152 



GLEANINGS lii BEE CULTURE. 



t^Efi. 



him. Just look there, will yoii ? There are 

 the boots on our best carpet ; there is the 

 best hat on the tloor, and there is the stair 

 door wide open, with such a draft through 

 here that we have probably all caught cold. 

 I have told him of it kindly and patiently; 

 but if he does not say outright that he does 

 not care, his looks say it plainer than words 

 can speak it. What "shall I do ? " 



Now, friends, am 1 not right in saying 

 that enmity is growing up "between this 

 mother and sonV Botli parties are getting 

 calloused and case-liardened, as it were. 

 The mother lias got to the point where she 

 says if the boy goes to ruin, he will have to 

 go — she can't do any thing more for him. 

 The boy has been so long disobedient, self- 

 ish, and unfeeling, that he can say outright, 

 '' Well, who cares if I did? what are you go- 

 ing to do about it'r"' Now, I don't mean to 

 say that I got to be as bad as that, but I was 

 growing stronger that way, and had got 

 pretty well along. I knew my mother was 

 overworked, but other l)oys' mothers were 

 overworked also, and we couldn't be tied up 

 to mother's apron-strings, so we laughed it 

 off as a joke, and let it slide. I do not know 

 how' common such things are. You can tell, 

 dear friends, better than I whether Satan 

 has made any such inroads into your own 

 loved home. I hardly need tell you that 

 boys, when they get to the stage I have pic- 

 tured, are i-eady for strong drink and games 

 of chance. A cigar will come pretty soon, 

 unless something interposes. Perliaps some 

 tired mother or discouraged father feels like 

 saying, "For God's sake, Mr. Root, tell us 

 what we are to do when children won't obey 

 us." Dear friends, it is with joy and grati- 

 tude to God that I undertake the task of 

 telling you what to do in cases like these. 

 It is with joy and gratitude that I tell you 

 what saved me from— who shall say whatV — 

 and placed me here to write these Home 

 Papers for the help and encouragement ])oth 

 of parents and children. 



I do not know how old I was at the time- 

 perhaps ten or twelve. A series of revival 

 meetings was held in our town of Mogadore, 

 Summit Co., O. I do not know what church 

 was instrumental in starting the revival, for 

 I did not go; 1 did not like "meetings." 

 Mother went, I believe, regularly, and I 

 heard something: of the outpourings of the 

 Spirit, as some of the brethren and sisters 

 termed it. I did not know much about the 

 meetings, and cared less; but this I did 

 know : That a change had come over my 

 mother. She was always a Christian, but 

 now she was a happier and more hopeful 

 Christian. It shone from her face, it rang 

 out from the tones of her voice, and it over- 

 flowed from every act and motion of her life. 

 I believe my mother in her younger days 

 was a rather handsome woman ; but as my 

 memory goes back this morning it seems to 

 me she was a beautiful mother under the 

 influence of the outpourings of God's spirit 

 into her heart. Notwithstanding her cares 

 and the hard work that lay before her, she was 

 at this time constantly breaking forth into 

 snatches of those grand old hymns. Occa- 

 sionally I woke up in the night and heard 

 her voice in prayer. This was nothing new. 



but just now the tones were hopeful and 

 joyous. She prayed as if the blessing had 

 already come. She prayed for my poor self, 

 as if she Ine^v I was going to l)e a better boy. 

 W^e began to get acquainted, and it was 

 about this time that she began to teach 

 me and interest me in gaidening ; then 

 she told me in a way that did not have any 

 severe reproach about it. that father was 

 having a hard time to get along, and that 

 she and I together could help a good deal by 

 having a nice garden. Poor mother ! she 

 was already doing more work than any hu- 

 man being ought to do, and yet she planned 

 to help me make garden. Finally she spoke 

 one evening about the trouble of"getting me 

 up mornings. She told me that, in father's 

 absence, I was almost the man of the house, 

 and thati it would be a great help to her if I 

 could get up in good season, or, at least, the 

 first time she called me. She had struck 

 the right chord, and I was disarmed. When 

 a drunken man or a highwayman gets a re- 

 volver in his possession, the first thing to do 

 is to disarm him ; get out of his hands that 

 murderous weapon, by hook or by crook ; 

 and, my friend, when Satan makes an in- 

 road in your child's heart, the child must be 

 disarmed— not by might nor by power nor 

 by reproaches, nor by telling him that you 

 have called him three or four times already, 

 but by Christ's spirit ; by throwing away 

 bowie-knives and revolvers, or, if the ex- 

 pression is too strong, by throwing away re- 

 proaches and harsh feelings out of your own 

 heart; you must do it in the language of our 

 text : 



When a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh 

 even his enemies to be at peace with him. 



I remember the very morning after this 

 when mother called me. I remember the 

 tones of her voice better than the words, 

 but they were something like these : 



" Amos!" She spoke just my name, and 

 nothing more, until she had roused me to 

 consciousness, so that 1 remembered the 

 conversation of the night before. Then she 

 said, in gentle, loving tones, " The sun is 

 shining; you Mill get up now and help me, 

 will you not?" I don't think I replied back, 

 " Yes, mother, to be sure I will," but the 

 look in my face said it better than words, 

 and I was not only up and dressed quickly, 

 but I was bright and cheerful. Mother had 

 conquered — Satan was cast out, and that, 

 too, in the name of Jesus Christ, just as Pe- 

 ter bade the lame man get up and w alk ; but 

 mind you I had not accepted Christ at all ; 

 there was no thought of Christianity direct 

 in my boyish heart. I got up for my mother. 

 It was Christ's spirit that moved me, but I 

 saw that spirit through her ; and, dear par- 

 ent, if your child is to be led to Christ it 

 must be to Christ through t/ou. When he 

 can see Christ embodied in "your daily life, 

 then he will accept Christ. You may ask if 

 there is no limit to this. God only knows 

 where the limit is ; but we read in his holy 

 word (Lev. 2(i:8), " Five of you shall chase a 

 hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten 

 thousand to flight." I can not remember 

 that my mother had any trouble afterward, 

 in getting me up mornings. Neither can I tell 

 you how much we enjoyed the gardening 



