tui 



(ILEANINGS IN BEK CULTUUK 



Ar«. 



dull, somebody wanted a jJiene of plated 

 \v:n-,', \v.i;lh ten or lifti^eii dollars; and in 

 Older to <j,et me to lower my price, the fus- 

 tomer mf-iiti«ii!ed the lact tliat Mr. W. had a 

 beautiful one that he had olfered so and s(j. 

 What should I doV What (nnjhl :i Cliristuin 

 to do? 1 prayed (iod to show me. and tlie 

 still small voice .said. ^ Do good to those that 

 hate you."' Mr. \V. doul)tless hated me. lie- 

 cause I had tried to injure him. and had 

 tried to ^ei away liis custoni. an<l hreak 

 down his trade iuevery way I could. I will 

 tell you what 1 did. I told" the liiend who 

 wanted the article that it was not unlikely 

 that IVIr. W . had u'ot somethim^' nicer than 1 

 had, aiid jieihaiis he had succeeded in ^ettinu- 

 it cheaper than I had bouylit my i^oods. and 

 that 1 wa^•. (iiute willinjj; she slioiild trade 

 with him, lor he wasa youny; man just starl- 

 in^;- in business, and that 1 sliould be <ilad to 

 see him get alono- well. The lady looked up 

 in astonishment. 1 assuied her, b> a pleas- 

 ant look, that I really meant it. and by my 

 ;idvice she Itought her i^oods of m\ neii^iibor. 

 1)0 you think I felt bad because I had lost 

 quite a sale? Not at all. ( iod sent inio my 

 heart a lloitd of peace and happiness that 

 was worth more than all the money I ever 

 reeei\ed in all my life for <'((// ji,oods. and I 

 kept it uj) day after day. tintil my neighboi- 

 linally concluded that true rel'if^ion was 

 someihing- worth ha\in,t''. And (Jod crowned 

 it all by enablinjj,' me to lead this man to the 

 feet of llie Savior: and one eveiung-. after 

 we had had a lonti talk. I hsal tlie pleasure 

 of caHin,!.i- upon our ])astor to kneel iu prayer 

 with the two jeweleis of the town, who had. 

 only one \ ear l)efv)ie. lieen such bitter ene- 

 mies that it was the talk of the county. 

 Did my business suffer meauwIiileV Why. 

 liless >ou. no. No man"s business ctv /■ suffer- 

 ed because he took •Afikndlii interest iu the 

 business of liis rival, and deli^jited in turn- 

 inti,' trade into his hands. 1 liave not kept 

 up that spirit all throuiiii mv religions life. 

 deal' friends: but if I had. I should l)e a 

 hai)piei- man than i am now. and \ery likely 

 I should have l»eeii a licher man in dollars 

 and cents. 



Since newspaper cohtioversies ar(^ up. I 

 want to say a word here. .V great many 

 bee-journals have been stalled, and those 

 who have started them have no doubt been 

 very anxious to have them a paying invest- 

 nieiit. Xow, it is the most natural thing in 

 the world for an old-established journal to 

 feel that no more journals are needed in tlie 

 same line of work ; and we should have to 

 ])e almost more than human if we did not 

 at times give way. at least just a little, to a 

 feeling of jealou.sy. I have liad to itray over 

 this a, good deal : but I thiidv I am clear over 

 sellish feelings theie now. and I am sure 1 

 rejoice to see other journals imjn-ove. and 

 originate new features that I never thought 

 of. I am not afraid now tiiat 1 sliall not be 

 able to smile and look happy when some- 

 body tells me that he takes some other bee- 

 journal than my own ; and it does not hurt 

 me any - at least 1 think it does not — to 

 have some one make the remark in my pies- 

 ence, that some other bee - journal con- 

 tains all that is worth reading. Of course, 

 I do not quite agree with him ; but then. 



you know Ave have dilferent opinions and 

 •• notions. ■■ and I don't believe that I want 

 to see any editor of a bee-j(uirnal hurt him- 

 self by some unwise course. Why, to be 

 sure, r do not. 1 feel ashamed of myself 

 wlien I think of the feelings that I have 

 sometimes entertained. If the other jour- 

 nals speak slightingly or sneeringly of 

 (Ji.KAMXOs. and some'of the ipieer ways in 

 which it is managed, I try not to feeThard 

 toward them for their unkindness, and I al- 

 most always succeed. Suppose you read 

 th;it sixth chapter of laike. from the 27th 

 veise to the enil of the chapter. \\ hat a 

 haiipv woild this would be. if all tried to 

 follow that chapter! 



A great many wIk) read these pages may 

 b.' poor in this world's goods, and feel like 

 saying that, if they had a stoie ;ind plenty 

 of money, such a course would be easy. 

 Ihit, how about those who work hard every 

 day, and can just make both ends meet? 

 How shall they give, when they ha\e not 

 any thing to give ? You are mistaken, my 

 fiiend. Vo!i luiri something to give. Mvery- 

 body has sometiung to give, and di>es give 

 it. Souietimes they give it grudgingly, I 

 know: but it is given, for alfthat. If'you 

 aie working l)y the day. you give ytuir em- 

 liloyer yoiu' strength "and yom- good will — 

 at least, you omjltl to gi\e y(uir good will ; 

 bid 1 am afiaid that some who work for 

 wages do not. If so. they are the suffeiers. 

 If your employer is hai"d and exacting and 

 unieasonable. soften him and Christianize 

 !iim in the way 1 did my brother-jeweler. 



Tlieie seems to be oiu' thing tlitit the 

 laboriug-classes, many of them, do not un- 

 derstaiid. It is this : There is. the world 

 o\er. a continual demand: and an unsatis- 

 tied demand, fo)' faitldul service — for cheer- 

 fid good will. It is not strength we want. 

 Sli-englh of nuiscle is cheai> : there is 

 ideidy of it. Strength of muscle we liiid 

 among the men who sho\el gravel on the 

 railroads: but too ofteu we lind it without 

 the good Avill accomp:uiying. I once knew 

 a widow woman with (pute a family (d' chil- 

 dren, who would not listen to the "advice of 

 her friends, to jint her children out. She 

 wanted to keep them all together, ami she 

 wanted to pro\idt' for them without outside 

 assistance, ller strength was not great, and 

 she tasked it to the uttermost, and then felt 

 she was not ecpial to the task. What shoukl 

 she do ■? In a little time the neighborhood 

 discovered that she was faithful to any 

 thing intrusted to hei- care — more faithful 

 than the ordinary heli)that could be employ- 

 ed. In whatever she did. whether it paid or 

 not. she was in the habit of insisting on 

 strict fairness and houesty: she could not be 

 induced to be a jtarly to any little petty 

 fiaud : and most iieo])le who employ hired 

 lielp for hou.sework know that little petty 

 frauds are common. In other words, she 

 did her work as if she felt th:d the all-seeing 

 Kye was on her, and it was him she feared, 

 and not man. 



One has to be faithful quite a little time, 

 sometimes, l)efore Ciod's promise comes, and 

 it was so in her case. But it did not take 

 long before she become known and appre- 

 ciated, and she had plenty to do, and at prices 



