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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 15. 



OUR 



HOMES, 



BY A. I. ROOT. 



Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after 

 righteousness, forthey shall be filled — Matt. 5 :6. 



I have used the above text for my talks a 

 good many times ; and, in fact, there are few 

 Bible texts that I love as I do this one. No 

 matter how I feel, no matter what troubles 

 or temptations assail me, when this question 

 comes up before me I can always say, " Yes, 

 thank God I do hunger and thirst after right- 

 eousness." Of course, when I am strongly 

 tempted to be selfish I sometimes, for the time 

 being, forget this ; but that beautiful passage 

 is always an effective rebuke. Some gentle 

 spirit seems to say in times of trial, " Well, 

 old friend, do you even now hunger and thirst 

 after righteousness?" and by the time the 

 gentle voice has ceased to speak I am back 

 again in the straight and narrow path. A 

 few days ago my very dear friend Bro. Reed, 

 whom I have mentioned so often that I do 

 not think I need to introduce him at this 

 time, sent me a postal card, asking me to go 

 to Newark, Licking Co., O., and talk to his 

 people, for he was then holding a series of 

 meetings there. It was just then I had plan- 

 ned to go to Boston, and I wrote him I regret- 

 ted I could not go at the lime he mentioned. 

 But I did not feel quite easy about neglecting 

 his invitation. A little later, when other 

 things seemed to make it very inconvenient 

 for me to leave home, I wrote him that I would 

 come after all ; and then some way I felt bet- 

 ter satisfied. 



In order to make my appointment I took a 

 trip on the cars, planning to take my wheel 

 and ride back at my leisure. I reached the 

 church in the middle of the afternoon, and 

 found Bro. Reed within a minute after I ar- 

 rived. I rather expected I should find him 

 near the Congregational church ; for when he 

 is holding a series of meetings he is much of 

 the time in or around God's holy temple. He 

 soon told me that he and the young pastor 

 had arranged for an afternoon prayer-meeting 

 in the outskirts of the city, and asked me if I 

 would like to attend. Yes, I always like to 

 attend a prayer - meeting, especially where 

 Bro. Reed presides. As this meeting was in 

 the month of August, and in the middle of 

 the afternoon, not very many men were pres- 

 ent ; but there was a lot of women, mostly 

 mothers of families. Bro. Reed was a com- 

 parative stranger to every one in the audience. 

 In fact, I am sure he could call hardly any of 

 them by name ; but yet before this meeting 

 had closed he had talked so kindly and fa- 

 miliarly with them that nearly every one gave 

 some sort of brief testimony, telling of her 

 hungering and thirsting after righteousness 

 through many busy cares. Afterward a large 

 number of them took part in brief prayers. 

 One would almost think it was an Endeavor 

 meeting among the old folks. Now, any per- 

 son who is in the habit of leading prayer- 



meetings will recognize that it is a pretty 

 difficult matter for a stranger in a strange 

 town or city to have such a prayer-meeting as 

 this. As the meeting closed, I am sure that 

 every one present felt an uplift of soul, and 

 that they were nearer to the heart of the great 

 Father than when the meeting commenced. 



I wonder if I may be permitted to diverge a 

 little here to mention a single occurrence. 

 Jast before closing, a lady arose and com- 

 menced to sing a solo. Something in her 

 appearance struck me as a little strange, but I 

 decided she was probably accustomed to 

 assist in religious meetings, and in this way 

 manifest her sympathy with the work. At 

 the close of each stanza her voice sank low, 

 and with wonderful skill she executed a diffi- 

 cult passage in music that thrilled me through 

 and through. There were, perhaps, three or 

 four stanzas. Before she closed I was men- 

 tally thanking God that at least one person 

 possessed such a voice, and had skill to use it 

 with such wonderful fervor and pathos in 

 praising God. When she commenced the 

 hymn I was a little surprised because Bro. 

 Reed, the pastor of the church, and perhaps 

 one or two others, joined in with her with the 

 exception of the chorus. I had decided to 

 thank her, and to tell her she might thank 

 God for her wonderful gift. But I thought I 

 would first speak to Bro. Reed about it. He 

 smilingly said he was glad I had first men- 

 tioned the matter to him. Now, reader, what 

 do you think ? My decision that she possessed 

 a wonderful voice was correct. It was also 

 true that she had spent years in the study of 

 music, and was a most accomplished singer ; 

 but it was also true that her mind was a little 

 out of balance. No one could object to her 

 beautiful hymns ; but most people did object 

 to her solos, that came not only in time but 

 sometimes out of time. She was all right, 

 like lots of other good people, when she could 

 have her own way ; but once when she inter- 

 rupted the minister in his sermon to sing a 

 solo it did not suit very well, and therefore 

 the good pastors are always worried when she 

 puts in an appearance, as she is almost sure to 

 do when any thing like a revival comes along. 

 The incident caused me to reflect again how 

 wonderful are the phases of humanity ; and, 

 also, how true it is that just a little jar may 

 throw a gifted and cultivated mind out of 

 balance ! 



During the evening I gave my talk on busi- 

 ness and religion to a rather larger audience 

 than I ever spoke to before ; and, what is still 

 more remarkable, at least three- fourths of the 

 large church was filled with men — probably 

 men in business. Sometimes in speaking I 

 have planned to use a good many Bible texts ; 

 but I am sorry to tell you that, a good many 

 times, these texts do not come just when I 

 want them ; for I have seen the time more 

 than once when I could not (on the spur of 

 the moment ) repeat the simple text at the 

 head of this talk to-day. This time I prayed 

 over the matter. Again and again did I 

 beseech the dear Savior to help me to over- 

 come this fashion of having my favorite texts 

 elude my grasp just when I wanted them 



