240 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 



cause she considered him a good and con- 

 scientious Christian, lie was willing to 

 lose all he had in this world, if God would 

 only help him to an honorable way out of his 

 embarrassment. Would God do it? Or 

 must he lose it all in a way which seemed to 

 render it impossible that he could eyer pay 

 this debt? As the time drew near, the mat- 

 ter seemed to lie on my mind, as if it was 

 my own debt ; and when, one day, lie said 

 in a little note at the bottom of a business 

 letter, he began to fear the property would 

 have to go, Ilonged to get away by myself 

 where I could tell my Savior all about it, 

 and plead with him for my friend. I have 

 my supper at 5 o'clock ; the engine stops at 

 six, when the hands leave, and the building 

 is generally still until some of them come 

 back after supper. The contrast, at this 

 hour, from the bustle and din of business 

 during the day, seems to invite me to go 

 down on my knees and tell my Savior all my 

 wants and needs, or rather all our wants and 

 needs; for, at these seasons, I often pray 

 for the different hands and clerks, calling 

 them by name. I wrote W. O., to keep up 

 his faith and to doubt not, and it then seem- 

 ed just as if it could be fixed all right, with- 

 out any trouble, if I could only have this 

 hour to myself that evening. As I prayed 

 for him, and that he might not feel that he 

 had trusted the Lord in vain, I remembered 

 vividly the expression of friend Wright, in 

 last month's journal, to the effect that we 

 had put the theory of prayer faithfully to the 

 test, and found it to be false, and that there- 

 fore we would better, to use a slang phrase, 

 "dry up." I plead this, before God, and 

 asked that for his name's sake the money 

 might be sent to W. O., that all men might 

 know that there is a God above, and one who 

 notes the fall of a sparrow to the ground, 

 even in this nineteenth century. I arose 

 happy. It seemed, as it has so many times 

 before, that a promise had been given. 

 When I got the few lines from W. O. that I 

 gave you last month, I was not surprised, 

 for I expected it. By the way, I sat up un- 

 til 12 o'clock to get that last item in Our 

 Homes, before the paper went to press at 

 daylight next morning. I did not know how 

 relief came; but I knew God had sent it. 

 The following little item tells how God saw 

 fit to let us know he was all the time watch- 

 ing: 



Now, my dear friend, I have good news to tell you, 

 through the mercy and goodness of our Heavenly 

 Father. My brother-in-law, in Penn., sent me a draft 

 on N. i r . last week, for $800.00, to meet that claim 

 which has caused many months of mental agony. 

 I went as soon as possible to have the matter ad- 

 justed. I told Mr. S. that I was thankful for the in- 

 dulgence he had extended, but was much more 

 thankful to the good Being who had put it into his 

 heart to give me further time. Wm. Oldroyd. 



Columbus, O., March 30, 1880. 



I confess, my friends, there is something 

 wonderful in all this, and more than once I 

 have felt almost frightened when these 

 drafts for just the sum of money I had asked 

 for were so suddenly placed before me. I 

 have felt that I was standing on holy ground, 

 and somewhat as when, during a thunder 



storm, some huge clap of thunder rends 

 both earth and heavens. There lies a little 

 bit of printed paper ; simple and inanimate ; 

 yet with uncovered head I stand and view it 

 almost with fear and trembling, when I 

 think that those simple but earnest prayers 

 have moved the great Being who created the 

 universe to send it with his own hand. In 

 fact, the words "pay to the bearer'' five 

 hundred or eight hundred dollars, as the 

 case may be, seems to be, at such times, and 

 to the one who has prayed for it, in God's 

 own handtcrituig, with his great signature at 

 the end. 



I know how many will object to such 

 faith, but wait a moment, and perhaps I can 

 make it plainer to you. My closing words 

 last month were, "His messenger truly." 

 Then God must have messengers to do this 

 work? Most assuredly, and these messen- 

 gers are not always those who are members 

 of churches. They are those whose hearts 

 are going out to their fellow men, and who 

 are susceptible to these heavenly impulses. 

 To illustrate : I told you last month that I 

 had decided to give friend Parker $5.00 more, 

 for his machine for putting in starters. I 

 distinctly remember thinking one day, while 

 I sat at my type- writer, that the starter ma- 

 chine was working so nicely I could afford 

 to give friend P. a little more. It is true he 

 had accepted my offer, and the invention 

 was fairly mine, but should that hinder me 

 from paying him more at any time when it 

 should seem to be worth more? I thought 

 not, and yielded to the good impulse by tell- 

 ing the book-keeper to send him $5.00 more 

 for it. I was in the attitude, for that mo- 

 ment at least, to be one of "God's messen- 

 gers." I was ready to be used. Read the 

 sequel : 



Mr. R Ot:— Your card of the 17th received. I can 

 onl/ express my thanks by asking God to bless you, 

 as 7ie knows how opportune this kindness of yours 

 is. (I wil say right here that Mr. Parker is absent 

 for a few clays, but, as I am doing: his writing for 

 him in order to do all I can to help him in business, 

 I take the liberty to answer you at once, and the 

 more readily because, while reading Home Papers, I 

 had determined to write you a letter.) First, let me 

 say. your kind act in allowing another $3.00 for the 

 comb fdn. fastener is in answer to prayer. When 

 you offered the first $5.00, we felt that it was well 

 worth it, indeed that it was not enough; but we had 

 been owing you some time, and felt as though we 

 wanted to pay, so husband said yes, and I wrote ac- 

 cepting, but I offered a prayer with it, and I knew 

 the Lord would take care of it. I felt that if it was 

 really worth more, as you was a child of God, he 

 would lead you to do right; and I feel you have not 

 only done that, but also be»n very liberal about it. 



Defiance, O., April 8, 1880. Mrs. W. D. Parker. 



A child of God ! What a solemn thought ! 

 O how far, how very far, I fall short of de- 

 serving your kind words, my unknown sis- 

 ter ! Help me, O my Savior, 'help us all, that 

 these intervals in our lives come oftener, 

 when we shall be at least a very little worthy 

 of being thought of by some one, as a child 

 of God. Shall we lose, or be any poorer by 

 forgetting self sometimes, and handing over 

 money that we do not owe in the eyes of 

 men? What does the Bible say? 



