185H 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



are times when it is our duty to judge, and I 

 made him assent to it. He tlieii, with great 

 meekness, quoted another Bibk^ text—" Let him 

 that stole, steal no more;" and he said it very 

 sweetly and pleasantly. Lesi some of our un- 

 believing friends, however, sliould want to 

 ^land upright liere and tell me that this fellow 

 \\:is a fair sample of our good Christians, I 

 lliiiik I had better make iiaste to tell you that 

 ihi' fellow had escaped from an asylum, and is 

 uoiiigtobe sent back as soon as we can find 

 wliiTt'he l)eloags. We do not want any such 

 MhcUiicss as this; and I am really afraid that 

 mil- cra/.y friend in jail is not the only one who 

 h:i< made sad blunders along that line. Such 

 lir.iple are not in condition for pleasant surpris- 

 rs. I do not think his was a pleasant one when 

 lib- sheriff laid his hand on the fellow's shoul- 

 • i( • ; neither will yours be, my friend, if you de- 

 (lair from reason and common sense. Let us 

 now go back to the matter of being in debt. If 

 you are owing that which you ought to pay. 

 and are unable to pay, you are in great danger 

 of meeting surprises; and 1 am pretty sure they 

 will not be plcascmt ones. A good many will 

 say, "But I could not help being in debt. If I 

 tell you the circumstances, I am sure you will 

 ■>av there was no other way to do.'" 



There rnay be circumstances, 1 am well aware, 

 when one can not avoid running in debt— in 

 fact, where he would be doing very wrong in- 

 deed if he did not get help from his friends; 

 but there are ever so many more cases where 

 people think they must go "in debt where they 

 :ieed not do so. Oh how hard it is for the world 

 :o learn that it is not so very hard to make your 

 expenses come inside of your income! Our par- 

 ?n^ away back did it— not so very far back, 

 Jither, for some of us can well remember the 

 :ime when mother made starch from potato-par- 

 ngs. and twisted up strips of paper to save buy- 

 ng matches: blew out the candles when no- 

 :)ody was reading; put in just wood enough to 

 iva,rm the one stove in the house until all went 

 :o bed, and practiced economy in a line with 

 he above, clear through the whole household. 

 vVhy, I can remember when people did not have 

 iny money at all from one month till the next. 

 L hey generally scraped up enough to pay taxes, 

 ind that was about all. fCverybody else had to 

 ake something they had to sell, or they went 

 ind vyorked it out. I am sure it would not hurt 

 he United States of America a bit just now to 

 •xplore a little in that direction. It is like a 

 ;ood many other things. When you first un- 

 ertake it, you think you can not stand it; but 

 ly and by, after you have tried it a while, you 

 mile to think of what a fuss you made of it at 

 rst. 1 think 1 could let half a dozen bees 

 light on my hand, and sting their very worst 

 ne after another, and I do not think l' should 

 lake a very wry face. Now. do not say I am 

 oastiiig. for I have no more grit to endure pain 

 hail other people— hardly as much. I used to 

 lake an awtul fuss about a bee-sting; but it 

 'as only after I had " learned the trade " that 

 discovered I could let them sting, if necessary 

 nd go right on with my work. Now, when we 

 ;arn to make expenses come inside of the in- 

 3me, even though it hurts like letting the bees 

 oon stinging, then we are getting down to a 

 I 1 t»t^(i'"ock where pleasant surprises are 

 Keiy to await us everyday; and it does not 

 art us very bad either, if we get a little ad- 

 isted to the new order of things. 

 Now a word about depriving ourselves in or- 

 ■r to keep out of debt. When I was 16 years 

 a my clothes were quite shabby, and I had no 

 oney to buy better ones. Somebody suggested 

 lat 1 might go and get better ones, and pay for 

 lem when 1 got the money. The man at the 

 othing-store knew my father, and he was 



kind enough to let me have the clothes charg- 

 ing them up to me without even asking mv 

 lather to back me. Vou see, my father had a 

 rei)utation lor promptness that madt^ his Ki- 

 year-old hny good, (^ven though tlui father was 

 not consulted. 1 wore the clothes until then 

 were rather shabby, without paying a copper 

 on th(>m. 1 hen some other kind friend siigg(>st- 

 ed to me that it was a bad way for a boy to get 

 into, wearing his clothes out before tliey were 

 paid tor. At that age I w as quite ready to lis- 

 ten to anybody. So I went before night and 

 made arrangements in the way of a sort of 

 trade to have my account crossed off. Now in 

 all these years since that time no one has ever 

 asked me for the money I owed him, without 

 having his pay, or some satisfactory arrange- 

 ment made, inside of 24 hours. 



There have been times when I have "scrimped 

 myself." as the expression goes, worse than to go 

 hungry m order to keep my reputation good; but 

 1 tell you it was a good investment to do so I 

 learned self-control, and to put up with priva- 

 tions, especially in the way .of food, by a sort of 

 accident — at least. I call it that. For four 

 years, while in my teens, I was a vegetarian I 

 learned by force of will to sit down even at a 

 thanksgiving dinner and eat nothing but vege- 

 table food. The memory and experience of those 

 four years have made it comparatively easy all 

 through life to go without different things when 

 my better judgment told me I could not afford 

 It; and this very thing has helped to give me 

 happy surprises. Many times, after I have 

 cheerfully consented to forego or give up some- 

 thing I greatly desired, I have had pleasant sur- 

 prises in finding the very thing 1 coveted placed 

 right where I could get it easily, or, perhaps I 

 had better say. honestly. People are tempted 

 to be dishonest because they want a thing ter- 

 ribly bad, that they cdn not have honestly. 

 Well, when one decides that he is going to have 

 something, no matter whether he gets it hon- 

 estly or dishonestly— he is going to have it any 

 way— then good-by to happy surprises. He 

 hardly need expect them any more. I have 

 told you many times how I have longed for a 

 glass of beer. If I could sit down at a table 

 with friends, and drink all the lager beer I 

 wanted, just as the crowds were doing at the 

 World's Fair, I am afraid I should be foolish 

 enough to give quite a sum of money— that is if 

 I could do it Jionestly. If I could not do it 

 honestly, then I don't want it. A young friend 

 of mine united with one of the churches in our 

 town, not many years ago. I knew what his 

 life had been; and when I took him by the hand 

 and told him how glad I felt to hear the good 

 news, it was really one of my pleasant sur- 

 prises. I felt afraid, however, he did not real- 

 ize what he had been doing, and feared h(> had 

 united with the church on the impulse of the 

 moment. I do not think he had any idea of the 

 Bible, and perhaps but little of Christianity in 

 general. He knew this, however, that, if he 

 were going to be a Christian, he would have to 

 stop drinking b(>er. He united with the church 

 some time in the spring. Somebody told me he 

 said, a few days before the Fourth of .Julv, he 

 was going to have all the beer he could drin'k on 

 the Fourth of July, religion or no religion. As 

 soon as I heard it. however, it occurred to me 

 that, but for the grace of (Jod. there was a pic- 

 ture of A. I. Root exactly. How naturally self 

 would prompt me to make just such a speech, 

 and, worse still, put it into execution ! ,My 

 friends, if you know nothing of the appetite for 

 beer, you do know, doubtless, of the terrible 

 longing that comes at times after other things 

 that are sinful. Some one may ask, " WtiTl, 

 could not the boy be a Christian and have his 

 beer on the Fourth of .July ?" 



