1901 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



525 



the encouragement they deserve in doing 

 right. 



Now, lest j'ou think I am finding fault with 

 the boys, let me say right here they always 

 say, " Why, father, you go ahead and recom- 

 mend any paper you think deserves encourag- 

 ing words, and offer it to your readers at any 

 price j'ou choose." Our business is now get- 

 ting to be so large that certain lines sometimes 

 are neglected ; and any one who notices the 

 neglect sometimes takes the matter up, may 

 be without inquiring about it of the one who 

 formerly had it in hand. 



This matter of periodicals is only one of 

 several things that are not managed exactly 

 as I would manage them if I had the strength 

 of mind and body to take a bird's-eye view of 

 every thing as I used to do years ago, but, as I 

 have said or hinted, their way may be as near 

 right, all things considered, as mine. Some- 

 times when I am very tired I begin to feel 

 that, inasmuch as things will eventually fall 

 into other hands, I had better not worry. 

 And, again, it occurs to me that may be things 

 might, in some respects, get on better if I 

 were to go away, say to my Michigan ranch, 

 and let the younger ones manage until they 

 learn by experience, just as I have done. 



Mrs. Root has sometimes asked, "Why 

 can't the good people of a country have a na- 

 tion of their own where they can put good 

 men into office, and have the laws enforced, 

 and keep entirely out those who love 07ily in- 

 iquity ? " 



In the first place, dear friends, the very in- 

 iquity you seek in this way to avoid will very 

 soon crop out in your own heart, especially 

 when you get the idea in your head that, if 

 you were alone on an island, like Robinson 

 Crusoe, it would be an easy matter to have 

 every thing pure and lovely. Jesus tells us in 

 his own words, in the last text I have quoted, 

 that it is not his will that we should retire 

 from the world. I think he wants us planted 

 here and there amid sin and crime, even 

 though at times it does almost overpower us. 

 A dear brother away off in California sends 

 me a bright and encouraging letter which I 

 wish to bring in right here : 



Friend Root: — I,ong have I appreciated your efforts 

 to make your journal a Christianizing influence in the 

 homes of the bee-keepers of this country ; but your 

 article, "Traffic in Girls," which wife read to us last 

 night, has stirred me up to do at once what I have 

 long desired to do — that is, write and tell you about it. 

 I feel like giving you all the help and encouragement 

 I can ; but all I know to do now is by way of offering 

 a few suggestions. 



In those cases of stealing, I fear you did not lay the 

 ax at the root of covetousness as you might have done. 

 It seems to me that no man will be in much danger of 

 being robbed in the way you speak of if he lays up 

 his treasures in heaven, and not upon the earth, as the 

 I,ord taught us to do. Was it not covetousness in one 

 man that led him to hide his treasure? and covetous- 

 ness in other men that led them to steal it? Had the 

 good man spent his surplus time and money in a lov- 

 ing and faithful effort to convert those around him, 

 might not the very ones that stole his money have 

 been converted, and have become a blessing to society, 

 instead of a curse? Or, perchance, it was the covet- 

 ousness of this or some other man who stood high in 

 the church, it may be, that was one of the causes that 

 drove those men into a life of crime. 



But, be this as it may, is it not true that a pure and 

 united church is the only remedy for all these horrible 

 evils of which you so justly complain? Our blessed 

 I<ord prayed for the unity of Christians that the world 



might believe. To be united to each other, we must 

 be united to God through Christ our I.,ord, the source 

 of all power, to couvert the world around us. Now, it 

 seems to me that covetousness and other sins tolerated 

 in the church prevent the unity, damage the salt, dim 

 the light, and hinder the conquest of the world ; and 

 so much so that many seem disposed to abandon the 

 church as the means to this end. and a multitude of 

 societies have sprung up that propose to do the work 

 that the church was designed of God to do ; while 

 many, like yourself, feel that the strong arm of the 

 law should be invoked to arrest the tide of evil which 

 the church seems powerless to contend with. 



But, my dear brother, should not the child of God 

 appeal to the Father rather than to the arm of flesh 

 for help against the enemy of all righteousness? God 

 is the author of all good, our refuge from the storm, 

 the source of our strength, and should we not honor 

 him before the people by looking to him in every time 

 of need ? Is not the church God's great life-boat ? and 

 is not the law for putting it in repair in all our homes ? 

 Should we not then repair it, launch it, and come to the 

 rescue of a lost, ruined, and suffering world? Christian 

 homes will save the girls. But while Christian evan- 

 gelists have degenerated into professional revivalists, 

 parents turn over the religious training of the chil- 

 dren to the Sunday-school, and Christians are not 

 united to one another in Christ their head, can we 

 hope for much improvement in this poor sin-cursed 

 world of ours? 



Yours for a united church and a faithful member- 

 ship, H. H. Hawley. 



Madera, Cal., May 24. 



Amen, Bro. H. Most fervently do I unite 

 with you in praying that God may give us a 

 united church — a body of Christian people 

 united as one through Christ Jesus, our Lord 

 and Savior. You suggest that, if the good 

 man had used plenty of money in trying to 

 convert those about him (laid up treasures in 

 heaven, instead of here on earth), there would 

 have been no temptation to rob him. 



Most heartily do I indorse your closing sen- 

 tences, dear brother ; right here comes that 

 glorious promise, " Blessed are they which do 

 hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they 

 .shall be filled." Surely we who do hunger 

 and thirst after righteousness ought to be 

 united ; and we can be united through Christ 

 Jesus. May God help us in working together 

 for that united church you speak of. 



When I read this, I had a longing to go back 

 to pioneer times and live without money. 

 God knows I do not want much of it any way 

 — certainly not enough to tempt anybody to 

 murder me for it. But, dear friends, people 

 can not be kept from suffering if we go with- 

 out money. The manufacturers of our land, 

 where they pay people wages every Saturday 

 night, are a great blessing. But somebody 

 must handle quite a sum of money on pay- 

 days, and the banks must take care of this 

 money.! By the way bank safes are now being 

 blown up, and the bankers and policemen 

 killed and crippled for life, it would not be 

 strange if every one should want pretty good 

 pay for accepting these responsible positions. 



t May be this is not just the place, but I wish to in- 

 sist right here that everybody be urged to stop keep- 

 ing money around the house. Think of the robberies 

 and cruelties that have been inflicted just because it 

 became noised abroad that somebody had money hid- 

 den on his premises. Do not keep your money in 

 your house or on your person over night. Put it in 

 the bank. If you sell property and take money, let 

 everybody understand that it is taken to the bank at 

 once. Many people are foolish in this respect. Even 

 if banks do fail once in a great while, it is a thousand 

 times better to lose money in this way than to have 

 some of the family murdered because of the folly of 

 keeping money in the house. 



