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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 15. 



OUR 

 HOMES, 



BY A.I. ROOT. 



And he said unto them, Follow me, and I will make 

 you fishers of men. — Matt. 4:19. 



There are a great many texts where Jesus 

 called upon his friends to follow him. In sev- 

 eral places he says in effect, " Leave all, and 

 follow me." He told the young ruler (Mark 

 10:21) to sell all that he had, and give to the 

 poor, and come and follow him. Now, the 

 question comes up before us at the close of 

 this century, " How shall we in this present 

 age follow Jesus? If he were on the earth 

 again to-day, where would he go? Would he 

 keep away from the busy cities ? Would he 

 hold aloof from the rich, say from the mil- 

 lionaires ? " I think not ; for he took upon 

 himself the responsibility of inviting himself 

 to dine with Zaccheus ; and he accepted in- 

 vitations from the rich to attend their feasts. 

 I do not remember that he ever neglected or 

 refused any invitation. Sheldon has stirred 

 the whole world by persistently asking the 

 question, " What would Jesns do? " I wish to 

 vary it a little by asking the question to-day, 

 "Where would Jesus go, and how would he 

 behave himself? " 



When I first entered the Pere Marquette de- 

 pot in Toledo, on my first trip to Northern 

 Michigan, I made a g-jod many inquiries of 

 railroad men in regard to my trip. No one 

 could answer me or take the time to answer 

 me.' My excursion ticket was to Traverse 

 City. I wanted to visit Manistee first, and I 

 knew I could save time and money by getting 

 off at some station before I reached Traverse 

 City. The conductor said I would have to 

 wait till I had got up into Ncrthern Michigan, 

 and the conductor up there could tell me what 

 I wanted to know. But I saw by the folder 

 we should pass a station near Manistee in the 

 night. There would not be any conductor to 

 talk to, and, besides, I should not have my 

 ticket. As I came into the large depot I no- 

 ticed a lady presiding at the ticket-office. I 

 overheard a conversation something as follows: 



" Why, these folks have got a zvonian in the 

 office there. How long have they had her? " 



" She has been here only a short time. I 

 think they got her in Apn Arbor. But she is 

 a hustler, even if she is a woman. I have un- 

 derstood the company are exceedingly well 

 pleased with her." 



Now, I had an hour to wait, s^ I was not in 

 any hurry. I thought I would wait till the 

 crowd got away, and then I would see if she 

 could (or would) tell me what I w'anted to 

 know. There was quite a crowd around the 

 window. A gentleman asked her several 

 questions. She answered them rapidly and 

 pleasantly. When through he expressed his 

 thanks, and she gave him a pleasant womanly 

 smile — just such a one as a business woman 

 ought to give customers, and nothing more. 

 Then followed questions, tickets sold, and just 

 such business as comes up at the window of a 

 ticket-office when there is a crowd around. 



Every one who made a purchase or asked a 

 question seemed pleasantly surprised to see her 

 bright, ready, quick in making change, stamp- 

 ing, or writing. Each one expressed his 

 thanks, and each one received more or less of 

 that pleasant smile that I was beginning to 

 understand and appreciate already. My good 

 friend, there is a power in a woman's smile ; 

 nay, more — there is money in a woman's smile, 

 and I am glad the great railroad companies 

 are beginning to understand it. Well, I had 

 not learned all about that smile, although 

 dozens had been waited on. A poor woman 

 with some crying children dragging at her 

 skirts was in trouble. She asked different 

 ones, but she did not seem to have the faculty 

 of knowing who could or would answer her 

 questions. Many laughed at her. Finally 

 she got space at the window, and explained 

 her difficulty. Then this bright, educated, 

 and intelligent woman in the office made her 

 sister on the other side feel that she was a sis- 

 ter in very truth. It made me think of my 

 talk to you about the good Samaritan. It did 

 my heart good to see the hard lines of trou- 

 ble relax on the poor mother's face as this other 

 woman told her patiently all she wanted to 

 know, and set her mind at ease, at least for the 

 present. I was already beginning to love the 

 smile that I saw she gave to the multitude who 

 came to her window ; but it never came out 

 in its full beauty and wondrous power until 

 she saw a sister in trouble. Most of you have 

 been at a ticket-office when a crowd was 

 around, and have asked questions. Some of 

 the agents are pleasant and courteous, espe- 

 cially if there are not many waiting behind 

 them ; but if there are, they are sometimes 

 cross and surly, and snap you up as if 5'ou had 

 not any sense at all to ask such ridiculous 

 questions. My turn came pretty soon. I 

 showed my ticket to the lady, and asked if 

 she could tell me at what station I should get 

 off to reach Manistee. Now, Traverse City is 

 a long way from Toledo — several hundred 

 miles ; but this woman answered at once off 

 hand, " You will have to get off at Baldwin, 

 and you will lose your ticket from Baldwin to 

 Traverse City. No stop-overs are allowed on 

 this sort of ticket. You will reach there be- 

 fore morning, and if you will tell the porter 

 where you want to get off he will ask the 

 conductor to have your ticket ready for 

 you." * 



I told her I was greatly obliged, and that 

 she was the first employee of the railroad I 

 had met who could give me the information I 

 desired. Had there not been other customers 

 behind me about this time, I think I should 

 have told her how it rejoiced my heart to see 

 her help that poor woman. As I thanked her 



* Not one of the men-folks, and I inquired of those 

 wearing the railway uniform, seemed to know any 

 thing about their line of road away across the north- 

 ern side of the State. Did it jus't happen that this 

 woman knew just the proper station to get o5 at, and 

 the time to get off, without consulting a map or time- 

 table ? No, my friends, there was not any " happen " 

 about it. She had simply gone to work and made her- 

 self familiar with the ge. graphy and the stations on 

 their line — yes, with towns and cities twenty or thirty 

 miles away "from the Pere Marquette line of road, and 

 that, too, at the extreme further end of the line. 



