G4() 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Skpt. 



plain sight, but soinchody else lias talo'ii it 

 since tlien. Now, please do not swear tiiis 

 bright beautiful morning. Before night we 

 shall have many other li:ials and vexations. 

 Wouldn't it be a great (h'al belter to take evi>ry 

 thing coolly and ijatiently '.' You know that the 

 Bible says,' 'He that rnleth his own spirit is 

 greater than lie that taketh a city."" He soft- 

 ened down, and lauglu'd a little. i>y the time 

 the nuiii who |)ut the clevis in the wagon had 

 fetched it he was disai'nied. and the victory was 

 mine for the time being. Oh how I do love such 

 victories! I like to come out ahead in any 

 thing. When I used to ligiit by my own strength 

 1 \\(juld almost die lathiu' than to be wliipped. 

 especially is I felt that my cause was right and 

 just. But. how much hi tt<M-^how grand and 

 glorious it is to conquer tlir(tngh the spirit of 

 Christ Jesus* — to win by gentle words and by 

 love: to catch a kindly and pleasant look from 

 their countenances; to make them smile when 

 they have been under tiie inlluence^ of an evil 

 temper: How that little jji'ayei' wells u|j from 

 my heart. '"Lord, help Lord, lielpl" as 1 think 

 of these battlesi By tliis time the boss was a 

 very good friend of mine. He had not used a 

 liad word in my ])ri'sence. and I began to hope 

 he would help me. But pretty soon I came up 

 to him behind his back. He was swearing ter- 

 ribly at the awkwardness of some of the green 

 teamsters. A crowd was around him. and there 

 was a regular din— yelling at the horses, calling 

 others to get out of the way. and cursing the 

 stupidity of somebody <'lse. \t seemed almost 

 out of place to interfere. But sonu'thing had to 

 tie done, or I must give up the held. I hardly 

 had time to breathe my little i)rayer. I did the 

 best I could, but he "did not take it very gra- 

 ciously. He muttered something about circum- 

 stances justifying extreme measures. I saw I 

 had lo't' my hold on him. In the afternoon, 

 howe^'er, lie asked me wIhj owned tln^ lot 

 adjoining, where they were to work next. I 

 told him, and then he added: 



•' ]Mr. Root, I wish that lot belonged to i/on. 

 In all my experience in my life of railroad 

 building, I have never before found a man like 

 you. I have never found a nuin befor(^ who 

 seemed to think that we railroaders are human. 

 Why, if I had you to deal with, a great part of 

 my "troubles would be nothing. You seemed 

 glad to have us here in the first i)lace: whereas 

 everybody else regards us as enemies, and tries to 

 beat us and come some game on us continually. 

 Now, if tliere is any thing you want us to do. or 

 any privilege we can grant yon. just name it 

 and we are at your service." 



Pretty soon the contract(ir came around. He 

 had a coujjle of [jonies and a carriage. The 

 boss and the conti-actoi', of course, had quite a 

 talk about the progress of the work— the prices 

 they paid, etc. The contractor is a swearing 

 mail too, but his I'emarkable friendliness showed 

 that the boss had made a good report in my be- 

 half. I wanted a I'oadway on top of the heap 

 of dirt, on their own ground. I asked if it would 

 disc(mimode them. The contractor replied, 

 "Why. bless your heart. INIr. Root, why didn't 

 you speak about it si)on<'r? I would have had the 

 men lay the dirt all in older for you. U is most 

 entirely at your service: and when you want 

 any privilege of the kintl. do not be at all bash- 

 ful—just talk right out. and give us a chance to 

 sliow you that we appreciate the many kind 

 favors' you have shown us since we have come 

 on to your grounds." 



Now. friends, how much are such things 

 worth from these officers and men in charge of 

 oiu' great railways? Don't you believe it will 



*Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, 

 sailh the Lord of hosts.- Zbch. 4:6. 



really pay to invest a few dollars in showing 

 that you are liberal-minded, and disposed to lie 

 brotherly and human? IJefore they came here, 

 different ones told me that the gang would 

 steal every tiling in the neiglil)oriiood. They 

 said our gai'den-stutf would be literally cleaneil 

 out. Well, just across from our spring is a 

 row of extra-early watermelons. They wei'e 

 just getting ripe when the railroad came. I 

 suiiposed that 1 should lose some if not all of 

 tlnuu. By and by. when picking a lot for the 

 market-wagon, my iiath lay right through these 

 men at work. Shall I tempt them by letting 

 them see the nice melons, and that they are 

 already ripe? or shall I take them some round- 

 about way to escajM' observation? The meU)ns 

 were ijretty heavy, and I decided to wheel them 

 right through the crowd. There was some 

 joking as L jiassed by: but, dear friends, it 

 really does my heart good to be able to say that 

 not a thing in the shape of vegetables or eat- 

 ables has been touched since these men came 

 into our neigliliorhoofl. I have watched the 

 melons there, and they have rcMiiained till fully 

 ripe. One day the pony went to one of tlieii' 

 wagons and ate ujj a peck of their potatoes that 

 are worth s'l .:>;() a oushel. It was tSunday moiii- 

 ing, and the campers had no means oi buying 

 any more. I tokl them to go into the gai'den 

 right close to their camp and dig as many po- 

 tatoes as the pony ate. But they declai<'d it 

 was their ow n carelessness, and 1 think not a 

 potato was taken. Please do not think I am 

 boasting of my skill in such matters. 1 boast 

 not of myselt, but of Christ Jesus. Paul says. 

 ■■ Yea, of myself I will not glory but in mine, 

 intirinities." I am glad to witness and testify 

 to the pow<>r of the spirit of Christ Jesus, even 

 amid the din and clamor of ungodly men. 



I now want to s|)eak of a subject that lies. 

 very close to my lieai't during the time of this 

 matter of raili-oiui-lniilding: It is. cruelty to- 

 the mules and horses that construct our rail- 

 ways. And, dear friends, I have just made a 

 discovery. The discovery is this: The key tO' 

 most if liot the cause (jf all the cruelty shown to 

 horses lies in profanity. Profane swearing is at 

 the root of tiie whole matter. One teamstiu'^ 

 gets mad and begins to curse his team. Anoth- 

 er one takes it up, and by and by a dozen team- 

 sters are striving to outdo each other in horrid 

 oaths and curses. Then the whip begins to be 

 used, and finally clubs; and these poor over- 

 worked dumb friends of ours are urged beyond, 

 reason, w hen if the oaths and curses could hav« 

 been stopped they would have worked reason- 

 ably and not b(>yond their strength. I wonder 

 that those who own the teams do not see thi.s. 

 Now, I do not know how many of the readers of 

 Gi.EANiNos are in tlu^ habit of swearing: but 

 the idea may be new to you, that it costs you 

 money every tinier you take God's name in vain. 

 The money is a small part of \vhat it costs, but 

 it is a point where great corporations may b(» 

 appealed to if no other. Where their pocket- 

 books suffer, they are interested. I may as well 

 tell you that I hiid to give up, mostly, trying to 

 stop' the swearing. When they had only four (jr 

 tiv(> teams there was not any of It when I was 

 in sight; but when it came to :.'() or 30, where 

 they werc^ backed uj) by numbers, some of them 

 seeined really to take a kind of pleasui'e in let- 

 ting me know that I was whipped out. Oh, but 

 I am not whipped out, dear friendsl H' yon 

 will not listen to my w(n-ds, the great God abov« 

 will hear my prayc-rs. I know there is a tima 

 coming wIkm'i railroads shall be built without 

 swearing. Yes, I f(H'l pretty sure there are 

 godly contractors and bcjsses who are doing this 

 very' thing now: and I expect to hear some of 

 the readers tell me of instances where it has 

 b(>en done. The horses would do more work. 



