1899 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURF. 



G21 



fashioned notions, he intimates. Then he 

 suggests that there are a. few in Fostoria, who 

 actually think God's laws and the ordinances 

 of the city ought to be respected and enforced. 

 No one, unless it is some one who has been 

 through similar experiences, knows how it 

 chills and discourages those who undertake to 

 start a movement for temperance and right- 

 eousness. One of our leading attorneys here 

 in Medina said a few days ago that it actually 

 pained and alarmed him when he realized how 

 much it is getting to be the fashion for wit- 

 nesses to be stupid and dull whenever they 

 are called upon to testify to any thing in 

 regard to temperance work. Why, some of 

 them evidently seem to think it is nothing out 

 of the way to commit perjury — to deliberately 

 perjure themselves — providing the case in 

 question is for temperance. 



Since the above was dictated one of the 

 Cleveland dailies has reached us, and it gives 

 notice of another fearful disaster where 36 

 persons are known to have been killed. In 

 another part of the paper there is an account 

 of another disaster where 18 were killed. The 

 first happened six miles south of Bridgeport, 

 Ct., and the second one at Bar Harbor, Me. 

 These disasters both occurred among Sunday 

 excursionists. The daily does not anywhere 

 say that it happened on Sunday, but the date 

 is August 6 in both cases Now, our great 

 dailies, at least so it se-ms to me, studiously 

 avoided all reference to the iact that these 

 two disasters occurred on Sunday. If they 

 had so mentioned it, it would have been al- 

 most incumbent on them to suggest at least a 

 mild note of warning in regard to these Sun- 

 day excursions that are getting to be so fash- 

 ionable.* Now look here, dear readers. I am 

 not superstitious. I am simply calling your 

 attention to the fact I have already referred 

 to ; namely, that the men and women who 

 deliberately and voluntarily start out on an 

 excursion on Sunday are, as a rule, the world 

 over, not careful , conscientious people. They 

 are not the sort of people who ought to be 

 trusted with any undertaking where human 

 life is in any sort of danger. The very fact that 

 they start off on Sunday in an average Sunday 

 crowd indicates a sort of recklessness. They 

 say by their actions, if not in words, " Oh ! 

 who cares if it is Sunday ? We are going to 

 have some fun, and we can not afford to take 

 the time on week days." Now, people who 

 say this, either by word or by act, are not safe 

 people to have charge of things. Not very 

 long ago a young lady in our vicinity wanted 

 to go down to Chippewa Lake on Sunday. As 



* L,et me call your attention again to the way the 

 railroad companies advertise Sunday trips. Of late 

 they have been avoiding the word Sunday. They 

 simply say, "Only $3.00 from Cleveland to Niagara 

 Falls and return." Then they go on and tell all about 

 the liberal and excellent accommodations for the 

 trip. The posters will tell you it will start out, say, 

 on the evening of Aug. 5 ; but when you go to your 

 calendar and look it up you see Aug 5 is Saturday, 

 and so the whole program is arranged to occupy the 

 entire Sabbath day. If thty should talk right out 

 plainly, and tell you what great doings there are go- 

 ing to be on Sunday, Aug. 6, it would jar on a good 

 many people's sensibilities ; so they are very careful 

 to give simply the day of the month, and not talk 

 right out in print about Sabbath desecration. 



there was no one ready or willing to go with 

 her, she insisted on going alone and unattend- 

 ed. At the lake she met a crowd of reckless 

 people like herself. Before night she was 

 brought home a corpse, drowned in the lake. 

 The young man who was with her in the boat 

 saved himself but let her go. Do you not see, 

 dear friends, the indications of this same reck- 

 less, defiant spirit running through all who 

 join in with these gatherings? Do you want 

 to be with such a crowd ? If they do not al- 

 ways carry intoxicating liquors with them on 

 Sunday outings, they will sooner or later. 

 When you are tempted to call me superstitious 

 because I say there are more likely to be 

 accidents on Sunday than on any other day, 

 please recognize that it is only a plain com- 

 mon-sense rule of cause and effect. I feel sure 

 that each and every reader ot these words can 

 recall instances of more than one disaster 

 that, as people often express it, " just happen- 

 ed" on Sunday. 



By careful inquiry in regard to the cause of 

 these two accidents, we find the one near 

 Bridgeport, Ct., was where an overloaded 

 trolley-car ran over a new bridge that was 

 just completed, or perhaps not quite complet- 

 ed. A young lady who witnessed the acci- 

 dent says the car was going at a high rate of 

 speed. The car contained 43 persons, 36 of 

 whom met instant death — just what \ou might 

 expect of Sunday work. In the other case, 

 at Bar Harbor, Me., some 200 people crowded 

 all at once on to the gang-plank in their 

 hurry to get on the steamer. During week 

 days there probaby would have been officers 

 stationed at each end of the plank to prevent 

 an unreasonable number of people from crowd- 

 ing on to it. Don't you think, my friends, 

 you had better keep out of the crowd that goes 

 picnicking on Sunday? 



PROFANITY. 



The following card was circulated at a 

 meeting of the National Anti-saloon League 

 held in Cleveland, O.; and, by the way, I 

 think it is quite fitting that temperance people 

 should have cards to circulate, as well as the 

 saloon folks. Some of the latter I should not 

 dare to copy on these pages, for our journal 

 would be justly excluded fiom the mails. 

 Here is the temperance card: 



TEN GOOD REASONS WHY EVERY RESPECTABLE 



THINKING MAN SHOULD SWEAR JUST AS OFTEN 



AND AS HARD AS HE CAN. 



1. — Because it is such an elegant way of expressing 

 one's thoughts. 



2. — Because it is such a conclusive proof of taste and 

 good breeding. 



3. — Because it is such a sure way of making one's 

 self agreeable to his friends. 



4. — Because it is a positive evidence of acquaintance 

 with good literature. 



5. — Because it furnishes such a good example and 

 training for boys. 



6. — Because it is just what a man's mother enjoys 

 having her son do. 



7. — Because it would look so nice in print. 



8. — Because it is such a good way of increasing one's 

 self-respect. 



9. — Because it is such a help to manhood and virtue 

 in many ways. 



10. — Because it is such an infallible way of improv- 

 ing one's chances in the hereafter. 



