152 



GLrEANlNGS 1^1 BEE CULTUUK. 



Feb. 



shown us just wliat temperature apples and 

 strawberries, and other commodities, should 

 be kept in to preserve them from either be- 

 coming spoiled by too much heat, or from 

 freezing; and witli a properly arranged 

 cold-storage room, the matter is a complete 

 success. Xow for the application. 



A good many of us have liasty tempers. 1 

 do not know that liMsti/ is tiie right word. 

 Some of lis have tempers that are' slow, aud 

 yet unmanageable even then. Perhaps they 

 are the curse of our lives : what shall we do 

 with themV I will tell you, friends. By the 

 lielp of (Jod we can handle them as we do 

 the frosts of winter. When the temper 

 comes up, and you recognize it l)oiling and 

 seething to get out, set it to work making 

 great lilocks of ice, as it were. Put these 

 blocks away until you need them. They 

 will prove to be a tremendous motive power, 

 if proi)erly managed. J^on't kill out a boy's 

 spunk ; hud some place where he can use it 

 and utilize it, and lie will be as great a pow- 

 er for good as he has been for evil. The 

 temper needs to be a sanctified temper, and I 

 believe tliat such a thing is possible. Let 

 nie tell you a little of myself. 



Sometimes, on going my rounds after the 

 work is over for the day, I And property 

 scattered about in heedless disorder. The 

 vegetables and fruits that should be in the 

 cold cellar are left, may l)e, near the steam- 

 pipes, while something that should lie 

 kept wai'm is possibly put where it will 

 freeze. May be 1 have talked wiih the one who 

 left them so lepeatedly, and it does not do 

 any good. His mind is on something else. 

 Perhaps he cares more for the small wages 

 he receives, than for the welfare of property 

 worth ten times these wages. My temper 

 comes up. 1 try to put the subject out of 

 my mind, but it won't come away. Perhaps 

 itis Saturday night, and I begin thinking. 

 " There, my enjoyment of the Sabbath is all 

 gone, for I feel so worked up by this matter.'' 

 Maybe, instead of th.e loss of proi)erty,some 

 jiew convert in whom I had much faith has 

 been going olf with a crowd of boys, to go in 

 swimming on Sunday: or perliaps some one 

 who has given me the most faithful iiromise 

 in regard to tobacco has been smoking on 

 the streets. Satan tries to enter my heart, or 

 tries to tempt me, and suggests, "1 wouldn't 

 fuss or bother any more with that miserable 

 specimen of humanity. I \\*ould send him 

 somewhere else for a job, so quick he wouldn't 

 know what is the mattei- with him, aiid I 

 wouldn't wear out my life and strength in 

 chasing around after any more i)eoi)le, so ut- 

 terly unprincipled and irresponsible.'' Dear 

 friend, do you suijpose I feel happy when I 

 arrive at such conclusions V Vv'hy, bless your 

 heart, no. If I allow my mind to dwell on 

 it, the more the feeling of indignation wells 

 up, and I begin recounting all tlie kind acts 

 I have done, and thinking, " And that is 

 just the pay 1 get for it — that is my re- 

 ward.'' Then I rememl)er some one else 

 who has made a bad mess of something or 

 other, and I feel like saying, " I am going to 

 give the whole thing up, and not try any 

 more." I remember the boys in jail. It is 

 too bad to chop right off, arid not visit them 

 any more. But Satan suggests, " You might 



just as well. This has so upset you, that 

 you haven't any spirituality left any way;'' 

 and for the time being I actually think and 

 believe that all the enjoyment of the coming 

 Sabbath is surely at an end. However, 1 

 conclude to go through with the duties that 

 lie before me, the best 1 know how, keeping 

 it all to myself, and bearing it as best I can. 

 About this time it occurs to me that I have 

 proven, by hundreds and liundreds of simi- 

 lar expeiieiices, Ihat the only outlet is to go 

 down on my knees a)id tell my troubles to 

 the F'riend of siiniei's. Is it right to get 

 down on your knees whtn you ;ue mad V 

 Why, to ijesiire it is — that is, providing your 

 '' mad " i.s not the kind that prcmipts you to 

 turn from the Savior. If you are vexed and 

 disturbed, but still lojidl to him, 6// all nieauK 

 go down on your knees. Just let loose youi' 

 feelings, or, in other words, take one of 

 those big blocks of subdued temper and tum- 

 ble it at the S.ivior's f.-^et. Tell him your 

 troubles and trials; ask him to help you to 

 honor him in whatever you do ; and if, when 

 you get up. you liaven't got clear out of the 

 toils of the tempter, don't worry nor trouble 

 yourself very much. Pitch into business ; 

 straighten up the things that are wrong. 

 yourself. ]?.Iake up your mind to bear the 

 l)urdens of the woild, even as the Savior 

 bore them : decide to be patient andlong- 

 sutfering for his sake, if not for their sakes. 

 in other words, take your cross and follow 

 the Master. 



Then said .Icsus unto liis disciples, it' any man 

 will come after me, let liiui deny liiniself, and take 

 up his cross and I'ollow ine. 



Whenever the subject comes up again to 

 annoy you, put it persistently out of your 

 mind. If it should occur to you during the 

 sermon on the Sabbath, just say over to your- 

 self, '• Kememl)er the Sabbath'day to keep it 

 holy," and stop thinking about it. and, hrst 

 you know, the matter will dwindle into in- 

 signiticance, and you will be surprised to 

 find yourself happy and peaceful. I remem- 

 ber how, years ago, when I had started to go 

 to my mission Sabbath-school, full of the 

 spirit of the Master, and thoroughly happy, 

 on iny way I passed through a field of my 

 buckwheat, just beginning to ripen into 

 seeds. I picked off a few, aiid was startled 

 to notice that it looked like common buck- 

 wheat instead of silverhuU, which we meant 

 to have sown. All at once my mind sudden- 

 ly reverted to the time when one of the hands 

 ihoved some bags of buckwheat, and in a 

 minute it was clear to me (or at least I 

 thought it was) that that heedless hand had 

 been the cause of making that a beautiful 

 held of common old-fashioned buckwheat, 

 instead of silveihull. My face grew hot with 

 impatience. I fought aiid struggled against 

 the tempter; but the vexation was so great, 

 that every spark of God's Spirit seemed to 

 be (]uenclied oiit of me, like the blowing-out 

 of a lamp. I dare not put on paper the bit- 

 ter feelings 1 had toward that caieless liand. 

 Why, my friends, if your temper is like mine 

 under such provocations, may God in his 

 mercy have pity on you. My mother used to 

 tell me, when 1 was a child (as I have men- 

 tioned before, perhaps), that I would surely 

 die on the gallows, if I gave Avay to such 



