746 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Skpt. 1 



of this church has been with us a good deal; 

 but as he preaches in three other places he 

 gets here to preach only every other Sunday 

 evening. Of course, it w^ould be better to 

 have preaching every Sunday ; but for a 

 year or two back the church here has not 

 made out to pay the minister his small sal- 

 ary of $60 for coming once in two weeks. 



Now, this is a rich farming region, and 

 the people are, as a rule, well-to-do. I 

 have told you of the big prices they have 

 been getting for the great crop of this re- 

 gion (potatoes), but for all this the building 

 seems to be forgotten, and the pastor and 

 his salary seem to be neglected. 



I decided the first thing to be done was 

 to hunt up the "lost sheep," and that, when 

 we succeeded in doing that, and getting 

 them back into the fold, then the matter of 

 repairs to "God's house" would take care 

 of itself. 



I want to confess to you that I have enter- 

 ed almost every new home with more or less 

 fear and trembling. I feared we might not 

 be welcome; but with very few exceptions 

 I found myself pleasantly surprised. Over 

 and over it was the story of gradually fall- 

 ing away, of staying home occasionally, 

 and then oftener, and finally not going at 

 all. For years past I have often said I was 

 afraid to absent myself from church. I am 

 afraid of the consequences of so doing. I am 

 sure it would bring back the old life of 

 former years, and I never want to see it 

 back again. I can not bear the thought of 

 having it come back, and that is why I al- 

 ways go to church if it is a possible thing. 



One thing that had much to do with the 

 dropping oflF of church attendance was the 

 change of pastors. The "good shepherd" 

 who gathered in the forty members was 

 called to another field, or went to another 

 field, and the sheep strayed away under 

 the care of the next pastor. I do not believe 

 in so much change among pastor and peo- 

 ple, and I believe God will call both to ac- 

 count for so much of this work. Of course, 

 the faithful "soldier of the cross" should 

 stand by his church and by his captain, 

 even if the captain be a new one; but I am 

 sure there is no need for so many changes. 



As a matter of course, in this country 

 place there are people of many denomina- 

 tions, and these must unite to form a church. 

 They did this pretty well under that first 

 pastor, and might do it now if the good 

 man who now has charge could be more 

 among us; but with four different peoples 

 how can he be with all very much? When 

 the church was built they all united, and, 

 if I am correct, raised the money with little 

 trouble. It is far easier to build a church 

 than to unite hearts that have become es- 

 tranged. There is much complaint (espe- 

 cially among outsiders) that those who were 

 members did not deal with their neighbors 

 in a Christianlike way. Oh how careful 

 we should all be that a few paltry dollars 

 (or cents) should in no way induce us to 

 block the building up of the kingdom here 

 on earth! 



I have recently had a little experience 

 with a division line between my land and 

 that of a neighbor. He declared it should 

 not stand where the county surveyor had 

 placed it. To avoid trouble, and possibly 

 litigation, I told him to have the line run 

 over again his way. The other neighbors- 

 remonstrated, and said then it would not 

 be a straight line, and would not be right. I 

 replied I would rather have the line crooked 

 and wrong than to quarrel over a little 

 strip of land. Finally, to have it pleasant 

 with all parties, I agreed to buy the strip 

 of him, even though I felt pretty sure it did 

 not justly belong to him. He claimed the 

 line was over on his land about six feet; 

 but on figuring it up the value was less- 

 than ten dollars. Why, I have known of 

 several cases where neighbors have fought 

 and killed each other over a similar amount 

 on a division-line disagreement. 



At one or two places they did not appar- 

 ently want to see the minister and me; but 

 at many more places, as I learned after- 

 ward, they felt hurt because we did not 

 call, and, best of all, almost all we called 

 on came to the meetings looking bright, hap- 

 py, and smiling. 



Why, the change was so great with man3-, 

 after talking of "Jesus and his love," I 

 could hardly believe it was the same per- 

 son. The lines of care, worry, and lack of 

 hope, had given way, and a faith in God 

 and his promises had taken their place, so 

 as really to transform the individual. And, 

 dear friends, that isn't all. When I first 

 met Mr. Reed, and when, through his ear- 

 nest and persistent pleading, I had dropped 

 unsatisfying skepticism for a faith in God, 

 I thought then (thirty j^ears ago) that I 

 would rather go with him and work by his 

 side than do any thing else in the world. 

 In fact, the thought of such a life gave me 

 thrills of happiness such as never come to 

 any human being until he gets a glimpse of 

 living for the good of others and not for 

 himself. Well, at the evening meetings, 

 after a day among the people in their homes, 

 I had these old thrills over again. In one 

 of Dr. Watts' hymns these words occur: 



Is this vile world a friend to grace 

 To lead me on to God? 



Of course, Dr. Watts meant the selfish 

 world. 



Yesterday was "circus day" in Traverse 

 City, ten miles away, and I feared it might 

 divert the attention of o\xv yotmg people, at 

 least, from the meetings. In our visits tlie 

 matter came up, and I asked a man if he 

 thought attendance at the circus would help 

 one to be a better Christian. His answer 

 came out sharp and clear, "No, 5/'r/" 



I do not want to be too hard on the young 

 people in regard to amusement. These are 

 questions for the most part that each one 

 must answer for himself; but it did seem a 

 little hard that day to find it so difficult to 

 get the people's attention, to say nothing 

 about money for the minister, and to repair 

 the church, when the circus took whole fam- 

 ilies, not by the dozen, but by the hundreds., 



