1879 



GLEANINGS IN BEE, CULTURE. 



503 



for more than the three months, neither had 

 I any thought of bringing the matter np a- 

 gain, but I was galled at the idea of being 

 bound hand and foot, in the matter of tobac- 

 co, for all time to come. 



"What did you tell the hands when you 

 invited them V" 



"I told them you had promised never more 

 to bring it up, if they would come up to the 

 service." 



"I never said so, and I won't be bound " 



I almost said, ami perhaps I did say a part 

 of it, but conscience stopped me, and sug- 

 gested to wait awhile, and pray over the 

 matter a little. After a little, said I, 



"But if I am bound, they are also bound to 

 come to the service, by the conditions you 

 made with them." 



"I suppose they are." 



The approving voice of conscience told me 

 at once, I had done right. If we expect and 

 want God to guide us, my friends, we must 

 see to it that we are well "halter broke". 

 The noon-day prayers, you will see, stand 

 over us all, as a sort of witness of the prom- 

 ises we have each made, of good behavior. 



And God said, Tbis is the token of the covenant 

 which I make between me and you, and every living- 

 creature that is with you, for perpetual generations : 



I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a 

 token of a covenant between me and the earth. 



And it shall come to pass, when I bring' a cloud 

 over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the 

 cloud:— Gen. ix. 12—14. 



If, during the day, I am tempted to get an- 

 gry and scold, the thought of the noon 

 prayers hangs over me, like the rainbow in 

 the heavens ; and more than once, have I 

 been silenced by the thought of it. When 

 one has gone astray, and needs reprimand- 

 ing, the thought comes up that I have been 

 teaching them day by day, at the noon 

 prayers "forgive our debts as we forgive our 

 debtors". 



Lest some of you get the idea that I have 

 decided to use no firmness at all, I will men- 

 tion that, before the old hands, I stated that 

 I could not feel it right to allow any one to 

 learn to use tobacco while in my employ, and, 

 if I am correct, all assented to this. All new 

 comers are given the paper to read over, and 

 are told, they can only have places on these 

 conditions. All have agreed there shall be 

 no smoking on or about the premises. I 

 have only discharged one for breaking his 

 promise, and this because he did it persistent- 

 ly and deliberately. Some have been sus- 

 pended for a week or a month, for swearing 

 and the like, but they all seem glad to get 

 back to their home again, and I am sure I 

 am always glad to welcome them back. 



A word now in regard to answers to pray- 

 er: The one who first suggested the noon 

 service, when questioned, said she did not 

 originate the idea ; the man where she board- 

 ed, who is a Christian, suggested it. Upon 

 inquiry, it transpired that he did not origi- 

 nate it either. He heard some one on the 

 street suggest that I should put away my 

 rules and call all hands together for prayers 

 every noon. Of course, the idea, as he pre- 

 sented it, for me to undertake, would have 

 been a failure ; perhaps because I lack the 

 tact and spirit to call people together in that 

 way. Now, mark you :— God moved this 



friend— perhaps he may see these lines, and, 

 if so, I want to thank him, too — God moved 

 this man to give utterance to that thought. 

 As it was town talk, and I was having an- 

 other " raking over the coals," this man 

 mentioned it at the dinner table. This one 

 of the hands who had their welfare, all of 

 them, at heart, thought of the suggestion 

 when she came in that morning as they' were 

 all in a state of demoralization. God ordered 

 that she and I should misunderstand each 

 other, or I would never have consented. 

 She, through God's guidance (perhaps un- 

 consciously) swayed the whole of them right 

 about, as you often see a swarm of bees turn 

 suddenly and wheel back to their hives. 

 Three months after, when I had seen the 

 good of the service,'! found that God had so 

 ordered events that I could not, in honor, 

 even if I thought best, stop the use of tobac- 

 co among my old hands. Was there not far 

 more wisdom in it all, than I or any other 

 single person, probably, possessed V Does 

 not God interest himself with all these little 

 trifling accidents V Be careful how you de- 

 cide. Who was it that said, 



" But even the very hairs of your head are num- 

 bered "?— Luke xii. 7. 



Now do you see how the opening text 

 comes out ? 



"In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall 

 direct thy paths."— Prov. hi. 6. 



Look out that you do not make a mistake 

 here. This promise, or these promises, are 

 only for those who are doing the best they 

 can — those who are not only hard at loork, 

 but hard at praying, as well. If your cause 

 is one for humanity, and not a selfish one, 

 and you keep praying, God will answer you, 

 but you must have faith to accept the answer 

 when it comes. In what I have told you., 

 God gave me a great deal more than I asked 

 for, but at every step, I stumbled and did 

 not see his hand in it until afterward. I 

 had faith enough to allow him to lead, and 

 that was all. 



"Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in 

 him, and he shall bring it to pass."— Ps. xxxvii. 5. 



Now, as God in his infinite wisdom has 

 seen fit to take this matter into his own 

 hands, to him I shall pray unceasingly that 

 he will, in his own good time, so order it, 

 that the money sent this institution be not 

 used to foster bad habits. I will look after 

 the new hands that come, but into his hands 

 1, intrust the old employees. 



In regard to praying for money : Money 

 has come to us, in answer to prayer, not only 

 from across the ocean, but clear from New 

 Zealand, and from other places nearly as re- 

 mote. Of course, God moved the hearts of 

 these friends to send it long before the pray- 

 er was uttered, but for all that, it came just 

 in time to meet some particular bill or want. 

 Many copies of Gleanings have been sent 

 to missionaries, I presume just on account 

 of these Home Papers, and, through them, 

 bee culture has been introduced and then 

 orders have come. Suppose my boys should 

 use this money to break the Sabbath or to 

 learn to smoke, or should invest it in billiard 

 halls. Would God be as likely to answer 

 my prayers, as if I wanted it, and used it, in 

 scattering Bibles, educating young men for 



