856 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 



would probably not succeed in stopping the 

 water. The rain was already slacking up, 

 and there was not a bit of water to spare 

 Probably it would turn around and freeze 

 l)efore night, and this would be the last 

 chance of getting the carp-pond tilled this 

 winter, for we do not often have such warm 

 weather many hours in the middle of Decem- 

 ber. Prayer - meeting or the carp - pond? 

 Former regrets loomed up in the shadowy 

 past, warning me that my enjoyment with 

 the carp-pond and all these other things 

 would be greatly spoiled if [ omitted the 

 prayer-meeting. A few weeks ago I was out 

 of town, and of course could not attend the 

 meeting. Brother Ryder told me when I got 

 back that lie missed me greatly. Perhaps I 

 should be needed this afternoon. I did not 

 remain xmdecided long. The water would 

 have to run ; and if it washed out a bigger 

 place, and tore the bank down, I could go to 

 work and fix it up witli a clear conscience, 

 feeling that I had God on my side, any way. 

 I went to meeting. As it was a rainy day 

 there were but few present. During the 

 meeting a point came up where 1 was espe- 

 cially qualified to put in a cheering word. 

 The "hour soon passed, and I grasped my hat 

 from its accustomed hook and sped home- 

 ward for the carp-pond. Do you know how 

 much it is worth in this world to have a 

 clear conscience? How bright and vigorous 

 I feel for business when meeting is out! 

 Every paving-stone under my feet seemed 

 solid and good. I found the boy in the tin- 

 shop, whom I knew would go to work cheer- 

 fully, and help me fix the pond. He got a 

 wheelbarrow and shovel, and followed me 

 as I hastily led the way. He had his rubber 

 boots on already, and the water was not so 

 deep but that he could get right in wliere 

 the leak was, and drop tlie barrelf ul of yel- 

 low clay right around the spot. For a time 

 it didn't seem to do any good: but finally, 

 with the aid of a stick, he managed to ram 

 the clay right home to the spot where the 

 water vi'as escaping ; and as the leaky spot 

 Avas entirely stopped he ejaculated, in his 

 pleasant German accent, " 1 got him, Mr. 

 Root!" Sunday morning I was rejoiced to 

 see my pond well filled up with a depth of 

 water amply sufficient to winter the carp, 

 and no leakage. 



Now, friends, I have not written this be- 

 cause 1 want you all to do just as I do in re- 

 gard to attending prayer-meeting. I think 

 it is better for me to attend— better in every 

 way. Before the close of the meeting, the 

 young people brought out another great 

 truth. A great many spoke of having had 

 regrets in going home from these meetings, 

 because they did not take any part ; so it 

 would seem that God wislies us to have 

 sometliing to say, or take part in some way 

 in these meetings, or the blessing does not 

 follow. As I have foryearsbeen in the hab- 

 it of taking part in some way in such meet- 

 ings, I have never had occasion for such re- 

 grets, but have always been encoui-aged, 

 cheered, and my conscience lightened by a 

 regular attendance. The point I wish to 

 get at is not that you should attend meet- 

 nigs, or take part, but that you should en- 

 deavor to so shape your life that there may 



be as few regrets as possible. When you 

 commit downright flagrant sins, the regret 

 takes the shape of remorse ; and well can I 

 remember that it was the thought of this re- 

 morse that held me back when nothing else 

 would. How much is a clear conscience 

 worth ? How much difference does it make 

 to a man when he starts out in the morning, 

 whether he goes with a glad, happy alacrity, 

 I or whether he starts out with a dull, heavy 

 I remorse gnawing at his heart-strings, rm- 

 I bittering every thing and everybody V You 

 I see, 1 know something about it, friends. 

 When I first open my eyes in the morning, 

 almost my first thought is, '" What was on 

 I my mind when 1 went to sleep last night ? " 

 Was there any great load of regret and re- 

 I morse and sorrow, or was it with a happy, 

 I confiding trust in Him who is in all and over 

 all, that 1 closed my eyes in sleep V and 

 memory soon begins to go back and pick up 

 the details. It does not do, however, for me 

 to lie in bed long with such thoughts; be- 

 cause if I do not stir myself, and get hold of 

 the business that needsme, I shall, in a very 

 few moments, begin to remember the regi;et's 

 that followed for not having got up earlier, 

 and so it is all through life. These regrets 

 loom up as signals, or red lights, as it were ; 

 they seem to say, '' Look here !" and. "• here 

 is where you stranded once before, and had 

 much trouble and misery before you got out 

 into the clear and t)pen sea agani." Look 

 out ; be careful ; do not push ahead until 

 you are sure it is the right thing to do. 

 Hold on a little. You claim to be trusting 

 in God, and looking to him for guidance, 

 and he has marked out your way, almost, by 

 setting up these signals to tell you where 

 you ought not to go ; and when you man- 

 age so as to keep clear from all the pitfalls 

 that past experience has taught you to avoid, 

 you are pretty near if not quite in the 

 straight and narrow path. 



As a rule, regrets follow when we have 

 been too severe, when we have lacked chari- 

 ty, when we have spoken harshly, or insist- 

 ed on what we deemed our rights ;" and there- 

 fore one might say that these regrets would 

 lead a man to go through life letting every- 

 body have his own way, taking the non-re- 

 sistance doctrine, as it has bf en sometimes 

 termed. 1 iuwe not found this so. I remem- 

 ber distinctly a case where a man had, I felt 

 sure, told me great falsehoods and done me 

 great wrong. Re was a professor of religion. 

 I paid him a visit, and told him honestly the 

 facts as they stood before me. He denied 

 everything; and rather than stir up a big 

 fuss, I listened to his false statements witli- 

 out contradicting him. I did this, because 

 in so many former cases 1 have repenti d of 

 my harshness and severity. To my great 

 surprise. 1 found that my conscience was 

 not easy after leaving him. It was almost a 

 new experience to me to feel regret that I 

 had not 1 eeii more decided and outspoken. 

 The nearer I got home the more this feeling 

 increased, until it seemed as if a voice were 

 saAing within me, '' Shame, shame on you. a 

 Christian, to stand quietly by and let a bad 

 man think his thin falsehoods have passed as 

 genuine coin.'' The tliought finally became 

 so tormenting that I turned aboufstraight- 



