1901 



GLEANINGS IN BP:E CULTURE. 



94';) 



speaker and his companion passed by these 

 two boj's while the\- were talking- animated- 

 ly about the great work they were going to 

 bring about among the colored people away 

 ofT across the water. All at once one of 

 the two caught a view of the two rag-ged 

 urchins, almost out of sight in one of the 

 pews, and he was proceeding to hustle them 

 out in H jiffy, asking- them what business 

 they had to come into God's holy place in 

 such a plight as that. A young lad}', a 

 Sunday-school teacher, happened to be near: 

 and, even if the great doctors of divinity 

 did not notice the awful inconsistencj^ of 

 tiie thing, this girl did. She protested, and 

 insisted that the great truths that had just 

 been proclaimed from the desk should be 

 put into practice, and that, too, at once. 

 The colored boy was cared for as long- as 

 he lived; the other one, despite the incon- 

 sistency of his treatment, had gotten hold 

 of the wonderful truths expressed in the el- 

 oquent sermon, and with a little encourage- 

 ment soon accepted Christ as his Savior. 

 This may De fiction; but, oh dear me I God 

 knows it is not all fiction, and I do not 

 know that the story is overdrawn. It has 

 been a hint to me ever since I read it, to 

 look out for the ragged and sin-stained ur- 

 chins -who may lurk about my path. 



Now, about this husband and wife, or, if 

 you choose, these husbands and wives who 

 have separated, are separating, or who are 

 {}>iay be) contemplating separation, just as 

 their ej'es rest on these pages. Dear broth- 

 er and sister, I know something- about the 

 matter. I have had some experience, even 

 if I am only 62 years old. When people 

 get to be of my age, some sooner and some 

 later, gradual changes come over them. 

 First the man and his wife, without know- 

 ing- it, become forgetful and absent-minded. 

 Why, for a year back I have been appalled 

 when proof I could not dispute has been 

 brought me to show I have been doing things 

 I had declared I did not do. I have room 

 for only one illustration here. 



A few days ago Mrs. Root and I were on 

 that beautiful woodland path on the way to 

 Sunday - school. All at once she said, 

 "There. I have not g-ot my specs." I vol- 

 unteered to go and get them, but she trip- 

 ped off ahead of me, saying she was not 

 sure I could find them. But I had the door- 

 key in my pocket, and so I ran on ahead of 

 her and unlocked the door. She got her 

 g-lasses and handed them to me, saying she 

 thought she had better have the case. Then 

 she handed the case to me and I put the 

 spectacles inside of it, and supposed I hand- 

 ed them back to her. We locked up the 

 house again, and hurried back so as not to 

 lose time; but when we got to Sunday- 

 school she excused herself for not taking a 

 class by sajnng she could not find her glass- 

 es. When we arrived home, there they were, 

 inside of the case, on the table in the center 

 of the room. We both went back after them 

 to make sure, and then we both left them 

 lying on the table, hurrying back with the 

 happy consciousness of having done our 



duty. Of course, we had a big laugh about 

 it; and now every little while we tw-o do 

 things of this kind. I have put something 

 away that we may want in the future; and 

 for fear I may forget where I put it I say, 

 "Now, Sue, will 3'ou help me to remember 

 that I put this thing here — do you see?" 



"Yes," she replies, "I see," and I think 

 I will remember." 



Well, when the thing: is wanted we have 

 both forg-otten where we put it. Now, 

 friends, do you not see what a chance this 

 g-ives Satan? If there should not be per- 

 fect trust and harmony and love between 

 these two elderly people, they might easih^ 

 get to blaming one another. I heard a mail 

 sa}% a few days ago, "Now, who took my 

 Rural Xcii'-]'orker.'' It just came from the 

 postoffice yesterday, and I laid it right up 

 here" (putting- his hand on a shelf pretty 

 well up out of the way), "but somebody 

 has taken it. Where is it?" 



The wife and children all went to hunting- 

 for the Rural Neiv-)'orker. I myself had 

 asked him to let me see it, as I did not get 

 it up in our "cabin," and we both wanted 

 it right away, for we were in a hurry. Fi- 

 nally' he said something like thisi^ "Mr. 

 Root, I have threatened to do it before, and 

 now I believe I will do it. I will have me 

 a secretary that I can lock up, and will put 

 the papers in it, and turn the key and put 

 it in Jiiy pocket, and the rest can have them 

 after I g-et through with them." 



I suppose that, if his good wife had told 

 him then and there that she found the paper 

 in another place, exactly where he laid it, 

 he might have declared, even before com- 

 pany, that he did not lay it down there, but 

 on the high shelf. His wife, however, is 

 one of those discreet, g^entle, lovable women. 

 She had more wisdom than some women 

 who refuse to be abused for things that are 

 the fault of the abuser. She handed him 

 the paper, but said nothing; but she after- 

 ward told Mrs. Root she found it right 

 where she was quite sure he himself left it. 

 Now, I have known a trifling thing like 

 this to stir up wicked feelings in the heart 

 of perhaps more than one member of the 

 family. By the way, I wonder what our 

 good friend CoHingwood, of the Rural Neiv- 

 )'orkcr. will say when I inform him that, 

 when his paper comes from the postoffice. 

 everybody' at this home wants it at once, 

 and this, too, in a family where there is a 

 great number of papers and periodicals of 

 all kinds. And let me say here to my good 

 friend (he is a bee-keeper, so he will ex- 

 cuse me) that, instead of feeling cross, and 

 making- threats about locks and keys, he 

 should thank God from the bottom of his 

 heart for tw'o things especiall}'. One is 

 that he has a g-ood-sized family of children, 

 who, wife included, want to read and do 

 read such a g-ood Christian paper as the 

 Rural A^ew-i'orker : and, secondl}', he 

 should thank God from the bottom of his 

 heart that he has been so prospered as a 

 farmer that he can subscribe regularly for 

 siich a multitude of papers that it is some- 



