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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



my religion; and they said such awful 

 things about Christians, pi'eaehers, and all, 

 that I was literally "snowed under." I 

 realized I had made a blunder; and while 

 I used that little prayer, " Lord, help !" I 

 pushed my foot in among the scraps of 

 leather that lay scattered thick in that dis- 

 orderly shop. All at once my eye caught 

 sight of a little scrap of paper, I think it 

 was while I was praying for help from 

 above. Mechanically I picked up that little 

 bit of paper and read it. After reading it 

 myself, I asked permission of the crowd to 

 read it aloud. They had seen me pick up 

 the paper from the "leather scraps, and here 

 is what I read : 



But I say unto you which hear, Love your ene- 

 mies, do good to them which hate you, bless them 

 which curse you, and pray for them which despite- 

 fully use you. And unto him that smiteth thee on 

 the "one cheek offer also the other; and him that 

 taketh away thy cloak forbid not to take thy coat 

 also. Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of 

 him that taketh away thy goods, ask them not again. 

 And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye 

 also to them likewise. For if ye love them which 

 love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love 

 those which love them. And if ye do good to them 

 which do p-ood to you, what thank have ye? for sin- 

 ners also do even the same. And if ye lend to them 

 of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye ? for 

 sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much 

 again. But love ye your enemies, and do good and 

 lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward 

 shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the 

 Highest; for he is kind to the unthankful and to 

 the evil. Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father 

 also is merciful. — Luke 6:27-36. 



The shoemaker jumped up in alarm and 

 said something like this : 



" My God ! how did that piece of paper 

 ever get down among those scraps of leather 

 in my shop?" 



The profanity and vulgarity of the crowd 

 was at an end, and my exhortations for bet- 

 ter lives M'ere respectfully listened to. Then 

 I asked them all to kneel down while I 

 closed with prayer. It was, I think, the 

 first time I ever knelt and prayed in a pub- 

 lic place like that ; and no doubt it was a 

 broken and boyish prayer; but it did the 

 work. The man who abused his family gave 

 me his promise to do better. He did not 

 promise to stop drinking entirely, but from 

 that time forward not only he and I, but the 

 family, were fast friends. His boys were 

 regularly in my Sunday-school class. 



Now, there is more yet to the above. 

 When I opened the door to step out (feel- 

 ing a joy in my heart that can not well be 

 expressed), the druggist came out of an- 

 other door, for the drugstore adjoined the 

 shoe-shop, and there was only a thin wooden 

 partition between the two. There was a 

 little crowd in the drugstore as well as in 

 the shoe-shop, for it was a stormy day. The 

 druggist said, " Mr. Root, will you please 

 tell me where in the Bible you found that 

 ])assage you read to the men in the shoe- 



shop? The partition is so thin we heard 

 all that was going on, and were laughing 

 at your discomfiture; but I want to say, 

 that what you read from that little bit of 

 l^aper would save the world, even if all the 

 rest of the Bible were lost and gone for- 

 ever." 



The above hearty indorsement was from 

 a man who was not at the time a professing 

 Christian. Dare any of you undertake to 

 say there was no answer to prayer in this 

 transaction? When I was overwhelmed by 

 their sneers and sarcasm the little bit of pa- 

 per came to my rescue. Did that just hap- 

 pen to be in that little shoe-shop among the 

 scraps of leather, or did God so plan it that 

 when in trouble and distress that little torn 

 scrap of the Bible should help me out? and 

 did he so plan that I should have two audi- 

 ences instead of one, when I made that 

 plaintive prayer for my intemperate friend 

 and the others who were ridiculing his 

 holy word? 



THE DEFEAT OF INJUSTICE. 

 Whosoever will be great among you, let him be 

 your minister; and whosoever will be chief among 

 you, let him be your servant. — Matt. 20:26-27. 



In our issue for August 15 I mentioned 

 telling my good mother that the little text 

 about loving our enemies and doing good to 

 them that hate us was to the great wide 

 Avorld an unexplored region. Since then 

 the terrible European war has broken out, 

 and I am ever so much more impressed 

 with the sentiment I voiced at this time 

 about rendering good for evil, as it is liter- 

 ally true — yes, clear up to this twentieth 

 century an " unexplored region." In that 

 same issue I gave a clipping from the Sun- 

 day School Times; and I told our readers 

 that if there was a call for it I would liave 

 it printed in large type so that elderly peo- 

 ple and everybody else could read it easily. 

 Here it is : 



THE DEFEAT OF INJUSTICE. 



No one can ever afford to think 

 about any injustice he receives. It is 

 disaster and destruction to do so. It is 

 like deliberately lifting a glass of 

 poison to our lips and swallowing it. 

 Injustice inflicted upon us never harms 

 us until w^e dwell on it. While we ig- 

 nore it, and do right, it is powerless 

 against us. When w^e begin to turn it 

 over in our miad, it starts its murder- 

 ous * work upon us. It soon exagger- 



* Murdur is exactly the right word. Right here 

 (with the help of strong drink), is where insanity, 

 sui<ide, and murder get in. Look about you and see 

 if I am not right, 



