1880 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



341 



lur f o?s#. 



For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; 

 only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but 

 by iove serve on« another.— Galatians, v. 13. 



^X^IIILE friend Faxia was with us a few 

 WM days ago, we (being "Yankees" you 



y,J know) questioned him considerably 

 about his southern home. At the breakfast 

 table, some one suggested that he was from 

 a state where they formerly kept slaves. He 

 assented. 



"Did you ever keep slaves, Mr. Faris'i"' 



"No ; I was too poor a man then to be 

 able to own a slave." 



"How much money did it taker"' asked 

 one of the children. 



"( )h, it depended a good deal on how old 

 they were, etc. Perhaps all the way from 

 $100.00 to $1,000.00. Children sold for very 

 small amounts, sometimes." 



"Why, did they sell children!"' 



"Most certainly." 



"What, and take them right away from 

 their mothers and fathers?" 



"To be sure." 



"Did you ever see this done, Mr. Faris?" 



"Why, yes ; many and many a time." 



"But did you stand by, and do nothing? 

 Did not the mothers shriek and wring their 

 hands? Was husband sold from wife, and 

 carried away where she had not power to fol- 

 low, and family ties thus severed in a mo- 

 ment, forever?" 



"Yes; I have seen it all. When traders 

 came along, these things were common In 

 fact, they thought as little about it as do we 

 in selling any kind of stock." 



"Was this really in our own country?" 

 said one. "How long ago was it that such 

 things were done?" 



"Only 20 years. Does it really seem possi- 

 ble that only 20 years ago, in this land of lib- 

 erty, men bought and sold their fellow men?" 



Does it not seem almost a mistake when 

 we look back and think of it? In heathen 

 lands, it is common for prisoners of war to 

 be held as slaves, but surely no such thing 

 could have been the custom in this enlight- 

 ened land only 20 years ago? I mentioned 

 the matter at our noon-day service, and 

 asked how many of us would stand by and 

 see a child taken from its mother, and carried 

 away by main force, to a life perhaps far 

 worse than death. It seems to me, if no re- 

 dress could be obtained by law, I would 

 fight like a tiger for the helpless and unpro- 

 tected. Mr. Gray remarked that there were 

 those who did light, and lost their lives, 

 without doing any good seemingly. Some- 

 body suggested that there was one ".John 

 Brown," who decided to light, even though 

 against the most fearful odds, and, if the le- 

 gend is truthful, as a reward of so doing, his 

 "body lies moldering in the grave" with 

 others who gave their bodies to the cause in 

 a like manner. Is not the world slowly 

 changing? Last month I told you of that 

 spirit that bid me beware of telling my fel- 

 low men what they must, or must not do. 

 The spirit of Christ constantly enjoins, — 



Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, 

 saith the Lord of Hosts. 



Is not the day passing by, when it is found 

 necessary to say "«<»sf," in our intercourse 

 with any of those about us, who are general- 

 ly recognized as law abiding citizens? and 

 the time coming when Ave can literally obey 

 this little text : 



Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him 

 that taketh away thy goods, ask them not again.— 

 Luke vi. 30. 



You remember about Charlie Ross,— how 

 a whole nation was up and on the alert, just 

 because one household had been robbed of 

 their little boy. If a little child was in 

 danger of being burned to death in the up- 

 per story of some great building, and it was 

 generally known to a great mass of our peo- 

 ple that money would save its life, how 

 much would be subscribed? What do our 

 people consider a human life worth, and how 

 much will America pay to save a human life? 

 At the time of our Chicago lire, why did the 

 whole nation pour out money, clothes, and 

 food, until there was more than could be 

 taken care of, and that, too, to those who 

 were no more closely related than by the ties 

 of common humanity, and to people they 

 never before heard of ? During the reign of 

 the yellow fever, why did so many -give 

 away their lives, just for the mere hope of 

 being able to save the lives of a few un- 

 known fellow beings. Is there not an ele- 

 ment in humanity of something Christ like? 



.Mr. Faris said, if I had lived amoiu? the 

 slave holders as he had, and seen all sides of 

 the question, he thought very likely I would 

 have let it pass and said or done nothing as 

 did the rest. A friend remarked after the 

 noon service, that there are many colored 

 people in the South who say now they would 

 rather be with their old masters, than to 

 have their present places, if they could be 

 guaranteed against being bought and sold, 

 in case of the death of their owners, or like 

 eontingences. When they fell into the 

 hands of wicked, cruel people, of course, it 

 gave those people an unusual power to in- 

 flict pain and suffering. Let us exercise all 

 the charity we can for what is passed and 

 gone, but it may be well to consider the 

 point in its moral bearings, at the same time. 



Reader, you have a bright little one in 

 your own home. You that have lost one 

 such by death can well imagine the feelings 

 you would be called upon to endure, were 

 some strong man to come in, vested with the 

 power of law to back him, and tear this lit- 

 tle one away, regardless of all your plead- 

 ings and prayers for mercy. Suppose a 

 wife or husband were snatched from you in 

 the same way, and handed over to any fiend 

 in human shape, who might have the requi- 

 site one thousand, or two thousand dollars. 

 I believe it was generally conceded that a 

 slave holder could do whatever he pleased 

 with his chattel. Would you stand by and 

 tamely bear to have a brutal man lay hands 

 on your wife and child? or would you light 

 until you had drawn your last breath, and 

 shed your last droit of blood for those loved 

 ones? You are crazed at the thought. Sup- 

 pose it was your neighbor's home that was 

 invaded, would you not help to raise an 

 armed force of all the men in your vicinity, 

 to resist to the last, any attempt to carry off 



