346 



GJ.KAXINGS IN JJEK CULTUlli:. 



MaV 



shut, seeming to snap at one another, 'and all I 

 could hear were barkiug:s and growlings until they 

 had gone, the fierce beasts^trying to bite each other 

 as far as I could see them." 



Next came a little girl. Happening to look be- 

 hind her, she saw another little girl following her. 

 At once she turned around one of her sides, that 

 had the picture of a wasp on it; but the little girl 

 who was coming after her turned the picture of a 

 beautiful butterfly. As soon as they met, the wasp 

 began to buzz and dart out its sharp sting, and 1 

 saw the butterfly fluttering and fluttering, till 

 jjresently it was scared away, and the picture of a 

 great spider came in its place. Then the spider 

 seemed to dart at the wasp, and the wasp tried to 

 sting the spider; and the little girls went off quar- 

 reling as fiercely as the two men had done. 



Next I saw a young woman. She was prettier 

 than any other of the Lantern People that I had 

 seen. I saw her coming from a long way down the 

 street, and she never turned her sides, no matter 

 whom she met, but always kept one picture in 

 front; and that was of a dove. It bad a ring of 

 black around its neck, and an olive-leaf in its beak. 

 I thought to myself, "What a beautiful picture:" 

 Just then another young woman came up and 

 pushed rudely against her, and I saw this rutie one 

 turn out the picture of a snake. And the snake 

 hissed and darted out its forked tongue, but the 

 dove would not go. All it did was to coo softly and 

 flutter its wings and hold out the olive-leaf. 



When the snake found that it could not frighten 

 the dove away, it began to creep off' itself, as if 

 ashamed; and what was my surprise to see present- 

 ly another dove come in its place I And the doves 

 began to coo to each other, and to look pleased and 

 happy, and the two young women took hold of each 

 other's hands; then they i>iit theii- arms around 

 one another's necks and kissed each other, and so 

 walked happily away. And I awoke. This was the 

 end of my dream. 



My young friends, do you know what it mtans? 

 It means that we may be gentle and kind to each 

 other, or we may be cross and ill-natured, as we 

 choose. The dogs, the wasps, and the snakes, mean 

 ill-temper; the butterflies and the doves mean gen- 

 tleness and kindness. When we do not like a per- 

 son, we are very apt to turn toward him our ugly 

 side; that is, the picture of the dog— or the snake, 

 or the wasp. And if we do this, it is most likely he 

 will turn his ugly side toward us. Then we quarrel 

 and hate each other; and it is no wonder. How 

 much better always to keep turned toward others 

 the picture of the dove! Should we do this, it 

 would be seldom indeed that the dove would not, 

 sooner or later, be turned toward us. 



Do you want to know who wrote it? I 

 suppose it was our good friend Charles Fos- 

 ter, the author of the ''Story of the Bible,'' 

 and the little tract seems to be an advertise- 

 ment of this book, which so many of you 

 have read. Now then : Is it right that we 

 should go through the world loving so few 

 of our neighbors, and disliking so manyV 

 Jesus said, you know, '' Love ye your ene- 

 mies." Sometimes I think I do love even 

 my enemies ; that is, I think my greatest de- 

 sire is to do tliem good, and that I rejoice at 

 an opportunity of doing them a kindness ; 

 but, oh dear me! how quick I slip back and 

 forget! Yes, I forget my Master and Savior 

 who died for his enemies, because lie loved 

 them. Help me, O my Savior ! Help nie in 

 this task tluit seems at times an almost hope- 

 less one, of trying to turn nothing but a 

 pleasant picture and pleasant e.xterior and a 

 peaceful face to all my neiglibors, no matter 

 under wliat circumstances I tind them or 

 where they find me. 



Even now as I breathe this prayer, light 

 seems lireaking over me. What a sad, sad 

 world this would be, had the Savior never 

 come to it! How many, many times, when 

 troubles and trials come all around me, have 

 1 souglit tliat refuge— "Come unto me, all ye 

 that are weary and heavy laden." How 



much is this promise worth to us ! Over and 

 over again I think of it. All that the world 

 can furnish, all that this vast universe can 

 give in the way of happiness, sinks into in- 

 significance when compared with that great 

 boon. Christ's love and liis help. " I am the 

 way, the truth, and the life."' 



RAISING STRAWBERIIIES. 



MRS. MAHALA IS. CHADDOCK TELI> 

 RIENCE. 



rs HER EXPE- 



[ 



'T is real interesting to watch 'the Editor of 

 Gleanings when he gets to doing any^^thing; 

 he is so excited about it, and so sure that that 

 -*■ is just the thing. I have been through one at- 

 tack of the strawberry fever, and I know all 

 about it. I had an idea once that a fortune could 

 he made in strawberries. Itjis the easiest thing in 

 the world to count up. If I sell $100 worth of straw- 

 berries from half an acre of ground, I could sell 

 S^SCO worth from one acre; and on 80 acres I could 

 raise $16,030 worth, and in a few years — a very few 

 —I should be rich. AVell, the very next year I did 

 not sell fSO.OO worth. It was a dry year, and the 

 berries all dried up, and it ran on until we did two 

 years with no berries for the table. 



Last August, a year ago, I made up my mind to 

 have some strawberries once moi-e. I couldn't get 

 any ground plowed, much^less'manured, subsoiled, 

 underdrained, etc., but we had a patch] of sweet 

 corn that was to be fed to the cows, and Mr. Chad- 

 dock said I might set the plants there if I wanted 

 to; but that as for him, he had no time to " bother" 

 with strawberries. 1 engaged the plants in Ver- 

 mont, five miles away, and was to go for them when 

 the first rain fell. One night it rained all night, and 

 the next day I went for them; but the man said it 

 was too wet to go among the plants; that I must 

 come again when it was not muddy. In a week I 

 went again. This was on Saturday afternoon ; and 

 when we got home with the plants it was 6 o'clock. 

 We must eat supper, milk the cows, and set out 

 those 400 plants. Mr. Chaddock could not help any, 

 because he was school director, and had to go to a 

 meeting of the board that evening. We dug little 

 holes with case-knives, poured half a pint of water 

 in each hole, and set in the plants, putting them in 

 a crooked row between the rows of corn. Jessie 

 and Mamie Marshall (a visitor) gouged the holes; 

 Harry carried the plants, and dropped one at each 

 hole (sometimes two), and Minnie and I set them (Ir- 

 ving had to go after the cows and do the milking). 

 Presently it grew dark, and the children grew tired 

 and sleepy, and I sent them all to the house, and I 

 took the lantern and finished setting the plants 

 alone. I am a brave woman; I care nothing for 

 robbers nor tramps: I can not imagine what the 

 feeling is, that makes one afraid of the dark; but I 

 was a sick woman; and when my back gave out 1 

 crawled on my hands and knees from one end of the 

 row to the other, till the last plant was set; then I 

 crawled to the house, and went to bed, and that 

 night it rained, and every plant grew. Now, it 

 seems to me that my way of setting strawberry- 

 plants is a great deal more real than for Mr. Root 

 to stand by a gardener and direct him to put one 

 plant in each pot, and talk of the beauty of raising 

 strawberries. Mahala B. Chaddock. 



Vermont, 111., April, 1885. 



