1880 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



49!) 



about me ; or, at least, Satan might persuade 

 you that I was far different from what you 

 think me now, which would amount to pret- 

 ty much the same thing, so far as you are 

 concerned. Now, friend J., if you want to 

 earn my good opinion, go right to the church 

 nearest to your home, no matter whether it 

 be one of those you have named or not, and 

 tell them you want to help the work along. 

 Lend your energies toward every thing your 

 conscience approves, and skip the rest ; or to 

 do still better, help in every thing which you 

 rind the better part of the people approve. 

 When ymi see Christians err, if you cannot 

 bring yourself to the task of kindly telling 

 them, to their faces, how it looks to you, ask 

 the Lord, on bended knee, to help you not to 

 mind it. Do this, and you will be happy in 

 spite of what all the world together can do, 

 for your feet will be on solid rock. 



USEFUL ARTICLES FOR A S'lUL 

 AMOUNT OF MONEY. 



OUR COUNTER STOKE. 



fllOME of you may perhaps remember my 

 jO}) long talk to you in our Jan. No., and 

 the plans I then outlined, for making 

 short cuts in certain lines of business. You 

 may remember that it was on Christmas eve 

 I wrote. Well, after a part of the matter 

 was in type, I had some misgivings as to 

 the practicability of the plan I then advocat- 

 ed, and, above all, I began to fear that it 

 was impossible to have goods handled with 

 so little expense as I had planned, and that 

 the project would fail for want of suflicient 

 margin, and we should have to fall back on 

 the old way of paying several pro tits on 

 things, before they could pass from the man- 

 ufacturer to the consumer. I would have 

 given quite a little one evening while pon- 

 dering over the matter, if I had never un- 

 dertaken it at all. What shall we do when 

 we think we have made mistakes, and are 

 started in a wrong direction? When we are 

 undecid°d, how shall we get wisdom? I left 

 m Y type writer, and went into the bindery. 

 The building was still and cold. The moon- 

 light came through the window bright and 

 clear. I knelt down and asked God to guide 

 me clear of mistakes, and told him I would 

 stop my whole plan, and give it all up, if it 

 was his will. On the other hand, I told him 

 if my plan was a right one, and well pleas- 

 ing in his sight, to please indicate it to me 

 so that I need not be troubled about it more, 

 to tell me wherein I was wrong, and, in 

 short, to take it all into his hands. Before I 

 rose up I felt satisfied, and I felt sure, too, 

 that God had something in store for me in 

 that line that I knew not of. A freedom in 

 prayer had been given me, that I had long 

 since learned to feel is sure to bring some 

 good with it. These promises are not un- 

 conditional, mind you; if God is going to 

 bless our work, we must look out that our 

 actions are in keeping with the idea. 



A few weeks ago, after one of our Thurs- 

 day-evening prayer-meetings, a young man 

 who had lately stood up among us and de- 

 clared he wished to be numbered among the 

 followers of Christ, asked me if I could 



spare a few moments. I told him I should 

 be most glad to. 



" Mr. Root, I am selling tobacco and cigars 

 in connection with my other business, as 

 you well know. In fact, I am selling to 

 some, with all the rest, who are just learning 

 to use it; and it begins to lay heavily on my 

 conscience. If I stop this branch of my 

 trade, I may be obliged to give up my busi- 

 ness. All the other groceries sell these 

 things, and I shall offend a great part of my 

 customers if I decline. What shall I do?" 



I hardly need tell you, my friends, that t 

 assured him God would never allow anybody 

 to suffer very long, for choosing to follow 

 where he lead. In a few days more, a no- 

 tice was put up in plain letters to the effect 

 that no tobacco, in any form, was sold on 

 the premises. An old hand in the business 

 once told me that not a grocery in Medina, 

 and perhaps not all the drug stores, could 

 pay expenses, if it were not for the tobacco 

 trade. What do you think of it, my friends? 

 Will you let a man lack custom in your 

 town, if he tries to follow his conscience in 

 these matters? Are you willing to be God's 

 messengers? 



Well, I resolved that nothing should be 

 on the counter of our counter store, that had 

 even the appearance of evil. The houses 

 where I buy goods often put in samples of 

 new goods which I do not order; and, a 

 short time ago, they sent me a lot of toy re- 

 volvers with cartridges. As they could be 

 sold for 5c, the clerks thought they would 

 go off like u hot cakes," but I objected. 

 Shortly after, Mr. Gray had got a place marie 

 in the counter for those same pistols. I did 

 not quite know why, but a feeling came up 

 that it was not exactly the thing to see even 

 a toy revolver lying side by side with a 5c 

 copy of Gospel Hvmns. Some time ago, 

 The Day Star, mentioned last month, spoke 

 of Christian people carrying revolvers. He 

 said that the Bible teaches that the meek 

 shall inherit the earth, but these Christians 

 seem to have the idea that people who carry 

 revolvers are going to inherit the earth, and 

 the way in which they are going to do it is 

 by shooting off the rest of the people. On 

 another column, I have spoken of a neigh- 

 bor who committed suicide. He did it with 

 a revolver while standing in the river. His 

 wife told me he bid on it at an auction, and 

 it was struck off to him, although he had no 

 use for it and did not want it. Had it not 

 been in his pocket, the idea might not have 

 suggested itself to him. Not three days be- 

 fore, another man, at one of our hotels, tried 

 to shoot himself, but was so much intoxi- 

 cated he missed his head, and shot another 

 man, fortunately without much injury. 

 What do we want revolvers for? Providing 

 the boys with toy ones, I fear, will teach 

 them to want larger ones. 



" But what are you going to do with those 

 little pistols?" said one of our boys who 

 seems to be watching my movements a lit- 

 tle curiously. That is the question; what 

 shall I do with them ? I would havesent 

 them back, but the expense would be almost 

 their value, and although they were sent me 

 without orders, I would rather pay for them 

 than to put my friends who sent them to al- 



