1899 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



369 



burden of sin. The new birth began then and 

 there and at that instant. I began to see hu- 

 manity as God sees it. I began to hunger and 

 thirst after righteousness. The thing that had 

 been troubling me, when I first went down on 

 my knees, with the change of heart that came 

 then and there, dwindled into nothingness. 

 Like a great flood that washes away and over- 

 whelms landmarks, so my "old man " was 

 obliterated; it was drowned out. 



Now, then, dear friends, through the light 

 of God's love this appetite for tobacco may 

 dwindle into nothingness. You will be utter- 

 ly ashamed of it, and smile to think you 

 struggled and fought with such an insignifi- 

 cant thing ; but this must come through the 

 baptism of the Holy Spirit. When you are 

 struggling to get above things of this kind 

 there is nothing that can help you like Bible 

 texts and Bible promises, and your Bible 

 should be your daily and constant companion. 

 Through the influence of this Bible your life 

 work may go out to every corner of the earth ; 

 whereas without it you might have wasted 

 your time and talents on a little bit of earth 

 scarcely a rod square. Where a man is devot- 

 ed to self only, and to the things of self, a rod 

 square is room enough — in fact, too much ; 

 but where he is really seeking the kingdom of 

 God and his righteousness, the whole wide 

 world may be too small for him. I can readi- 

 ly understand how Mr. Imler came out abso- 

 lutely free from the bondage of tobacco and 

 morphine in two or three days — yes, with 

 strength and life to stand up before the world 

 and proclaim the gospel of Christ Jesus. I 

 have been told that, when people are cured of 

 the morphine habit by the gold cure, it takes 

 weeks or months for them to get strength to 

 do any thing without the stimulant. This 

 may be the way with drug healing ; but when 

 God heals the soul, every faculty and every 

 organ of the body very quickly responds. 



Now, I would by no means say, with Dr. 

 Dowie, that drugs and doctors are not needed; 

 but I should want my medicines to be pre- 

 scribed by a God-fearing physician, and I 

 should greatly prefer one who does not use 

 tobacco. 



THE ANTI-CANTEEN LAW RECENTLY PASSED. 

 I presume there was general rejoicing among 

 all Christians and temperance people through- 

 out our land, when, after a prolonged fight, a 

 law was passed that everybody supposed 

 would, of course, put an end to the shameful 

 and disgraceful sale of beer and other drinks 

 to our soldier boys in the recent war. The in- 

 tent of the law was certainly to abolish the 

 whole business. Dr. Crafts, of Washington, 

 D. C, who drew it up, and those who indorsed 

 it in the Senate, so understood it, without 

 question. There were debates enough on it, 

 certainly, to make any thing plain and clear; 

 but the enemy, finding they were beaten " out 

 and out" by righteousness, temperance, and 

 justice, have now the brazen audacity to so 

 twist and misconstrue as plain a law as laws 

 can be made, as to make it appear that it does 

 not absolutely stop the thing. The Chicago 



Advance says: "As is well known, Secretary 

 Alger was opposed to the liquor prohibition in 

 the new law; and it was claimed that it was 

 he who first suggested this new interpretation. ' ' 

 Now, then, are the friends of righteousness, 

 temperance, and purity going to sit down and 

 let this infamous proceeding go on ? Where 

 is the patriotism and enthusiasm that rose 

 with such vehemence when the news swept 

 over the world that the Maine had gone down? 

 When great officers in high places undertake 

 with such audacity to defy law, order, and de- 

 cency, is it not time for us to wake up again ? 

 We know that the rum power has been setting 

 aside law and order in our great cities. Shall 

 it continue to do this clear up to the head of 

 our general government ? Surely the Presi- 

 dent of the United States has something to 

 say and something to do in a crisis like this. 



THE CANNED ROAST BEEF, ETC. 



Notwithstanding the fact that the samples 

 Prof. Wylie got hold of in the general market 

 all proved to be good, the evidence seems to 

 be at present pretty strong that very poor meat 

 in cans and out of cans was furnished to our 

 soldiers. Now, if anybody has tried to specu- 

 late by furnishing poor meat to our boys who 

 were sick, and away from home in a tropical 

 climate, they certainly should be punished if 

 there is any punishment for any culprit under 

 any circumstances. 



HAPPY SURPRISES. 



At this date, April 21, we are having about 

 the nicest April weather I ever saw ; and we 

 have not had a frost for almost two weeks. If 

 this is not a happy surprise to others as well 

 as to myself, it ought to be. It took me a 

 long while to get over the effects of the grip. 

 My strength seemed gone, and my enthusiasm 

 seemed lacking, at least to a considerable 

 extent. But I held on to the Bible promises, 

 and kept asking, " Lord, what wilt thou have 

 me to do during the remaining portion of life 

 on earth thou hast given me?" For one 

 thing, I began to feel that I should have to 

 give up a good deal of the gardening business. 

 It has been too much care, and, besides, pos- 

 sibly it takes my time from things-that are of 

 more importance than gardening. 



The question then arose, " How shall I re- 

 treat in good order?" We do not run any 

 wagon around town now, and, in fact, we do 

 not sell very much at the groceries. There 

 are other and younger men who need the 

 business, and I do not wish to take the trade 

 from them. 



There are two things, however, that grow 

 a spring crop of considerable value, even with- 

 out planting, and almost no cultivation — 

 asparagus and pie-plant. Right across the 



