1900 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



495 



ant little ones. First she smiled at them, then 

 put up her hand and shook it at them by way 

 of a salute, and, of course, they saluted back 

 again. Then she shook both hands, some- 

 thing as they shake their handkerchiefs at the 

 Chautauqua salute. The children did the 

 same. Then she asked them to stand up and 

 give her a salute, and said : 



"Now wiggle, not only your hands, but 

 your arms, and do it real hard, as I do " 



And what a fluttering and giggling there 

 was among those youngsters ! 



"There," said she, "you have wiggled 

 enough now, so that you can sit still a few 

 minutes without being uneasy." 



They all caught on to the point at once, and 

 then she commenced her story. 



" Children, a few days ago I saw some men 

 at work in the streets of Chicago, and when 

 it came night, so they were obliged to stop 

 work, they left some great dark-looking holes 

 right in the middle of the street. They had 

 been at work at the gas-pipes and water-pipes, 

 and things of that sort. And there were piles 

 of sand and bricks and mortar, and pieces of 

 iron. Then a man came along with a lot of 

 lanterns, and put a lighted lantern on each 

 side of these dangerous-looking holes. He 

 set the lantern up on a pile of dirt or bricks. 

 Who can tell me why he put the lanterns 

 there ? ' ' 



A lot of hands went up here, and a variety 

 of answers came. 



" To give the people warning." 



"To let the people see where the danger 

 was." 



" To save them from harm." 



After a great number of answers had been 

 given she selected the one most appropriate, 

 and placed it on the board. Then she asked : 



" IV/io is to be saved from harm ? " 



One suggested the horses and buggies. 

 When she asked who else, somebody piped 

 out, "Boys riding bicycles." So she got a 

 variety of answers. Then she had them tell 

 what they knew about light-houses to give 

 warning to ships. I was greatly astonished to 

 know that among that mass of little people 

 she gathered information in regard to light- 

 houses that perhaps many grown-up persons 

 did not know. 



" Children, what people is it who carry lan- 

 terns all day long ? " 



Her class looked at one another in an unde- 

 cided way, and finally some one piped out, 

 " Miners." 



" Where do miners carry their lamps? " 



There was another pause while they studied 

 the matter a little. Then some boy said, " In 

 front of their caps." 



" Will some boy please come up here with a 

 cap and show us just how the miners fix their 

 lamps ? ' ' 

 A boy came up, and the process was explained. 



" What are the lamps made of ? " 



"Tin or other metal." 



"How do they fasten the lamp to their 

 caps ? ' ' 



A juvenile voice replied : 



" They have hooks on the lamps that hook 

 into a place in the cap." 



I can not take space here to give all the in- 

 formation she received in regard to this mat- 

 ter of shedding light in dark places in order 

 to save human life. Some of the answers 

 were not only unexpected, but exceedingly 

 bright and original. Not only the children, 

 but that whole vast audience, was so enter- 

 tained that everybody forgot to be tired or to 

 feel uneasy. Before she had dropped the mat- 

 ter of mere mechanical work and suggested a 

 spiritual application, I was wondering in my 

 mind how she would bring it in, and enable 

 these children to grasp great spiritual truths. 

 She did it, however, easily and naturally. 

 While talking she was as busy with hands and 

 tongue as any of the children. She asked if 

 Sunday-schools were any thing like the lamps 

 that give warning in regard to dangerous 

 places. Then she spoke of the way in which 

 the Sunday-school teachers, the superintend- 

 ent, and all the officers could point out dan- 

 gerous places. Then she asked what sort of 

 person the superintendent of a Sunday-school 

 ought to be. And those juveniles answered 

 these questions after quite a little trying, with 

 much wisdom and many original suggestions 

 thrown in. Altogether they answered some 

 questions better, perhaps, than the average 

 minister would do it. Again and again I was 

 startled by the wisdom, judgment, and good 

 sense that she brought out from that little au- 

 dience. One child would sometimes be ' ' away 

 off " in his answer ; but another would right 

 him up. Then a third would add something 

 else ; and a little girl, perhaps the smallest in 

 the lot, would cap the climax in a way that 

 " brought down the house." 



When she came on the stage she brought 

 some paper boxes of different sizes. Toward 

 the close she picked up a fancy-colored box 

 and commenced untying the string, saying, 

 meanwhile, "Children, would you like to see 

 what I have in these boxes? " 



Of course, they were all on tiptoe with ex- 

 pectancy ; she took out a very small wax ta- 

 per and lighted it, then added, " This is a wee 

 little light, not as large as the miner carries 

 on his cap ; but in a very dark place it would 

 look much brighter and larger, and might 

 help a good deal. I wonder how many of these 

 little folks will be Sunday - school teachers 

 when they grow up. Oh ! there is a lot of 

 you. Well, that little girl with the blue dress 

 may come and stand by me and hold ihis lit- 

 tle candle." 



You can readily imagine how pleased the 

 child was to stand by her bright animated 

 teacher holding aloft her little beacon light. 



" I wonder if there is a boy here who would 

 like to be a superintendent of a Sunday-school 

 some day when he is big. Superintendents 

 ought to be very good men, should they not? 

 They ought to be pure and clean men, so that 

 they may let their light shine, and lead others 

 away from danger. That boy with the pink 

 waist thinks he would like to be a superintend- 

 ent. He may come and hold this other can- 

 dle. Now we need a lot of officers in the 

 Sunday-school. We want a good bright boy 

 for secretary. Let him come up and hold a 

 candle too. Then if our Sunday-school room 



