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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 15. 



about the good Samaritan, the summing-up of 

 the Master's teaching was that every human 

 being is our neighbor ivhen he is in trouble. 

 If somebody is in trouble or distress, the 

 Christian should forget all former differences, 

 all circ'-un stances and conditions, and spring 

 to his rescue. I am inclined to think people 

 do that a good deal nowadays. If a man 

 were among thieves we would go to his relief. 

 If he were a thief himself we would help him 

 first and have him arrested afterward — that is, 

 if he needed arresting. 



Now, when this matter of love is presented 

 to the world in that light, nobody objects to 

 it. If a man wants to hire a clerk, and he is 

 told the clerk is a Christian, he may or may 

 not think that is a recommendation. It de- 

 pends upon whom the employer is ; but when 

 he gets acquainted with his clerk, and under- 

 stands that his professing to be a Christian 

 means that he is instantly " in love " with 

 evervbody who patronizes his employer's es- 

 tablishment, then the employer says, "All 

 right ; that is good. If that is what you mean 

 by religion, give us the religion — send it 

 along — can't have too much of it." 



Just last week two of us were spinning along 

 toward Niagara Falls. It was between four 

 and five o'clock in the morning. All at once 

 there was a .sharp report, and the tire of my 

 companion's wheel collapsed in an in.stant. 

 Our program was suddenly broken up. Near 

 by, however, was a ticket-office of the Niagara 

 Electric Car Line. The agent said there would 

 be no train until about nine o'clock that 

 would carry wheels ; but we could go to the 

 Falls right away without the wheels. We 

 finally decided to send our wheels back to 

 Buffalo so that they would be in readii:ess for 

 us after we had visited the Falls. The agent 

 assured us they would be in Buffalo long be- 

 fore we reached there. On our return we saw 

 our wheels right in front of the office where 

 we left them. He did not send them down 

 during the afternoon, and we waited for them 

 till eleven o'clock at night in order to have a 

 spin next morning. The wheels did not come. 

 We wanted the agent at Buffalo to trace them 

 by wire, but he said they could not do it. 

 Then we wanted him to send a message by the 

 car-driver, to be sure to bring the wheels in 

 by the first car on the freight department. He 

 could not do that — in fact, he could not (or 

 would not) do any thing. When we were 

 ready to leave Buffalo my companion made a 

 trip back to La Salle and found the wheels 

 just where they were left. He rode one and 

 led the other ail the way to Tonawanda. Now, 

 the agent of this electric car line, it seems to 

 me, was remarkably destitute of the kind of 

 love the apostle John is talking about. After 

 he had got our money he did not care any 

 thing aboiit us nor about our wheels. He 

 would not even take the trouble to write a 

 postal card saying the freight apartment was 

 crowded was passengers, and had been ever 

 since we left. The agent at Buffalo was the 

 same sort of man. Notwithstanding the plain 

 positive promise given us that the wheels 

 would be in Buffalo before we were, he thought 

 that very likely the best thing we could do 



was to buy another ticket back to La Salle, 

 and get our wheels home in any way we chose. 

 You may say this company was responsible. 

 Very likely ; but it was easier and perhaps 

 cheaper to go after our wheels and bring them 

 home than to fuss or bother with the trolley 

 company. 



Heretofore I have bsen speaking of the lack 

 of this Christian love : let us now turn to a 

 pleasanter side of the matter. At a recent 

 meeting of our Anti-saloon League, in discuss- 

 ing finances some wonder was expressed at 

 the exceeding liberalitj- of a young business 

 man in the northern part of the State. A 

 n:ember present said : 



' ' Yes ; and strangest of all he is the son of 

 a saloon-keeper." 



But another person who was present prompt- 

 l_v added : 



"You are wrong, Bro. . He is not 



the son of a saloon-keeper. He used to be ; 

 but by the grace of God his father has dropped 

 the business and will nevermore touch it 

 again." 



At this point a Methodist minister from 

 Cincinnati (Rev. James P. Mills) arose and 

 spoke something as follows : 



"Dear brothers and sisters, notwithstand- 

 ing the great amount of urgent business to be 

 got through with this afternooon, I think we 

 can afford to consider briefly the little story I 

 have to tell you. While I was pastor in the 



city of , in the Northern part of Ohio, I 



once invited a young man to sing in the choir, 

 whom I knew to be of intemperate habits. I 

 discovered he had a fine voice, and was trying 

 to get some chance to make an effort to save 

 him, as his father was a saloon-keeper. He 

 .seemed pleased with the invitation, and sang 

 exceedingly well. But the next day my best 

 soprano singer tendered her resignation, say- 

 ing that, when things had got to such a pass 

 that men were invited to sing when their 

 breath smelled so strongly of liquors that one 

 could scarcely stan<l near them, she thought 

 it was time to 'draw the line.' I was in a 

 dilemma. I visited the young man, and had 

 a long talk with him. In fact, I had several 

 talks. He gave up his drinking, and contin- 

 ued to sing in the choir. He was finally con- 

 verted, developed wonderful abilities for busi- 

 ness and in other ways, and ver\' soon per- 

 suaded his father to give up the terrible traffic, 

 and now is a magnificent Christian worker ; 

 and out of the gratitude of his heart he is now 

 giving regularl)^ these generous donations to 

 our cause." 



Dear friends, what do you think of a love 

 like that? As his former pastor spoke, we 

 could hardly repress the tears. It was his 

 love for the unlovable that prompted him to 

 reach out and plead so earnestly for one in 

 the hands of the enemy; and it was this same 

 love in the heart of the rescued one that 

 prompted him to reach out in a similar waj- 

 for his old comrades ; and, through our Anti- 

 saloon League, for thousands upon thousands 

 throughout our beautiful State who are going 

 down to ruin in the way he would have gone 

 but for that faithful pastor. 



