1885 



GLEANIKGS IK B££ CULTUllE. 



71o 



0[I^ P0J)IEg. 



Charity thinketti no evil; liopetli all thinf>s; eii- 

 (lurt'th all thing-s.— I. Cok. 1:J. 



lUin'ING at my destination [ climbed 

 down t'lom the locomotive (see page 

 7(KS). and found I had over two hours 

 to wait for the Xew-\'ork train. I 

 had had m> dinner, as explained, and 

 tliei-e was nothing- to do ; that is, I had no 

 work planned lor these two hours. Then 

 came the (piestion. What could 1 lind to do 

 that woidd he most jirolitahle to myself and 

 most prolitahle for you, dear readers? fori 

 consider myself in oiie sense as your servant ; 

 for it was with the money that you have so 

 fi-eely fuiiiislied me tliat 1 had started on 

 this errand. How could I l)enetil you most? 

 The answer came, By educatin<,f myself in 

 ever> possible Vv'ay toniiiuster to your wants 

 and wishes. A saloon near at haiid was do- 

 ijif^' a lively business, and was noisy with 

 tratlic; but! did not feel called there. In 

 another direction was a wrencli-factory. 

 where l)usy wiieels could be seen through 

 the o]»en windows, and I caught a glimpse 

 of luiman beings also at work. I knew tliey 

 made veiy nice goods there, for an ad.justa- 

 bh' wrench of tiieir make is now on our iI-V 

 cent counter. Xotwitiistandiiig my experi- 

 ence with the engineer, mentioned" in Our 

 Neighbors, the old feeling of dillidence came 

 ui». ;ind I didn't (luite know whether tliey 

 would want to be Ijotliered with me or hot, 

 and I was thinking of going in one of the 

 back doois aiound near the engine, and 

 walking arouiul without telling an. \ body who 

 I was. Prett\ soon I felt ashamed of my- 

 self, however, and mustered up courage 

 enough to march right into the ollice. I 

 handed mv card to the book-keei)er. telHng 

 him that 1 had two iiours to wait, and that 

 r siionld like to go over their neat-looking 

 factory. JS'ow it is an honest trutii. dear 

 friends, that I did not think of any further 

 courtesy lieing shown to me. thail that he 

 would stop long enough to give mc the ask- 

 ed-for [lei mission. What did he do? \Vhy, 

 he oi)ened the door and told me to come iii- 

 side behind tlie railing. Then lu' told the 

 partners who were jiresent who I was. and 

 they all rose up and shook me warmly b> the 

 hand, and expressed much suri)rise and 

 pleasure to lind that A. I. Hoot had really 

 got away from home long enough to pay 

 them a visit. One of the tirm not only show- 

 ed me all over the factory, and exi>laiiied ev- 

 ery thing to me in the kindest way. but he 

 took me all over tlieir little town, and show- 

 ed me everything that I exi)re.ssed an inter- 

 est in. 'IMiiis the time passed very pleasant- 

 ly until the train was nearly due. 



While thinking of my want of cluirity for 

 my fellow-men in that little transaction, I 

 aiii reminded thatcpiite a number of visitors 

 have come to s(>e ns, and ]tei-hai)S g(me over 

 our I'actoi-y and grounds, and I did not know, 

 until they weie gone, that it was some friend 

 with whom I had had deal, and whom I 

 should have been very glad to meet. J.ike 

 myself, they hesitated abont bothering me, 

 after I have said so much abont being '• ex- 

 ceedinglv busv," '•overworked,'" etc. Xow 



I will tell you how I feel about it. I am 

 really glad to have visitors express a wish 

 to see me ; in fact, I would much rather that 

 they would all come up into the office, and 

 tell me who they are. and what they would 

 like. Of course, it is oftentimes the case 

 that some one of our clerks can wait on 

 them better tJian I can. But I like to have 

 them come up" into the office, l)ecause then 

 wlien I see them around I know who thev 

 are, and they know who I am. AVliv. I felt ev- 

 er so much happier to be around with one of 

 the proprietors, than if I had gone in the 

 back way. not knowing whether I was want- 

 ed around there or not. (Jetting permissi«)n 

 from the office is right and proper, when 

 you go into any establishment ; and if you 

 want to look over an orchard, garden, or 

 fixunji;/ (ill iiiiiins get permission" to do so 

 from the proprietor. It is well to ])e modest 

 and humble, and i)erhaps a little backward 

 about intruding : but one may carry this too 

 fai-. and I am sure my tendency i> almost al- 

 ways that way. I am apt to be lacking in 

 that part of our text about hopefulness. A 

 genuine Christian is not often an intruder, 



■ and he ought to have hoi)efulness enough to 



I believe that ])eo|>li' will be glad to see him. 



' wlien he is awa> from home. 



I ,Mr. Holmes told me to get a seat in a 

 palace car at once, and that the extra ex- 

 pense would be s;j.U() to New York. Tlie 

 conductor charged me SU.oO. Forgetting 

 my lesson, I straightway made up mv mind 

 that he was one of that kind of conductors 



j that we sometimes read about, who ov<m- 

 charge and put the i-emaindei- in their own 

 pockets. He looked like a nice man, but 

 this only set me to moralizing how little we 

 can tell about a man by his looks. I thougiit 

 I would not argue the case for a paltry half- 

 dollar : but it l)egaii to sour me toward my 

 fellow-men. Toward night he came and sat 

 down by me. with some change in his hand. 

 Aftei- a few i)leasant remarks al)out the 

 weather, etc., he extended the change, say- 

 ing, ■• 1 owe you an ai»ology, friend, for hav- 

 ing taken a half-dollar too much from von. 

 because I looked at the wrong columii of 

 tigures."" 



Then I felt ashamed of myself again. 

 •• Thinketh no evil." Did that lit me V Xot 

 very well : and yet / make Christianity my 

 theme. I shook olf my uncharitable feel- 

 ings, as it weie, and asked him some ques- 

 tions al)out the way they manage to avoid 

 mistakes, etc. He surprised me by very 

 kindly and intelligently explaining the 

 whole matter to me. 



" AVhy, my deai- sii-, we oiKjIil to be correct 

 and straight every time : and if we are not, 

 we soon get xhiiUjIiicmd^ 1 tell you. See 

 here — I have punched the hgures out of 

 the check i gave you, representing the mon- 

 ey received. This check goes to head- 

 (piarters, with the holes all punched as you 

 see, and there is no way in the world I "can 

 cover up tiiis mistake, t have got to own 

 it u]). and make an explanation. See — I 

 have made a ring around the i)lace where I 

 punched by mistake, to indicate at head- 

 quarters the blunder I made, aiul I feel a 

 great deal more ashamed of it than 1 can 

 tell you." 



