928 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



DEC. 1. 



toward the army canteen is, it seems to me, a 

 small maittr compared to other issues — yes, 

 an exceedingly small matter."* 



Now, T need not tell the readers of Gi^EAN- 

 INGS how / feel about this thing, for I have 

 told it already ; but is it possible the truth, or 

 the wisest course, lies somewhere between my- 

 self and the old farmer ? When anybody sug- 

 gests that intemperance throughout the world 

 is a small matter compared with other things 

 or other issues, if you choose, there is a strong 

 tendency in my breast to get all stirred up and 

 to become vehement. But God knows I want 

 to do what is right in his sight. Is it possible 

 that we temperance people will do uiore good 

 by submitting, at least for the time being, to 

 this terrible thing rather than go to too great 

 extremes in stirring up matters ? May God 

 give us light and wisdom. 



In looking over the world, and in getting 

 the views of the best men and women I know 

 of, it has seemed to me as though the general 

 tendency is to — well, let us say to do about as 

 our good friend Hershiser said the great man- 

 ufacturing concern did in regard to employing 

 a mechanical draftsman. They decided to 

 keep him until they could find somebody else 

 who did somewhere nearly as well, and who 

 did not use tobacco so " recklessly." Every- 

 body has met these problems. We have got to 

 meet them at home — yes, oftentimes with our 

 own children. And, by the way, of all the 

 sad quarrels this world presents, there is none 

 so sad, as it seems to me, as a quarrel, or, if 

 you choose, even a disagreement and a differ- 

 ence, between parent and child. Dear father 

 and mother, do not be too severe and exacting 

 with your own children, especially when the 



♦Since the above was dictated, a vivid illustration of 

 the harm we may do by demanding that everybody, 

 especially eveiy Christian worker, shall come up to 

 our standpoint (or our ideas, perhaps I had better put 

 it, of how things should be), has come to light. The 

 W C. T. U. of the State of Ohio has a department per- 

 taining to the use of narcotics. At the head of the 

 dtpaitment for this very State they have had, until 

 very recently, a most energetic, vehement, and suc- 

 cessful worker of great ability. Well, somebody dis- 

 covered that this good woman's husband was growing 

 to acco c n his farm. You may all say it was a bad 

 state of affairs— the wife leading a reform movement 

 for the whole State against tobacco, and her hu.'band 

 growing crops of it j ear after year. There was a 

 great deal of murmviring, and finally she thought 

 best to re.'ign. She did so at a critical period, when a 

 law was al out to be passed against the traffic in cigar- 

 ettes. With her ability, energy, and vim, the law 

 would no doubt have carried ; but the Christian peo- 

 ple put in another good woman, whose husband did 

 not grow tobacco. They gained something in one di- 

 rection, anyhow ; but the new officer, although her 

 intentions were all right, did not seem to have any 

 aptitude for thecffice. Perhaps we may say. as the 

 boys do, " She was not built that way." and the cigar- 

 ette-dealers carried the day. Some may say this wo- 

 man should have made herhusband give up growing 

 tobacco. Well, this might be almost like the disciples 

 who asked the Master to call down fire from htaven ; 

 and it might be a bigger job, loo, than pulling the 

 tares out of the wheat. The husband did not see fit 

 to meddle with the wife in her work against narcotics. 

 She might, of course, use all her womanly influence 

 to get him to stop growing the crop. Failing in this, 

 would anybody advise her to get a divorce and break 

 up the family? God forbid. It is an easy thing to 

 look over the fence and decide what your neighbors 

 cught to do : but were you to stand in their shoes a 

 little while, may be you would do as they do, and at 

 the .same time do the wisest and best thing. I am 

 glad to add, a most faithful and efficient lady now has 

 charge of this department of the W. C. T. U. work. 



boy or girl approaches the critical period in 

 the " teens," when they come to that dividing 

 line between childhood and manhood or wo- 

 manhood. May God give us grace and wisdom. 

 Of course, you are not to let things drift or go. 

 I would not have you let up one single iota in 

 watching and praying and exhorting and en- 

 treating ; but, dear father and mother, what- 

 ever you do, strive to do that which will make 

 things better and not worse. Jesus told the 

 disciples not to pull up the tares, for, even if 

 the tare w«5 destroyed, it might result in more 

 harm to the wheat, and so they were to let it 

 grow ; and when James and John thought it a 

 proper thing to do to call down fire from heav- 

 en, and consume the foolish people who would 

 not receive them, he replied in the manner of 

 our text, " Ye know not what manner of spirit 

 ye are of." Then he reniinded them that he 

 came to this world — in fact, his mission here 

 was — to saz'e men, not to destroy them. Now, 

 shall we not, as his followers, be very careful 

 — yes, exceedingly careful— that we do not de- 

 stroy more than we mend. We are all liable 

 to get stirred up by some little thing. God 

 knows it is my besetting sin, and I fear the 

 temptation will follow me to the end of my 

 life. Let us beware of Satan along this line. 

 He is not at all slow in suggesting that we 

 should be doing Christ's work in setting our 

 foot down as to what the children shall or 

 shall not do, or in ordering the hired man or 

 hired girl to "to get right off the premises," 

 for I am told that is the way they sometimes 

 do it. If you really feel as if you must dismiss 

 your hired help, do it gently, and do it kind- 

 ly. Do not be in haste. Tell them pleasant- 

 ly that you will give them time to find anoth- 

 er situation, and then shake hands in parting, 

 and part good friends. You may want to work 

 together again some time ; and, oh it will be 

 so much pleasanter — so much more Christian- 

 like — to bid each other good by in a friendly 

 way when you meet again ! Yes, I would 

 say this even if the hired girl has been telling 

 you lies, or if the hired man has been stealing 

 your property — that is, where you can not 

 really prove it. Keep up pleasant terms, even 

 with a bad man — that is, so far as you can do 

 it without compromising Christian dignity and 

 integrity. And finally, dear brother or sister, 

 hold fast to that old well-worn text that the 

 world scarcely even yet gets a glimpse of : 

 "Love ye your enemies; do good to them 

 that hate you ; bless them that curse you, and 

 pray for them that despitefully use you." 



NOTES OF TRAVH 



4 , BY,,...^*A«-i.ROO,T.. ». 





Along in the middle of November, when- 

 ever the roads are fairly good, I try to take as 

 many wheelrides as possible before wheel-rid- 

 ing is done up for the winter. One day, about 

 the middle of the month, while I had this idea 

 in mind, the following came on a postal card : 



