78-1 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 



actly proper for such a time and place, and 

 that he was in the wronsj; and the words 

 that were spoken Avere very low and very 

 kind, and tew in number; but every one 

 felt that tliey were sufficient, and the speaker 

 went on as calm and imrutlled as if nothing 

 had been said in the least uncourteous. 

 After 1 went home I fell to wondering wheth- 

 er it Avas a natural gift, or whether it came 

 from years of trial. Probably education did 

 mucirto bring it forward ; but more likely it 

 was that lie had gone often in prayer to God. 



I want to emphasize right here the value 

 of a Christian education iii this one respect, 

 of making a man quiet and deliberate in all 

 that he does. Well, thes3 boys, it seems, in 

 spite of the college faculty, and in spite of 

 the warning words of the president, had 

 started out to celebrate, as they perliaps 

 termed it. I am told tliat tlic boys visited 

 Mr. M."s residence the night before, and an- 

 noyed him greatly ; and he says, in defense, 

 that they tore up his sidewalk. In any case, 

 no doubt the boys should have been prose- 

 cuted before the law, if they would not lis- 

 ten to reason. One with the spirit of Christ 

 in his heart would, however, have succeeded 

 without even talking of doing this; for 

 those who have had experience in similar 

 matters know very well that many times the 

 spirit of evil seems to be fostered and en- 

 couraged by the right kind of opposition. 

 We see this illustrated in crimes nariated in 

 our daily i>apers. Many of them come about 

 from neighborliood (iuarrels. Terhaps a 

 very trilling difl'ereuce starts the trouble, 

 but that, l/ecause the spirit of evil seems to 

 be on both sides, it only ends iti crimes and 

 perhaps murder. 



What shall we do with boys who rob our 

 bee-hives? is a question that comes home to 

 all of us. From the fact that the bees we 

 have nowadays are oftentimes of far greater 

 value than the honey the boys covet, the 

 ([uestion comes home to us with unusual 

 force. In our cooler, calmer moments, we 

 decide at once that we want to take such a 

 course as will stop thieving with the least 

 expense and trouble ; and where it is a 

 Christian who owns the bees, he ought to 

 show that by far the most important trans- 

 action in the" whole thing is the saving of the 

 boys. Boys are of more value than bees; 

 yes, boys are of more value than politics; be- 

 cause if we hadn't any boys we shouldn't 

 need any politics. We want boys to grow 

 up to be men. and we want them "to be men 

 that shall not cry out, nor lift up, nor cause 

 their voice to be heard in the street. 



When the boys visited him the night be- 

 fore, he ordered them off the premises, and 

 told them if they came again they came at 

 their peril. This may be true ; but I should 

 expect such words to be the very ones that 

 would be pretty sure to make the boys come 

 again. Even when boys are wrong, they do 

 not like to have shooting talked to them. It 

 is a free country, and a Christian country, 

 and almost instinctively the feeling rises up, 

 '^ You'll shoot, will ybuV Well, you had 

 better try it, if you tliink best." I have not 

 considted a lawyer; maybe my notions of 

 law are not just right, but I believe our laws 

 are foundea on the Bible, and I believe, as 



Brother Pond has expressed it somewhere, 

 our laws are God-given. A man has a right 

 to order us off his premises, if he chooses; 

 and when lie so orders us, we are bound to 

 go; that is, he has a right to insist on ovu- 

 going. If we do not go, he can take us up 

 for tresi)assing ; but I do not think he has' 

 any right to shoot. I do not believe any law 

 call l)e found granting such a light. If a 

 man breaks into your house at niglit. whom 

 you have reason to suspect came with bui- 

 glarious intentions, you have a right to shoot, 

 and reason and common sense tell why the 

 law grants this right. He comes prepared 

 to take life, if he is obliged to in oreler to 

 get your money, and therefore if you shoot 

 him you do so in self-defense. If he comes 

 to get com out of your crib, there is no law 

 in the world that will justify you in shooling 

 him. because he is endangering no one's life. 

 He is simply endangering your corn, and 

 human lives are worth more in God's sight 

 than corn or sidewalks. What ought a 

 Christian to do when somebody is stealing 

 his cornV Well, I do not know what would 

 be just the proper thing. May be the presi- 

 dent of Oberlin college would elo it about 

 right. From what I know of him I should 

 expect him to speak mildly to the intruders, 

 and I guess liis mildness would have more 

 effect in every way than slK)tguns. 



I know what it is, friends, to feel indig- 

 nant and to feel outraged. I have had my 

 property damaged by boys, and I have had 

 feelings rise up within my heart that I dare 

 not confess on paper. It "took considerable 

 grace to get them down. I did not want to 

 iese)rt to law ; I wanted to adjust matters 

 after a fashion that suited me in that pres- 

 ent mood ; but the feelings were very wrong 

 and very bad ; and if cherished or given 

 way to,'l fear to think where they might 

 lead. A man wluim I knew quite well, fiiice 

 discovered that somebody was stealing pro- 

 visions almost every night from his store. 

 He concealed himself behind the counter, 

 with a loaded grin. A poor laboring-man 

 came in ; and while he was packing up food 

 and things needed in the household, the 

 owner of the steue shot anel killed him. 

 The store-keeper had probably been long 

 vexed by losing his goods, "^^ery likely he 

 had seen his prolits dwindle down to noth- 

 ing because of this thieving. He had per- 

 haps lain awake nights over it, and finally 

 declared that the offender should go no 

 longer uni)unislied. He laid his plans, and 

 succeeded to his heart's content. He found 

 the thief, and shot liim. Nevermore in this 

 world would his hard-earned goods be taken 

 without equivalent— at least, by that one 

 thief. Did he succeed? Did he feel happy 

 over it? Is there any one l;ere among our 

 readers wlio would for thousands of dol- 

 lars stand in that man's place to-day? 

 What shall it profit a man if he gain tlie 

 whole world, and shoot his neighbor, even 

 though that neighbor be a thief ? Siip])Ose 

 when he found that man taking his things, 

 he had talked to him (piietly. Tiie man 

 would not have shot him— he had no such 

 intention. He was only a poor mistaken 

 foolish— /e//('/(r-;/'f(re/er. Maybe he would not 

 have shenvn much penitence : perhaps, after 



