1899 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



513 



from John 13: 14, in regard to washing feet. 

 The preacher occupied the whole evening in 

 quoting the Bible from beginning to end, to 

 prove that every follower of Christ ought to 

 obey literally the command. In fact, he seem- 

 ed to think it of more importance than any 

 other command that Jesus ever gave his disci- 

 ples. His sermon was long, and my bee- 

 keeping friends were not at all edified or prof- 

 ited ; and I almost made up my mind that I 

 would not urge people again to go to church 

 as I did that evening. Now, I am not reflect- 

 ing on that people or on that denomination, 

 mind you. I have learned by inquiry and ob- 

 servation that they are a most exemplary set 

 of folks. They pay their debts, attend to their 

 own business, take care of their poor, and set 

 a grand example of Christian living for many 

 of the other denominations ; but I do think 

 they do make a great mistake, first, in singling 

 out just one of Christ's commands ; and, sec- 

 ond, in insisting so strenuously that it be ta- 

 ken literally. The little story I am going to 

 tell you illustrates, perhaps feebly, something 

 that I think the text includes also. 



I think the Savior chose this little object- 

 lesson because his disciples greatly needed to 

 be taught a lesson in humility. They were 

 getting to be proud. He wanted to teach 

 them gentleness, meekness, and forbearance. 

 He even went so far as to wash the feet of Ju- 

 das — that is, if I have a correct understanding 

 of the matter. I rather think that John him- 

 self, who told us about it, rebelled somewhat 

 at the act. Perhaps he and some of the other 

 disciples said to themselves, " Why, is he go- 

 ing to condescend to wash the feet of that 

 miserable lying hypocrite?" Peter, yon re- 

 member, at first refused outright ; but he aft- 

 erward changed his mind. Now for my story. 



In my recent trip east, in coming home I 

 got on the train at Washington, supposing 

 there would be no change of cars between 

 there and Pittsburg ; therefore, as we ap- 

 proached Harrisburg, when the conductor an- 

 nounced that we would change cars for a 

 great string of places, I paid very little atten- 

 tion to the matter, and did not even notice 

 that he mentioned Pittsburg ; so when the 

 other passengers were leaving the train at 

 Harrisburg I sat still ; but when I saw every- 

 body was leaving I began to ask questions. 

 Then I began to fear that the Pittsburg train 

 would start before I found where it was. I 

 asked an official which way I should go to 

 find the Pittsburg train. He motioned me to 

 a train just getting ready to start. Now, I 

 have had some experience in making mis- 

 takes, and in making people understand just 

 what I wanted to ask when there wasn't a 

 minute to spare ; therefore I have for years 

 past made it a point to have my ticket in my 

 fingers, and before I get aboard I always ask 

 somebody who ought to know if this is my 

 train. In this way they can look at the tick- 

 et and simply answer yes or no. 



As I discovered I had very little time I ap- 

 proached the colored porter near a Pullman 

 car, held up my ticket as usual, and asked if 

 that was my train. He said it was. But I 

 told him I wanted a common coach, and not a 



Pullman car. He told me to get right on, as 

 the train was about ready to start, and that he 

 would fix me all right. But I still demurred 

 in getting aboard of the Pullman car, when he 

 grabbed my satchel before I knew it, and told 

 me to follow him and he would " fix " me all 

 straight. I supposed he was going to tell me 

 to walk back to the common coaches ; but 

 after we got aboard he said there were no 

 common coaches on that train, but still it was 

 all right. Now, when I came home from Ber- 

 muda I rode on a fast train, all Pullman cars, 

 from New York to Cleveland, and that, too, 

 without paying any thing extra. They do this 

 with a limited number of passengers rather 

 than run an extra train. I supposed that per- 

 haps some such arrangement had been made 

 to carry me from Harrisburg to Pittsburg. 

 This colored porter seemed very bright, and 

 master of his business. I have admired these 

 fellows before, and I admired this one. His 

 speech was clear and distinct, and he had the 

 air of a man who knew what he was doing, and 

 withal he had a way of making himself very 

 pleasant and agreeable to everybody. After 

 we had ridden a little way he informed us 

 there was a beautiful smoking-car in front and 

 a fine observation-car in the rear ; that we 

 could ride in either one of them without any 

 extra expense, leaving our baggage just where 

 it was. Now, I did not care for the smoker, 

 you may be sure ; but I did want to ride in 

 that observation-car, for we were soon going 

 to pass Horseshoe Bend, and I knew the scen- 

 ery was very beautiful along there at any sea- 

 son of the year — much more in spring. But I 

 had some sort of presentiment that there was 

 going to be a hitch before I got through ; but 

 I concluded, under the circumstances, to pay 

 a little extra for my blunder, if need be. 



After a while I became absorbed in taking 

 in the beautiful scenery through that great big 

 plate-glass window, and was aroused only when 

 the conductor said, " Tickets, gentlemen ! " 

 Mine was in my fingers as usual. I presented 

 it. He looked at it very attentively quite a 

 spell, then said, without removing his eye 

 from the ticket: 



' ' You read this ticket over when you pur- 

 chased it, did you? " 



" Yes, I read it through once at least, short- 

 ly after I received it." 



"That being so, why did you board this 

 train ? " 



I explained the circumstances, and told him 

 just how I came to be aboard of the train. But 

 he began to look angry, and said something 

 like this : 



" You admit you read your ticket over, and 

 no doubt noticed that it sa)-s, in heavy black 

 type, in a paragraph by itself, that the ticket 

 can not be used on the Pennsylvania Limited, 

 or any trains of that sort." 



. " My dear sir, I did read the ticket over, as 

 I told you, but the part you refer to I did not 

 pay any particular attention to, because I had 

 no thought of riding on any train besides the 

 one I was expected to take. Neither did I 

 know until this minute that this train is what 

 you call the Pennsylvania Limited. I am 

 very sorry that I have broken any rules, and I 



