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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 15 



Our Homes 



By a. I. Root. 



Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the 

 prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.— 

 Matt. 5 : 17. 



Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I 

 came not to send peace, but a sword. — Matt. 10 : 34. 



I want to talk to you a little about law en- 

 forcement. It is getting to be such a com- 

 mon thing to evade and disregard the laws 

 of our land that we are getting so we think 

 nothing of it, comparatively. Even in our 

 homes, in the family circle, laws are trans- 

 gressed, but the transgressor is not punish- 

 ed. The mob that takes the law into its own 

 hand, and breaks down our jails in order to 

 punish some culprit, gives as an excuse that 

 laws are a dead letter nowadays. Murders 

 are committed in cold blood in plain day- 

 light, but the murderer is seldom punished, 

 or at least he gets only a very light punish- 

 ment, especially if he has the money to em- 

 ploy skillful lawyers and attorneys.* We all 

 know this should not be so, but still it goes 

 on. Once in a while, it is true, a rich man is 

 punished. If I remember correctly, a mil- 

 lionaire somewhere in California was put in 

 prison; but it made a sensation all over the 

 world. Just recently another millionaire 

 who defiantly transgressed the law was put 

 behind the bars in New York, and I hope he 

 is there yet. In our present temperance 

 crusade, people have been astonished (espe- 

 cially the saloon-keepers), to see the law oc- 

 casionally enforced to the very letter. No 

 wonder they were surprised, because they 

 and their fellows had been transgressors so 

 long that nobody expected them to obey the 

 law or even make a pretense of so doing. 

 Well, now, I want to quote something from 

 a recent issue of the Country Gentleman, 

 which, it seems to me, strikes at the very 

 root of the matter. I read it very carefully 

 at first, and then read it over carefully again. 

 Finally I took it to prayer-meeting and read 

 it, as I was to lead that evening. And now I 

 want to submit it to the friends who read 

 these Home papers. 



PUNISHING A BAD BOY. 



When a man came down from his office in a small 

 city to the curb where he had left his bicycle on a 

 warm day last summer, he found, instead of his wheel, 

 a disreputable old rattletrap, and immediately notified 

 the police of his loss. His friends made a erreat deal of 

 fun of him for losing his property in broad daylight 

 with a crowd on the streets, and said the thief must be 

 very clever, but the man did not give up the thought 

 of recovering his property. He was able to buy a doz- 

 en new wheels if he so desired, but he had an idea that 

 the thief was not a stranger, and urg^d the police to be 

 particularly active in looking for it. Several weeks 

 went by, and at last he received the information that a 

 boy of fourteen in a village some miles away had the 

 bicycle in his possession, while the old one he had 

 formerly used had disappeared. The boy was arrest- 

 ed and the wheel recovered, but the matter did not end 

 there. 



The father of the boy made all haste to the office of 

 the man, and inquired what sum of money would set- 



* By the way, this matter of graft, and letting the rich 

 man go scot free, is not so modern a thing after all. 

 David says in the 52d Psalm, 7th verse: 



This l8 the man that made not God his strength, but trusted 

 in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in 

 his wickedness. 



tie the case. " I know how these things are managed," 

 he said blandly, " and we will have it all over in a few 

 minutes." But he found that the owner of the wheel 

 was not in the market for a bribe. He informed the 

 father that the case would be heard in court where it 

 belonged, and the boy would have to take the penalty 

 for his misdeed. Then the mother tried tears and hys- 

 terics and pleading, but the gentleman was obdurate. 

 The mother pointed out that her son's career would be 

 ruined, and that it was his first offense; so every thing 

 demanded that proceedings be dropped. Then it was 

 that the owner of the wheel, nettled by the scornful re- 

 mark of the mother that he was a bachelor, and knew 

 nothing about raising children any way, expressed 

 himself clearly and forcefully. 



" Madam," he said quietly, " it is because I want your 

 son to have a chance in the world that I am determined 

 to prosecute this case. I have investigated a little, and 

 found that, since childhood, he has been under no re- 

 straint. He has disturbed public and religious meet- 

 ings, committed petty thefts, been out many nights un- 

 til after midnight, and neither of his parents knew 

 where he spent the time. He has been a truant at 

 school, disobedient at school and at home, profane, 

 vulgar, and generally a youthful outlaw, without any 

 steps being taken to restrain him, and now I intend to 

 see that he has a chance to make a good citizen before 

 it is too late." To the Reform Institution that boy 

 went, and he is there to-day. The mother forsook her 

 hysterics when she discovered that they did no good, 

 and has been forced to see that, after all, law and order 

 are fine things to impress upon youthful minds. 



Not only did it benefit the boy in the case and give 

 him a chance, but it stirred things up in that little vil- 

 lage to such an extent that fathers and mothers began 

 to sit up and take notice. They suddenly discovered 

 that the next boy to get a chance in the Reform School 

 might be nearer home, and it came to be quite the thing 

 to get the youngsters home at dark, or know where 

 they were and what they were doing. And mothers 

 of the little ones realized as never before that the time 

 to begin training was in babyhood, and gave more 

 time and attention to home rule. The mothers who 

 had considered themselves models of indulgence and 

 loving sympathy with the little ones, suddenly found 

 out that firmness and discipline are needed as well. 

 It was a new idea in the community that a boy with an 

 indulgent mother, and father who was too kind to pun- 

 ish, had had no chance to develop into a good citizen; 

 but after a while they saw the reasonableness of the 

 thing and profited by it. 



Whether the boy turns out well or ill remains to be 

 seen. The institution that shelters him has the repu- 

 tation for turning out good citizens, and the bachelor 

 who was instrumental in placing him there is hoping 

 he may see the thief transformed into an honest, whole- 

 some member of society. It has been done with just 

 such lads, and it is not too much to expect that it will 

 be again. At any rate, for the first time since he came 

 into the world, he is learning to respect law and order, 

 and to see that others have rights as well as himself. 

 Under wise, kindly, strict discipline, he may learn self- 

 control and how to make his life useful and happy, and 

 that is more than he ever could have had at home. 



Hilda Richmond. 



Let me ask you to go back and look at the 

 second paragraph in the above. I wish to 

 call special attention to that father and his 

 remark, "I know how these things are man- 

 aged." This father, you see, was a man of 

 age and experience. He understood how 

 things were done when a crime had been 

 committed; yes, he even said blandly, "We 

 will have it all over in a very few minutes." 

 He expected, likely, the man who had lost 

 his wheel would be indignant, and he might 

 mention a pretty big price before his wound- 

 ed feelings would be healed. But the father 

 had money, and he was prepared to pay it. 

 dear friends! it is, indeed, true, and it is 

 the shame of our people, and the shame of 

 our nation, that he who has the "where- 

 with" to pay may do almost as he pleases, 

 and go scot tree. We can thank God there 

 are a few, however, who can reject "bri- 

 bery," and refuse to be a party to it. This 

 mother gives us a glimpse of the mothers 



