GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



271 



For God so loved the world that he gave his only be- 

 gotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should 

 not perish, but have everlasting life. — John 3:1G. 



In our last Home Paper I said I felt sure 

 that God did not call me into the business of 

 growing flowers for sale. I meant that I felt 

 sure he does not desire me to use the remain- 

 ing part of my life in that way ; and I am im- 

 pressed that he is not calling me into any sort 

 of business such as I have been engaged in all 

 my life. The greenhouse is all right for recre- 

 ation, but it is to be my play and not my se- 

 rious work. Well, if I feel his voice direct- 

 ing me plainly what I shall not do, what is it 

 he wishes I should do ? My health is unusual- 

 ly good. I have lots of energy and zeal, and 

 I have unusual strength of body. When I get 

 on to my wheel now during these spring days 

 it seems to me as if I could ride 100 miles in a 

 <iay on a good road, without much trouble. 



How shall I use my energy of both brain 

 and muscle? Well, friends, this very thing 

 has been my prayer of late. What would 

 •God have me do ? or, if you choose, what 

 would Jesus have me do, as our friend Shel- 

 don has expressed it ? And, by the way, may 

 God be praised that Bro. Sheldon has been 

 •enabled to express his grand thoughts to al- 

 most the whole wide world. Well, the thing 

 that impresses me just now more than any 

 thing else is that I should use all the influence 

 I possess, at home and abroad, in protesting 

 against the starvation that is going on in India. 

 Sheldon tells us in his daily that 50 millions 

 ■of people are affected by the famine, and that 

 something like 5 millions are on the verge of 

 starvation even now. These figures are so ap- 

 pallitig that Young America (and Old America 

 .also) becomes discouraged and overwhelmed, 

 and inclined to say we can not do any thing, 

 and that it is not our fault, any way. Oh ! but 

 it is our fault. It is a burning shame on the 

 present age that anybody should be starving 

 ^or food in this whole wide world. We are 

 responsible, every one of us. We have enough 

 and to spare ; in fact, for the last year it has 

 seemed as if people were studying up ways 

 and means to waste money and throw it away. 

 See what I have said in another column about 

 sending money to the different kinds of "heal- 

 ers." See again my allusions to the strong- 

 drink traffic. We all know, without being re- 

 minded, that more money is paid out in our 

 land for intoxicating drinks than for bread. 

 This was true when the reckless waste of mon- 

 ey in this direction had not assumed its pres- 

 ent alarming state. I think I am safe now in 

 saying that harmful drinks cost more than 

 necessary food. Our missionaries are honest, 

 trustworthy people. No one, I think, ques- 

 tions this for a moment. They are devoted 

 followers of Christ Jesus, and will handle safe- 

 ly and wisely every copper entrusted to their 

 care. They have no desire to get rich ; in 

 fact, they know nothing of riches. Nobody 



ever heard of a rich missionary. Their lives 

 and all they have are given freely to helping 

 humanity. Their statements are true. Their 

 appeals to us are right. With the present ad- 

 vanced state of civilization, with the wonder- 

 ful gifts a good and wise God has, within a 

 few months, placed within our hands, there is 

 certainly no need of starving anywhere on 

 the face of the earth. If there are not rail- 

 ways enough to carry provisions to the people, 

 let us make them. If there are people in any 

 part of the world too ignorant to make stor- 

 age-reservoirs to save the water, let us show 

 them how to do it. Let the different govern- 

 ments set them to work on these reservoirs, 

 and pay them wages enough to keep them 

 from starvation. Let the millions that are de- 

 voted to war (and may I whisper right here 

 the army ''canteen'" ) be used in public works, 

 first' to keep the people employed right off, 

 and, secondly, to furnish them water, and 

 teach them irrigation so they can grow crops 

 in spite of long months without rain. I 

 should like to go to India myself. I should 

 like to take some of the able men of our own 

 land, and have them start these things going. 

 If I could save more people from starving by 

 leaving every thing, and going to India just 

 now, I would do it gladly and willingly. I 

 wonder if there is a millionaire who reads 

 Gleanings. If so, can not my poor humble 

 voice induce him to feel some enthusiasm in 

 this work of relieving the starving ? 



Dear brother, I am not thinking about the 

 men. They can struggle and die, if need .be ; 

 but I am thinking of the women and helpless 

 children. They are out of water as well as of 

 food. They have been obliged to desert their 

 homes in the vain quest of both. Women and 

 children lie dead and dying along the way. 

 Mothers give birth to children, under bridges 

 and along the wayside, without shelter ; and 

 these things are so frequent that nobody pays 

 any attention. Parents, crazed by the tortures 

 of famine, murder their children ; and, worse 

 still, sell their little girls to anybody who 

 wants them, for any purpose whatever, for a 

 mere pittance. Let me give you just one il- 

 lustration — one incident among thousands. 



A mother decided her little girl had better 

 die at once by drowning than to suffer the tor- 

 ture of prolonged starvation. She took the 

 child down to the edge of a pool, and tried to 

 drown her ; but the girl guessed what the 

 mother was trying to do, and begged so pite- 

 ously to be permitted to live, promising her 

 mother she would never trouble her any more, 

 and never ask her (her own mother) for a crust 

 of bread, that she finally let the child go. 

 The girl made her way to a missionary camp 

 and told her story. But what can the mission- 

 aries do, not with hundreds, not with thou- 

 sands, but with millions who are in alike pre- 

 dicament ? 



Perhaps you think I am getting a good way 

 off from m}^ text ; but I assure you I have it 

 in mind. One day while reading my mail, 

 and getting a glimpse of the way the Whisky 

 League with its small number (comparatively) 

 have overwhelmed and sunk in ruin and deg- 

 radation thousands in spite of the majority of 



