260 



GLEANINGS IN HEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 



something to-morrow or " next week," and 

 it was put off and allowed to lie just like the 

 manure heap that friend Terry told us of, 

 until, in the course of events, reckoning 

 time came and he was asked to report. Of 

 course, he felt cross, as slothful and lazy 

 people always do. lie finally got up a poor 

 feeble excuse for his wrong doing, and com- 

 menced to put the blame on his lord. He 

 says, " I knew thee that thou art a hard 

 man,'' or, in other words, "■ I knew at the 

 outset tiiat you would beat me in some way 

 or other, and that there was no use in ex- 

 pecting any thing like fair treatment, and 

 so I just laid it away." It is the old, old 

 story that we have had since the time of 

 Adam. When God called him to account 

 for his transgression he commenced first by 

 blaming the woman and then the God who 

 gave him being, while he hinifielf was the 

 guilty one. Who can tell what might have 

 been the result to the whole human race had 

 Adam been manly when first called to ac- 

 count? 



Now, then, dear friend, I have got almost 

 through finding fault, and censuring one 

 whom 1 really know nothing about. I wish, 

 however, to take you to task once more for 

 the expression you let drop in regard to 

 your good wife. You say she " gets discour- 

 aged, and wishes she had married some one 

 better able to support her." Now, my dear 

 brother, I am sure that a wrong spirit was 

 in your heart when you penned those words. 

 I have never known a woman who was not 

 willing to bear and suffer for her husband's 

 sake, even until forbearance seemed to 

 every one to have ceased to be a virtue. I 

 gather from the sentence that you have let 

 drop, that you and your wife have had 

 something approaching unkind and unpleas- 

 ant words. I fear that Satan has been 

 tempting you to censure each other. Please 

 do not let such a thought get into your heart 

 again. I think very likely your good wife 

 is right and you are wrong. In fact, I al- 

 most feel certain she has objected to your 

 '' ventures " as you term them ; and I am 

 quite inclined to think that, had you listen- 

 ed to her, and followed her advice, all would 

 have been well. Did you not exaggerate 

 when you guessed that she had even once 

 harbored the faintest wish that she had 

 married some one else ? If you want my 

 advice, it is this : Go to her and ask her for- 

 giveness ; then, hand in hand, you two 

 should kneel and ask God to forgive you 

 both. Having done this, get up and grap- 

 ple manfully with the duties of life. Work 

 hard, early and late, as you suggest. But, 

 O my friend ! do not indulge in ventures or 

 speculations. Do faithfully and well w^hat 

 your hand finds to do. If you have not 

 work of your own that pays, go and work 

 for some one else. Work that is done with 

 the fear of God in the heart, can not fail to 

 be appreciated. The little text you have 

 quoted to me as a stumbling-block may yet 

 be your bright and leading star. Read that 

 parable over again, from beginning to end. 

 Take the words of our Savior as he meant 

 them, and let them be your help and prop 

 in times of trial and adversity. Do not find 

 iault with your wife ; do not find fault with 



your "neighbors ; " do not find fault with 

 the great outside world ; do not find fault 

 w ith the laws of our land ; and especially, 

 dear brother, do not find fault with the Ho- 

 ly Scriptures, the inspired word of God ; 

 and above all, do not let Satan persuade you 

 for a single instant that Jesus, who came in- 

 to the world to save sinners, ever thought of 

 taking away the things you hold dear, sim- 

 ply for an object-lesson. " All things shall 

 work together for good to those that love 

 God." 



At the risk of saying something that may 

 sound like finding fault with the good peo- 

 ple whom I meet day by day, I want to give 

 you a simple illustration of the reasons why 

 people have trouble ; yes, I want to illus- 

 trate exactly why the state of affairs de- 

 scribed in our text comes about. Some 

 months ago two good strong men came to 

 me seeking employment. One of them had 

 had trouble with his former employer, and 

 I soon discovered why. The other one took 

 hold so willingly and with such energy that 

 I was a little puzzled to know why he should 

 be out of a job at all. But ere many days 

 passed I thought I knew why. In order to 

 get our insurance down to a low rate, we 

 have, by the advice of a company who make 

 it their business to insure factories, been 

 putting in some extensive improvements in 

 the way of waterworks. After being fully 

 equipped with the sprinklers described in 

 another column, we were also desired to 

 provide a stationary fire-engine, or steam- 

 pump, communicating with four large fire- 

 hydrants. These hydrants are situated far 

 enough from the buildings so that they can 

 be worked safely, even with the building on 

 fire. They are to protect also the lumber- 

 yard, the depot buildings, and any other 

 outside influence that might communicate 

 fire to our factories. To furnish water for 

 these hydrants we were obliged to lay six- 

 inch cast-iron pipes from the steam-pump 

 to their vicinity. At one place these heavy 

 iron pipes were to go down something like 

 six feet under ground ; but by some mistake 

 the trench was not dug on just the right 

 line. The men who laid the pipes declared 

 the trench must be filled up and a new one 

 dug. As the ground was frozen, however, 

 this would have been a laborious piece of 

 work. I suggested that we cut out under 

 the bank, so as to get the pipe in place with- 

 out making a new trench. The objection 

 was made, that the bank would cave down. 

 I replied that it would not so long as the 

 ground remained frozen. • - 



The two men were set at work at it, and 

 by 11 o'clock they had it in nice shape for 

 laving the pipe. As I examined the work I 

 told them to be sure to get the pipe in place 

 before they went to dinner, because, if the 

 sun should come out it might thaw the bank 

 so as to let it break down. They replied 

 that they would be sure to do so. When I 

 finished my nap before dinner, my first 

 move was to see to the pipe-laying, as I no- 

 ticed there was a break in the clouds, indi- 

 cating that the sun might come out very 

 soon. Let me ask you to look at the dia- 

 gram on the next page, so as to understand 

 the situation of affairs. 



