1899 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



809 



yawned — at least spiritually yawned — between 

 those boys ; and they were brought up, too, 

 perhaps, in almost the same neighborhood. 

 Will you excuse me if I go back a little ? 



Three years ago Mahlon's father moved into 

 that neighborhood. In their former home, 

 either they had been too far from church, or 

 for some reason or other, I think they did not 

 attend church very much, although the moth- 

 er was a church-member. The family had 

 moved on to this new farm; and as their means 

 were somewhat limited they were obliged to 

 give a mortgage on it. I talked over the pros- 

 pects with them, and suggested that they help 

 lift the mortgage by growing potatoes. I told 

 them where the best potato ground was, in my 

 opinion; and as there were several nice springs 

 on the farm I was a good deal interested in the 

 farm as well as in the family. Near by is a 

 very pretty little church, and I exhorted them 

 rather vehemently, perhaps, to go to church 

 and attend Sunday-school, and to get into the 

 " harness " and to help work for the kingdom 

 of God and his righteousness. I think I re- 

 peated my favorite text with considerable em- 

 phasis — " Seek ye first the kingdom of God 

 and his righteousness, and all these things 

 shall be added unto you." I told them that, 

 if they took hold of God's work, and did their 

 part, the great Father would take care of the 

 mortgage. 



At first there were some discouragements in 

 the way of attending services regularly, and 

 helping along in the work of righteousness. 

 But by and by they began to reap their reward, 

 as I was sure they would. In a little more 

 than a year the father had united with the 

 church, and was full of enthusiasm with re- 

 gard to church work. Pretty soon he had a 

 class in Sunday-school ; and the boy, in due 

 course of time, followed the father. Why 

 shouldn't he? Although he is not quite six- 

 teen years of age, he begins to banter his fa- 

 ther playfully by saying he can do almost as 

 much work as his father — that is, certain kinds 

 of work. I do not know but he can pick up 

 potatoes a little faster ; but perhaps he could 

 not stand it right along as many hours in a 

 day. The boy of sixteen ought not to be re- 

 quired or permitted to stand it like a man of 

 thirty or forty. Perhaps I feel more interested 

 in the boy because he is just about Huber's 

 age. A boy of sixteen, full of energy and 

 life for either play or work, whichever stands 

 before him, is a beautiful sight to see, any 

 wav. There has been a good deal of talk about 

 girls of that age — "sweet sixteen." But I 

 begin to think I like to look a boy in the face 

 when he just begins to look manly and talk 

 manly, as much as I like to see these pretty, 

 graceful young girls when they just begin to 

 look womanly. There, I almost forgot to say 

 that I love such boys, and love to look into 

 their faces when their words and actions indi- 

 cate they are pure in heart. 



When Mahlon was telling me about their 

 young minister, and what a nice man he was, 

 I recognized at once that he loved the man be- 

 cause he himself was pure in heart. Our text 

 says, ' ' Blessed are the pure in heart, for they 

 shall see God ; " and Mahlon was just begin- 



ning to get glimpses of the great Father, per- 

 haps through the teachings of the young min- 

 ister, and because he is pure in heart. His 

 mother did not say she was proud of him; but, 

 dear friends, young and old, how could any 

 mother help being proud of the boy who unites 

 with the church and gives his heart to God 

 just as he begins to develop manliness and 

 manly strength ? 



But now, what about those other boys — those 

 who took delight in letting me see the deprav- 

 ity and iniquity that were in their hearts, 

 young as they were? Where did they get 

 that talk ? I told you Akron is a great city. 

 I think there are between 65,000 and 70,000 

 people in it now. Akron boasts of the won- 

 derful growth she has made ; of her water- 

 powers, steam-powers, of her great manufac- 

 tories, and of her mills; but I do not know 

 whether Akron boasts of her 160 saloons or 

 not. I have heard them mentioned frequent- 

 ly; but, come to think of it, I do not believe 

 I ever heard anybody brag of the number of 

 saloons they have there. And now we have 

 come to the source of that foul talk. Those 

 boys, young as they were, were growing up, 

 either in the saloons or surrounded by saloon 

 influences. Somebody asked recently why 

 tobacco-venders decorate their packages with 

 the most obscene pictures the law will permit; 

 and also why the saloon-keepers are constantly 

 furnishing the boys with pictures the law 

 would not allow; but they take the precaution 

 of passing them out to the boys on the sly. 

 Yes, I have seen the pictures. I have gone 

 into the saloons and found them on the coun- 

 ters. The saloon is in open hostility to the 

 church ; and as the church holds up purity 

 and godliness, the saloon constantly works for 

 z;wpurity and ^^righteousness. The Anti-sa- 

 loon League has done some work in the way 

 of prosecuting law-breakers in Akron, but not 

 very much comparatively. When 160 saloon- 

 keepers are banded together, and have succeed- 

 ed in getting the greater part of the police on 

 their side, " what will the harvest be?" No 

 wonder the boys learn to swear before they 

 are sixteen. The Sunday-school and the En- 

 deavor societies are doing a tremendous work 

 to counteract these evil influences ; and every 

 Christian man or woman who gets a boy away 

 from the saloon and into the Sunday-school is 

 doing a greater work than he knows of. But 

 why are so many of our people half-hearted 

 about all this ? Why do so many yawn and 

 act sleepy when you ask them to go to church 

 or Sunday-school ? Is this a time for sleep- 

 ing? Satan never sleeps. Perhaps the Sun- 

 day-school may be dull and uninteresting. 

 Perhaps you do no'ifeel like going ; but, dear 

 me ! what has feeling got to do with it, any- 

 how? 



Yesterday some children were having a 

 picnic. It was out in an old orchard. They 

 had forgotten to bring any water along. Some 

 of them started off with a pail, saying, " There 

 is an old well over here, and I am sure we can 

 get some water there." Then I remembered 

 what I had many times heard of, that old un- 

 used wells are very likely to contain the germs 

 of typhoid fever or diphtheria. I stopped the 



