1889 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



717 



weeks ago a well-known writer spoke of 

 watching his berry-patch on Sunday. It 

 took so much of his time that he could not 

 go to church ; and in spite of his efforts, the 

 boys and even men came there and carried 

 off his berries in tin pails. Finally he caught 

 a little fellow and kicked him with his great 

 boot. What should he do V Why, bless your 

 heart, dear friend, I should do exactly as the 

 Bible teaches. "Be not overcome of evil, 

 but overcome evil with good." I do not 

 want to boast, dear friends— far be it from 

 me to do so ; but I do want to say that our 

 honey has never been stolen, and our melons 

 and berries have never been stolen — that is, 

 to amount to any thing. Some of our small 

 boys did at one time last June get into a 

 habit of cramming their pockets with great 

 green Jessie strawberries ; but the saddest 

 part of it to me is, as I look back, that even 

 Uncle Amos lost his equilibrium, and scold- 

 ed one boy, and made him take the great 

 berries out of his pockets. The boy had 

 been hoeing, and was tired and thirsty ; and 

 the berries with their pink cheeks looked so 

 tempting to him, who could blame him ? 

 Yes, I scolded ; but I afterward felt bad 

 about it, and he felt bad too ; and I talked 

 the matter over with him pleasantly and 

 good-naturedly. I told him that, if all my 

 boys did that way, there would not be any 

 berries to get ripe. 



He assented, and promised not to touch 

 another berry unless I gave them to him, 

 but to go and buy them at 5 cts. a pint box- 

 ful, the way everybody else did ; then he 

 would not have to stick them in his pockets, 

 and feel guilty while he was eating them. 

 I never knew him to touch a berry after- 

 ward. He and I are real good friends. He 

 helps me and I help him. Now about the 

 ministers : 



There are a great many ministers who 

 read Gleanings. God bless the dear hard- 

 working brothers ! How I do love to get 

 hold of their hands <md talk over these mat- 

 ters ! They know me pretty well, most of 

 them ; and even if I do touch on something 

 that reflects on them just a little, I think I 

 know beforehand that they say in their 

 hearts, " Go on, brother Root ; don't spare 

 us." I say this because I do firmly believe 

 that they are hungering and thirsting after 

 righteousness and godliness, and that they 

 will rejoice at any thing that helps right- 

 eousness to prevail. During in y travels I 

 urged a good friend of mine very hard in- 

 deed to go to church one Sunday evening. 

 He said he was pretty certain that it would 

 not do him any good ; but as I was his 

 guest, he of course gave way. Well, I w r as 

 very anxious, as a matter of course, that the 

 sermon should be spiritual and inspiring. I 

 felt anxious for him during all that dis- 

 course, and I found out afterward that he 

 felt anxious for me in the same way— that 

 is, he wanted the minister to do well, so as 

 to give me a good opinion of their neighbor- 

 hood and people. I am sorry to be obliged 

 to say that the sermon did not have very 

 much heart in it. There was a great deal 

 of Scripture quoted, but it did not have any 

 particular application that I could see. The 

 minister pounded the desk, let his voice sink 



to a whisper, and then spoke in thunder- 

 tones. It was a kind of old-fashioned 

 preaching that some of you may have heard 

 years ago. On the way home my friend ex- 

 plained that the regular pastor was absent, 

 and that this man was called in, rather than 

 have the audience go back without any ser- 

 mon. He went on : 



" Of course, I need not tell you there was 

 no particular point in any of his remarks ; 

 and I think I will just mention that one rea- 

 son why I did not find very much good in it 

 was because that man has been owing me 

 for three or four years for honey." 



" Oh ! but, friend ■ . he will pay it, even 



yet. Perhaps he has had bad luck." 



" Yes, Mr. Root, he has had bad luck, and 

 always will have ; and he has probably got 

 discouraged because he is owing more than 

 he can ever pay, possibly, and now I am 

 afraid he buys every thing he can get trust- 

 ed for, without any expectation of paying 

 for it The sad part of it is, that our peo- 

 ple will, knowing these things, occasionally 

 ask him to preach." 



Well, my frier d who sold the milk went 

 on, and we were discussing ministers' sala- 

 ries. He maintained that, to get a good hon- 

 est minister, as well as to get a good honest 

 man for any purpose, you must pay him a 

 decent salary. There are, in the market, 

 doctors, schoolteachers, and even ministers, 

 of all grades. If vou take up with a low- 

 priced man you will have to take the conse- 

 quence. It is a sad state of affairs, dear 

 friends, I know ; but is there not some 

 truth in it V Suppose your pulpit is vacant, 

 and you are looking about for some one to 

 fill it. You will have applications from a 

 good many directions ; and when you have 

 some one in view it is natural to make in- 

 quiries. Well, suppose the inquiries result 

 in something like this : 



" Mr. So and so is au excellent man in 

 many respects. He is a fine orator ; quotes 

 Scripture accurately, fluently ; is a good 

 leader; is pleasant and courteous, etc." But 

 suppose the letter should end up by saying, 

 " He has one grievous fault ; he makes pur- 

 chases unwisely, and is always behindhand 

 and in debt You can, however, get him at 

 a very low price.' 1 '' 



Now, I do not know that such a state of 

 affairs exists ; in fact, the bare thought of it 

 gives me pain that any of God's appointed 

 servants should be so inconsistent, or blind 

 to the sacredness of their calling, as to ut- 

 terly spoil and ruin all their chance of lead- 

 ing souls to Christ. I proposed to my 

 friend that he go right over to his neigh- 

 bor's, and have a plain talk with him in re- 

 gard to the matter ; but he thought it was 

 out of his line. 



Now, I do not remember that I ever knew 

 personally a minister who did not pay his 

 debts. I have, however, known several 

 church-members who were very slow— yes, 

 some who were quite active Christian work- 

 ers. Some little time ago one of these 

 brothers was under discussion, and one per- 

 son remarked, " He has owed me something 

 toward twenty dollars for three or four years, 

 and I have not any idea that he ever ex- 

 pects to pay it." Of course, I remonstrat- 



