1901 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



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sit before a tribunal of tobacco- chewers and 

 tobacco-smokers ? Is it the clearest heads the 

 land can furnish who judge him, or is tobacco 

 once more the king over all ? I know this 

 sounds hard and severe. I know many good 

 men — yes, and some good women, will think 

 I am a' fanatic, and will say I spoil the good I 

 might do by pushing things to such extremes. 

 Dear friends, I do know it is the almost uni- 

 versal fashion for officers of the law, and, in 

 fact, for public men in almost any capacity, 

 to think they must smoke and chew just as 

 soon as they are elected to office. ■ I have told 

 you that our own county commissioners seem 

 to think they would not be respected or con- 

 sidered fit for office unless they learned to use 

 tobacco straightway as soon as they are install- 

 ed into office, even though they have got 

 along all their lives until past middle age 

 without it, and even been hostile to its use. 

 Let me digress a little. 



At Lakeland, Fla., the train was an hour or 

 more late. I did not wish to sit in the wait- 

 ing-room ; in fact, the ladies filled the room 

 pretty well, any way. I wanted to be out in 

 the open air. There was one seat outside that 

 would hold three persons comfortably. Two 

 traveling men sat there smoking and talking. 

 I finally took one end of the seat and turned 

 my back toward them. In the open air I 

 could stand the smoke very well ; but the 

 series of oaths and curses while the men were 

 discussing pleasantly and good-naturedly some 

 common topic fairly made my blood curdle. 

 The situation was nothing new tome. Every- 

 where in traveling I bad to put up with smok- 

 ing and swearing. We are told our churches 

 are running down. Onr ministers have al- 

 ways found it a little difficult to get the mem- 

 bers to come to prayer-meeting, and more dif- 

 ficult still to get those who are there to stand 

 up boldly and testify for Christ Jesus. Now, 

 these traveling men had no hesitation at all 

 in taking the sacred name of Christ Jesus on 

 their lips in tones that could be plainly heard 

 by men or women. They were not backward 

 in " testifying " — testifying to what? Their 

 love for the Redeemer? O my God ! what a 

 thought ! They seemed to take pride in tes- 

 tifying to the world and to all around that 

 they belonged to Satan ; that they hated re- 

 ligion, the Bible, and Christian people. Why 

 else should they curse and swear? 



A little way from the depot, near an electric 

 light, another crowd of people were waiting 

 for a coming train. They were sitting on 

 trunks and baggage. I found a seat out there. 

 I wanted to go to Braidentown the next day, 

 and I was a little uncertain about where to 

 take the boat Two of the traveling men very 

 kindly explained the whole matter to me, 



*AlexaTi<1er Macl,aren, in a recent number of the 

 Siitidav School Tiines says : 



" We to dav are sinking into an abyss because of 

 our admiration for the military type of hero; and 

 there is not such an immense difference between the 

 mob that rejected Jesus and applauded Birabbasand 

 the mobs that shout round a successful snldier and 

 scoff at the law of Christ if applied to politics." 



And if this same successful soldier or military hero 

 smokes a cigar, straightway almost every American 

 boy thinks that this, of course, is the way to be a man. 

 God forbid that this state of affairs should continue. 



showing me how I could save time and con- 

 siderable money. As the matter was a little 

 complicated, they, with exceeding kindness, 

 mapped it out for me, told me how to find the 

 persons I wanted, and how to get back as soon 

 as possible. They were very kind and pleas- 

 ant people. I think one was a phjsician, be- 

 cause the other called him "doctor." Both 

 smoked their cigars, and cursed and swore — 

 not because they were displeased with any 

 thing, but because it was the fashion. Has 

 the use of tobacco any thing to do with this 

 matter of profane swearing ? When you are 

 out among men, use your eyes and ears, and 

 see what you think about it. Everybody 

 knows- — and the man who uses fobs ceo, per- 

 haps better than any one else — that the use of 

 the drug is not conducive to a high state of 

 spirituality. It is a stepping-stone to drink ; 

 it is a stepping stone to cursing and swearing; 

 it is a stepping-stone to crime and .'uicide. 

 My good friend, would you want to see your 

 own boy learn to use tobacco? Our departed 

 friend C. F. Muth and I once had a long talk 

 (I think his wife and daughters were present). 

 He had been bantering me. As our talk clos- 

 ed he looked very sober. He said to the rest 

 of them, " Bro Root is right. His way is the 

 better -wslj . His way is the saje ■vi&y.'" In 

 your better moments you will agree with me ; 

 and if so, dear friends, why do you use tobac- 

 co, and drink and swear? Why do you com- 

 mence any thing so repulsive to good breed- 

 ing, to good manners, and to purity? Why 

 do you set the example before boys who are 

 growing up? This boy I have told you about, 

 who has a wife and baby, and is not yet 21, 

 learned to use tobacco because he saw the 

 judges, the lawyers, and the doctors setting 

 him the example. 



It is not bad men alone who learn to smoke 

 and chew. I have told you these traveling 

 men are some of the pleasantest and kindest 

 people in the world. Very often the conductor 

 or the ticket agent is unable (or unwilling to 

 trouble himself) to give one the information 

 desired ; but a traveling man will pull out a 

 folder from his pocket, or a railway guide, 

 and spend a lot of his time in figuring the 

 thing out. Yes, he will often go to another 

 traveling man, and he will not give np until 

 he makes you understand just the difficulty in 

 making the point you wish, at the kast ex- 

 pense. He will tell you which hotels are best; 

 that you want to make a bargain beforehand 

 to get low rates ; he will tell you the good 

 men in a certain town to go to. Then when 

 you try to express your thanks for the pains 

 he has taken he sa3Sthat is what we are in 

 the world for — to help each other. His be- 

 havior is Christianlike . If he knew you did 

 not like swearing he would stop while you are 

 around ; but if you do not say any thing his 

 blasphemy and profanitv, and sometimes ob- 

 scenity, are such that you are prompted to 

 think only the prince of the powers of dark- 

 ness could have studied up any thing so aw- 

 fully low and bad. These men do not know 

 what they are doing. They have not got hold 

 of the spirit of true Christianitv — that is, the 

 great bulk of them have not. Here and there 



