1879 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



277 



The contents of this leaf and the one following are 

 not directly connected teitii the subject of bee-culture. 

 On this account, I make no charge for them, and, if you 



choose, you can cut them out without reading. 



ur %cimh 



I was in prison, and ye cauie unto me.— Matt. v. 6. 



T was a bright Sabbath morning in May, 

 and our Bible class here in the factory 

 was just out. As we were walking 

 slowly homeward, one of our number said 

 there was a young man in jail for stealing. 

 For some time I had had no class in jail, and 

 while I heard with sorrow that it must open 

 again, I hastened as I thought of my new 

 charge. I asked permission to read and talk 

 with him, and he made no objection. When 

 asked if he was familiar with the Bible, he 

 said he had never, that he knew of, read a 

 chapter in it in his life. 



"Have you never attended Sabbath 

 school?" 



"Never.'" 



"Ton certainly attend church occasional- 

 ly?" 



"No; I remember having been to church 

 only once, and that was when my brother 

 died." 



"Do not your father and mother go?" 



"No." 



"Do not they believe in religion? 1 ' 



"I guess not. I do not know what my 

 mother thinks, but I know my father thinks 

 that, when we die, that is the last of us." 



While talking he had taken hold of a book 

 that lay on the table in the jail, as I sup- 

 posed accidentally. I began to suspect that 

 he had something to say, so I waited a little. 

 Finally said he, 



"Mr. Hoot, do you know anything about 

 this book?" 



"Why, yes; that is Moody's book, that I 

 left here for the boys in jail a long time ago 

 Have you been reading- it?" 



"Yes; and I have taken a great liking to 

 it." 



It was "Moody's Best Thoughts and Dis- 

 cources." The book has been read and re- 

 read, during the past two years, by more 

 than one man and boy, who had been an in- 

 mate of that stone room, and seemed to have 

 a faculty of enlisting the sympathies of even 

 the worst and most hardened. From the 

 texts in that book, he had got an idea of the 

 Bible, and questioned me eagerly in regard 

 to it. The Bible that belonged to the jail 

 was hunted up, and I read from it, enough 

 to give him the spirit of its teachings. He 

 told me why he was in jail, and confessed 

 that he was, at least in one sense, guilty of 

 the charge against him. It was probable, 

 that be would lie sent to tlie penitentiary, 

 and I told loin that the straight path before 

 him was. to go willingly and cheerfully, and 

 thus pay the penalty in a fair and honorable 

 way. before God and liis fellow men, for tlie 

 sin be bad committed. It was a new view 

 Of things to bim. and one lie had never be- 

 fore taken. His associates, during all his 

 life, had been bad ; now lie had ample time 

 to reflect. I asked him if the minister who 



presided in the neighborhood near his home 

 had never called on them. He said he had 

 not, to his knowledge. He told me that a 

 few months before, he had come to me for 

 employment, and the answer he received 

 was that L had such a long list of applicants 

 before him, that I could give him no encour- 

 agement. Had he been able to get some- 

 thing to do. it seemed probable that he 

 would have been saved from all this trouble 

 and disgrace. How often this call comes to 

 me, for something to do. Although being 

 out of work is not any sufficient excuse for 

 wrong doing, to be able to give employment 

 to the masses is a most powerful aid to any 

 kind of Christian work. More than one has 

 said to me, "Mr. Boot, give me a place to 

 work, that I may earn an honest livelihood, 

 and see if I do not keep out of bad habits, 

 and bad company." Many times I have 

 been inclined to doubt about such resolu- 

 tions being kept, but, to my surprise, they 

 have been kept in almost every instance. 

 My earnest prayer is, that God may enable 

 me to help and encourage more and more of 

 my fellow men, in this same way. 



I talked long and earnestly with my 

 friend, but he could not see that it was right 

 that he should be obliged to go to the peni- 

 tentiary, because those who were prejudiced 

 against him had made false statements in 

 regard to his sin . It really seemed conclu- 

 sive, from his statement, that his crime had 

 been greatly magnified. Do not these poor 

 fellows who get into our county jails have 

 justice? I am really afraid, if we could come 

 at the truth, they often do not. It is rare 

 that just the right thing is done in this 

 world, in any matter, and would it be 

 strange if these poor fellows, with almost no 

 one to take their part, should often be blam- 

 ed for that of which they are not guilty? al- 

 most without exception, I have learned from 

 their own lips, that they have not been keep- 

 ing good company. When this is brought 

 out, a cold and unfeeling world (as they call 

 it) is pretty sure to say they deserve state's 

 prison, whether they are guilty of the par- 

 ticular charge alleged against them or not ; 

 then the papers take it up, and it is passed 

 off as a joke, or the poor fellows are men- 

 tioned with even less consideration than a 

 dumb brute which has made a mistake in 

 life and got run over by a locomotive. 



Poor S — ! He pointed, with his linger, 



to the notices which our comity paper had 

 made of himself and his grief stricken moth- 

 er. It is true, he had done wrong. It is 

 true, that he. in one sense, deserved it all; 

 the world is glad, in fact / am glad, that my 

 poor friend was detected in his crime, and 

 brought to justice, and I would not, if I 

 could, hinder the strong arm of the law from 

 doing its work. For all that, it is with sor- 

 row I would speak of such events, and with 

 at least something of the same spirit that I 

 should have, were the offender my own son 

 instead of tlie son of some one else. Should 

 my hoy ever get into jail. I would that peo- 

 ple should speak of it with sorrow, and not 

 with light levity and jokes. "Think gently 

 of tlie erring." 



In tlie evening, I called again with our 

 minister, who read a chapter in the Bible. 



