4U4 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 



some recommend, and push the cliildren 

 needlessly into scenes of vice and sin, but I 

 would endeavor to so fortify tliem in the 

 home circle that they may go safely wher- 

 ever it may be convenient to have a child 

 go. There are parents here in Medina vvlio 

 have kept their children away from school 

 because of the bad boys and the bad talk 

 they learned at school. Now. I think they 

 made a mistake. Sooner t)r later every boy 

 and girl is obliged to meet more or less evil. 

 I should say. let tliem meet it when it can 

 not well be avoided ; but prepare them for it 

 beforeli;nid,and strengthen them during the 

 trial. Tell them of the responsibilities that 

 rest upon Christian people ; tell them of tlie 

 great harvest, and of the comparatively few 

 laborers. Pr;iy for them as Christ prayed 

 for his own when he said : 



I prtiy iKit that thou shouldst take them out of 

 the woilii, but thMt Ihou shouldst keep them from 

 the evil.— John 17:15. 



Bertie and Katie are by no means igno- 

 rant of the great problems that lie l)e- 

 fore us as a people and ;is a nation. On our 

 way (from Owosso to Lansing where Prof. 

 Cook's farm and sugar-bush are), something 

 occurred to illustrate this. We were riding 

 on the cars, and a drunken man took a seat 

 right back of Mrs. Cook. As the cars were 

 crowded, our little band was somewhat sep- 

 arated. The drunken man commenced to 

 utter oaths and blasphemy ; and as no one 

 noticed him he finally proceeded to obsceni- 

 ty. Prof. Cook has decided, as I have, that 

 it is useless to talk to an intoxicated man. 

 You might as well try to remonstrate or rea- 

 son with the father of evil himself. Mrs. 

 Cook was obliged to take another seat. 

 This crowded a little upon a couple of fast 

 young men. They occupied one seat while 

 their overcoats and luggage were in the one 

 opposite. In answer to Prof. Cook's in- 

 quiry, they replied that the seat containing 

 their luggage was occupied, giving him to 

 understand that somebody else had the seat 

 who Mould be in presently. I saw their 

 trick, however, and so did the professor. 



'' My friends,"' said he, " you are entitled 

 to the seat you are sitting on, but not to 

 this other one. I know my rights; and if 

 you mean it is occupied because it contains 

 your luggage, 1 shall have to ask you to va- 

 cate it."' 



He said this firmly, but with perfect kind- 

 ness. One of them finally rose up, with the 

 remark, "•'Well, now look here, friend; if 

 you won't get into a passion we will give 

 you both seats." 



The remark about getting into a passion 

 was entirely uncalled for, as Prof Cook did 

 not show the least trace of disturbance of 

 any kind. While he calmly assured them 

 he never got into a passion at all, one of 

 them remarked : 



" We will take our cigars, and go into tlie 

 smoking-car ; and when we have smoked 

 three or four cigars apiece, and have had a 

 couple of glasses of biandy, we shall be in 

 jnst the trim to deliver a prohibition lecture 

 to these people, if they want oiu .'" 



As he spoke I caught sight of a flask of 

 some kind of liquor in the side pocket of one 

 of the overcoats. The young men by some 



means correctly inferred that our little party 

 were of the class who accept the promise in 

 our text, to those who are pure in heart, 

 pure in speech, and pure in their habits. 

 The last speaker, thinking he had said a 

 funny thing that ought to be applauded, 

 turned to me as he finished the speech. I 

 replied, '' My friend, I come from the State 

 of Ohio. Now, is it i-eally true that up here 

 in Michigan those who give lectures on pro- 

 hibition first fortify themselves with whisky 

 and tobaccoV " He was. for the time, evi- 

 dently taken back a little, but then replied, 

 " Well, stranger, that is just about what it 

 amounts to." 



I felt obliged to him for having coupled to- 

 bacco and whisky so closely together. Is 

 there not something significant about it V 

 And, again, our gibbering, blear-eyed neigh- 

 bor who was too drunk to be decent, on the 

 seat adjoining, furnished us another link. 

 Obscenity and filthiness belong to whisky ; 

 and so it transpiies that tobacco ultimately 

 leads not only to filth in habit, but to filth in 

 thought. 



Would you like to know something about 

 the way this little hoiisehold is carried on? I 

 presume friend Cook will excuse me if tell a 

 little about their daily home life. .1 know he 

 will when he consideis that I do it only that 

 it may give suggestiousand possible helps to 

 other homes. Tiie morning service is shared 

 by all. Each one has a Bible as well as a 

 hymn-book. By the way , I do think a morn- 

 ing hymn is a grand thing to commence the 

 labors of the' day. Well, the Bibles and 

 Testaments at Prof. C'ook's were German in 

 one column and English in the column right 

 beside it, verse to verse. All four members 

 of the family read a verse first in Englisli 

 and then in German ; and I was astonished 

 to liear ten-year-old Katie give tlie (Terman 

 accent in her childish voice as easily, almost, 

 as if it had been her mother-tongue. Al- 

 though she is younger than her brother, her 

 womanly wit grasps a good many things 

 quicker than he does. This confirms me in 

 my idea of woman's fitness for business. 

 Well, why do you suppose the whole family 

 are learning German? I will tell you. Prof. 

 Cook has taught regularly in the college for 

 something like twenty years, without res- 

 pite or rest, except his vacations during the 

 winter; and even during these winter vaca- 

 tions he works harder, a good deal of the 

 time, at our agricultural colleges in Ohio, 

 New York, Wisconsin, and other States. 

 They are talking of having, in a year or two, 

 a two-years' vacation, and they are going to 

 travel in Germany and otiier countries of 

 the Old World. The children are as enthu- 

 siastic about the vacation in (Germany as are 

 the father and mother, and this is wiiy they 

 are pitching into German with such energy. 

 You must not think that this boy and girl 

 are little men and women, for they are just 

 as childlike, and just as full of childish 

 pranks, as any other children, and they 

 sometimes beg to be excused from their les- 

 sons and work. Mamma and papa both have 

 to remonstrate and urge, occasionally, just 

 as they do in all homes ; but notwithstand- 

 ing all this it was a rare treat to me to find 

 children of their age so fully posted in re- 



