1894 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



431 



How many timos I have seen that thing enaet- 

 edl Somebody lias been tilling a humble posi- 

 tion. Sickness ov inOifference, or sometliing 

 else. leavi'S an important posi vacant. Now is 

 the chance fur tlie one wlio lias been watching 

 and wailing for promotion. Uon't you see thai 

 outside circumsiances can never keep a good 

 nuin or woman down very long ? and yet how 

 often we hear the complaint, " 1 do not get my 

 jnsi dues: 1 never (//(/get my just dues. The 

 unscrupulous and forward are sure to crowd in 

 ahead of me." Sumetinus iheoue who grumbles, 

 and Hnds fault wiih circumsiances, has added, 

 " in fact, there is no chance ai all for an huii- 

 e«t man in such a world as this." The latter is 

 a point-blank uniruih. it is just the otlier way. 

 There is a trcinendous chance eveiy day and 

 almost every(('/ie?'e for those who are unflinch- 

 ing in their devotion to right and principle; 

 but it is true thai there is not a very good 

 chance (aiywhere lor one who is tricky and dis- 

 honest. 



A man is harmed, as in the language of our 

 text, by what he permits to come lorih from his 

 moulli. Jf he permits his mouth to frame 

 trickery and deceit, it damages and injures him 

 a thousand times more than any slander that 

 may be started against him; for, as time pass- 

 es, everybody will recognize that the slander 

 against the innocent man is not true. It does 

 not fit him ai all. It is not like him. The 

 thing which, however, he in an unguarded mo- 

 ment allows to escape his lips— the thing that 

 he should never have permitted his lips to utter 

 at all — is what kills, and pulls a man down. If 

 sucli things are permitieu to slip out once, they 

 will again ; and all along in this pathway of 

 life these things will be noticed, and they mark 

 and leave their impress on the character and 

 on the mind. A great many strictures are 

 uttered in regard to the "" cold and unfeeling 

 world." I believe good men have not founU 

 the world cold and unfeeling. There is evil in 

 the world, it is true. There are vicious and 

 evil-disposed persons; but they are being con- 

 stantly held in check — at least they are in most 

 neighborhoods and localities; and there is such 

 a constant and unceasing clamor for men of 

 strict integrity— that is, integrity coupled with 

 energy, intelligence, and industry, that such 

 people are constantly being wanted. 



You have knov\n people, doubtless, who 

 ranily speak ill of absent ones. I once heard a 

 young Christian say that it kept him so busy 

 weeding out and correcting the sins that he 

 constantly discovered in his own heart that he 

 had not much time to dwell on the shortcom- 

 ings of others. Oh what a wise saying was 

 that I When Joseph, the Hebrew slave, was 

 sent down into Egypt among the depraved 

 heathen people, instead of meeting injustice 

 and wrong he very soon found everybody ready 

 to give place to him: and not only that, Phara- 

 oh and all his subjects seemed quite willing to 

 extend a helping hand, and invite him to step, 

 even up to almost the highest place in the 

 kingdom. He was asked to take a seat next 

 to the throne occupied by the king himself; and 

 it is so even now. Do not. I beg of you, dear 

 friends, worry about what your enemies may 

 do to spite you. In fact, you need not pay any 

 attention to your enemies in that line at all; 

 and, above every thing, do not think of waiting 

 for a chance to " pay " them back. Love ye 



four enemies, do good to them that hate you. 

 f you get into a fighting mood— and I do be- 

 lieve it is a grand good thing to get into such a 

 mood sometimes— turn right about resolutely 

 and fight the sins in your oivn heart. Fight 

 the selfish feelings that continually bubble forth. 

 Hold them in check. Fight Sutati, not your 

 neighbors. I suppose mo^t of us now and then 



get into a fighting mood. We say, " I do not be- 

 lieve it is my Outy to si;ind it any longer."' 

 There is one illustration 1 should like to give 

 here; bull fearsome of my own good neigh- 

 bors may see it and feel hurt. I think, how- 

 ever, I will risk it after all; for the moral it 

 carries is too good to be lost. 



Some time last fall the cattle from a neigh- 

 boring pasture liad a fashion of getting through 

 into my rich creek-bottom grounds, b'ov a 

 time we were puzzled to see how ihey got out 

 of the pasture lot. It actually seemed as if the 

 cows had learned to be siy enough to wait till 

 everybody had gone to meeting, or till some 

 time in tlie day when everybody was especially 

 busy. Then these cows would be out of th(^ 

 pasture and in the garden; and it was hard to 

 tell by what hook or crook they managed it. 

 At length we discovered that they gut ihrougn 

 near tne briage, and then this was fixed up 

 securely; but in a few days the cows were in 

 again. Then it turned out that the iron cattle- 

 guard on the railroad had been removed by the 

 division boss, and a wooden one put in place of 

 it. The cattle had, however, got a taste uf the 

 " garden sass," and they wali^ed over the wood- 

 en cattle-guard, after very little practice. We 

 remonstrated with the railroad company; but 

 it was rumored that they were not paying ex- 

 penses, and, in fact, the road had gone into the 

 bands of a receiver, and there was no help for 

 the trouble. The owner of the cows Hnally 

 took them out of the pasture, and kept them in 

 a stable. It was not very many days, however, 

 before they were in the garden again, and a 

 small boy was chasing them pell-mell over my 

 soft ground, prepared with so much care. Fi- 

 nally winter came and ended the trouble forthe 

 time being. The cows, bowever, had not for- 

 gotten a bit of their frolics through my stuff, 

 even thoug;h they had not had a taste for 

 months before. One beautiful day in May, 

 when everybody was too busy to chase cows, or 

 even to think of them, they were again running 

 through my choice currants and gooseberries, 

 and raising havoc as only cows can do. We 

 then put them back into the pasture. The 

 man had scarcely got to his work, however, be- 

 fore the cows were there again. He drove them 

 out tne second and third time ; and while we 

 were eating dinner a message came to me say- 

 ing that the cows were holding " high carni- 

 val"' (igaiii among my stuff. I aski d the man 

 who drove ihem out what the trouble was, and 

 he said they walked right over the cattle-guard 

 as fast as he drove them out. He said he spoke 

 to the boss of the division gang, who was at 

 work right near the crossing; but he only re- 

 plied in a sarcastic way that ttie cows did not 

 trouble him a particle — why should they look 

 after them ? I remember of thinking that the 

 law was on my side, and that 1 would have 

 damages. I mentally figured up that it was 

 worth just about an even ^—.00 for all the 

 trouble, worry, and less I had sustained. But a 

 better voice suggested, "Oh, no, Mr. Root I 

 You would not take -S— .00 from your neighbors, 

 who are hard-working farmers, nor from the 

 man who owns the cows, nor even from the 

 railroad company with all the bad luck they 

 have had." I mentally decided that I should 

 not feel easy to lake this sum of their money ; 

 but I thought half would be little enough, sure- 

 ly. But conscience kept on, and it reminded 

 me of Abraham when he was pleading for the 

 Sodomites. When conscience had got me down 

 to a very moderate sum I concluded it was too 

 small an amount to make a fuss about. But I 

 gave vent to a groan — it was a mental groan, 

 no doubt — when! looked at the stuff and the 

 cow-tracks in the soft mellow earth. 



Now, tie incidents as given above are all 



