1901 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



447 



illustration is a little strong. But there is one 

 point where I did not make it strong enough. 

 Suppose this fiend in human form that I have 

 been picturing should single out all the little 

 girls instead of the little boys ; suppose he se- 

 lects the brightest, prettiest-looking one of 

 the lot ; let us suppose, still further, that he 

 inquired around and found one beautiful little 

 girl whose mother is a widow, and had no 

 grown-up brothers to take her part. Suppose 

 he should exult with fiendish glee in striking 

 down this little girl and mutilating and crip- 

 pling her for life, and then laugh about it, 

 and, may be, brag about it, and try to get off 

 scot free. Why, dear friends, this is an aw- 

 ful story I am telling — a horrible thing I am 

 picturing ; and yet God knows it is not all of 

 the truth. What I am coming to comes about 

 in a different way, and people say, " Oh ! he 

 did not intend to do her any harm. It was 

 unfortunate and unlucky all around." My 

 natural disposition would prompt me to say it 

 was unfortunate and unlucky all around that 

 the wretch was ever permitted to live one hour 

 in this beautiful world of ours. 



Once while off on my wheelrides I was told 

 I could save some travel by taking a path 

 through the fields. On my way I met the 

 daughter of my friend the bee-keeper, a beau- 

 tiful child of ten or eleven years. I shook 

 hands with her, and told her who I was. 

 Then she seemed to feel somewhat acquaint- 

 ed, because she had read Gleanings. She 

 was very prettily dressed, and, of course, a 

 little shy at meeting a stranger off alone ; but 

 the innocent, childlike look on her face fol- 

 lowed me for hours. She was just coming 

 out of childhood, and getting a glimpse of 

 womanhood. She was looking out into this 

 great world of ours full of people, with trust 

 and confidence. Her little heart was good 

 and pure, and with childish trustfulness she 

 no doubt believed this great world to be good 

 and pure. Since then I have met the daugh- 

 ters of other bee-keepers. If there is any 

 thing in this whole wide world that should re- 

 buke sin, and prompt a bad man to turn from 

 his evil ways, and to be pure in heart and hon- 

 est in deed, it seems to me it is these pleading 

 childish faces — the faces of the little girls. 



When up on my ranch in the woods last fall 

 I took a walk of two miles one morning. It 

 happened to be toward the schoolhouse, and 

 just about schooltime. Three or four little 

 girls came out of their komes, and I talked 

 with them. They told me about their school, 

 their teacher, their homes, and about their 

 neighbors. Why, in that walk of two miles 

 we became so well acquainted that I felt al- 

 most sorry when we reached the schoolhouse. 

 Their childish voices were to me like the mu- 

 sic of singing birds. In their innocence they 

 told me some things about their homes and 

 about their neighbors that perhaps an older 

 person would not have told. They trusted 

 me. They believed I loved little girls. I 

 need not go any further. Is it indeed true 

 that there are wretches in our land who would 

 take pains to become acquainted with these 

 little girls just in order that they might not 

 only crush and disfigure their little bodies, 



but that they might crush and disfigure them, 

 body and soul.^ You may say this thing is 

 done only in big cities. Well, I will grant 

 that it is mostly done where there are saloons 

 or frequenters of saloons. I need not tell you 

 that, when a saloon gets to doing a fair busi- 

 ness, they must have gambling-devices to help 

 them along. After they get the gambling de- 

 vices, then there is a dance house in the back 

 part of the saloon ; and these dance-houses, 

 to be attractive, must have girls — not women 

 who are hardened criminals like the men who 

 employ them. They must have innocent- 

 looking country girls if they can get them. 

 Yes, they offer big prices for them. 



Some have told me that this is not so bad, 

 because they bargain with the girls themselves, 

 and the girls consent to this trafiic. And this 

 brings up a chapter of the book of which I 

 have been speaking — the "age of consent." 

 By the way, that word " consent," used in the 

 connection I have just mentioned, always 

 roils me up. Through the work of the W. C. 

 T. U. (thank God) the age of consent has been 

 raised. In some of the States, if the girl is 

 over twelve years of age her consent clears 

 her betrayer. Alabama has got it the lowest 

 of all — ten years. New York and quite a lot 

 of others have got it up to eighteen. Ohio 

 (and I say it to her shame) still holds to four- 

 teen. A pamphlet comes with the book, in 

 which is the following statement, together 

 with an advertisement of the book : 



There are oOO.OOO " felled " girls in our country, one- 

 half of them from Christian homes or Sunday-schools, 

 and three-fourths from country homes. They have 

 been gotten into haunts of shame through the trickery 

 and wiles of those engaged in the " traffic in girls." 

 which is caused by the // affic in drink. Their average 

 life x^fii'e years. Sixty thousand girls dragged down 

 to this life every year ; .5000 every month ; 170 every 

 day, or a young life blasted in our ble.ssed land every 

 eight minutes! Father! Mother! }o«r little girl is 

 not safe. Read that startling book. "Traffic in Girls, 

 and Work of Rescue Missions " and warn her in time. 

 Price only 30 cents by mail ; cloth, fully illustrated, 75 

 cents. All proceeds for mission work. Address 



Charlton Edholm, The Temple, Chicago. 



I do hope and pray that this book may be 

 widely read throughout our land. People are 

 waking up, thank God. The case I have 

 twice alluded to, that of Jennie Boschiter, of 

 Paterson, N. J., illustrates it. If these fel- 

 lows serve out their full term, two for 30 years 

 and one for 15, well and good ; but I begin to 

 tremble already for fear some governor, who 

 may happen to be a man like themselves, will 

 pardon them out after they have served only 

 a very small part of their sentence. In regard 

 to the statement that these things exist only 

 in the large cities, if we look about us we 

 shall find the same thing, only perhaps in a 

 different form, in almost every neighborhood. 



Years ago a poor woman on her deathbed 

 implored me to look after her fatherless chil- 

 dren. She was then many years a widow. I 

 tried to watch over them ; but in spite of all 

 I could do — perhaps I had better say, however, 

 in spite of all I did do, and I made a big row 

 several times about it — an unscrupulous and 

 designing man, and a married man at that, 

 succeeded in getting a beautiful little girl 

 away from her friends and home. He spent 

 months if not years in carrying out his scheme, 



