70(5 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. J 5. 



"Can't we buy any cigars or tobacco around 

 here ?" 



I replied. " No. my young friend. I do not be- 

 lieve you can get any In this part of the town." 



I was about to add something furtlier; but a 

 boy just behind me interrupted me by saying, 

 " Why. what a God-forsaken place this is, any- 

 how I'' 



I opened my mouth again to assure him that 

 it was quite the contrary; but still another boy, 

 a little further behind, began such a string of 

 oaths and curses in regard to Medina, this 

 part of the town, our establishment, and the 

 owner in pai'ticular. that, before I had a 

 chance to collect my wits so as to make even a 

 word of remonstrance, the bell rang, and they 

 scampered back to grab hold of the moving 

 cars, and otf they went. The boys were soon 

 gone from sight, but not the memory of them. 

 It haunts me still, and troubles me. The boys 

 probably came from an adjoining county; 

 but they were Ohio boys, even if they do not 

 belong to this county. Their ideas of enjoy- 

 ment, even at their tender ages, seemed to 

 include tobacco as the one thing especially 

 needful. May be they do not use it e^ery 

 day — at least, I hope they do not. Perhaps 

 it was because they were off on an excur- 

 sion away from home and parents that prompt- 

 ed them to go in a whole crowd for tobacco. 

 May be they do not swear ordinarily in the 

 impolite way they did then; but yet I fear they 

 do. 



Yesterday was the last day of our Medina 

 County fair. I wa« around through the grounds 

 more than usual. I felt anxious to study 

 humanity. I wanted to know about the boys 

 who are brought up on our farms. Of course, 

 you all know I feel an anxiety about our crops 

 and our harvests; but I hope I am telling you 

 the truth when I say I feel a hundred times 

 more anxious about another kind of crops and 

 another sort of harvest. " What shall the har- 

 vest be?" Well, even on the fairgrounds my 

 ears were pained, almost everywhere I went, 

 by profanity. Nobody was angry, nor even 

 vexed. They were just talking in a neighborly, 

 sociable sort of way, and yet they could not talk 

 over commonplace matters in a friendly, quiet 

 way, without oaths and curses sprinkled in at 

 times with fearful and alarming frequency. 

 Dear friend, is this state of affairs true in your 

 locality and in your neighborhood? Do boys 

 and men swear so commonly that it seems as if 

 it were a second nature? (rod forbid. 1 have 

 been of late so much among young peojjle who 

 belong to the Endeavor Soc'ietyethat I had be- 

 gun to think that this low-lived barbaric age 

 was passing away; but the two ^experiences I 

 have given you have given me a setback. 

 What will be the result if a large portion of our 

 boys grow up this way? Fi'equently the pro- 

 fanity was coupled with obscenity. The two 

 go together. Yes, and this is why it has seemed 

 to me that an unclean spirit was getting pos- 

 session of our boys. I asked the question at one 

 of oui' mission schools as to where these boys were 

 brought up. I had been tellinir thcni the incident 

 I first related. Somebody replied out of the audi- 

 ence, that the boys were not brought up at all. 

 Oh ! yes, they were. They had a sort of bringing- 

 up, and they are, to a certain extent, well in- 

 formed. They go to school and they read the 

 papers; but somehow or other they do not get 

 a glimpse of that pure and better spirit that 

 would banish impure and unholy talk. The 

 very spirit and the very influence that prompt- 

 ed these boys to seek tobacco would prompt 

 them to seek also intoxicating drinks. One i>i 

 a stimulant, and so is the other. Tobacco 

 paves the way for the stronger stimulant, and 

 the two together make the boy brutal and un- 



gentlemanly. They fit him and educate him to 

 give loose rein to his worst passions when he 

 gets old enough— yes. a great many times he- 

 fore he gets old enough. If this kind of seed is 

 being sown throughout our land, is it any won- 

 der that we have anarchy ? Is it any wonder 

 that men pay ten dollars for a seat to see two 

 men fight each other as a couple of dogs might 

 fight? No, no! Dogs are never so low and 

 brutal — I beg their pardon. How many men 

 went from your neighborhood to New Orleans 

 to see the recent prize-fight? If nobody went, 

 how many men and boys— yes, women too — 

 helped to spread the news that one man had 

 pounded the other into a " bloody heap "? It 

 has pained me to talk about it. It is behind 

 the times. I can hardly conceive how it can 

 be possible that, in these days of Y. M. C. A.'s 

 and Christian Endeavor societies, such a scene 

 can be enacted right here in our land of liberty. 

 The papers tell us that, in our neighboring city 

 of Cleveland, a " seething mass of humanity" 

 gathered together to get the first news from 

 New Orleans, and that the excitement ran as 

 high as it did during the war, when great issues 

 were at stake. I may be mistaken; but it 

 seems to me that every man. woman, or child 

 who makes an inquiry, who helps circulate re- 

 ports, at least indirectly gives some sort of en- 

 couragement to this vei'y thing. People are 

 curious abou. it, and anxious about it, and this 

 helps to sell the papers. The railroad companies 

 like to see it kept up. for it makes trade and 

 traffic, and stirs up excitement. Is it not an 

 unclean spirit that is at the bottom of it all ? 



Of late I have been out in the world more 

 than I used to be when I was first writing these 

 neighborly papers. I am acquainted with more 

 people than I used to be; yes. I have acquain- 

 tances — perhaps I might say neighborly ac- 

 quaintances — among almost all classes of peo- 

 ple. A couple of burglars or housebreakers 

 have been for some days in our county jail. I 

 have had so many neighborly talks with them 

 that I began to consider them as almost per- 

 sonal friends. They have told me of tneir 

 lives, and of their spiritual experiences, and I 

 still believe that they told me the truth, even if 

 they did break out of jail since I last saw them, 

 and commit more burglaries since then. Now, 

 in getting acquainted with all sorts of people I 

 know how a great part of humanity feel, and 

 I know how they think. There are some 

 very good friends of mine who use tobacco. 

 They think I make too much fuss about it. 

 Perhaps they would say that these boys I have 

 described to you are not such very bad boys 

 after all. I think some of them would tell me 

 that, if I would keep track of them, I should 

 find the greater part of them would make tol-, 

 erably good men and law-abiding citizens. 

 Well, boys do sometimes turn out better than 

 we expect, and sometimes they turn out worse 

 than we expect. I should like to submit the 

 question to any one — yes, I should like the 

 opinion of those who do not accept the Bible as 

 the word of God. and who do not see any thing 

 so very bad about tobacco, or even strong 

 di'ink. Let me present it to you. These boys 

 stepjjed from a train into a new locality. They 

 saw from the signs near or over our door that 

 refreshments and fruits were for sale. As to- 

 bacco is so often sold in such places they were 

 not very much to blame for thinking that 

 tobacco was sold here too. liut now comes the 

 test of the gentleman. The boys soon discover- 

 ed they were among a different class of people 

 from \vhat they were accustomed to. I am told 

 that some of them, as they opened the doors, 

 inquired for beer and whisky. They saw on the 

 sign, B-E-E-S; and, being int haste to make 

 their purchases before the train started, they 



