508 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



quiesced in such sentiments as these. But 

 the last few years have seen a decided and 

 significant change in the public conscience 

 regarding war. 



There is less talk about the glory of war, 

 and more recognition of the brutality of 

 war. What glory is there in human beings 

 created in the image of God killing each 

 other? 



There is less talk about the benefits of 

 war, and a more serious consideration of the 

 cost of war. The nations of Europe in 

 time of peace have each year a war expens? 

 of $2,000,000,000— in time of peace— tlnnk 

 what the expense would be in time of actual 

 war! Men are beginning to calculate the 

 untold good that could be done to humanity 

 if all this monej^ were spent for bettering 

 the condition of the people. 



There is less talk about war as the last 

 resort of disputing nations, and in its place 

 there has gi'own up a vocabulai'v with such 

 terms as " The Hague Tribunal." " The In- 

 terparliamentary Union," " The Interna- 

 tional Court of Arbitral Justice." "The 

 Supreme Court of the World," "The World 

 Peace Foundation." " The American Asso- 

 ciation for International Conciliation." 



Yes. there is a war-movement in the tops 

 of the mulberry trees, only it is blowing in 

 the opposite direction from what it did in 

 David's day. Then it blew toward war, 

 now it blows away from war. 



There are other movements besides the 

 tlu-ee that I have mentioned, more compre- 

 hensive, perhaps, such as the social move- 

 ment; but these three are typical of those 

 general tendencies of the day which show to 

 the discerning mind that God is answering 

 the age-old prayer of his people, " Thy 

 kingdom come." 



" And let it be, when thou hearest the 

 sound of a going in the tops of the mulber- 

 ry trees, that thou shalt bestir thyself." 

 " We are living, we are dwelling in a grand 

 and awful time ! " The kingdom is coming ! 

 You can tell it by the moral, ecclesiastical, 

 national, and social movements in the tops 

 of the mulberry trees! Movements to ban- 

 ish evils from the land ! Movements to bring 

 together the divided parts of Christendom ! 

 Movements to bring the blessing of world 

 peace ! Movements to make the kingdom 

 come ! 



God grant that this morning as we list to 

 the sound of the going in the tops of the 

 raulberi-^^ trees we may take new heart and 

 new courage, knowing that God is still 

 working liis wonders to perform, and, above 

 all, may it be that, when we hear the strange 

 rustling, we will all bestir ourselves! 



SHALL WE OBSERVE SATURDAY OR SUNDAY! 



I have been a subscriber of your bee journal for 

 nearly a year, and have read nearly all your Bible 

 texts. I do like to read them, and I agree with you 

 on the most of your writing except on the fourth 

 commandment. You say the first day is the sabbath, 

 and the Bible tells us that the seventh day is the 

 sabbath. The fourth commandment tells us that we 

 should remember the sabbath day. " Six days shalt 

 thou labor, and do all thy work; but the seventh day 

 is the sabbath of the I^ord thy God. In it thou shalt 

 not do any work." And it tells us that the Lord 

 blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it. Can you 

 say any thing like that about the first day of the 

 week, or the man-made Sunday? 



Deer River, Minn., Nov. 8. H. A. Grund. 



Our older readers will remember that for 

 forty years past I have, evei-y little while, 

 stopjjed to consider the matter which is 

 again brought up in the above letter; and 

 may God give me grace and wisdom while I 

 try to explain to this good brother and a 

 lot of other near and dear friends why it 

 seems to me no good can be accomplished 

 by changing our present Sunday to Satur- 

 da3\ I think I am pretty well posted in the 

 matter, for my brother's wife, where she 

 lived, was an earnest advocate of having 

 Sunday on Saturday. 



First and foremost, when it is Sunday 

 here, on the opposite side of the world (or 

 in opposite parts of the world) it is some 

 other day of the week; and there are is- 

 lands in the sea where the question has 

 never been settled as to what day of the 

 week it is. This dividing line is 180 degrees 

 east of London, or through the islands near 

 New Zealand ; and it is literally true that 

 next-door neighbors have Saturday on one 

 side of the yard and the other one has Sun- 

 day at the same instant. What the day of 

 the week is can not be settled. If 5^ou go 

 around the ' world by traveling east, some 

 other day will be Sunday than if you went 

 around the world by going west. I think 

 you will get my idea. Well, in view of the 

 fact that the days of the week are whatever 

 the people happen to decide on, what sense 

 or science is there in thinking the world 

 would be made better by having every thing 

 as now established out of joint by the 

 change proposed? I have submitted the 

 matter in this way perhaps a dozen times 

 since Gleanings was started, and no advo- 

 cate of this change, so far, has ever been 

 able to refute it. It is true one good broth- 

 er did say something like this : " Mr. Root, 

 if you and I were traveling we would both 

 be able to decide which day was Saturday 

 and which was Sunday." To this I agreed ; 

 but Ave would have to be guided even then 

 by the customs of the people wherever Ave 

 happened to stop. 



I haA'e sometimes made the suggestion to 

 these good friends that, instead of under- 

 taking auA' such change as they propose. 



