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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 1 



honest and fair in money matters as I am, 

 and may be more so. In teaching- music to 

 his pretty young pupil they became more 

 and more acquainted. No doubt, conscience 

 warned both of them that they were tread- 

 ing on dangerous ground. But Satan was 

 carefully and slowly, yet deliberately "be- 

 guiling" them both. They both knew it, 

 no doubt, and both knew it was Satan's 

 work; but it was so fascinating that both 

 decided to go just a little further with it. 

 Let me tell you some things the paper did 

 not tell. This young girl taking music- 

 lessons became a very apt pupil under the 

 stimulus of this new experience that had 

 crossed her path. She showed wonderful 

 proficiency, and perhaps her teacher never 

 before found a pupil who followed details 

 and profited by careful instruction as she 

 did. At the same time, this music-teacher, 

 too, found new enthiisiasui in opening up 

 and unfolding the science of music to his 

 bright and skillful pupil.* Oh! I know 

 how it goes, God knows. I know all about 

 these things. Things finally came to a 

 pass where both decided to stop; but they 

 did not know, and humanity, without the 

 help of Christ Jesus, never will know, the 

 danger that stood before them. They were 

 both standing in the rapids just above the 

 brink of Niagara, and yet they could not 

 be made to see it. Both struggled in vain. 

 They grasped hold of rocks and bushes, 

 and as drowning men catch at straws to 

 save themselves; but the current was too 

 strong. They went down. 



The last paragraph in the quotation I 

 have made tells the story. He says, " She 

 was infatuated with me, crazy after me, 

 and constantly chasing me." To he sure, 

 she was. When he should have been teach- 



* There is nothing else in the world that will so sud- 

 denly open up and develop and bring to ihe front the 

 powers and ability of either man or woman as the 

 .'timulus of this thing called love between the sexes. 

 It is like the unfolding of a beautiful rose when the 

 sun suddenly comes out after days of clouds and days 

 of storms. In a few months or even a few weeks" a 

 girl shows an ability, skill, and intelligence, as well 

 as ambition, that she has never exhibited to an3body 

 before in her life. In fact, she did not know herself 

 what she could do until some good man (or you may 

 say some man whom >he thinks to be good) has told 

 her of the story of his love; and unlawful or criminal 

 love has much the same effect. A man sometimes 

 excuses himself — we will say a mvisic-teacher— and 

 gives, as an excuse for paying so much attention to a 

 certain pupil, that this particular pupil has rare abil- 

 itv, and is going to make a stir in the world Perhaps 

 her rare ability becomes manifest because he himself 

 has given her more attention, and has put more en- 

 thusiasm into his business of developing her latent 

 talents, than he ever gave any other pupil before in 

 his life. This stimulus and enthusiasm are all right. 

 They are some of God's great gifts. Sometimes where a 

 man of great ability marries a woman whom the world 

 calls " beneath " him. if he truly loves her he may in 

 a little while raise her up to his own level — yes, even 

 though she lack education in her youth, and refine- 

 ment; and even though she had no taste for mu.sic 

 and the sciences, this man may, by his love and devo- 

 tion, lift her up and develop her, and cultivate in her 

 a taste for thii gs she would never have thought of nor 

 cared for at all under other circumstances, and this 

 thing is all right. It is one of God's most precious 

 and greatest gifts. But Satan gets hold of it, just as he 

 gets hold of every thing that is pure and good (if he 

 can), and simply uses it to bring about ruin, shame, 

 and crime. 



ing her music, and music only, as he had 

 agreed to do with her father, he was teach- 

 ing her "infatuation." He deliberately 

 made her crazy after him. How could she 

 do otherwise than "chase" after him, es- 

 pecially when the time came when he want- 

 ed to avoid her, for they stood together in 

 the relation of man and wife, even though 

 he was a married man with a family al- 

 ready? This thing could not continue. He 

 urged her to go to an asylum and be cared 

 for. I suppose there are "asylums" for 

 just such unfortunates. She knew what 

 this meant, and knew the ruined life that 

 stood before her. She refused to go, but at 

 every opportunitj'^ plead with him to desert 

 his wife and children and run away with 

 her, away off where nobody would ever find 

 out that they two were not legally man and 

 wife. Why didn't he do this? He had told 

 her perhaps a thousand times that he loved 

 her more than he did his wife and children 

 or any thing else in the world, and she be- 

 lieved him. He reasoned that, if she could 

 be put out of the way, he could hold up his 

 head in the world as he had been doing, 

 and keep on with his profession. The 

 prince of darkness that first started them 

 on this downward career kept following 

 them up. He urged this girl to get the 

 married man to run away with her; then 

 he put it into the head of the music-teacher 

 to put her out of the way. He yielded to 

 Satan's suggestions, and brutally murder- 

 ed the girl he had professed to love — the girl 

 he had deliberately led astray, for he was 

 much the older of the two. Murdered her — 

 how? ]l'ith a hatchet! This he confesses. 



Now, this professor of music and this pu- 

 pil of his were both honest and upright, I 

 take it — people in good standing. They 

 were honest in their deal. They did not 

 think in the outset of being untruthful, nor 

 of stealing any thing from anybody; but, 

 oh my God! what an end this little harm- 

 less transaction had! 



I have given the above as a warning; and 

 I have given it, too, to illustrate how people 

 who are honest in dollars and cents maj' 

 commit a still greater wrong than robbing 

 their neighbor of hundreds or even thou- 

 sands of dollars. Men are not all tempted 

 alike; they are not all "built" after the 

 same model. Before my conversion to Christ 

 Jesus I loved truth and honesty in money 

 matters; but it was a negative virtue. But 

 when reading that account of the music- 

 teacher and his pupil, it burst on me that, 

 had it not been for the saving power of 

 Christ Jesus, my Savior, my record might 

 have been like thiitof that poor unfortunate 

 man who is now on his way to prison for 

 life; and were it not (even now) for the 

 constant presence of the spirit of this dear 

 Lord and Savior in my heart I might not 

 be much better than the music-teacher. 

 While I would not for a moment discourage 

 people from signing the pledge, and doing 

 every thing they can in every way to " res- 

 cue the perishing," yet I feel again and 

 again that the only safe and perfect remedy 



