SEPTEMBER 1, 1912 



f mending my father for postmaster? You 

 i get almost as much mail as all the rest of 

 the town together. You are well acquaint- 

 ed with my father. Don't you think he 

 would be as good a man for the position 

 as we have in sight?" 



There you have it, friends. What could 

 I do under the circumstances? It happened 

 in this case that his father was a very good 

 man, and had been postmaster before, so 

 he was well qualified for the duties. But 

 sujDpose he had been a man wholly unquali- 

 fied for the place — then what? None of 

 us, especially those of us who profess to be 

 Christians, like to be uncivil or unaccom- 

 modating. I suppose we often assent to 

 some things that we can not exactly ap- 

 prove of, because it would be unseenily or 

 uncivil to refuse. 



In the incident quoted in regard to the 

 Savior, we are not told that he stopped 

 his work even to talk with his mother and 

 family. In another place we are told the 

 family remonstrated with him, and told 

 him he was wearing himself out. They 

 wanted him to take a little rest. How could 

 he rest when he saw the suffering, the in- 

 justice, and the lack of a Christian spirit? 

 Let me give you another illustration. If 

 the incident did not exactly happen, some- 

 thing very much like it has hapjDened or 

 might easily happen. 



A boy and girl were brought up to- 

 gether. The boy Avas the older of the two. 

 Wliile his sister listened to her mother's 

 teachings, and became a pure sensible girl 

 of lovely character, the boy fell into bad 

 ways. Tobacco and strong drink carried 

 him down and down until he got into the 

 maelstrom of worse evil than either of the 

 above. His sister went to a large city alone 

 to meet a friend. She had an idea that her 

 brother was in the same city ; but as it 

 had been a long time since he had written 

 home she did not know where to find him. 

 By some mistake her friend did not meet 

 her at the station. She told a lady who 

 happened to be there of her perplexity and 

 trouble. This lady (?) said that, very for- 

 tunately, she lived quite near her friend, 

 and would take her there in her own car- 

 riage. This woman whom I have called a 

 lady was an agent of the white-slave traf- 

 fic; and in a few hours tliis girl found her- 

 self in a strange place under lock and key. 

 Along in the night the door was unlocked. 

 This same woman ushered in a stranger, 

 saying, "There is your girl, and I think 

 you will find her all I represented her to 

 be." 



The brother and sister faced each other 

 appalled, and I tliink the outcome was that 

 they knelt down together and thanked God 



that it was lier own brother who had paid 

 quite a sum of money in order that he 

 might meet the sister of somebody else in- 

 stead of liis own. Do you see the applica- 

 tion, dear friends? Had this depraved and 

 vile victim of evil associates loved all the 

 nice-looking girls in the world, just as he 

 loved and reverenced and resjoected his 

 oivn sister, the daughter of the same saint- 

 ed mother, how could he have consented to 

 be a party to such work? 



If all humanity or just a si^rinkling of 

 humanity could for a part of the time stand 

 where the Savior stood when he said, "Be- 

 hold my mother and my brethi-en," what 

 sort of world would this be? What a differ- 

 ence it makes when we unexpectedly run 

 into relatives or relationship ! 



At some gathering of a lot of men, I 

 have forgotten where, some one stood up 

 and told a story that reflected on all woman- 

 kind. There was one Cluistian man in the 

 lot who could not stand it. When the 

 laugh and jeers had subsided he got up and 

 said something like this: 



"W^ presume the gentleman who told 

 this story had in mind his own wife, mother, 

 and sisters." 



This little speech made a row. The one 

 who told the story was ready to knock 

 down the man who had insulted him. It 

 seemed as if the great truth in the lesson 

 before us could scarcely gain a foothold in 

 his sin-stained heart and mind. May God 

 help us, we who call ourselves me7i — may 

 he help us every day of our. lives to look 

 on all womankind, especially in this pres- 

 ent day, when they fill our busy streets at- 

 tired in garbs that would rival the butter- 

 flies of summer — let me say it again, may 

 God help us, who call ourselves men, to 

 look on every woman, and to think of 

 every woman in our inmost souls, as we 

 would that other men should look on and 

 think of our wives and mothers and daugh- 

 ters. 



Just before dictating this Home paper 

 a letter was put into my hand. There is 

 one passage in this letter that shines out 

 like a bright star. The writer says, "The 

 greatest asset that ever comes into a man's 

 life is the Lord Jesus Christ." Can't you — 

 a great lot of you — say amen to it, and 

 pass it along? By the way, I think I will 

 give the whole letter, or a great part of 

 it, for it is a bright and shining one, to a 

 great lot of others as Avell as to your old 

 friend, who is very likely, at this very mo- 

 ment, as your eye alights on these pages, 

 praying that he may look over humanity 

 throughout the whole wide world, and say 

 with the dear Savior, "Behold my mother 

 and my brethren." 



