1879 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



321 



The contents of thia leaf and the one following are 

 not dirtc&y connected with the subject of bee-culture. 



On this account, I make no charge for than, and, if n<>u 

 choose, you can cut them out without reading. 



W %emh 



Blessed is the man that endnreth temptation: for 

 when he is tried, he shall receive the erown of life, 

 whieh the Lord hath promised to them that Love 

 him.— Jas. i. 12. 



M'UOH has been said of late, of the 

 change wrought in individuals, by 



— ' conversion, — of the sudden change in 

 life from bad to good, of the giving up of 

 old and bad habits and the forming of new 

 and better ones, and of the changing at once 

 and for good, from a life of selfishness and 

 shame, to one of earnest and faithful effort 

 for the good of others. The reforms of this 

 kind in connection with Moody's work, and, 

 a little later, with that of Francis Murphy, 

 fairly stirred our nation to its very centres. 

 It was not only sceptics that inquired if all 

 these thousands'of people would holdout, but 

 many Christian people queried very anxious- 

 ly, whether it could really be that people were 

 becoming better at such a wholesale rate as 

 this. It was not in Pittsburgh alone, but 

 the Murphy movement spread all over our 

 land, and brightened and made joyous thous- 

 ands of homes. Did this work really stand V 

 I presume almost every one of you have 

 heard the doubting ones laugh heartlessly, 

 as they mention how A, B, and C had gone 

 back to their old habits, even after all the 

 talking they had done ; and I have been 

 told, although it may not be wholly true, 

 that even in Pittsburgh, where such a migh- 

 ty work was done, there is now hardly a trace 

 of it left, and that more liquor is sold than 

 ever before. While I cannot for a minute 

 concede that no good was done, and that the 

 movement was not productive of good, and 

 great good, too, on the whole, I am well a- 

 ware or the damage done to many a weak 

 brother, by seeing those go back on whom 

 he relied with the utmost confidence. In 

 fact, if I am not careful, I myself am in 

 great danger of losing faith in the cause of 

 religion when I look at those who have made 

 such earnest and, apparently, honest efforts, 

 but who are slowly dropping back into their 

 old ways, as the years pass by. It is in be- 

 half of these poor brothers I would speak 

 to-day. 



You have probably seen those who have 

 by conversion had their appetite for drink 

 removed as if by a miracle ; and. very likely, 

 you have heard such individuals talk. The 

 people of the world are very loth to believe 

 this, and they often say, " Well, let us see 

 if they live it out." Now, my friends, if 

 such Christians do not live it out, it is very 

 little use to claim that God does so help 

 those who come to him, and it is nothing 

 strange, if the all important faith in God 

 that is needed in all reformatory work, 

 should be lacking. While I firmly believe 

 that God does so take away temptation in 

 answer to prayer, I am quite sure there has 

 been a great perversion of this matter. 



Quite a number of the young men with 

 whom I have been intimate, have taken up 

 the idea, and have claimed that the appetite 

 for drink was gone, and that they knew they 

 should never want it again, at all. All these, 

 so far as I know have "gone back," to use a 

 common expression. In one sense, it may 

 do to say we know we shall never go back to 

 our old life, but it should be said trusting in 

 God to keep us, and not trusting in our weak 

 selves. This point I can in no way illustrate 

 so well, as by speaking of some of my own 

 trials and conflicts. 



I am aware that it will be an easy matter 

 for those so disposed to put a wrong con- 

 struction on what I am about to say, and 1 

 am aware that 1 am treading on delicate 

 ground, in some respects. I would therefore 

 ask you to take what I say in the spirit in 

 which it is spoken, simply and honestly ; if 

 you pervert it, and imagine something I do 

 not say, the responsibility rests on you, and 

 not on myself. 



I have before remarked that, from child- 

 hood, I have had a natural fondness for the 

 other sex. There has seemed to be some- 

 thing in woman's nature, that appeals to me; 

 and, all my life, in many things, I have felt 

 more at home, as it were, in the company of 

 my mother and sisters than with my father 

 and brothers. In business matters, the girls 

 in my employ seem to catch the spirit of my 

 work, with more readiness than do the boys; 

 the neatness and order which I have found, 

 by experience, to be so necessary to carry 

 out my plans, they fall in with more readily, 

 and in regard to such habits as tobacco, in- 

 temperance, late hours, and fast ways, I 

 have sometimes thought I was womanish in 

 my views in these matters, compared with 

 the rest of my sex. Of course, then, this 

 same trait would make me patient and kind 

 to the girls and women who so cheerfully 

 take up any kind of work I may choose to 

 set them at. It should make me so, to be 

 consistent, but God only knows how earnest- 

 ly I have prayed that I might remember 

 they are women, and, therefore, in many 

 things, they cannot be expected to know all 

 about business that a man would know, and 

 that I might have a broad charity for them 

 accordingly. 



I have told you how, during all my life, 

 before I became a converted man, I seemed 

 to lack, towards the other sex, that kind of 

 honesty which I had in money matters. 

 That you may get my idea exactly, no more 

 and no less, I will mention a little incident. 

 I was once traveling on a stage line, through 

 a new country. We had a long day's ride 

 through the woods, and, as a matter of 

 course, I got pretty well acquainted with my 

 half dozen fellow travelers. Suppose one of 

 my companions had carelessly left his pock- 

 et" book on the seat beside me ; would there 

 have been any temptation to take it? To be 

 sure not. for money I had not honestly 

 earned, I could not have enjoyed. Had 

 there been ;i million of dollars hid in the 

 woods near by where we were passing, and 

 had it been known only to myself, I do not 

 believe it would have tempted me seriously. 

 Is this anything to boast of? No; and no 

 credit is due me for it. It was, or is, a vir- 



