44 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



Jan. 



like to see their bright, pure, happy faces to- 

 night ! Shall I give you a little extract from 

 the letters of each V They will forgive me 

 for it, for they know I do it to help others. 



I have settled myself in a very quiet pUce, hav- 

 ing hip d * ith a farmer for one year, tor $160.00. 



I can go to church and Sunday school every Sun- 

 day. I would have liked to work for j ou, but I saw 

 that you were not busy enough to employ me. I 

 met some of my old shipm ites, and found it no 

 trouble to do right among them. It seemed very 

 odd to them uht-n I would not drink with them. 



I shall never forget your kindness, and the trouble 

 you took in teaching inc. I send my best respects 

 to von q)|. Chkisiopheh Ibbotson. 



Kilbride, Ont., Can., Oct. 19, 18T9. 



My friends, the letter is written as well as 

 the average ones I get from you, who have 

 written for years instead of a few short 

 months. May God bless you, Chris, for re- 

 membering the little I did for you. It was 

 Mr. House, to whom you owe so much, but 

 most of all to God, who moved our hearts to 

 do this for a brother in trouble. 



As to myself, I am getting on nicely, though I am 

 great ly prt-ssed by my studies. I work for my room, 

 and by boarding myself, have reduced my board 

 bill to 75c. per week Two of us board togei her, and 

 live on the "fat of the land" for the above amount. 



We look forward to a great religous work this 

 winter. 



1 often think of, and pray for. your work. By va- 

 rious means I hear of you very frequently I think 

 it was best, under the circumstances, to give up the 

 Sunday School in Abbe^ ville, though it must have 

 been a struggle for you. 



How is the work at the Infirmary and at the Jail ? 



The last [ heard from Chris, he was in Canada ; he 

 had hired out on a farm for a year, and was receiv- 

 ing good wasres. 



The thoughts of my many Medina friends are 

 among the most pleasMiit [ have. Please rem mber 

 me kindly to the shop hands, and also to Ernest and 

 your wife. 



In the fellowship of Christ, you- friend, 



Oberlin College, O., Dec. 22, '79. W. B. House. 



P. S. Last Sabbath, the 14th, Mr. Mathews, the 

 one who is doing so great a work in th^ line of read- 

 ing mMttnr for jails, spoke in the 2d church. Per- 

 haps you saw him in Medina. When a boy his home 

 was here, and he was known as the one-armed boy 

 wh'><j.iid peanuts on tho College square. A box of 

 papers was sent from here. W. B. H. 



Are not the angels watching over those 

 two boys still y Will God not see to it that 

 the v do not suffer? I am afraid friend II. 

 will scold me "awfully," for having put this 

 in print, but the point of being able to board 

 himself on 7oc. per week, is just the illustra- 

 tion I wanted. Do you not see that one 

 could lay up a little money, if he earned only 

 50c a day V And do you not see that we all. 

 every one of us, can lay up something, if we 

 really want to. I have had many close talks 

 with friend II., about these answers to pray- 

 er, and he has trusted me with his accounts 

 of his close economy, in a way he would not 

 otherwise have done. Should you go to dine 

 With him, I think you would rind it true, that 

 they have plenty of good food, for this small 

 sum. If you want to know how it is done, I 

 shall have to refer you again to the opening 

 chapters of Our Homes. 



Do you not now get a clear view of what I 

 meant when L said I did not fear to help 

 those who were ready to obey V I engaged 

 to pay him duringhis vacation a dollar a day. 

 When he was ready to return, it was a real 

 pleasure to me, to pay him. all in alurap,25c. 

 extra for each day. This 'lump"" happen- 

 ed was there really any happen about 



"r happened to be just about the 



amount he needed to enable him to start in 

 school squarely with the world, and he call- 

 ed it, I presume, an answer to prayer. If 

 you choose, I called it answer to prayer too. 

 Our prayers were both answered, mine by 

 giving, his by receiving. 



I purposely retained the P. S. referring to 

 Mr. Mathews. You see he commenced as a 

 one armed peanut boy. Now he is perhaps 

 the greatest w r orker for the inmates of our 

 jails of any one in our land. The Express 

 Co's have consented to carry his packages of 

 religious papers free, to any prison in our 

 land. Why do they do this ? They are not 

 often accused of having any conscience or 

 "souls "at all. Is it not because God has 

 listened to friend Mathews' prayers ? 



A few days ajjo, it came to my ears that 

 the warden of the penitentiary had said, that 

 the convicts from Medina Co., showed a 

 marked difference from those of any other 

 Co. in the state, in point of good behavior, 

 and evidences of religious training. Are 

 there not those among my readers who will 

 try to have this so no longer f 



Now, my friends, had I doubted God's 

 hand in sending this young student to me, 

 and sent him away, as I came very near do- 

 ing, I should have lost this bright spot in my 

 life, and missed the lesson I have just given 

 you, in making missionary work a practical 

 business with the slate and pencil, spelling 

 book, etc. _ 



Having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye 

 not? and do ye not remember?— Mark, viii. 16. 



Here is another brother who has a word to 

 say about asking God to help us in our busi- 

 ness. 



Now, Mr. Root, we all know that you can make 

 God do just as you wtnt him to, as regards your 

 business, and 1 have to request again, that you turn 

 your great powers into a public channel, and re- 

 quest God not to kill anymore of his children by 

 Ho ids, tornadoes, and earthquakes, and likewise 

 shipwrecks Georoe K. Whighi. 



Cambria, Niagara Co., N. Y., Dec. 17, 1879. 



Have you not got it a little "wrong side 

 out," friend W? How would it sound for a 

 very small boy to say that his father would 

 do any thing he wanted him to do V Would 

 it not be more rational for the boy to say that 

 he tries to do every thing his father wishes 

 him to do V If the father is a very good fath- 

 er, and the boy a good boy, would it not 

 amount to much the same? It is because I 

 have been trying to please my Heavenly 

 Father, that I feel free to ask him for what I 

 need, trusting confidingly to his infinite wis- 

 dom to decide what is best for me. and those 

 around me. I do not know about floods, tor- 

 nadoes, etc , but. as he permits them, I am 

 sure it must be rigiit and best. Suppose we 

 should pray that all the boys in our Ohio pen- 

 itentiary might be let out just as they are, 

 without any change of heart or purpose in 

 life; would it be best to have such a prayer 

 answered ? Or would it be best for you or 

 me to pray for a single inmate, say a son, in 

 the same way V Before prayer can be answer- 

 ed, our lives must be in harmony with the 

 spirit of Christ, and then our petitions will, 

 of a necessity, be such as are pleasing in his 

 sisdit. The loss of life, in the way you men- 

 tion, as it seems to me. is a small matter, 

 compared with the loss of souls, that is con- 



