1S98 



GI.KANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



271 



OUR 



HOMES, 



BY A.I. ROOT. 



A bruised reed shall he not b eak, and smoking flax 

 shall he not quench. — Tsa, 42 : 3. 



When I was in Bermuda I was a good deal 

 surprised to read in one of the local papers of 

 the island a protest from one of the soldiers. 

 The whole island of Bermuda, or at least a 

 good part of it, is covered with military de- 

 fenses, forts, etc., and I greatly enjoyed wit- 

 nessing the military parades and getting 

 acquainted with some of the soldiers. Well, 

 this protest from a soldier was to the eflfect 

 that some of the boys on the island were get- 

 ting to be very rough. He said he and his 

 companions had been " sassed " and stoned; 

 in fact, one of the soldiers had his face badly 

 cut open with a piece of rock; and I tell you, 

 a chunk of c^ral rock, even if it is not very 

 heav}% is a bad thing to strike one in the face. 

 I remarked to friend Morrison, a''ter reading 

 the paragraph, "Why, friend M., how dare 

 anybody molest soldiers? I supposed they 

 were like policemen or officers of the law ; 

 that they had authoritv to arrest and imprison 

 boys or anybody else for such an offense." 



"Oh! you are quite wrong, friend Root. 

 One of the very first elements in a .soldier's 

 training is that he must stand his ground, and 

 put up with almost any indignitv, without 

 showing either temper or retaliation in any 

 shape. The Queeifs soldiers, in fac^, are ex- 

 pected to stand still and be shot, rather than 

 to commence any sort of warfare without 

 orders." 



" Then their beautifully kept guns, bayonets, 

 and other arms, are simply for show, and not 

 to be used, even in self-defense? " 



"They are not to be used in self-defense 

 unless they have orders to use them." 



Come to think of it, I believe this is military 

 training in almost any part of the world — 

 that is, as friend Morrison expressed it. 

 Troops are frequently called out to keep the 

 peace in our own State of Ohio and other 

 States; but if they are true soldiers they will 

 resort to almost any thing else under the sun 

 before they will use their implements of war 

 with which they are well provided. In fact, 

 this has been so universally the case that a 

 great many times the lawless mob have taunt- 

 ed them with it, telling them they dare not 

 fire; they were only " dudes set up to make a 

 show." When, however, forbearance ceases 

 to be a virtue, and the order is given to fire on 

 the mob, who are bent on the destruction of 

 property, or something of that sort, even in 

 such a case the soldiers have been loudly con- 

 demned because they did use their weapons. 

 In matters of law the government of the 

 United States has been so slow a great many 

 have had the idea the government never would 

 do any thing, and did not intend to do any 

 thing. Sometimes / have been tempted to 

 complain because the strong arm of the law 

 was so very slow to move. But of late years I 

 have begun to think it is well and wise that 



these acts are done with such extreme deliber- 

 ation. Don't be in a hurry to quarrel, either 

 in public life or private. If you turn to the 

 chapter that contains our text you will find at 

 the top of it — at least it is so in my Bible — 

 "The office of Christ graced with meekness 

 and constancy." In the first verse the prophet 

 tells us that God has put his spirit upon 

 Christ the Son. In the second verse we are 

 told " He shall not cry nor lift up nor cause 

 his voice to be heard in the street." What- 

 ever he does shall be done so quietly that no 

 disturbance will be made. Many people will 

 not know any thing is being done at all. 

 Then we come to the text. His mission shall 

 be performed so gently that even "a bruised 

 reed" shall not be broken in two; and the 

 smoking flax, that is so easy to put out by 

 just stepping on it, shall not be quenched. 

 And yet we are told in the same verse, " He 

 shall bring forth judgment unto victory and 

 truth." In the fourth ver.se we read: "He 

 shall not fail nor bs discouraged till he hath 

 set judgment in the earth ; and the isles shall 

 wait for his law." Even that little gem of an 

 island away off there in the sea, beautiful 

 Bermuda that I think of so often, shall be 

 converted to Christ. And I can not help 

 thinking that it is comparatively near the 

 king lom already. There may be a few unruly 

 boys there such as the soldiers met; but by 

 far the greater part of them respect the Sab- 

 bath and go to church. vSome little girls in 

 our neighborhood, from seven to twelve years 

 of age, walked a mile and a h df and back to 

 meeting in the morning, and the same dis- 

 tance again to the evening service, even when 

 there was not any moon. 



But we are to talk about getting along in the 

 world zvithoiit warfare. I shall confine my re- 

 marks mostly to a warfare of words. You know 

 my doctrine is, that a husband and wife should 

 never part; and when the two become father 

 and mother, then most assuredly should they 

 two hang together "till death "' and nothing 

 else separates them. Well, I have been think- 

 ing for a few days that not only should hus- 

 band and wife hang together, but as a rule I 

 would have employee and employer keep right 

 along — at least, so long as one wants a helper 

 and the other wants a place to work. There 

 are now something over 200 at work at the 

 Home of the Honey-bees. Some of them are 

 good and faithful, and some indifferent ; but 

 God forbid that I should say that even one of 

 them is zvillfully bad. Sometimes there is 

 talk about dismissing one for bad conduct. 

 When I hear of it I almost always beg to have 

 the job put into my hands. But Ernest says 

 (at least lately ), with one of his comical looks, 

 that whenever they are turned over to ' ' father' ' 

 he always keeps them awhile longer, and they 

 never get dismissed at all. Well, I am glad 

 that it is so. There are some here who have 

 tried me most sorely in years past; but as we 

 kind o' kept together I learned to know them 

 better, and they learned to know me better 

 — yes, and I found some redeeming traits — 

 sometimes valuable traits — in those I had 

 trouble in getting along with. Some of those 

 I used to dislike I now love to see, and I like 



