448 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 1. 



a basket, and told me the circumstances. I 

 replied : 



" Why, my friend, you admit you carelessly 

 destroyed the basket. Was it not right that 

 you should pay for it ? " 



"Why, yes; it is perfectly right that I 

 should pay for it. But your people have 

 charged niefive cents for it, when I can buy 

 them anywhere for three cents." 



I stopped awhile and looked at him. Then 

 I replied : 



" So you stopped your team and your work, 

 and came up to the office, insisting on seeing 

 a member of the firm, just because one of our 

 people did not know how low market-baskets 

 are made nowadays, and charged you two cents 

 more than they should have done." 



He looked a little foolish, but finally rallied, 

 and replied that "right is right ; " he did not 

 care particularly about the two cents, but it 

 showed the disposition of our establishment to 

 "gouge " a poor man whenever we had an op- 

 portunity. This friend of mine (for I think 

 he is a friend, and I think, too, he intends to 

 be a good man) has had trouble all his life be- 

 cause he is so vehement in plucking out the 

 tares whenever he thinks he gets sight of one. 

 I have explained to him before, that, if he is 

 right in thinking the members of our firm are 

 always wanting to cheat somebody, he is cer- 

 tainly mistaken in thinking the men we em- 

 ploy are alivays trying to cheat. I told him 

 the man who made out the bill could have had 

 no possible motive in wanting to cheat him, 

 for if he succeeded it would not go into his 

 own pocket. He simply furnished the items 

 for the book-keeper. He was not an interest- 

 ed party in the matter either way. Still he 

 would have it that everybody was trying to 

 wrong him. 



These illustrations I have given you are all 

 on a small scale ; and some of them pertain to 

 cases where it is a question as to whether the 

 objectionable thing be really a noxious weed. 

 In some of my talks of late I have told you 

 about the terrible inroads intemperance is 

 making into the affairs of State and nation. 

 I have told you of downright frauds, humbugs 

 and swindles, and I don't know but I myself 

 have erred in urging that the tares be yanked 

 out forthwith, no matter what may be upturn- 

 ed and thrown out of order. 



At one time in my life a man forged my 

 name. When the note was held up before my 

 eyes, with my signature attached — a signature 

 I had never written, nor permitted anybody 

 else to write for me — I was a great deal stirred 

 up ; and I supposed, of course, that the man 

 who did it should go to the penitentiary. 

 Only three or four persons knew about it ; and 

 when the officers of the law said he need not 

 go to the penitentiary, unless I so decided, I 

 began to feel troubled. I do not know but I 

 have all my life said the right and proper 

 thing to do with a man who commits forgery 

 is to let him pay the penalty and go to prison ; 

 but when I could, by the turn of my finger, 

 send the hard-working man to prison, or let 

 him keep on with his work, I began to wish 

 that God in his providence had not placed any 

 such responsibility on me. I said to the three 



or four persons who knew the transaction, 

 " Gentlemen, this is a new experience to me. 

 What is usually done in such cases? " 



The reply came, and I think it came from 

 the attorney, " Well, the one whose name has 

 been forged generally does what he thinks 

 best under the circumstances. If he puts it 

 in the hands of the law, there is no help for 

 the culprit." 



" But," I replied, '■' somebody \\zs to pay this 

 money if this man is spared from the penalty. 

 Is it just the thing for me to do, to hand over 

 the money exactly as if I did write my name 

 on that paper, when in fact I never knew a 

 thing about the transaction? " 



I presume the friends present knew me, and 

 perhaps they knew of these Home Papers ; 

 and they exchanged smiles to see how I would 

 act when brought face to face with crime, es- 

 pecially when I had the life and happiness of 

 a fellow-being balanced on the tip of my fin- 

 ger, as it were. Satan said (at least I think it 

 was Satan), " Send him to prison ; serves him 

 right. Why, if you let fellows like him go 

 ' scot free, ' you are paying a premium to those 

 who commit forgery and all other crimes. 

 Never mind his wife, never mind his relatives; 

 never mind if he has been a steady hard-work- 

 ing man all his life. Teach him a lesson. 

 The lesson will do others good. Let the world 

 know the consequences of such work as this." 

 Come to think of it, I do not know whether 

 Satan used all of those arguments. The 

 thoughts passed through my mind, anyhow. 

 When you discover a forgery in your neigh- 

 borhood, what is the thing to do — yank him 

 out of the wheat and send him to prison, or 

 shall we look into the matter and see how 

 much wheat will be turned up and displaced, 

 and thrown out of place by the transaction ? 



Well, after Satan had presented all his argu- 

 ments, or at least a good many, some other 

 voice spoke. I do not know but it was a still 

 small voice. It went away back. This still 

 small voice reminded me that his record had 

 been good, or fairly good, from childhood up. 

 This was a new and unlooked-for experience 

 in his life ; and the voice also reminded me 

 that I had not yet had a friendly talk with 

 him. Why, dear friends, have you ever real- 

 ized that it is not an easy thing to have a 

 friendly talk with a man who has stolen your 

 name, or deliberately forged it ? A very good 

 lady friend of mine in Christian and Sunday- 

 school work, who has been dead for some 

 years, used to say to me, when I was excusing 

 myself for wasting no more time on some 

 "reprobate," as I called him, "But, Mr. Root, 

 Jesus fl'zVfl' for him." And her argument was 

 unanswerable. Yes, Jesus died for the man 

 who forged my name ; and I remembered his 

 advantages had not been equal to my own. 



I told you a story through these Home Pa- 

 pers some little time ago that seemed to hinge 

 about the words, " Jesus paid it all, all to him 

 I owe." If this man was saved, there seemed 

 to be no way but for me to pay the debt, even 

 though it was over a hundred dollars. He 

 promised, with tears in his eyes, and with 

 bowed head, to pay me back every cent of 

 it, both principal and interest, and, well 



