1880 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



237 



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But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but 

 whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn 

 to him the other also. 



And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take 

 away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also. 



And whosoever shall compefthee to g-o a mile, go 

 with him twain.- Matt. v. 39—41. 



f WONDER if the people in your neigh- 

 borhood, Christian people too, insist that 



' Jesus did not mean us to take the above 

 just as it reads. Do they say such things 

 are well enough to talk about, but that they 

 will never answer to live by ? Do they teil 

 you that one must use common sense, and 

 that often in life we must tight in self- 

 defense V And is it always those who are in 

 some quarrel with a brother or neighbor, 

 who most stoutly defend an opposite line of 

 teaching ? 1 told you last month there are 

 extremes in almost all these things, but I 

 wish to show you this month, that, in many 

 things, mankind nearly all err in one direc- 

 tion, and so seldom in the opposite, that we 

 almost never need to consider that side. I 

 think the little text above is one of them. 

 Do any of you say the world is well enough 

 as it is V A year ago my wife wanted a 

 newspaper, as well as so many journals and 

 agricultural papers, and so we sent for one 

 published in a neighboring city. I seldom 

 get time to look at it at all, but a few even- 

 ings ago I took a look at one of them. 



"•Why!'' said I. "is this paper always 

 tilled with such strings of murders and crime 

 — father quarreling with son, brother with 

 brother, families murdering each other, etc., 

 etc.?" 



"It is always just so, and I have been 

 wishing for some time to have it stopped 

 just on that account.*" 



"But these occurrences seem to be all 

 true, for many of them are taking place 

 right in our neighboring counties and towns." 



" I suppose they are true ; but is it neces- 

 sary that one should know all about such 

 things ? and is it well to have children con- 

 versant with so much crime ?" 



Over and over again, my friends, have I 

 thought of the pages of that paper, of the 

 startling records of crime heralded forth to 

 the world in large black letters, as if it was 

 a solemn warning — would to God these ed- 

 itors all felt the need of making it a solemn 

 warning to the youth of our land! — and of 

 proclaiming to them, — 



As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in 

 the death of the wicked: but that the wicked turn 

 from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your 

 evil ways; for whv will ye die? 



Is it not " dying ?" and is it not"cZeatft" 

 in its most terrible sense ? I will tell you of 

 one little sketch that I read. 



A boy was set to digging potatoes while 

 his father was away from home. Ilehnished 

 them honestly and well, I have good reason 

 to think, and put them in the cellar. After 

 finishing his task, he went to see a girl of 

 about his own age. and, as is often the case, 

 did not return at a very seasonable or proper 

 hour. The father, on his return, went and 

 looked at the potatoes, and found that the 

 boy had put them awav without letting them 



dry a while first, as is usually done. Being 

 tired and fretful, he became angry at what 

 In* was pleased to term his son's want of 

 care. As the boy did not come home, he 

 was probably more angry, and retired, lock- 

 ing the door. When the son returned, the 

 father got up to let him in, and at once com- 

 menced scolding about the potatoes. Neither 

 seemed to be in a mood for discussing such 

 a matter, and the boy talked back to his 

 father. I believe the boy's age was about 

 18. According to his own statement, his 

 father struck him and knocked him down. 

 He says he could have overlooked this, and 

 could have kept from striking back, but that 

 his father would not stop there, but began 

 pounding him after he was down. I pre- 

 sume the father conquered and subdued the 

 son, as many would term it. He did subdue, 

 but he did it while in a passion, and I tell 

 you, my friends, there is a gulf almost as 

 wide as eternity between the subjection ob- 

 tained by one who " ruleth his own spirit," 

 and one who subdues by brute force, when 

 he is under the influence of passion. The 

 boy rose, and, finding a long screw-driver 

 near, struck his father over the head with it. 

 The poor, blind, crazy father went to work 

 and subdued the boy again, with that same 

 brute force. Being the heavier and stronger 

 of the two, he had him down again, and gave 

 him another pounding. Ye fathers who are 

 reading this, does it not make your blood 

 chill and curdle as you think of thus beating 

 and conquering your own flesh and blood ?— 

 nay, of the very spirit and ungovernable 

 temper that exist in your hearts ? Is there 

 one among you who dares say that this father 

 was doing right ? Hold a minute. The boy 

 got up, apparently with his will broken. He 

 knew where there was a hatchet in another 

 room, and he walked out slowly, so as not to 

 excite suspicion. After getting it, he came 

 back with it concealed by his side, until he 

 stood before the father, who was sitting on 

 the edge of his bed. The boy was so mad- 

 dened by his repeated poundings, that he 

 was crazy with passion ; so crazy, that he 

 had deliberately planned the murder. With 

 both bauds, he struck his father with the 

 hatchet, and then struck him again and 

 again, until he lay a lifeless corpse at his 

 feet. I tell you this, because I wish you, 

 both fathers and sons, who read this, to be 

 warned in time. The boy had conquered, it 

 is true. He had come out best in the strug- 

 gle, and had done by strategy what he could 

 not have done by brute force alone. Had he 

 come out best ? Perhaps, for one brief sec- 

 ond, Satan gave him a trifling exultation, in 

 that he had beaten his enemy. But, v:hat 

 now ? what now f 



He looked at the lifeless form of his par- 

 ent, and tinally, as there was nothing else to 

 do, lifted the limp body on the bed. Can 

 any of you conceive the awful, awful, sick- 

 ening feeling that must have come over him 

 then ? What would he have given to be 

 back just a few seconds, — to be even where 

 he was when that poor father held him down 

 and pounded him? Do you not think he 

 would rather have been pounded all night 

 long, to insensibility, or to death even, than 

 to have stood where he stood then ? 



