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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 



"Why, Mr Root, you surely are aware that 

 boys the world over are accustomed to trans- 

 gress more or less, and that it is hardly to be 

 expected that the average young man, be- 

 fore he is married, shall be entirely exempt 

 from this kind of sin and folly. After he 

 gets married, as a matter of course it is his 

 duty to be faithful to his wife." 



When I asked him if being a member of 

 the church did not require absolute faithful- 

 ness in keeping this command, he seemed to 

 think it was expecting almost too much of 

 the average young man, at the present time. 

 Perhaps some of you who read this may 

 smile. May be some of you think, as did 

 this poor friend in jail, that my young friend 

 was giving me the actual state of affairs 

 here in our cultured and enlightened land 

 of liberty. I will admit this, dear friends, 

 that some of you may have lived in a com- 

 munity, or have for your friends and com- 

 panions a class of people who are about like 

 those described above ; but, may God be 

 praised, I know it is not the rule. I am just 

 as sure that the young Christians of our town 

 and community— the members of the En- 

 deavor Society throughout our land— are not 

 of that class, as I am of almost any thing. 

 There may be exceptions, and there are 

 doubtless black sheep, even among the chil- 

 dren of God, but they can not stay there long. 

 A man or woman may serve God and the 

 devil, apparently, for a little time ; but it is 

 true, as 1 stated, and as the Bible teaches, 

 that he will very soon "hate the one and love 

 the other, or else he will hold to the one and 

 despise the other." 



Now, then, for the second part of this lat- 

 ter text. If all the world should get married 

 and no little ones were to come into the 

 household, this state of affairs would be 

 nearly as bad as before. The two that be- 

 came one would be happier and better for be- 

 ing united in marriage ; but this other matter 

 of universal suicide would go on as before. 

 Medical journals, scientific journals, and re- 

 ligious journals, have been discussing the 

 matter for years past ; and if we look about 

 us we must admit that the " replenishing 

 of the earth " is mainly brought about by 

 the ignorant, vicious, illiterate, and sinful. 

 Great organized companies of Christian men 

 and Christian women are laboring to save the 

 children of our land, while ciiminal and in- 

 temperate parents are furnishing more chil- 

 dren to fill our prisons, jails, reform schools, 

 and possibly mission schools, of our great 

 cities. When the matter comes up, I believe 

 the discussion ends by the belief that there 

 is little or no help for it. But where, pray 

 tell me, dear friends, are the Christian men 

 and women coming from in the next genera- 

 tion, if these ( 'hristian men and women have 

 no children in their own homes V Somebody, 

 perhaps, opposes me by saying, " Look here, 

 Mr. Root, are you going to advise and 

 insist that a cultivated, intelligent, and tal- 

 ented Christian woman shall wear her life 

 out, and go to a premature grave, by trying 

 to take care of a great family of children ?" 

 No, I am not going to advise any thing in 

 the way of extremes. I am not going to ad- 

 vise any thing unchristianlike ; but I do 

 think that no home can be complete without 



children ; neither can our great nation stand 

 against the machinery of Satan, with so 

 many childless homes. As a rule, I rather like 

 good-sized families; but, of course, much 

 will depend on circumstances. Five or 

 six. with proper intervals between their 

 ages, are a power for good for each other. 

 and a power for good for the fathers and 

 mothers. I wish to end now with a little of 

 my own experience ; and I hope to tell you, 

 too, how God has led me, even though many 

 times I was stubborn and contrary, and did 

 not want to be led. 



I have six brothers and sisters alive at the 

 present time. Although father and mother 

 were both faithful Christians (mother is still 

 with us), many of our number were slow in 

 coming into the fold. I shall always feel 

 greatly indebted to a sister a little older than 

 myself for her wise, kind Christian advice at 

 different times in my life. It first came 

 when I was about 22 years old, and my wife 

 was 20. We were yet unmarried, although 

 we had been engaged for two or three years. 

 This sister wrote me a kind Christian letter, 

 and closed by urging us to get married. She 

 said she was afraid to have us wait any 

 longer. She told us not to wait until we 

 were better off, but to settle down and go to 

 work together, saying we would accomplish 

 more in every way ; thatwe were losingtime, 

 and that it were far better every way that we 

 should go to work together. I confess the 

 letter rather pleased me, and I made it an ex- 

 cuse for going to see dear bue that very even- 

 ing. She did not need very much urging, and 

 I was (and am yet) a pretty good hand to plead. 

 I need not say that neither of us ever regret- 

 ted the step. Scarcely a year had passed, 

 however, before we went to this sister with 

 another trouble. What do von suppose the 

 trouble was, dear readers ? Why, it was like 

 this: We had planned to have a good time 

 for some three or four years, without having 

 our household encumbered with little onps to 

 keep us at home, etc. But, man proposes 

 and God disposes; and— oh dear me ! what 

 sorrowful faces we two presented! Well, 

 this good sister spoke something like this : 

 She was talking to me particularly : 



" Why, you dear foolish young brother ! 

 Here you are, looking doleful about the 

 very thing that will rejoice your heart more 

 than any other event that could possibly 

 happen, or perhaps ever will happen in your 

 two lives. Very likely the little stranger 

 will, in God's providence, prove to be a boy; 

 and as you are not yet 25, what a pretty 

 sight it will be to see a father and son, with 

 so little difference in their ages that one 

 might almost be mistaken for the other ! 

 You two will go around the world together 

 as companions and playmates. This son (or 

 daughter) will be your prop and slay in your 

 declining years, in just a little time he will 

 be the light of ycur household and the joy of 

 your hearts." 



I have sometimes wondered whether 

 these words were not an extempore prophecy. 

 Did any thing ever come more literally true ? 

 The new baby was unusually apt and 

 bright. Was it not strange that it happened 

 so ? Did yoxi ever hear of any such babies, 

 especially" the first one? Why, before he 



