1899 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



583 



OUR 

 HOMES, 



BY A.I. ROOT. 



For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole 

 world and lose his own soul ? — Matt. 16 : 20. 



The Bible is full of warnings against selfish- 

 ness ; in fact, the ruling thought of the whole 

 book seems to be that we shall cherish a 

 kindly love toward those about us, and that 

 we should try to cultivate such a spirit of un- 

 selfishness that we shall be glad to see others 

 prosper — yes, glad, even though at times what 

 is their gain may be our loss. We are exhort- 

 ed to believe that the highest state of happi- 

 ness comes in overcoming selfishness and 

 greed, and being honest and fair toward all 

 mankind. The text I have chosen seems to 

 be a sort of summing-up of all these admoni- 

 tions and exhortations. When Jesus, the Son 

 of God, came here into this world and mingled 

 with humanity, the sight of these low selfish 

 feelings seemed to weigh him down with sor- 

 row. The sight of human greed seemed to 

 give him pain, and he plead with humanity to 

 rise above such thoughts and feelings. He 

 spoke parable after parable. He had just 

 been rebuking poor Peter because Peter de- 

 clared Jesus should be spared the ignominy of 

 the cross. Peter spoke from the human point 

 of view. He could not comprehend that it 

 was God's will that his only Son should en- 

 dure the cross. After rebuking Peter he 

 turned to his disciples and said, " If any man 

 will come after me, let him deny himself, and 

 take up his cross ; " and then he uttered the 

 words of our text : " For what is a man profit- 

 ed if he shall gain the whole world and lose 

 his own soul ? " 



Just while I am writing, in a neighboring 

 city a great strike is going on. We might 

 almost call it a civil war. The sad thing 

 about it is that for some reason the police and 

 other officers of the law do not succeed in 

 restraining the outlaws. There seems to be a 

 new and unheard-of state of affairs. Bricks 

 and stones are thrown from a crowd, but the 

 police can not make any arrest because they 

 can not find out ivho threw the missiles. In- 

 nocent travelers on the street-cars — yes, women 

 and children — have been damaged by these 

 missiles ; but the perpetrators of the deed go 

 free because, as they sav, no one knows .who 

 threw them. I once asked why crowds were 

 allowed to collect ; but I soon learned they 

 dispersed when they saw a policeman ap- 

 proaching, but gathered again when they 

 were sure no policeman was around ; and then 

 it transpires that the perplexing state of 

 affairs largely comes about because the rioters 

 have so many sympathizers. The common 

 people, at least a large portion of them, seem 

 to be in sympathy with those who are tram- 

 pling our laws under foot, and almost defying 

 law. We have been told from childhood that 

 laws can not well be enforced unless public 

 opinion and sympathy are back of the law. 

 We have learned that in temperance work. 

 Unless the majority of the people — perhaps we 



may say of the voters — are friends of temper- 

 ance, it is very hard to enforce the temperance 

 laws. Does it follow, then, that the majority 

 of our people, or at least a large portion of 

 them, are in favor of mob law ? I do not 

 think so ; but I do fear that a large proportion 

 of our people are uneducated, especially in 

 the large cities ; and a still more serious 

 thought is that perhaps large numbers know 

 but little about the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

 They have but very little comprehension of 

 the grand truths revealed in the Scriptures. 

 In spite of our schools and churches, in spite 

 of the Endeavor Society and similar organiza- 

 tions, we are slipping down, a great part of 

 us, into heathenism. Perhaps I might throw 

 out another little suggestion right here : 

 Whenever you read the names of those who 

 have been arrested for disorderly conduct, you 

 have perhaps noticed that the names are 

 strange and foreign. They are not often 

 Yankee names, and not often American. If 

 you look over Dun and Bradstreet, and notice 

 the names of the saloon-keepers in almost any 

 town you will find these strange long names, 

 oftentimes too difficult to pronounce ; and, by 

 the way, I hardly need tell you that the 

 saloons are in close touch with the strikers 

 almost everywhere. They may resent this, 

 and deny it ; but it can not well be disputed. 



It seems a little strange that these troubles 

 between labor and capital should connect 

 themselves so persistently with the electric 

 railways. Since the strike has commenced in 

 Cleveland, other strikes have been started in 

 other cities, and in the city of New York they 

 have been tearing up the tracks, cutting the 

 trolley-wires, placing obstructions in the way, 

 and defying the police and officers of the law. 

 What does it mean ? Why should the great 

 street-railway companies have more of this 

 kind of trouble than anybody else ? Is it not 

 possible that it is the natural result of trans- 

 gressing some one or more of God's holy laws ? 

 and is it not altogether probable that the em- 

 ployees and employers would feel better if 

 they did not have to work Sunday just the 

 same as any other day ? No, that is not fair. 

 They are called on to work more Sunday than 

 on any other day ; and all sorts of railways 

 are making a stronger effort this year than 

 ever before to increase the Sunday traffic. 

 Our great dailies that profess to love law and 

 order — yes, and righteousness too — boast of 

 the enormous number of passengers that have 

 been carried on a single Sunday, as if it were 

 something to brag of, that we are opening up 

 trade and traffic on new lines, and that, too, 

 on the very day which we are commanded to 

 remember and keep hoi}-. We have just had 

 proof that the cars can stop running on Sun- 

 day, for they have shut down on a great many 

 week days in succession, and people got along 

 and attended to business very well. They 

 have been shutting down nights too, because 

 the unruly mobs would not let them run after 

 dark. Now, suppose some particular line 

 should declare they were not going to do 

 business on Sunday. Suppose they should 

 say they wanted a rest themselves, and that 

 they were going to give their employees a rest 



