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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 1 



Children, obey your parents in the Lord ; for this is 

 right. Honor thy father and mother ; which is the 

 fir.-t commandment with promise ; that it maybe well 

 with thee, and thou mayt-st live long on the earth. 

 And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath ; 

 but bring them up in thenurtuie and admonition of 

 the Lord.— Eph. 6:1 4. 



It was just about 25 j'ears ag-o that I felt 

 called on to commence these Home Papers you 

 are all more or less familiar with. It was 

 when I first began to strive to lead a Chris- 

 tian life; and some waj' I was impressed 

 that there was inore need of the relig^ion of 

 the Lord Jestis Christ right in the family 

 and home circle than almost anywhere else. 

 W hen we get to such a point of Christian 

 living that we can carry it out thoroughly 

 right in the home, among those we are well 

 acquainted with, and whoiu we meet in 

 close contact every day of the year, then 

 we are prepared to carry otir religion out 

 into the world, and hold it tip as a beacon 

 light. So it seemed to me 25 years ago; 

 and I do not know but I feel more strongly 

 in this direction now than I did then. My 

 greatest temptations are many tiines, as I 

 have told you, right in my own home. Be- 

 fore the great outside world we are under 

 cbiigations to be gentle, cotirteous, and 

 kind. A man who does not hesitate to let 

 his bad feeling-s come out before company — 

 well, to put it inildljs everybody is pained 

 to see that he is but little of a gentleman. 

 "We are expected to be cotn-teous and pleas- 

 ant befoi e company. When one is some- 

 body's guest he would be a brute indeed if 

 he made a fuss because things were not just 

 to his liking. Now, then, why is it we 

 can not show this same spirit in our own 

 hemes when the outside world is shut out ? 

 I suppose a. good many think it is every- 

 body's privilege to do as he pleases when^ 

 he is at hoine; and perhaps a good many 

 do not know why their lives are not fuller 

 of happiness and joy, when the great trou- 

 ble is they give vent to their feelings When 

 they are inside the walls of their own home. 



As a rule, children are kind and eiffec- 

 tionate. The baby loves his mamiua, and 

 he loves the rest of the children, and is 

 loved in return; and sometimes I have sad- 

 ly wondered why this love for the baby 

 could not keep right on. As he gets older 

 he discovers that he can be a bad boy if he 

 chooses. Unlovable traits creep in. He 

 gets to be selfish and domineering, and 

 learns to have no luercy on his tired moth- 

 er. I think this must be a good deal the re- 

 sult of example. I fear he catches on to 

 such things when his parents think he is 

 too young to notice or to see what is going 

 on. H this is true, how much does it be- 

 hoove us to beware how any sort of bad ex- 

 ample is set before the babj' ! Sometiines 

 the home is a model one, or almost so, un- 

 til the children get to be old enough to go 



out into the rough outside world and bring 

 in corruption. 



Mj' earliest recollections are of being one 

 of a family of seven. With God-fearing 

 parents our home was, as a rule, a happy 

 one. But poor father, work as hard as he 

 might, found difficulty in making both ends 

 meet for that family of nine, parents and 

 children. When iny older brother was strong 

 enough to work he got a job in a potterj^ in 

 our town. His employers were infidels. 

 The}' had no fear of God in their hearts; 

 and with their infidelity they cherished 

 vulgarity and impurity. O dear father and 

 mother, I would never let the money that is 

 offered be any argument in letting a child 

 go out to work where he inay have his whole 

 life poisoned by infidelity and impurity, for 

 they usually go together. My brother was 

 bright, quick, and strong, and they offered 

 hiiu pretty good pay. Very soon he felt it 

 was a fine thing to ridicule the faith of his 

 parents. He is now dead and gone, and, 

 of course, I should speak gently in refer- 

 ring to his mistakes; but in this case I tliink 

 it was rather the mistake of the father 

 than of the boy. The first poison that ever 

 entered my young heart in the shape of im- 

 pure thoughts came from stories related to 

 me that he heard his employers tell. How 

 well do I remember how my gentle Chris- 

 tian mother tried to counteract the effect of 

 these new associates ! My brother earned 

 quite a little money, and clothed hiiuself 

 nicel3% and helped to reduce the expenses 

 of thefamil}'. But, oh dear me ! who knows 

 the load of trouble and sorrow that followed 

 him almost if not quite through life as the 

 consequence of evil associates at his tender 

 age? 



I have jtist returned from the Pan-Amer- 

 ican. I took ahurriedtripthrough Midway. 

 I am not either sorrj' or ashamed that I did 

 so. I shotild like to have the fathers and 

 mothers of our land see soiue of the Midway 

 attractions. Before one tent where there 

 was a great crowd of people, a man up on 

 an elevated platform was using all his elo- 

 quence to get the people to come in and see 

 their show. Every little while he would 

 say something like this : "Now, if there is 

 any Sunday-school boy in this crowd he had 

 better go home. This is not any place for 

 him; but if there is a boy here who wants 

 to be a man, and learn something of the 

 world, we can do him good." 



As soon as I heard it I turned around and 

 walked awaj' as fast as I could convenient- 

 ly. I wanted to have that speaker and all 

 that crowd know that I belonged to the Sun- 

 day-schcol, and was expected to stand with 

 it as long as God gives lue breath. It is 

 not Midway alone that indulges in this 

 kind of talk and philosophy. I heard it at 

 Omaha, and I heard the same lingo at a 

 street fair in the neighboring town of Ak- 

 ron. These fellows seem to think this kind 

 of talk helps them to sectire a crowd. If 

 they should discover that their crowd was 

 dispersed instead of being drawn into the 

 show by such talk, they would probably 



