178 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mak. 1. 



Resist the Devil, and \w will Heo from you.— James 

 4:7. 



If the great Father above lias given me any 

 particular message to deliver to the children of 

 men, it is along the line of our text. I see peo- 

 ple all around me struggling against evil — not 

 the same sort of evil, by any means, for the 

 thing that tempts one has no attraction at all 

 for another: and Satan's ways of working are 

 so diverse and so many, that sometimes I think 

 it is only once in a while that we find two peo- 

 ple who are tempted precisely alike. A few 

 days ago Huber came home from scliool, with a 

 remark something like this: 



"I tell you. pa. Miss Smith is having almost 

 as much trouble with the boys in the new 

 schoolhouse as you are with tobacco among the 

 factory hands." 



" Why, you don't mean, Huber, that the boys 

 that go to the new schoolhouse — the little ones 

 — are using tobacco f ' 



"No. they don't use tobacco; but the trouble 

 she has is because she can not get them to stop 

 using bad and naughty words." 



You may be sure that my heart went out in 

 sympathy for my excellent, iiard - working 

 friend who is principal of the four juvenile 

 classes in our new schoolhouse. After prayer- 

 meeting was over one evening. I mentioned to 

 Miss S. the report Huber had given. 



" Well, Mr. Root. I am vei-y much obliged to 

 Huber for his sympathy, if for nothing more. 

 We four teachers iiave been having a real time 

 with this matter of profanity and obscenity: 

 and it has obtained so persistent a hold among 

 some of even the veiy small boys, that we are 

 almost at our wits" end. I do wish you would 

 come down and see if yowr iniiuence in addi- 

 tion to ours may not amount to something." 



Not very long after this, a little not(> inform- 

 ed me that they \\ould be v(M'y glad to S(^e me at 

 three o'clock tliat afternoon. 1 went, and was 

 ushered into one of the rooms, for school was 

 just closed, and pretty soon eight small boys 

 came in slowly, with downcast eyes and sad 

 countenances, evidently expecting punishment 

 or a severe reprimand which they evidently 

 felt they deserved. Miss S. remarked that these 

 were the ones who seemed to do no better, even 

 after they had been repeatedly admonished. 

 For a little time all was silence. I motioned 

 them to take seats, and I sat down as near as I 

 could well get to them. As I looked into their 

 faces I Inwardly prayed for wisdom to get a 

 real strong hold on those little hearts — yes, 

 even though Satan had already made sad in- 

 roads therein. I remembered my hobby about 

 getting acquainted, and in fifteen or twenty 

 minutes I felt happy to see them not only lis- 

 tening to all I had to say: but before 1 got 

 through, they asked me questions, a great 

 many of them. My prayer had been answered. 

 They looked up witli fear when I lirst cami' in. 

 but we were now all on very friendly terms. 

 They had given me a promise to try harder to 

 resist evil: and wh(>n I told them that God 

 heard that promise, and asked them to kneel 

 down while I prayed that he would help them 

 to keep it. every boy knelt down by me: and 

 during mv brief prayei' you could have heard a 

 pin drop. Their ages ran from seven to twelve. 

 The youngest said, in our confidential talks 

 about the matter, " Mr. Root. 1 can keep the 

 bad words back without much trouble unless 

 something gets me I'eal mad, and tlien I can't liel]) 

 it. They will come.'" May God bless and hel|j this 

 poor ciiild of seveni I told him that great big 

 men iiad exactly the same experience he had. 



and that some of them, with ail their strength 

 of mind and muscle, did not succeed much bet- 

 ter than he did. They told me, too, about big 

 men who set a bad exami)le, and. without 

 knowing it. i)erhaps taught them these bad 

 words. I promised them tliat I would talk to 

 the big 7nen too. and I have commenced it. I ex- 

 hoi'ted them, in the language of oiu' text, to kev\> 

 these words back, and hold them in with all 

 their might. I explained to them, that, al- 

 though it is bad and wicked, even to think 

 "swear words," it was a bundled times b(4ter 

 to keep them back and not let them out: and I 

 told them that, if they kept tlieni back reso- 

 lutely, by trying real hard, by and by the bad 

 thoughts would ste]) out, and I unconsciously 

 preached a sermon for myself at the same time. 

 Resist the Devil, and he will fiee from you. my 

 good friend. 1 asked the boys about their 

 mothers: and, oli how I do wish I could see 

 these mothers, and ha\'e just such a little talk 

 withtheml I would admonish them to whis- 

 per a kind helpful word in the ear of thes(> pre- 

 cious boys of tlieirs. just as they start for 

 school: and then I would exhort the motiiers to 

 be on tlu' \\ atch w iieii school is out: catcli the 

 anxious, restless chajj in your arms for just a 

 minute, and ask him if he has kept the prom- 

 ise that he gave you in the morning, to refrain 

 from bad words. Oh! if you will do this, dear 

 sister, tile schoolteacher will not feel her labors 

 are lilc(> casting pearls b(>fore swine. I know of 

 a mother who fought Satan k)iigand faithfully, 

 right along on this line: and, with God's help, 

 she triumphed. Her boy is now siip(»riiitendent 

 of a Sunday-school, and doing \\hat he can for 

 a great lot of just such urchins as he was a fe«' 

 years ago. After the boys had gone I asked t(> 

 see all the teaclii'rs. I sat down witli tiieni and 

 exhorted them to b<' not weary in well doing. 

 In s|)eaking of the i)arents. Miss S. told me that 

 she sent a note home by one of these same boys 

 — the oldest one in the lot. in fact — a note to iiis 

 mother. Shall I tell you wiuit the motiier did '.' 

 She gave the Vioy a tremendous whijiiiing — a 

 whipping so sever<' that my good friend told me 

 she felt almost afraid to i-ejiort to the inothin- 

 again. Perhajis the iioor mother thought slu^ 

 was doing lier duty. May be she iuid tried oth- 

 er means: but. O dear mothers, please lielie\-e 

 me when I tell you that with these t)ther ways 

 I have told you of, where followed up faitlifiil- 

 ly, week in and week out. I am sure the whip- 

 ping could, at least in most cases, be omitted 

 entirely. Very likely punishment is necessary, 

 but I begin to fear that it is given only when 

 the parent is otf from the track, as well as tlie 

 child. When ^^•eetls become so large that they 

 can not be killed with a rake, we must take the 

 hoe and choj) them uii: and sometimes, after 

 \'eiy long neglect and procrastination, the only 

 thing is to take tlie scythe and mow them off. 

 Do you see the application, dear fatiier or 

 mother? and do you know by experience how 

 much better and happier a parent fe(>ls who 

 lias conquered by love instead of the rod? 

 Wliy, we got so well acquainted in just that 

 little visit with the boys that one of them 

 said, as I told^him he might go home. " Why. 

 Mr. Root, Ijgo to your i^cliurch. Didn't you 

 knowjit ?'' '. 



I told him I had seen him at our church, and 

 I was very glad he did go; and I told them, in 

 leaving, that I should watch for them when I 

 jiassed tluMii on the streets: and I hoped to catch 

 a pleasant look from each and every one of 

 them, assuring me they had kept the little 

 promise given that day to me, before the great 

 God above. 



A few months ago a young man applied for 

 employment, and remarked that he had worked 

 at the machinist's trade some. As we were in 



