GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Rockefeller, or not so many of them. With- 

 out gasoline the gasoline-engines would 

 have been impossible or next to impossible ; 

 and automobiles could not have been 

 launched and so nicely perfected, without 

 the aid of gasoline Why, gasoline is getting 

 to be such a commodity now that it is almost 

 as plentiful as water. A few years ago, if 

 by some carelessness your gasoline gave out 

 from your automobile you might have to 

 walk miles on foot and carry back a gallon 

 of gasoline; but just now, not only every 

 city but almost every little town or four 

 corners with a country store has a sign out 

 with the legend " Gasoline for Sale." And 

 many of these little shops will pump the 

 gasoline right into your automobile, having 

 it measured automatically, and start you 

 off in less time than it would take to water 

 your horse in olden times. The farmer, 

 instead of laboriously hauling up logs and 

 spending a great part of his time winters 

 in " chopping wood," does his cooking and 

 heating by gasoline. In fact, we have come 

 to a point where there is almost no place 

 to put chips, kindling, wood, or shavings. 

 Our houses are wanned and sometimes 

 lighted, and the cooking done by gas or 

 gasoline. The good old times are gone ; and 

 while the demand on the housekeeper and 

 the homemaker are in some respects more 

 than what they used to be, woman's work is 

 lightened in a thousand ways, and we are 

 learning useful lessons every day — yas, 

 learning them at a tremendous rate too. 

 May God give us grace, while we recall the 

 manifold advantages of the present time 

 and contrast them with the past, to turn 

 our eyes finally to him in praise and thanks- 

 giving for what our eyes have seen. 



On page 780, Oct. 1, I spoke about a little 

 scrap of paper torn out of some Bible that 

 happened to be down among the disorderly 

 scraps of leather I happened to turn up 

 with my foot while I absent-mindedly push- 

 ed my foot among the scraps at exactly the 

 time I mentally made my appeal, " Lord, 

 help." Since I have mentioned the incident 

 our readers have referred to it by letter. 

 The question is, did that bit of paper get 

 down among that leather by pure accident? 

 Let me go over it a little more fully: 



The shoemaker was an ungodly man. He 

 never had a Bible of any sort in his dirty 

 shop. It is not likely that anybody would 

 bring a Bible there ; and it is not often here 

 in America that a Bible gets torn up. I do 

 not think I have ever seen a torn or muti- 

 lated Bible more than once or twice in my 

 life. People do not use Bibles for waste 

 paper, or at least not very often ; and yet 

 there was a piece of a leaf of the Bible 



found among those scraps of leather. It 

 contained just the words I so much needed, 

 and no more. Skeptics will say it just 

 "happened" to be there. I gi'ant you 

 this might be; but it. happened to be on the 

 precise spot on that littered floor where my 

 toe was resting. Furthermore, the very in- 

 stant, the very day of the week, the very 

 hour of the day — in fact, at the very minute, 

 and we might almost say the very second, I 

 uttered that prayer, " Lord, help ! " the toe 

 of my shoe, by another strange coincidence, 

 pushed away the leather so that a glimpse 

 of the paper met my gaze as I breathed m 

 distress (a distress for souls going down to 

 ruin) the brief but intensely uttered (men- 

 tally, of course) call for help. I submit to 

 the readers of Gleanings if it is likely all 

 that just " happened." The old friend who 

 declared that that scrap of the Bible was 

 enough to save the world is now (Oct. 21) 

 near death's door.* He remembers the in- 

 cident, and I ha\-3 had several talks with 

 him about it. 



Well, friends, what has this to do with 

 the oil business? Why do I drag it in here 

 just nowf Does :t require any great stretch 

 of imagination to believe that the oil and 

 gas hidden away down in the earth were 

 put there ages ago by the loving Father, 

 to be hunted up and brought to the surface 

 for the children he loves, when humanity 

 has got to the jjoint where we could not 

 well get along witiiout it? 



" Knock, and it shall be opened unto 

 you." 



I have been laughed at sometimes because 

 I claimed this text refers to science and 

 civilization as well as to spiritual things. 

 The oil was there all the time, like the scrap 

 of paper among the leather; but the oil 

 came to light when humanity was rijoe for 

 it, just as the scrap of paper came to light 

 when I prayed earnestly for help. Oil and 

 gas have blessed humanity. I have not yet 

 heard that the use of gasoline or kerosene 

 has been prostituted to the carrying-on of 

 the European war except in the use of 

 gasoline for the aeroplane; and I hope 

 something may happen to prevent using it 

 to drop bombs, especially where the bombs 

 are dropped on hospitals devoted to the care 

 of the wounded, as has happened already. 



* Today, Oct. 22, I learn that the old friend of 

 whom I have been speaking died at almost the very 

 time I was dictating the sentence above. Less than 

 a vi^eek ago I had quite a talk with him. He admit- 

 ted that his end was near; but when I suggested 

 that the dear Savior was ready and anxious to take 

 him by the hand and pilot him across the dark river, 

 he had been so many years holding back that it 

 seemed hard work to accept the words of promise I 

 repeated to him over and over. God only knows 

 the outcome; yet I feel happy to think that I made 

 that visit, and did my best to make it plain to him. 



