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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 1. 



OUR 



HOMES, 



BY A.I. R OOT. 



Wherein thou judgest another, thou condeinnest thy- 

 self ; for thou that judgest doest the same things. — 

 Romans 2:1. 



Some time ago I wrote, quoting the words 

 of an eminent divine to the effect that praying 

 for the presence of the Holy Spirit may result 

 in making us very uncomfortable. The idea 

 was a strange one to me, because I had until 

 then supposed that the presence of the Holy 

 Spirit was more necessary to one's real happi- 

 ness than any thing else in the world. My old 

 pastor, the Rev. A. T. Reed, once said at a 

 prayer-meeting that there was one thing we 

 coud always pray for and feel that we were 

 making no mistake ; and that one thing was 

 the presence of the Holy Spirit. I have pray- 

 ed for this more of late than usual, because so 

 many things have been coming up where I 

 felt I was in danger of getting astra}-. I have 

 felt more than ever before that I need God's 

 guidance and wisdom. I have felt it especial- 

 ly, because more responsibility has been rest- 

 ing upon me. More people are employed 

 here than ever before since our business be- 

 gan. Greater investments are being made, and 

 greater temptations have been assailing me 

 from certain quarters. The special temptation 

 has been to be impatient in regard to small de- 

 tails. The temptation would come something 

 in this way : Where hundreds of dollars are at 

 stake we can not fuss, as we have been in the 

 habit of doing heretofore, with the little trans- 

 actions where perhaps only a dollar or may be 

 a nickel is at stake. Some brother complains 

 that he has not been used fairly. Our over- 

 worked and worn-out clerks can hardly in just- 

 ice take time to hunt the matter up, if it in- 

 v> Ives only a very small sum. I have been in 

 the habit of adjusting these little matters by 

 first inquiring what the sum is at issue. If the 

 amount is small, and our friend is evidently 

 correct and honest abrut it, I have felt that it 

 would be wise to pay it without investigation. 



Now, I know very well that right is right 

 and wrong is wrong ; and the principle of the 

 thing is, many times, more important than the 

 amount of money involved. Well, I have tried 

 to fix all these things in a Christianlike way ; 

 but I fear I have been sometimes tempted to be 

 a little rude and brief because of the thought 

 that we are now a pretty ^rood-sized institu- 

 tion. I have tried to remember our Savior's 

 exhortations and parables, especially the one 

 where he says that he that has been faithful in 

 few things shall be made ruler over many 

 things. I have tried hard to be faithful in lit- 

 tle things. 



Since praying for the infltiences of the Holy 

 Spirit, as I have told you, I have greatly en- 

 joyed reading the Bible, especially our morn- 

 ing lessons. Reading over one of our Sunday- 

 school lessons a few weeks ago I was forcibly 

 impressed by the example of the unmerciful 

 servant. He owed a king ten thousand tal- 

 ents, or, as we would say, a debt of over a mil- 



lion of dollars; btit when he acknowledged his 

 indebtedness and utter helplessness, and even 

 fell down at the feet of his lord, promising to 

 pay all if he would have patience, the debt was 

 forgiven, and he was a free man. But almost 

 immediately afterward, on meeting a fellow- 

 servant who owed hivi only a hundred pence, 

 he was so ungrateful, so base and vile, that he 

 took his fellow-servant by the throat and de- 

 manded every penny (even when the poor fel- 

 low went down on his knees and used the 

 exact words that he had just been using to the 

 king), and cast him into prison without mer- 

 cy. Of course, you are familiar with the 

 whole story. It has been read and talked 

 about and preached abotit until we all know it 

 pretty well. But the part of it that took hold 

 of me, and has hold of me even yet, is the 

 scene where he took his poor unfortunate 

 fellow-servant by the throat. In reading this 

 passage over, even as far back as when I was 

 a child, I used to wonder why Jesus presented 

 such an extreme example as this ; and, in fact, 

 there are tivo extremes to the parable. The 

 amount this man owed the king seems away 

 out of proportion to the events of daily life. 

 Nowadays it is very unusual for one man to 

 owe another a million of dollars. Perhaps we 

 have some such transactions among the wheat- 

 gamblers in Chicago, but surely nowhere else. 

 The amount was extravagant, and 'Ca.^ forgive- 

 ness was extravagant. Who ever heard of let- 

 ting a man go scot free when he owed more 

 than a million of dollars, not even asking him 

 to pay a cent ? 



Well, if anybody ever felt gratitude this 

 man ought to have done so. Why, what an 

 aivfuUy mean fellow he must have been ! We 

 are told this fellow "went out after he had 

 been forgiven the debt." He had only just 

 left the presence of the king ; and before there 

 was tit)ie for any great provocation he grasped 

 his unfortunate fellow-sinner by the throat. I 

 have heard about people who were " too mean 

 to live." If there ever was such a man, this 

 was the one. Now, Jesus never uttered a par- 

 able without having a good reason for so do- 

 ing ; and as we grow older we discover that 

 there was an especial reason for many of the 

 things that used to seem to us so extreme and 

 severe. Why did he draw this picture wnth 

 such tremendously bold and severe strokes ? 

 It has just been coming to me for a few days 

 back that the reason of this is because there is 

 more or less of the same spirit in all of us — in- 

 gratitude. My dear friends, you have given 

 me many kind words in the years that are 

 past. A dear brother wiote in a letter that is 

 in my hands, " Mr. A. I. Root must be a very 

 lovable Christian man." I crossed this part 

 of his letter out, even though it goes into the 

 Kind Words column ; but since I crossed it 

 out I have changed my mind, and I will put it 

 in print right here. 5s'o doubt through God's 

 grace I have been able to show at times a lov- 

 able and Christian spirit ; but, oh dear me ! 

 nobody knows — at least none but the dear 

 Savior — how I have battled to keep down that 

 other and ^//lovable spirit. Let me illtistrate : 



A man did a very wrong thing. When it 

 came to light, people generally were severely 



