GLEANINGS IN BEE CULUTRE. 



Feb. 15. 



Our Homes. 



He that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap 

 corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of 

 the Spirit reap life everlasting.— Gal. 6:8. 



Camp Verde is about thirty miles from Je- 

 rome, and about fifty miles from Flagstaff. 

 These are the nearest cities or towns of any ac- 

 count. Camp Verde itself used to be a military 

 station with a fort or camp as a protection from 

 hostile tribes of Indians. The Indians, how- 

 ever, have long since ceased hostilities, and the 

 camp is broken up. All that remains is the 

 long low adobe buildings, a single store, and 

 one or two dwellings It was Saturday night 

 when I got into the Verde River. During the 

 evening some of the neighbors dropped in. and 

 finally a young minister who was to preach to 

 us on the morrow. He was a bright, vivacious, 

 muscular young Irishman, or at least he came 

 from Ireland. During his early life, he, in the 

 language of our text, did considerable in the 

 way of sowing to the flesh. Through the grace 

 of God he was converted, however, and is now 

 giving all his strength, life, and zeal toward 

 sowing to the Spirit. I shall long remember 

 that pleasant evening at friend Bell's. We 

 kept the minister talking, and answering ques- 

 tions until he would have been tired out had it 

 not been for his Irish muscle and the grace of 

 God that seemed to make him untiring in his 

 work. He preaches at three and perhaps four 

 different stations, scattered a good many miles 

 apart. Most of his appointments are every 

 other Sunday; some of them only every third 

 Sunday, and, if I remember correctly, at some 

 points they have preaching only once a month. 

 At mo«t of these country places, however, they 

 have Sundav-schools and Endeavor meetings 

 every Sunday. I believe these are both gener- 

 ally well attended. But there is a general 

 complaint of poverty all over this locality. The 

 minister is paid partly by the church that 

 sends him out, and he is expected to get a part 

 of it from the people where he preaches. Mr. 

 Bell informed me, however, that they were 

 very much behind in raising their small pro- 

 portion. Rev. Mr. Healy has never lost cour- 

 age and zeal, however, even if his people are a 

 little behind in paying his salary. He Is one of 

 the most untiring and indefatigable Christian 

 workers I ever knew. 



After giving us an excellent sermon at the 

 schoolhouse he hastened off to another appoint- 

 ment several miles up the river. He preached 

 and exhorted there as usual; and as we were 

 coming home from the Endeavor meeting in 

 the evening we passed a little home where I 

 happened to know there was quite a family of 

 children. I stopped a moment to listen to the 

 very earnest talking from some one inside, and 

 looked inquiringly at Mr. Bell. 



" Oh ! " replied he, "that is only our minister. 

 As soon as he gets through preaching he makes 

 house-to-house visits, calling on those who do 

 go to church and on those who do not go, all 

 alike. In fact, he puts in pretty much all his 

 time week days and Sundays in visiting the 

 people of his different parishes." 



There were so many of us in friend Bell's 

 pretty little home that Saturday night that we 

 were asked, the minister and I, if we could 

 manage to occupy the same bed. I do not know 

 just what I said, but I felt like saying, " To be 

 sure, we can. So far as I am concerned, broth- 

 er Healy and I can not only get along in the 

 same bed together, but we could get along side 

 by side through all life's journey, clasping 

 hands as comrades in the Master's service." 

 Oh how much good it does me to find strong, 



earnest, bright young men, giving their whole 

 lives toward battling for the right, and holding 

 up before the world the cross of Christ! 



I am now going to " tell stories out of school" 

 just to illustrate what Christianity has to meet 

 in these out-of-the-way places. Of course, there 

 are boys and girls to be looked after, even if 

 the homes are scattered more or less apart; and 

 these boys and girls will get together and have 

 some sort of frolic now and then. Perhaps one 

 reason why the Endeavor Society has made 

 such headway is because it affords the means of 

 letting young people get out and see each oth- 

 er. Through brother Bell's instrumentality, 

 together with that of his good wife, they have 

 quite a good Sunday-school and Endeavor Soci- 

 ety in their neighborhood. Yes, there are two 

 or three of them — one at the old camp and one 

 up the river near the locality where brother 

 Bell and I had our "falling out." Well, some 

 time last fall. I do not know but it was toward 

 Thanksgiving time, the Endeavor Society de- 

 cided to have a "husking bee." Quite likely, 

 husking-bees had been fashionable before any 

 Endeavor Society was started. When the En- 

 deavorers took the husking-bee in charge, it 

 was understood — at least by the Christian peo- 

 ple—that it would be something in line with the 

 Endeavor socials. I believe the husking-bee 

 was a success. But after it was over, some of 

 the young people, in accordance with a time- 

 honored custom, commenced to clear away the 

 chairs and tables, so as to wind up with a dance. 

 The Endeavorers protested, and finally manag- 

 ed to wind up the husking-bee at a seasonable 

 hour, without any dance. A certain element, 

 however (but I am not prepared to say whether 

 they were members of the Endeavor Society or 

 not), were very much put out, and declared they 

 would " pay " the Endeavorers off, and " get 

 even" with them. Please bear in mind what I 

 have said about the difficulty of paying the 

 minister's salary. As a rule, the crops are poor 

 in the Verde Valley; and not only do the peo- 

 ple work hard for whatever they get, but all 

 their produce must be hauled over lone moun- 

 tain roads from thirtv to fiftv miles before they 

 can find a market. Under the circumstances it 

 seems hard to call upon these poor hard-work- 

 ing people for contributions for avy purpose. 

 They have no money, and absolutely "can not" 

 raise it. May be you have heard of such a 

 state of affairs before. Perhaps it is talked and 

 felt in vour own community. Now ju^t wait a 

 bit. The opposition side to the Endeavorers 

 declared that, even if they »'C7-e defeated on a 

 Thanksgiving dance, they would not be on a 

 Christma<dance: and they made their prepara- 

 tions, and advertised tickets for sale at a dollar 

 each,. and then they went to work to carry out 

 their project. By some hook or crook, the su- 

 perintendent of the Sunday-school — or one of 

 the Sunday-schools at least — was induced to 

 help sell tickets; and, whatdo you think? They 

 made their boast that they were going to sell a 

 hundred tickets, and did sell that many. One 

 hundred hard-earned dollars were taken from 

 the poor people of that valley, and paid over for 

 tickets to the dance; and then they crowed over 

 the Christian element who thought at Thanks- 

 giving time that spiritual things had triumph- 

 ed over the enemy. 



Dear friends, perhaps I have not told the sto- 

 ry just right. It is near enough right, how- 

 ever, I think, to illustrate the point I wish to 

 make. In almost any community neople can 

 scrape up money if it is wanted badly enough. 

 Very likely. as a consequence the minister's sal- 

 ary is cut off; perhaps rents were not paid; 

 may be the good wife and the children had to 

 go without suitable clothing to get ready for 



