362 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



May 



back by force of will to the book I am try- 

 ing to read . 



My Mist inteiruptioii was from the clerk. 

 In stepping outdoors he slipped down and 

 tore two Imttons off from his ready-made 

 new suit, and he kindly offered me a cigar 

 if I would sew the l)uttons on for him. At 

 first I thought of declining the job as well 

 as the cigar ; but it occurred to me that I 

 had better sew the buttons on, as it w^ould 

 give nie some opportunity to get acquainted. 

 He could not sew them on himself, because 

 they were behind his l)ack. I guess I did 

 him a pretty fair piece of work, even if it 

 was several years since I sewed on a button. 



The next interruption was from a hack- 

 driver who came in to wait for a train. 

 Then an employe at the depot across the 

 way came in, and, 1 presume, to find some- 

 body to talk with, while he kept an eye on 

 things across the track. The first salutation 

 of the two was loaded with oaths and blas- 

 phemy ; then they commenced a friendly 

 talk, and I believe' it was the worst talk I 

 ever listened to in all my life. I looked at 

 the young men and began studying as to 

 how to give them a mild reproof in such a 

 way as to do them the most good. As they 

 went on, however, their lives seemed to be 

 so widely separated from my own I could 

 not think of aii> way to start a conversation 

 without having them feel that I was a sort 

 of crank, or somebody who wanted an op- 

 portunit> of airing liis piety. Very likely 

 Satan was getting into my own heart as 

 well as theirs. Tliey had no tastes, no in- 

 terests, in common with my own. The de- 

 pot man, in speaking about keeping awake 

 nights when it is necessary in the dTscharge 

 of his duties, said that the only way he 

 could keep awake was by keeping just about 

 so drunk. When in that condition he was 

 never sleepy at all. I wonder if the railroad 

 com])any know that men they hire to fill re- 

 sponsible places are in the habit of propping 

 themselves up during the night time— prop- 

 ping themselves up to a sense of duty and 

 their responsibility, if you choose, by an 

 abundance of whisky. The bare thoug'ht of 

 it staggered me, and the words I had plan- 

 ned to use I put away, and T do not know 

 but it was Satan who whispered that indig- 

 nation was the onh jjroper feeling to have 

 for such as they. "Prett>' soon they began to 

 sprinkle in obs"cenit\ with their blasphemy ; 

 then they began to tell impure stories; and 

 wiiile 1 sat feeling myself unable to cope 

 with the worst language that I had ever 

 thought or dreamed of, they went on from 

 bad to worse. T kept my eyes on my book, 

 but they must have l)een sharp enough to 

 notice that I was listening; and for fifteen 

 minutes I had such a glimpse of the possi- 

 bilities in the wa> of the utter (lepravit> of 

 the human heart that I hope I shall never 

 have again. I did not know then that hu- 

 man beings could be so lost to every sense 

 of decen('y ; nor did it occur to me that it 

 was possible for any thing in human form 

 to descend into such fearful depths of every 

 thing lepiilsive and even horrible, as diii 

 these two young men. 



In the story of Ivauhoe, written by Sir 

 Walter Scott, Rebecca, the Jewess, while 



watching the warfare through the grate of 

 her dungeon, says : " O great God I hast 

 thou given man thine own image that it 

 should be thus cruelly defaced?" The 

 same feeling came into "^ my mind— did God, 

 when he created human l)eings in his own 

 likeness, contemplate the possil)ility that 

 they might descend to where^ these two 

 were standing V I gave it up. The people 

 were stirring, and the clerk had been kni- 

 dling a fire in the parlor. I went in there 

 and sat down, feeling helpless and discour- 

 aged. You may ask why I did not appeal 

 to the clerk, whose buttons I iiad sewed on. 

 I thought of doing so, but he was brushing 

 out the saloon pari of his establishment, and 

 getting ready for the busy throng that was 

 beginning to come. lie evidently seemed 

 to think their talk was all right and proper. 

 May God forgive me if I got uncharitable 

 Just then. I went into a clean comfortable 

 room, and sat in an easy-chair; but I was 

 not easy, and I was not happy. I could not 

 hear the filthy words from the other room, 

 but conscience seemed to say, and keep say- 

 ing, they were going just the same as if I 

 were not there. Peihaps others had gone in 

 to help them. And then I meditated, also, 

 that such talk .was probaltly going on, or 

 at least talk, of somethingin that line, in 

 other railroad stations arid public houses 

 throughout our lajid— possibly in some parts 

 of our own town of Medina. May God 

 grant, however, that it is nothing nearly as 

 bad, for the infiuence of our churches and 

 prayer-meetings in Medina has now gone 

 into almost every nook and cranny of our 

 place, and I do not believe there are any so 

 utterly lost around my home as those 1 

 found here ; and this, too, in the progressive 

 State of Michigan— the State I have for 

 many years felt was almost taking the lead 

 in intelligence and progress, and, I had hop- 

 ed, in godliness. No wonder we have our 

 prisons full, and our inlirmaries full, and 

 our insane-asylums full, while we are sow- 

 ing such seeds and getting ready for the 

 crop. Our text tells us that the outcome of 

 this kind of sinfulness is plagues and death 

 and famine. In the end, purification shall 

 come by burning with fire : for strong is the 

 Lord God who judgetli. 



A few weeks ago a sample copy of an illus- 

 trated weekly came to our ofiice. A simple 

 glance at the paper showed that its purpose 

 was to encourage every thing that leads to 

 depravity and filthiness. In the back of the 

 paper yveve advertisements of the vilest 

 books and pictures that ever disgraced the 

 civilization of the world. The advertisers 

 admitted that the books could not be sent 

 by mail, but that they must go by express. 

 As it is a dangerous business even then, 

 they -were obliged to charge five dollars for 

 a single copy ; but in several places differ- 

 ent venders guai'anteed that said book 

 should not be lacking one whit in the filthi- 

 ness and vileness of its pictures that the 

 same Ixiok had between thirty and forty 

 years ago when the strong arm of the law 

 tried to stamp jt out of existence. An edi- 

 torial note on tlie first page of the paper 

 defies Christian people in their efforts to re- 

 press their vile sheet, and asks subscribers 



