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(jLkANiNCiS ii^ nkk cULtulti:. 



499 



^u^ jiepEg. 



Whatsoever j e do, do all to the g-lorj- of God.— 

 I. Cou. 1(1: :n. 



[^ U. ROOT:— My dealing- with you, although 

 small, is a surprise to me and to others, 

 my nei{?hbors. If a man can hai'dly trust 

 his friends, how ean he trust strang:ers? 

 Itisastudj' to me to know whether you 

 are by nature an lionest man, or has relig-ion made 

 you so? or is it policy, or all? According- to my ex- 

 perience, people belonging- to the church will bear 

 watching-. You have won my conflilenco, any way. 

 I believe nature made you an honest man, and I 

 wish there were more like you. Maiuon TJisown. 

 Sebewa, Ionia Co., Mich. 



No doubt many of I he friends will think it 

 a little sinotuhir that I have chosen such 

 a letter as the above to start Our Homes 

 with; and, in fact, many may think it sin- 

 gular that 1 shoidd publish the letter at all, 

 as it plainly was not intended for pid)lica- 

 tion. I have taken the liberty lo piiut it. 

 however, because it so plainly "strikes at the 

 point I wish to talk al)out ; viz., why are 

 you honest? or. if you choo.se, wiiy do you 

 try to be liontstV Wliy <loes anybody try to 

 be lionesty I thank the writer tor liis veiy 

 kind words, and for his -^-ood ojiiuidu of us 

 here, and his kind compiinient loour l)usiness 

 methods ; ^uld 1 only hope \\v may have 

 charity sulhcient to overlook oiu- faults and 

 failin<is.w!iicli he will b(^ sure to lind, shoidd 

 he continue to iiave dealings witli us. It is 

 <piite evident tiiat lie has seen soiuetliinjf in 

 our business methods that attracted hiui and 

 l)Ieased him. I'erhaps it is our custom of 

 notifyin;^- all our patrons i)i-omi)tly and re- 

 peatedly, if need be, of any little balance 

 tiiere may be belonfiin<>' to them on our 

 books. It does not matter veiy miudi. any 

 way, only I believe he is right thus far, that 

 he has found us just as uiixious to pay over 

 any little balance remaining as we woidd be 

 to get any litth' balance remaiinng that was 

 due us; at least, I have tried for years to 

 throw out self in all our business manage- 

 ments; l)ut I know I have I'ailed sadly 

 many times, for 1 have looked back after- 

 ward and seen the effects of seltishness. 



Now, then, the (piestion. Does religion 

 make a man more honest? or, if you choose. 

 ftiiijht religion to make a man more honest? 

 What good coni'^s of being honest? Kven 

 the juveniles might say tliat honesty is the 

 liest policy. Everybody leixNits this little 

 maxim, and everybody believes it in the ab- 

 stiact ; still very few of us believe it in 

 l)ractical life, else why are we not more hon- 

 est tlian we aie? Oiu- faith is evidently a 

 narrow and contracted faith. We nu'aii' in 

 the altstract to be right, fair, and honest; 

 yet at the same time .-elf-interest warps our 

 faith in the belief that honesty is always the 

 best policy. Well, supi)ose you shoiild be 

 thoroughly convincerl that honesty is the 

 most prolitable, would the motive be a very 

 couunendable one? A sharper proposes to 

 be honest when he is clearly satisfied that it 

 will be the best policy to be so ; and yet no- 

 body admires or respects a sharper. Our 

 friend says that he believes nature made me 



an lionest man. 1 hope it is true, that God 

 implanted in ray heart a love for fairness 

 and fair dealing; and I know, too, that my 

 father and mother taught me carefully to be 

 honest and true. Jjut. granting this, have 

 there been any struggles, any conflicts, as 

 you might say. in my heart in regard to this 

 matter? Was I born with such a love for 

 honesty and fair dealing that, together with 

 the teachings of my parents, it became 

 easier and pleasa'nter for me to be lionest 

 than to be dishonest? In (me sense I might 

 say yes, and in another 7jo— emphatically no. 



Before I go any further I want to say that 

 our friend has taken myself for an iltustnt- 

 tio)), and there are some reasons why I pre- 

 fer to use /N//.se//as an illustration. I know 

 the workings of my own heart, but do not 

 know the inner life of any other human 

 lieart. Fiuthermore, I do not for a minute 

 believe that I average better than the com- 

 mon run of humanity. If I did. it would be 

 a rather sad. sad world, (iod has iiii])lanted 

 in the hearts of every one of us a love for 

 trutii ; but witluuit encouraging this love, 

 without careful training, and the benefit of 

 Christian friends. I very much doubt if any 

 human being would be honest and true. A 

 very bad boy might be made a good man. by 

 cai-eful training aud teacliing. I think most 

 of \(iii will assent to this. A good boy can also 

 l»ecome a very wicked man. under the in- 

 lliience of bad surroundimrs. I think von 

 will all assent to this. It follows, tiieu, that 

 the natural disposition has not verv much to 

 do with it ; at least, I do not think it has 

 rr /•// much. I have watched the matter for a 

 great i)art of my life; and the more I ob- 

 served, the mine I felt satisfied that a hu- 

 man being becomes good or bad. at least 

 very largely, under the iniluences of his sur- 

 roundings.' Plenty of money, nothing to do. 

 evil associates, aiid where "is the boy that 

 will be good and true in spite of them? 



1 have often looked liack to my childhood, 

 as far as J can liy the light of' memory, to 

 see if I could discover when bad impulses 

 came in. When 1 was (piite a small child I 

 had (jiiite a re|)utation for truthfulness; but 

 for all that. I had not very much conscience. 

 I was free from many of the vices of other 

 children, because there was no inclination 

 that way. I believe I always liked work, so 

 there is no iiarticiilar credit due me because 

 I was industrious, and worked hard to earn 

 what uionev I wanted. That is. I respected 

 the rights" of others i)i-etty well until a 

 temptation sutliciently strong came before 

 me. 



The first glaring piece of dishonesty that 

 I can remember was when T was a juvenile, 

 keeping i)oultrv. A kind miller near by 

 said if I would sweep out the mill I migh"t 

 have the sweepings of the floor. Jle evi- 

 dently considered me honest, or he would 

 not have made such a pro])osition. I was 

 expected to sweep the mill all over, and so 

 went away up in the third story, where the 

 miller seldom came. Now. in sweeping, 

 many times I came pretty near heaps of 

 grain as well as heaps of ground feed, and 

 different kinds of stuff. I was all alone; 

 and if some of this feed were mixed up with 

 the dust of the floor no one would know it. 



