1894 



GLEANIN(;S IN BEE CULTURE. 



7:55 



I will have mercj', and not sacrifice.— Matt. 9:13. 



In a recent issue (p, 557) I alluded to the fact 

 that, a good deal of the time, our laws are not 

 enforced— that transgressors are beginning to 

 presume that they can escape penalty, espe- 

 cially if they have money to back them; and 

 that, after a man is convicted and put into 

 prison, if he has money his friends can get him 

 pardoned. Well, there are a good many people 

 wlio are just now demanding that our laws lie 

 enfoiced. They say that, when a man is found 

 guilty, he should be punished' to the full letter 

 and extent of the law; and that the great rea- 

 son why crime is on the increase is because of a 

 foolish weakness on the part of so many of our 

 people, leading them to believe ttiat the law is 

 too severe or too hard; and that, after a crimi- 

 nal has been punished ju-^t a little while, he 

 should be pardoned out. ' Of course, there are 

 abuses along this line, and very likely there is 

 a good deal of foolishness or foolish sentiment 

 in taking the part of criminals, and screpning 

 them from justice; but we should bear this in 

 mind — circumstances alter cases. I mentioned 

 the fact that it was said that foolish women 

 sent bouquets of flowers to the assassin of the 

 mayor of Chicaco. Now. there are those who 

 go so far in their condemnation of this thing 

 as to say that the whole matter of visiting 

 prisoners in jail should be stopped. A i)art of 

 their punishment is to shut them up without 

 companionship. The way of the transgressor 

 sliould be made hard. etc. This class of people 

 are very likely to say that, whpu a man com- 

 mits a crime, and gets i)unished, it is good 

 enough for him; and the sooner the whole 

 world learns that punishment i?icvWaif;ri/ folhnvs 

 crime, the better for all concerned. Now, that 

 is all very right and proper, providing we do 

 not push it too far. As I have said, circum- 

 ■•^tnnces alter cases. A good and wise judge 

 and jury consider the circumstances care- 

 fully in rendering their decision. For in- 

 stance. " Is this the prisoner's first offense, or is 

 he an old and hardened criminal ?" The crime 

 committed may be the same in both cases, but 

 we should CdrefnUy considi^r the circutustances. 



Yi'ars aso. on th^se pngps I told you of a 

 young man I found in our county jail. He had 

 been in the penitentiary once, and was on his 

 way ther*^ again for the same offense. Through 

 (Jod"s mercy, however, he l^ecame converted. I 

 had visited him in jail foi' several months, and 

 had become intimately acquainted with him. 

 Throngli my advice he not only pleaded guiltv, 

 but he confessed his crime so honestly, and in 

 such a manly way. that even the judge himself 

 was moved. It was years ago. so I can not 

 remember exactly what he said: but it was in 

 substance something like this: 



"Gentlemen of the jury, we send boys to the 

 penitentiary because we think it will be the 

 Vst thing for them— because it will be the only 

 thing that will teach them to do differently. 

 I am satisfied that this voung man will lead a 

 different life, even if he is not sent to prison at 

 all." 



The judge overhauled the law, and in a little 

 while decided that the prisoner need not be sent 

 to prison at all. In a few days his prison door 

 swung open wide. True to his promise he held 

 fast to his new-found Savior. He commenced 

 at once going to Sunday-School and studying 

 his Bible. In a few weeks he was taken into 

 the church, and in just a few months he was 



superintendent of a Sunday-school, standing 

 up before his audience, reading God's holy 

 word, and heading the school in prayer. Had 

 he been sent to prison. I tirrnly believe he would 

 have held fast to his religion: but was it not a 

 wise decision of that judge that this young 

 man did not need to be sent to prison? His 

 frank and manly confession of his crime, and 

 his willingness torec<'ive whatever punishment 

 the law decided to inflict, had the iiue ring. 

 The oiflcers of the law and the jury showed 

 good sense in letting rnejY.'iy influence them in 

 their decision. 



Last week there was an account in the dailies 

 something as follows: A thrifty farmer had 

 raised a nice patch of watermelons. As usual, 

 or as very often happens, perhaps I should say, 

 he was much annoyed by the depredations of 

 the neighborhood boys. He expostulated and 

 threaten-d; and finally, becoming desperate, 

 he put poison into some of the finest ones. The 

 next morning he found three young boys dead 

 in his melon-patch. Now, soiue of the friends 

 who are vehement in declaring that the way of 

 the transgressor should be made hard may say 

 that it was all right; if the hoys had let the 

 melons alone they would not have got into trou- 

 ble. But. wait a" bit. One of the three boys 

 was the fariuer's oivn son. Of course, he never 

 dreamed that one of his own children was a 

 party to the thieving. We do not know about 

 it, but it would seem likely that the father had 

 been so choice of his melons that he did not 

 give his own children as many as they wanted. 

 A good many of the readers of Gleanings are 

 melon-growers, as I happen to know. They 

 have enjoyed protecting the plants from frost, 

 bugs, and weeds; they have worked hard to 

 make a success. When the luscious fruit be- 

 gins to ripen and reward them for their dili- 

 gence, they enjoy seeing it grow. Friiuid Terry 

 says in regard to that piece of ground where he 

 had 50 bushels of wheat to the acre, he used to 

 look at the wheat every night to ^ee how much 

 it had improved during the day: and when he 

 looked out in the morning, the first thing he 

 did was to notice how much improvement it 

 had made during the night. You all know 

 about these things. Now. let us imagine that 

 melon-grower as he stood in his melon-patch 

 on that terrible morning. Three boys dead, 

 and one of them his ovvnl Do you think he 

 cared to look at the melons then? Perhaps 

 there was not a weed in the whole field. May 

 be the foliage presented as handsome an ap- 

 pearance, with the drops of dew resting on it, 

 as it did other mornings; but what attraction 

 was there to liini then in all these things? 

 What were his thoughts? We can not begin 

 to comprehend hmv he groaned in anguish of 

 spirit, "Ohl I would give all the melons in the 

 world— I would give millions of money if it 

 were mine— I would give the whole world — nay, 

 I would give my (nvn life itself, if I could but 

 be back where I was before I put that poison 

 into the melons! Ohl why was I such an idiot? 

 Why did I not recognize that the Hnest melons 

 that the world ever produced are but froth and 

 foam— but bubbles — empty chaff — compared 

 with the life of even one of these boys?" We 

 do not know whether he said, "May God have 

 mercy on such a wretch as I."' or not. But, 

 dear friends, I have not yet told all of that sad 

 story. While he was standing there in that 

 melon-patch, struck dumhby the consequences 

 of his foolish act. the father of one of the boys 

 had found out what was done. The evil spirit 

 was contagious. It was in the heart of the 

 neighbor as he looked upon his murdered boy. 

 Without a word he leveled his gun. and in a 

 moment more the melon-grower himself was a 

 corpse beside his victims. What a change in 



