GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



\o\. 



come to a point where two roads diverged. 

 Which should he take? We talked with 

 him until it was evident that he clearly un- 

 derstood what would be demanded of him if 

 he chose to lead a Christian life. So far as 

 L could tell, from outward appearances, he 

 simply chose the right path, and then went 

 ahead, no matter whether he felt like it or 

 not. I tell you, my friends, this is the kind 

 of religion we want to encourage. Ask God 

 to help you choose the path of wisdom, and 

 then work and push ahead, no matter how 

 you feel. In due time you will feel God's 

 appi'oving presence if you only endure and 

 hold out. I did not notice that M. felt par- 

 ticularly happy until the following Thursday 

 evening, when he for the first time stood up 

 and publicly declared that he was going to 

 try to lead a Christian life. As he sat down, 

 I saw he looked happy. 



After we got back he said, — 



" Why, Mr. Eoot, was that not a nice meet- 

 ing? What real nice boys and girls those 

 were! Why, it was just a pleasure to be 

 there. I declare, it has been one of the hap- 

 piest evenings I ever spent in my life/" 



Again he spoke of the minister and his 

 wife. He had stayed with them over night, 

 and had been there almost every evening 

 since he had entered upon his new life. Said 

 lie — 



" If ever God created two good people, in 

 every sense of the word, those two people 

 are Mr. and Mrs. Ryder. Why, I tell you it 

 is worth more than one can tell to have two 

 such people for your friends." 



I may not have got just the exact words; 

 but the idea I wish to bring out is, that a 

 new-born soul begins straightway to see the 

 good there is in other people. But a few 

 days before, these boys in jail had been ever 

 ready to see the mistakes in others first. In 

 truth, after thinking everybody had turned 

 against him, M. found friends everywhere. 

 People stopped him on the streets, and told 

 him they rejoiced to hear of his new stand 

 in life, and those, too, who professed to be 

 skeptics and infidels. This kind of religion 

 is always approved of by all classes. Some 

 one did, it is true, tell him they heard he had 

 "got religion;"' but, if I am correct, he re- 

 plied pleasantly that he "hoped he had/' 



Now r , in regard to that book. How do I 

 know it will pay? How r do I know I shall 

 not waste a great deal of money in making a 

 book, and then not have it sell, after all? I 

 do notknow; and, in fact, I do notknow how 

 a great many of my ventures will turn out. 

 But God knows; and, while I am going to 

 him in earnest prayer, and working hard, 

 and, as I think, disinterestedly, I do not be- 

 lieve he will let me make very bad mistakes. 

 I am sure he is in sympathy, both with M.'s 

 efforts and my own, and I therefore expect 

 him to move the people to buy our little 

 book. While I have this faith, I also expect 

 to try, in every way in my power, to make 

 the book pretty, useful, and attractive. The 

 friend who made and engraved the beautiful 

 design for the cover, and chose the text at 

 the top, is one who has faith in prayer, and I 

 have prayed he might make a pleasing and 

 attractive cover, and asked him to do the 



same. If I am going to ask God to bless 

 the work, I can not consistently charge a 

 very large profit, and so w r e have fixed the 

 price at 10c. I was going to try it at 5c, like 

 the 5-cent Sunday-school books; but I found 

 that if I did so, 1 should be obliged to use 

 cheap paper and ink. I like nice books, and 

 nice ink and paper; do not you? I look at 

 it a little this way:— 



One Sunday afternoon I asked Mr. Reed, 

 my former pastor, to go with me to my class 

 in the infirmary. By some means I w r as dis- 

 appointed, and had' to take an old rickety 

 buggy that looked rather shabby. I apolo- 

 gized to him, but at the same time asked 

 him if it was not right that we should, when 

 out on our mission work, desire to go at 

 least well dressed and respectably equipped. 



" It is right, Mr. Root. Asa rule, the peo- 

 ple in the jail or the infirmary will have 

 more respect for us, and we shall be more 

 likely to do them good if we go well clothed, 

 with neatly blackened boots or shoes, and 

 with a clean, respectable-looking horse and 

 buggy." 



The above may not have been his words, 

 but it was the substance of them. Now, is 

 it not so with books? I do not wear a gold 

 chain, nor any jewelry, and probably never 

 shall; but I do like to be dressed well — not 

 expensively, necessarily, but I want my 

 clothes to fit well, and not to be so much 

 worn as to be seedy, especially on the Sab- 

 bath day. Yes, I should want them paid 

 for. If they were not, I would rather have 

 the seedy ones; but I would work awful 

 hard to get some paid for, I tell you. 



About the inside of the book? Well, I will 

 tell you. When I started to try to be a 

 Christian, it was a pretty great change in 

 my life, and I thought that if the Bible was 

 true at all, it was all true, and so I began 

 testing its promises. Very soon I started a 

 religious department in our bee journal, 

 Gleanings; but. somewhat to my surprise 

 and discomfiture. I was told by some of my 

 very best friends that the thing would be ec- 

 centric and out of place; that I would do 

 more harm than good by such an unusual 

 proceeding. Although I felt the weight of 

 this, still, it seemed to me that God said, 

 "Go on.'" So I went on, and my little jour- 

 nal arose, until it has now over 5,000 sub- 

 scribers, and that, too, in spite of the re- 

 ligious department. 



When you begin to read the book, you can, 

 if you note, see that I was a little unsettled 

 at first as to what my precise work was to 

 be; but I trusted in God, ami I think I did 

 not make any very great mistakes. You 

 will note that I did not at first choose a Bible 

 text to open my chapters. The reason was, 

 that I knew very little about the Bible. I 

 remembered, indeed, the texts 1 had learned 

 in early days at Sabbath-school, and you 

 will see that I used these pretty freely. As 

 I have been reading these papers over, and 

 preparing them for print, it has more than 

 once seemed like a piece of foolishness to 

 think of putting them into a book; but, for 

 all that, I think I can see where the Spirit of 

 God was guiding me, even if some of my il- 

 lustrations are homely. As God often 

 chooses the weak things of this earth to con- 



