794 



GLEA^'1N(JS 1-J4 ililE OULrUlilii. 



Oct. 



T@B?ICC0 C0ii«MN. 



THE TOBACCO EVIL. 



a EAR FRIEND ROOT:— I say "dear friend," 

 for 1 feel that you arc such to all. A friend 

 in need is a friend indeed. As you take so 

 much interest in reform on the tobacco sin. 

 you certainly deserve the help and good will 

 of all. It is a fact, that tobacco is ruining many of 

 our young men- yes, little boys; and how sad to 

 see church-going people use and sell the deathlj' 

 weed. No wonder our dear Savior's cause prospers 

 so indifferently. I often hear jjeople pray, and 

 ask God to make them as himself, and at the same 

 time roll a cud of tobacco under their tongue as a 

 sweet morsel. I once attended a cottage, or neigh- 

 borhood meeting, where the leader and a number 

 of others had a rousing smoke in a back room be- 

 fore opening the meeting. There we all were, little 

 boys and girls, there to do good, and to show the 

 need of a better life. As I was a new comer there, 

 they requested me to lead the meeting. After 

 some excuses I did the best I could; but how the 

 thoughts of such an unclean thing as was mingled 

 with the spirit loomed up in my mind! Well, I de- 

 cided never to be caught in such an abomination, 

 as it seemed to me; for how very glad the young 

 are to tell us they chew and smoke because such a 

 one does, and she or he is a good person. These 

 are the very ones that are doing the greatest harm 

 instead of good; and the better they seem to be and 

 indulge in the worse than useless thing, the more 

 poor innocent young they are leading into ruin. 

 What is the use of talking down rum, when one is 

 fairly steeped in such a soul and body destroyer as 

 tobacco is? How many are made poor by it ! How 

 many die of heart disease by its use! and, above all, 

 how many are led on, from picking up the remains 

 of an old cigar that some high-toned (I will say self- 

 ish) person dropped! I work so 1 can see more of 

 these evils than many others, as 1 cut and file saws. 

 1 have all classes to deal with. I have had men 

 cheat me out of two cents, because they hadn't it, 

 and would smoke or chew all the time— yes, and 

 get up nights, and try to soothe the grief and sor- 

 row that it had already brought to them. How 

 many children suffer greatly with cold, and mother 

 dying with grief, .just on account of this awful 

 weed! They say, rum will bring one to where he 

 will sell his clothes for it; so will tobacco. I have 

 seen so-called men almost crazy for want of a 

 chew. I have seen men on the dying-bed, when 

 they would say, "Tobacco has prematurely laid nie 

 here, and I must go If I ha<l been warned when 

 young I should no doubt be well. 1 have thrown 

 away enough to buy the tiest fa) m in town." Oh! 

 isn't it time that law should stoj) Iti? I am very sure 

 that the world is growing weaker by it. VVhat 

 would a person think to ?eo one take food and treat 

 it as tobacco— s|)it out the juice, then the cud; yes, 

 and nine times out of ten declare they wished they 

 never indulged in such a thing, as many do with 

 tobacco. Cut they often tell us tobacco is fashion- 

 able—yes. and fashion is ruining the people. Oh 

 that ministers would put more stress on such 

 things! The poor Salvation Army is disliked by 

 many because they denounce the weed. But they 

 are converting thousands from it, and the army is 

 being wonderfully blessed. I once asked a poor 

 little seven-year-old boy if his father knew he chew- 



ed. "Oh, yes! and if he catches me at it hfe licks 

 me— ain't it a shameV" What would the law do with 

 us if we should oblige our children to eat food so 

 very sickening and deathly as tobacco? A very se- 

 vere punishment would be the result, would it not ? 

 May the Lord bless you, and he does, I know. 

 Who ever gave away so much as you have, in the 

 way of smokers, for the good of mankind? This 

 life is too short to be thrown away; for if it is, the 

 one hereafter Is sure to be. How much pleasure I 

 receive by reading Gleanings! 1 know the Lord 

 is dearer to me on that account. Let's do all the 

 good we can while the days are passing by. 



E. P. Churchill. 

 Hallowell, Maine, June, 1887. 



My husband has quit thi use of tobacco. Will 

 you please send him a smoker. We are both 

 church-members, trying to give a cup of cold water 

 in the name of a disciple. I trust he will never use 

 it again. If he does I will pay you for the smoker. 

 Mks. Lydia Bean. 



North Street, Mich , Aug. 6, 1887. 



CONDUCTED BY EEKKST R. ROOT. 



BUTTER-DISHES AS FEEDERS ; FURTHER 

 TESTS MADE WITH THEM. 



E have now fed two barrels of sugar 

 in the wooden butter-dish feeders as 

 described on page 751 of last issue. 

 We have been using them constant- 

 ly ever since, and I have no occasion 

 to modify any thing I said in their favor ; in 

 fact, they have given better satisfaction 

 than I had really anticipated. They wear 

 well and hold their shape well, and every 

 drop of feed is taken from them by the bees. 

 No bees are drowned. Often when we pour 

 in the syrup we find the butter-dish filled 

 full of bees ; but we pour the syrup over 

 them just the same, and scarcely a bee is kill- 

 ed, even though 2()U or 300 of them be com- 

 pletely covered with the syrup. In conse- 

 quence of the convexity of the bottom of the 

 butter-dish it is possible to tilt it so that 

 it will be perfectly level, even though 

 burr-combs stick up so as to make it very 

 uneven for a common Simplicity feeder. 

 Taking advantage of this fact, we" are en- 

 abled to fill them level full. Moreover, these 

 wooden receptacles do not occupy on the 

 enameled sheet, or on whatever they are 

 resting, more than a square inch of surface. 

 They can thus be set right down in the 

 midst of a lot of bees ; and before you can 

 get the syrup into the feeder the few bees 

 that may be under the base of the feeder 

 will crawl out from under. The pie-plates, 

 upon a further test, do not work nearly so 

 well, nor are they as durable as the butter- 

 dishes, although the latter cost only half 

 the price. The former, I should judge, are 

 pressed into shape, as, after they have been 

 in use for a while, they llatten out so as to 

 be no longer a receptacle of licjuid. 



I give place to the following card as con- 

 firmatory of all I have said, both in the pre- 

 vious issue and in the jiresent number : 



