupied at the time, and I 

 told Ernest that, as he had studied the mat- 

 ter well, and had it all in hand, he should 

 go ahead and make the purchase. Although 

 the press was valued at $2500, we have every 

 reason to think that he made a careful in- 

 vestment. Now, in one sense this property 

 is ours to do what we please with it ; in an- 

 other, it is not. My way of putting it would 

 be this : It belongs to Christ Jesus, the Lord 

 and Master. We are stewards to hold and 

 use it, and to invest it as best we can for his 

 honor and glory. I think, dear friends, you 

 all pretty nearly agree with me, only per- 

 haps you might put it in another way, say 

 like this : You, my friends and patrons, 

 have intrusted me with your money. You 

 have desired me to publish a good bee-jour- 

 nal with a part of it ; with the other part 

 you wish me to furnish implements and sup- 

 plies for bee culture, and to look after the 

 general good of our industry. You do not 

 wish me to use the money that I thus accu- 

 mulatp, for gambling or even for speculat- 

 ing. I think that most of you would feel a 

 little hurt, and may be you would feel like 

 finding fault, if I should pay $10,000 for an 

 orange-orchard in Califoriiia or Florida. 

 Such an investment would not do you any 

 good, and might do me much harm as I am 

 at present situated. It would not be in 

 harmony with my profession ; therefore my 

 duty to myself and my duty to my fellow- 

 men demands that I resist such temptations. 

 In this light it would be foolish and wrong 

 for me to pay a dollar for a glass of lager 

 beer, even if there were no intemperance 

 about it. But the worst obstacle in the 

 way of the latter is the guilty conscience / 

 should have after having done such a fool- 

 ish thing. Suppose I should preach temper- 

 ance and Christ Jesus while at home, and 

 then when I am off alone in the night in 

 some great city, yield to that old appetite, 

 thinking no one would know it. 



For two or three weeks after my deliver- 

 ance, as I told you in my Home Paper of 



