1886 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



71 



0u]R peMEg. 



Thou shalt.love thy neighbor as thysell'.— Matt. 

 1<J:19. 



fRIEND ROOT:— You arc a Christian, and have 

 had long- experience, hence I ask your advice. 

 1 was once a professor of religion. I was 





young, and became a backslider. 1 have nev- 



er since enjoyed myself. I saw more happi- 

 ness while an active member of the church than I 

 have ever seen in the long years since. Now, on 

 the tirst day of January, 1886, 1 started again, and 

 am going to join the church and try to be willing to 

 bear my cross in every instance. I owe a good 

 many debts, most of them small ones, and I am go- 

 ing to write or call on all my creditors and let them 

 know that I am now going to make restitution for 

 my sinfulness just as fast as the Lord will let me. 

 My prospects are at present very flattering for the 

 coming season. Ha\-e I the right, as a Christian, to 

 invest in one or two bee-journals as long as I am 

 owing debts? Now, it seems to me that it would be 

 right for me to invest in about two good journals, 

 as I believe by such an investment that I could then 

 make enough more than I would if I took no joui-- 

 nals. Am I right? If right, will you let me have 

 Gleanings for 1886, and let me send you untested 

 Italian queens, or monej', Mhichever is most conve- 

 nient, in June, 1886, subscription for 1886 full? 



I want to be able, from this time onward, to do 

 just what my conscience tells me Is right— to pay 

 every man just what I owe him, and always do a 

 little more than I think right, rather than to do any 

 less than my conscience tells me is right. I always 

 thought I was a sort of moral man, but I can now 

 see how useless my life has been, to what it might 

 have been had it been spent in the service of my 

 Master. I could write much more, but it seems to 

 me wrong to occupy any more of your time. Pray 

 for me that I may ever be a servant of God hence- 

 forth. X. Y. Z. 



Altlioiigli the above letter was not written 

 for publication, I am sure our friend who 

 writes it will excuse me for using it in this 

 way when I assure him I think the story of 

 his'experience and trials may be a means of 

 helping many another brother. I thank 

 you, friend X. Y. Z, for the great confidence 

 you repose in me in wishing for my advice, 

 and most gladly do I give it, and most glad- 

 ly do I pray for you that you may hold out 

 and prove faithf id ; for if you do, I hww 

 that God will bring you safely through all 

 your troubles. 



In regard to the question you ask, and all 

 other questions of this kind, there may be 

 differences of opinion ; and very likely many 

 of the brothers and sisters will think'l am a 

 little extreme and a little severe in the plan 

 I would recommend; but, dear friends. I 

 have had years of experience in this matter 

 in watching boys and girls who had foolishly 

 let their expenses go beyond their income, 

 as well as older people ; in fact, this one sin 

 of contracting debts that can not be paid 

 has been one of the most grievous in leading 

 astray those who seemed to have started 

 well, but got off from the track. As I under- 

 stand the matter, I am not the one to advise 

 as to w^hether you should take a bee-journal 

 or not, or make other investments of a like 



nature. So long as you are owing an honest 

 debt, the money you* have in your possession, 

 as I see it, is not yours : it belongs to these 

 friends who have been so kind as to credit 

 you ; and when any question comes up as to 

 investments, aside from the one investment 

 of using what little money you have to pay 

 debts. l" think the;/ should be consulted. It 

 is not only that you want to succeed in 

 eventually paying all you owe, but it is that 

 you may honor the Master, not only at some 

 future time, but even now. You may meet 

 sickness or death, and be absolutely unable 

 to pay these debts. How shall you honor 

 the Master meanwhile — that is, before you 

 are able to pay your debts ? What ought a 

 Christian to do*^ in such cases V It is true, 

 you must have a little money for necessary 

 expenses ; for if you decide it best to hand 

 over cvcri/ dollar to your creditors as fast as 

 you carnit, it might so cripple your abilities 

 that you could not work to' advantage. 

 Now, whether the amount is large or small, 

 I would try to do it on a basis something 

 like this : I would first sit down with pencil 

 and paper, and make a neat and accurate 

 list of all I was owing my friends ; then I 

 would go to them personally, or write them, 

 and tell them just how tlie matter stood, 

 and ask permission of them to use wdiat lit- 

 tle money I might have, in such ways as 

 might seem best and wisest. If you are ow- 

 ing these friends money that ought to be 

 paid, the money you have in your possession 

 is theirs and not yours. If you can make 

 an arrangement with them to wait on you 

 until some set future time, all well and good. 

 Then you can meet them and look them in 

 the face without fear or shame, and without 

 the recollection of broken promises. My ex- 

 perience has been, that there are very few 

 people in the world who will not willingly 

 agree to wait for money, with a reasonable 

 expectation ; and especially is this the case 

 where you mutually agree upon a fair rate 

 of interest, and keep the interest paid. 

 Where it is impossible to pay the debt, it is 

 oftentimes within the debtor's power to pay 

 the interest — say yearly, semi - annually, 

 quarterly, or monthly, as may be agreed up- 

 on. Now, even if this payment t.s only a few 

 cents it is a sort of guarantee that you mean 

 to be straightforward and honest. It goes a 

 very great way toward giving confidence. I 

 woxdd advise one who is in debt, as you say 

 you are, to sacrifice a great deal, and go to a 

 great deal of trouble to pay this matter of 

 interest pi'omptly ; and it has often seemed 

 to me as if God took pleasure in honoring a 

 man who pays interest promptly, by helping 

 him very soon to pay the principal also. This 

 matter of paying interest seems to get one 

 who is down, upon his feet again. If he is 

 not paying up the principal as he agreed and 

 expected to do, he is doing the next best 

 thing. A dollar is a small amount of money, 

 and some may laugh at me when I say that, 

 if I were you, I would not even subscribe 

 for a bee-journal until I had the consent of 

 my creditors. There may be several other 

 investments you would like to make. Put 

 them down in writing, submit them to your 

 creditors, with the reasons you have given 

 me ; and if they say, ''All right, old fellow, 



