738 



(JLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



found in Ihat microscopic photograph. I 

 told my mother at the time I discovered it 

 that it was au "unexplored region" — that 

 if people would stop and listen to these 

 words of the Savior it would not only settle 

 neighborhood troubles but the troubles of 

 State and nation. 1 do not think I went far 

 enough. If the people in power would con- 

 sider and listen to the second of my texts, 

 and follow it, it would end the war in a 

 twinkling. Let us look at it again — " Love 

 ye your enemies; do good and lend, hoping 

 for nothing again." Let me digress a little. 



Eight over in the adjoining county of 

 Summit, two farmers quarreled over a line 

 fence, or at least I think that was the trou- 

 ble between them. They engaged lawyers. 

 Their families and their neighbors sided in, 

 some on one side and some on the other. 

 One day one of the two started to town 

 with his Avife and a horse and buggy. The 

 other neiglibor met them part way coming 

 home, also wilh a horse and buggy, with his 

 wife. They stopped their horses and com- 

 menced to talk. Then the two men gave the 

 lines to their wives, and got out of their 

 buggies. It seems they both carried con- 

 cealed weapons — please note this ; and Satan 

 put it into their heads that they could fix 

 matters all up nicely by fighting a duel. 

 They listened to Satan instead of the Lord 

 Jesus Christ, who gave us this wonderful 

 text. Bolh men were shot dead. Two poor 

 widows sat in their respective buggies, and 

 two families of children were without a 

 father. Now, can anybody in this whole 

 icide world tell me what was accomplished, 

 by fighting that duel? Did they fix the line 

 fence? Did they make pleasant relations in 

 the neighborhood? and were those two wid- 

 owed women satisfied or helped in any way? 

 We read of demoniac jjossession in olden 

 times ; and skeptics have for ages ridiculed 

 the idea of being " possessed by devils." If 

 those two men were not both possessed of 

 a devil, what else coidd have made them so 

 foolish? 



Down in Florida recently two other men 

 quarreled about a line fence. They spent 

 years and much money in fighting each oth- 

 er. Finally one of them moved away, leav- 

 ing the matter still unsettled. A Christian 

 man bought the farm, and the neighbors 

 watched to see him take up the fight. This 

 is the way he fought his enemy : He went to 

 his neighbor and said, " Neighbor, I am a 

 man of i^eace. I would rather lose a little 

 bit of land than to quarrel with a neighbor. 

 Just put that line fence over on my side 

 ten feet, and I shall be perfectly satisfied." 



"What do you think happened? His 

 opponent, who was ready to bristle up and 



fight to the bitter end, all of a sudden turned 

 '' about face," and replied something like 

 this: 



" My friend, if that is the sort of man 

 you are, I am not going to be outdone in 

 generosity. Put the fence over on my line 

 ten feet, and I shall be satisfied." 



Was not that putting that little text in 

 force with a vengeance — "Do good and lend, 

 hoping for nothing again ? " 



Now, some folks may think me foolish; 

 but I am just foolish enough to believe this 

 great war could be settled in the same way ! 

 and may the Lord be praised there are many 

 other good people of the same opinion. It 

 has rejoiced my heart to see all sorts of 

 periodicals take exactly the ground I do. 

 Let us go back a little. 



How did it come about that those two 

 Summit Co. farmers should each be carrying 

 a revolver? If it had not been for those 

 revolvers, some good Christian man might 

 liave converted I hem to the gospel of Jesus 

 Christ instead of letting them remain in the 

 dominion of Satan. There is a law now 

 against carrying concealed weapons; and I 

 wonder if it would not be a good thing to 

 stop carrying weapons of any kind. 



While I have been writing this Home 

 paper I have been thinking of the time 

 when some veteran of the Revolutionary 

 War showed us children a sword and its 

 scabbard. Perhaps they got it down from 

 the garret. Children, of course, would want 

 to know what the sword was for. Could any 

 father, at least nowadays, have the heart 

 to explain that swords are made to use to 

 kill folks? They have no other use. My 

 third text, however, speaks of one use. I am 

 afraid, however, they would be too slender 

 and frail for modern agriculture. By the 

 way, friends, have any of you got a sword 

 hanging up in the garret ? Break it up and 

 pound it up, or fix it so the children will 

 not know that it was ever used for killing 

 folks. I am ashamed to say I once used to 

 sleep with a revolver under my pillow. I 

 think Mrs. Root persuaded me to get rid of 

 it, and I have never touched a revolver since, 

 and that was years ago. Just notice how 

 many children are killed every year by 

 playing with revolvers and guns. Shall we 

 not get rid of them? Is it true that bayo- 

 nets, daggers, revolvers, stilettos, and all 

 that sort of " truck " open the way for 

 quarrel and murder? They are the imple- 

 ments of the midnight assassin. Do you 

 think I am peculiar or cranky? See what 

 the greatest daily in Cleveland, the Plain 

 Dealer, has to say about it : 



FALSE INSURANCE. 



Arming to keep the peace, a favorite oratorical 

 policy with the jingoes of all nations, never before 



