1879 



GLEANINGS m BEE CULTURE. 



103 



for it. If all of the people would keep this 

 . friendly relation toward their minister, and 

 ask his counsel on matters of this kind, lam 

 quite sure lie would he in little danger of 

 guiding into error. v 



On Monday morning, as I went to my 

 work, 1 began to feel most keenly the diffi- 

 culties that I should have to contend with 

 in leading the new life, in the way I had 

 promised my Savior I would do. ■ If I recol- 

 lect right, my partner was there hefore me, 

 and I saw in her only the woman I had first 

 met perhaps ten years hefore, and my feel- 

 ings toward her were just the same as if 

 those years had not passed, or as they were 

 towards any the rest of the girls. I told her 

 that I had resolved, from this day for- 

 ward, with God's help, to he a Christian. 

 She said at once, that she was glad of it, 

 and I am sure she spoke honestly, for, from 

 that moment to the present time, neither 

 by word, look, or action, have I had 

 aught but encouragement in the new life I 

 have been trying to lead. 



Almost in the very hour of my change of 

 purpose in life, God, by a power that seem- 

 ed almost miraculous, obliterated the past, 

 and raised a great wall, as it were, that seem- 

 ed at once to cut off the old life from the 

 new, and I have every reason to think she 

 held this sudden change in my life, as sa- 

 cred as did I myself. Shortly afterward, the 

 business was put in my own hands by pur- 

 chasing her interest,and the matter was dis- 

 cussed in regard to the expediency of her 

 remaining in her position as book keeper 

 and general manager of the business she had 

 been so many years engaged in. My wife 

 insisted that she should, if she chose, remain, 

 and goon with the work as if nothing had 

 happened. On submitting the matter to the 

 minister, he said if we all three knew our 

 hearts were right in the sight of God, his 

 advice was for us to go along with our busi- 

 ness as if nothing had occurred. I am 

 aware that many will object to such advice, 

 and an own sister of mine objected strongly, 

 to such a course of action, saying it 

 was more than humanity was equal to, and 

 that it was not right to be every day expos- 

 ed to the temptation of going back to my 

 old life again. I grant you that it is more 

 than human, and that is just why the religion 

 that Jesus taught is needed by stumbling 

 humanity. You have all known instances, 

 I presume, where intemperate men have, by 

 conversion, had the appetite removed, as 

 if by a miracle, so effectually, that there was 

 left not even a desire for the drink that had 

 for years bound them as by fetters. Cases 

 where men have had the desire for tobacco 

 removed in answer to prayer are f requent,and 

 in our town, we have had several such cases, 

 after the men struggled weary months alone 

 and finally went back, slaves to the appetite. 

 The transition, in my case, was so perfect and 

 complete, that when some relative advanced 

 the idea to my wife, a few months after, that 

 there might be danger, she laughed merrily, 

 at an idea so ridiculous, knowing as she did 

 the complete change there hail been in my 

 life, through and' through. Had I dropped 

 my Bible and gone back to skepticism, there 

 would assuredly have been danger, but none 



so long as I was earnest and full of sympathy 

 for my Savior and his work. I wish here 

 to speak of one strange feature of this new 

 life. In my dreams, for months afterward, I 

 was the same old self still, and on waking, 

 and feeling my Savior near, the change 

 was so great, that I again and again broke 

 out in words of thanksgiving and praise. 

 I used to wonder why it was, that in my 

 sleep, I never dreamed of God, or of calling 

 on him, Avhile battling against temptations 

 that were sure to prove too much for me in 

 my dreams, hue it seemed to be something 

 that my imagination, while reason slept, 

 could not comprehend. It was just about 

 a year and a half after my conversion, that 

 I began to dream of praying, and I remem- 

 ber well the first time. I dreamed of being 

 in a fury of anger, as in the olden times, and 

 that weird beings were inciting me to push 

 ahead recklessly, as I used to do. Finally, 

 in my dream, I thought of prayer, and as I 

 mentally called for that great Friend that 

 had shielded me so much, these images of 

 my dream, began backing away with up- 

 lifted hinds, and I heard one of them say 

 distinctly, " Behold, he prayeth!" seeming 

 to indicate that they knew even my 

 thoughts. 



Ever after this, when these bad dreams 

 came up, I, even in my dreams, prayed, and' 

 in a few weeks they vanished from me com- 

 pletely. Xo more do I dream of uttering 

 foul oaths, or of giving way weakly to tem- 

 tation as I used to in times of old. The old 

 life lives in memory, to keep me humble and 

 to help me feel for others who are weak, but 

 no farther. 



A few words in regard to my partner. 

 She is still at work among a great number of 

 other clerks, is interested, like all the rest, 

 in the growth of the business, and the mission 

 work that has sprung up along with it. It 

 was she who first originated the name Glea- 

 nings in Bee Culture, and for the first few 

 years, she had much to do with the general 

 supervision of the paper, doing all the proof 

 reading, etc. "Within the past ten days, we 

 have had almost the only serious disagree- 

 ment between the hands and myself, and 

 when a great part of them were on the 

 point of leaving what has become to them 

 almost a home, she came in among the 

 troubled elements and restored peace and 

 tranquility, by the suggestion of a brief noon 

 day prayer meeting, or rather perhaps, 

 Bible class. Hands that would have declined 

 an invitation to take part in such an ex- 

 ercise, from almost any one else, came, in 

 a body, at a request from her, and now it 

 is a permanent feature of our institution. 

 Cannot God's power save us from our sins? 

 would it have been better that she should 

 have been driven away from her place of 

 work, where so great a part of her life had 

 been spent, simply because I had all along 

 been a bad man, while pretending to be a 

 good one? 



Now, mv friends, I feel as if I could talk 

 to you. You know all of my past life, and 

 what I have passed through ; how I have 

 been raised up, not in my own strength 

 alone, but by the strength of a mighty arm 

 that never fails, when we go to Him with a 



