1897 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



131 



church and Sunday-school, in consequence of 

 the money that was raised for that dance. May 

 be the Christian people did not take just the 

 right course at the time of the husking-bee. It 

 is a little dangerous to shut right square down 

 on things of this kind in a way that is liable to 

 bring up bitter feeling and divide the people 

 into opposite factions. If some of the good 

 women had plead wiih those who wanted to 

 have the dance to have it at some other time, 

 and if the dancing-party had consented, it 

 would have been very much better. 



Do some of you inquire what harm the dance 

 would have done the Endeavorers? Perhaps I 

 am not equal to the task of answering this mat- 

 ter right here, even if it were advisable to take 

 the space to do so. I may say, however, that, 

 where the thing has been tried, it has been 

 shown very conclusively that, the more young 

 people are interested in dances, the less they 

 are interested in spiritual work. The young 

 people's prayer-meeting can not be made to 

 harmonize with a dance. One or the other will 

 have to go to the wall. If the boys and girls 

 would dance only with their brotliers and sis- 

 ters it would be a different thing. But they 

 will not do this. They themselves will tell you 

 there is no " fun " in it. I once suggested to a 

 man who was going to walk a tight rope that 

 he should stretch the rope only six feet from 

 the ground. The people all laughed at me. 

 Nobody would throw any money into his hat if 

 he walked on a rope only six feet from the 

 ground. It must be away up above the tops of 

 the highest buildings if possible. They would 

 not pay their money unless he would stretch a 

 rope so high it would be sure death if he should 

 fall. Now, you may think I greatly exaggerate 

 when I say the matter of dances is something 

 on the same line. People would not pay a dol- 

 lar to go to a dance unless they were permitted 

 to incur danger. The danger is not so much to 

 young men and boys as it is to young girls. It 

 is the latter class who are going to be crushed 

 to a shapeless mass of deformity if they fall. 



Oh, yesi I do know that boys and girls who 

 refuse to dance or to play cards are. in many 

 places, ostracised, as it were, from the rest of 

 the young people. 1 do know of the hits and 

 stabs they get when they decline. God knows 

 I know of the crosses they have to bear in order 

 that they may make their lives pure and clean. 

 I have not spoken of fashionable wine-drink- 

 ing; but these three seem to go together. May 

 God help us to stem the tide. May he give 

 grace and courage to the young people and to 

 the youns Christians who are nobly and hero- 

 ically holding the fort. Oh how it rejoices my 

 heartwhen I see a young man or young woman 

 who has gone safely through the ordeal of the 

 teens! for it is true, dear friends, that, almost 

 without exception, a boy or girl who eets to 

 be 20 or 2.5 will begin to lose the inclination for 

 such things. Again and again have I heard 

 such ones say, "Oh I am so glad that I held 

 fast to the advice of my father and mother in 

 regard to these matters! I can see it now, but 

 I did not then." Dear young friend, you can 

 easily test ihis matter of " questionable amuse- 

 ments" for yourself. If you are a professing 

 Christian or a member of the Endeavor Society, 

 suppose you try the experiment of joining in 

 with those who take part in such amusfments, 

 and watch carefully to see what effect it has on 

 your spirituality. After haviner attended the 

 dance, can you read your Bible or kneel in 

 prayer, or take part in the Endeavor Society, 

 with the same zeal and enjoyment you did be- 

 fore? I think there can be but one decision in 

 regard to this matter. There may be private 

 dances in the home circle, among friends and 



relatives, where there is but little to be object- 

 ed to; but as you acquire skill in the exercise 

 you will be constantly called upon to mix in 

 more or less with the great outside world. I 

 have watched the matter for almost fifty years, 

 and my decision is like that of your own pastor 

 and that of almost all good Christian people. A 

 very dear friend of mine with whom I had had 

 frequent conversations on this matter once 

 came to me and said her conscience prompted 

 her, in view of the talk we had had in regard to 

 dancing, to make me a little confession. This 

 confes-ion was something like this: 



" Mr. Root, after every dance that I have at- 

 tended I have always had a feeling next morn- 

 ing that I was a little lower down than I had 

 been the day before. Nobody told me so, but it 

 was ihe verdict of my own conscience. Now, 

 you know I sometimes go to prayer-meeting, 

 and take part; but every morning after having 

 attended the young people'sprayer meeting, es- 

 pecially after having taken part, somehow I 

 feel just the opposite. In fact, I feel as if I had 

 been lifted up just a little. The verdict of my 

 own conscience is that I stand a little riearer 

 Ood and a little further away from earth and 

 earthly things." 



This was not her own language exactly, but 

 it was the purport of it as nearly as I can re- 

 member. Now. if God's Holy Spirit gives us all 

 thi« sort of witness, we do not need to go to oth- 

 ers for advice. We do not need to inquire what 

 others do in regard to these matters; but we 

 may seek the same counsel that my young 

 friend did. We have it in the little text at the 

 head of my talk to-day: 



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. 



Please remember those beautiful words at the 

 close—" shall reap life everlasting." Of course, 

 we must bear burdens. Sometimes it seems 

 pretty hard for the average boy or girl; but, my 

 dear youne friends, let me suggest to you that 

 the great time of seed-sowing is while you are 

 in the teens. About the time you are 20 or 25 

 you will begin to reap. Shall it be corruption 

 or life everlasting? May God's Holy Spirit 

 help you in the decision you make. 



CAMPING OUT generally; ITS INFLUENCE ON 

 HEALTH, ETC. 



I have often heard of the appetite and result- 

 ing health that follow camping out in the open 

 air; but 1 confess I never realized it till we had 

 been out several days. Of course, I rode my 

 wheel a great deal; and when just a little fa- 

 tigued I would throw it on the canvas covering 

 the bedding on the back part of the wagon, and 

 then sit on it to keep it in place. This wheel- 

 riding would of itself give me an appetite; but 

 the sleeping in the open air is certainly a large 

 factor in the matter. No room, no matter how 

 open, can give exactly the same clear pure air 

 that you get outside with only the stars over- 

 head. My friends had brought such a bounti- 

 ful supply of blankets that I never felt the least 

 bit cold. 



In stopping for dinner or for the night, the two 

 important things are " wood " and " water." It 

 seems very strange to eastern folks that either 

 should be scarce; but on the desert, water is 



