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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Dec. 15. 



Go ye, therefoie, and teach all uatioiis. — Matt. 

 28:1!>. 



When Jesus laid this injunction on his fol- 

 lowers, very likely it did not occur to them 

 then that, instead of going all over the world, 

 away across the seas, and to the remote islands, 

 in due time all nations should come to us in- 

 stead of our going to them ; and I am afraid 

 that a host of Christ's followers at this present 

 day hardly realize or comprehend that mission 

 work means doing missionary work among 

 people here at hotue, that God in his infinite 

 wisdom has sent to us. I fear we are all apt 

 to have more enthusiasm for going across the 

 seas and in fitting out missionaries than we 

 have for starting missionary work among our 

 next-door neighbors; nay, further still, for 

 starting and carrying on missionary work 

 right among those under our own roof, the in- 

 mates of our own households, and, I should 

 like to say, among those who sit with us at 

 our own tables. But I am going to touch on 

 this matter of who shall sit down at the table 

 with us at our daily meals, further on. 



I have already told you that one of the 

 children God sent to our home, the one we 

 used to call Blue Eyes, was a natural teacher. 

 In her childhood she gathered the neighbors' 

 children about her and "taught school." 

 WLen she was old enough she served an ap- 

 prenticeship, if that is the way to term it, 

 under that grand good woman who has charge 

 of our Medina primary department, Miss 

 Sarah Smith. Some of you have read her 

 writings. Well, Constance declared for sever- 

 al years that teaching was to be her lifework ; 

 and after she became a follower of Christ 

 Jesus she felt so sure she was called into the 

 work of foreign missions that she made ar- 

 rangements to take a course in college with 

 that end in view. Man proposes, but God 

 disposes ; and instead of going to Africa or 

 some other foreign land she is now heart and 

 soul devoted to leading and directing the mind 

 and body of her own little prattler, her own 

 boy. I hope and pray, however, that this boy 

 is not going to take all of her zeal and energy. 

 I said God disposed things in such a way that 

 she did not go to Africa ; but the great Father 

 was planning, and is planning in your life and 

 mine, dear reader, to give us an opportunity 

 to use all our powers and strength for his hon- 

 or and glory. 



Here in Medina we have had to meet the 

 problem, as they do all over the world, or at 

 least almost all over the world, in getting help 

 for the women-folks in the home, as well as 

 help for the men-folks on the farms and in 

 the factories. There is a peculiar difficulty, 

 however, in getting help for the mother — get- 

 ting help to work zviih the mother right by 

 her side, doing the very tasks that she does 

 herself. There are plenty of girls to work in 

 factories ; plenty to work in stores ; plenty 

 for the offices. In a recent number of the 



Country Gentleman a pitiful story was told 

 about the girls in the great city of New York, 

 who are working — yes, thousands of them — 

 in offices, and especially typewriters, for just 

 enough to pay their board — no more. This 

 article suggested that, when these girls com- 

 plain to their employers that they can not 

 keep soul and body together on such small 

 pay, the employers have heartlessly hinted 

 that the girls must — well, let us say barter 

 away their good looks or their youth for the 

 wherewith to dress decently and find lodging. 

 The article was a vehement protest against the 

 heartlessness and cruelt}' of the average busi- 

 ness man in all the great cities. Yes, there is 

 complaint right here in Medina that the dry- 

 goods men pay their women clerks barely 

 enough to enable them to pay for decent board 

 and lodging. 



Now, it rejoiced my heart to see a footnote 

 at the end ot the article, by the editor of the 

 Country Getitleinan, suggesting that these girls 

 could get places, every one of them, where 

 they would be furnished both board and lodg- 

 ing, and two or three dollars a week pay be- 

 sides, for helping the tired mothers in our 

 homes, but they will not do it ; yes, it rejoic- 

 ed my heart to see the editor make a vigorous 

 and vehement strike just where my mind was 

 running as I read the article. 



Now, then, friends, who is at fault? Is it 

 altogether the fault of the girls? The moth- 

 ers that need help are, a great part of them, 

 professed follows of Christ Jesus. May God 

 be praised that, during the years past since I 

 have been permitted to write these Home Pa- 

 pers, I have had an insight into hundreds of 

 homes ; and I have become acquainted by cor- 

 respondence with many more Christian moth- 

 ers, and I am afraid that these Christian moth- 

 ers are, at least sotnewhat, at fault. Many of 

 them, I know, are preaching the gospel to 

 their hired help, and someiimes the hired 

 help is not only ungrateful, but saucy and im- 

 pudent. Yes, I know too, it is sometimes the 

 other way. The hired help is a good many 

 times a patient, professing Christian. God 

 knows how I wish it were oftener the case ; 

 and sometimes this patient professing Chris- 

 tian is obliged to put up with proud, overbear- 

 ing, aristocratic mistresses. I do not like that 

 word " mistresses." It does not tell what I 

 mean. I believe God intended, in this very 

 domestic relation which we are discussing, 

 that the mother of the home should come 

 nearer the relation of teacher (as in our text), 

 and that the hired girl shonld be, in one sense 

 at least, a pupil. When the bargain is made 

 between these two, it should be understood 

 that the mother, as the owner and proprietor 

 of the home, should direct ; and that a joung 

 woman or girl, as an employee, should work 

 according to directions ; that she should be 

 willing to do whatever her teacher asks her to 

 do, cheerfully and willingly. 



Well, this daughter of ours commenced her 

 mission in married life with a hired girl — at 

 least I hope it was as I have stated it. One of 

 the first things she undertook to do was to 

 teach the girl not to waste the food left over 

 from one meal to another. This she learned 



