1891 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



31 



were enlisted in the cause, ami if his quaint 

 smile and vein of pleasantly could all be laid 

 (it the ftiot of the Master. \Vhen I see a man 

 with this gift I often wonder how he will 

 "Stand tire." When Satan bringsall his artillery 

 to bear, how long will he stand unflinching, 

 and without being demoralized? Dr. Miller 

 has a wonderful gift in this line. 1 asked him 

 a few days ago whetlier he could go into busi- 

 ness, real liard work, and keep that steady good 

 nature constantly about him. I wanted to 

 know how big a reserve he held back for cases 

 of emei'gency. ^[rs. Root lias a great mania for 

 large cisterns. When the masons and others 

 ask her what in the world she wants a cis- 

 tern so big for. she says she not only wants one 

 that will hold water enough for oxr use during 

 a dry time, but one that will bear drawing on 

 for the neighbors. She says she never wants to 

 tell a neighbor that they can't have all the crit- 

 ter they have a mind to come after. Now. 

 friends, it is not th(' cistern water I need, but it 

 is grace from on high. I want a great big lot of 

 grace— not only enough to keep A. I. Root go- 

 ing, but enough to give the neighbors all 

 around — enough to give the children at home. 

 Yes. if my good wife should ever be worn out 

 by many care.s. so that she needs a little help in 

 that line. I am earnestly praying that God may 

 give me this reserve force of grace to help her. 

 Nay. further: May (rod give me grace in such 

 unstinted supply that I can pour it out to yon. 

 dear readers, and not bi' impoverished. And 

 what is it we want tinally but the gift of the 

 Holy Spirit? And have we not the promise? 

 And this brings us to that verse I have loved to 

 read over and over again: 



If ye. then, being' evil, know how to give good g'lfts 

 unto your children, how much more sliallyour heav- 

 enly Father give the Holy Spirit to theni that ass 

 him? 



I wish to refer again to this matter of scold- 

 ing before folks. Your children need exhort- 

 ing: and they often need, perhaps, a severe 

 reprimand: but do not do it on the impulse of 

 the moment: do not do it from impulse at all. 

 Do it from cool, steady princijjle. from a sense 

 of duty. Only yesterday a man was slicing off 

 wooden separators. One boy picked them from 

 the machine, and laid them in piles of 2.") each. 

 Two more boys took these packages of 3.5 in 

 long baskets to the dry-house, and piled them 

 up with sticks between them, so they would 

 dry out smooth and straight. The boys who 

 were carrying them to the dry-house got a lit- 

 tle ahead of the slicing. While they were wait- 

 ing for a basketful they amused themselves by 

 throwing splinters and spoiled separators on 

 the large driving-belt. It was funny to see them 

 whip around the pulley. The man who ran the 

 machine was called away for a few minutes: 

 and when he got back, some of these refuse 

 pieces of wood were in the gearing, or large iron 

 cog-wheels, throwing the belt off. and spring- 

 ing the main shaft. The boys said they were 

 cleaning off the machine, and a handful of 

 splinters fell into the gearing. They had been 

 instructed, before going to work near the ma- 

 chine, in regard to the danger of being around 

 such machinery, and had been cautioned to be 

 very careful. They were certainly very much 

 out of place in even throwing shavings on the 

 belt — still more in cleaning off the chips and 

 shavings while it was in motion. I reprimand- 

 ed them pretty severely, but I did not feel quite 

 satisfied that the whole truth had come out. 

 The next morning, the smallest of the three boys 

 came to me. saying that his conscience troubled 

 him. and confessing that he not only put pieces 

 on the belt, but he also put some in the heavy 

 c^g-wheels. to see it "chaw them up.'" This, 

 you see, threw considerable additional light on 



the matter. Had I yielded to imimlse I should 

 have made the boys pay all damage caused by 

 getting the machine started again. It seemed 

 pretty hard, however, to ask the one who so 

 frankly confessed his fault to do this. I decid- 

 ed to let the whole matter rest until I could see 

 each one of the boys alone. I am now very, 

 very glad that I did'so. I am glad that, when 

 I had time to think the matter over, I could .see 

 very clearly that the loss of time and money 

 was but a small matter compared with the 

 falsehood that seemed connected with it. I 

 have been anxious to bring these boys to Jesus 

 Christ: and after I had waited half a day I 

 could keep this thought in mind far better 

 than if I had spoken about it when I was pro- 

 voked. I do not know even yet just where the 

 truth does lie — that is, it "is not very clear 

 whether the shavings ran from the belt into the 

 gearing, whether they dropped from the ma- 

 chine into the gearing, or whether some one of 

 the boys put in so large a handful as to stop the 

 machinery with a sudden shock, and spring the 

 shaft. Many of you will doubtless say. " Mr. 

 Root. I would not have such boys (iin/iv'hcre on 

 the premises-" Gently, gently, dear fritMul. I 

 have tried boys by the "hundreds, and these boys 

 will certainly average as well as any of them. 

 It is boy nature to try experiments.' and have 

 fun, especially when he has to wait for some- 

 thing. If I should turn them off and try oth- 

 ers. I should have to go through the same ex- 

 perience in teaching others: and these boys 

 iiave been with me for some time, and are get- 

 ting pretty well taught. I don't think they will 

 play with dangerous machinery any more. 



Some years ago, when I had a store on the 

 street up town, I came home from prayer-meet- 

 ing and found several customers in the store, 

 and nobody there to wait on them. The two 

 clerks whose business it was to take charge had 

 each left, presuming the other was there. One 

 of them was a professor of religion, and tlie oth- 

 er was becoming quite a young skeptic. He 

 claimed that church-members and professing 

 Christians do not do any better — perhaps not 

 quite as well — as those who make no profession. 

 I was anxious that he should have plenty of 

 proof to the contrary. But I was so vexed to 

 find the clerks so indifferent to the plain de- 

 mands of business, especially in the middle of 

 Saturday afternoon, that I scolded— well, more 

 than I knew, till I came to think it over after- 

 ward. It was the young skeptic I found first. 

 He took it very meekly, and did not offer a 

 word of apology": and when I afterward begged 

 his pardon he said he did not try to make any 

 exi)lanation then, because he thought it would 

 be better to keep perfectly still until I had 

 " cooled off.'" I presume there was wisdom in 

 what he said. He. a non-professor, showed 

 more wisdom than his employer, who had just 

 returned from pr<iycr-meetih(j. and who did a 

 good deal of exhorting. Whenever I see him or 

 think of him. a feeling comes up. "Oh that I 

 could have those few minutes back again to do 

 overl"' He accepted my aijology. and said it 

 was all right, and that, under the circum- 

 stances, he thought very likely I was excusable. 

 But my conscience did not tell me .so. He is not 

 a Christian yet. and something seems to say to 

 me that my words during those five or ten min- 

 utes may possibly stand in the way of his ever 

 becoming one. I do not know whether he has 

 ever told his relatives about it or not. They 

 are very kind, good friends of mine. Very like- 

 ly he had manliness enough never to repeat to 

 anybody what I did say to him. Perhaps you 

 say I am too sensitive — that a clerk who desert- 

 ed his post at such a time (HKjJit to be severely 

 overhatiled. Dear friend, nobody has ever cen- 

 sured me for that act. It is only the still small 



