916 



the loving Father got to the end of his 

 wonderful gifts to the children he loves'? 

 You know one of our several texts says, 

 "• For God so loved the world," etc. What 

 have we given him in return for all his 

 loving kindness — for these great and won- 

 derful gifts that he is heaping upon us? 

 Some Avriter in the Sunday School Times 

 recently said, " The man who is at war with 

 God will soon be at ivar with his fellow- 

 men." We know that, because we have seen 

 it. Now, is it not also true that the nation 

 that is at war with God will sooner or later 

 be at war with other nations? Some other 

 writer in that same periodical said there is 

 not a genuine " Christian nation " on the 

 face of the earth; and the more I think of 

 it, the more I am afraid it is true. We 

 might cite our own United States with the 

 motto on our coins, " In God we trust ;" but 

 how about being in partnership with the 

 brewers and distillers in furnishing liquor? 

 Away back in the sixth chapter of Genesis 

 we read that it " repented God " that he 

 had made man. Back in my childhood my 

 grandfather on my mother's side, I am sorry 

 to say, was a skeptic. In commenting on 

 this passage I remember hearing him say 

 that one might almost think that God " lay 

 awake nighfs " planning how he might best 

 manage his rebellious children. Some of 

 you will make a start at the above, and say 

 it is awfully irreverent; but yet does it not 

 remind us of a great truth that we might 

 overlook? Would it be any thing so very 

 strange if that loving Father should pause 

 and consider whether it were well to keep 

 passing out these great and wonderful gifts 

 to mankind, especially while they are intent 

 on fighting and killing each other as they 

 are now doing in the Old World? And may 

 God help us when we take into consideration 

 the greed and graft and bribery and trickery 

 all the while going on in our own country. 

 Have we here in America very much to 

 boast of? Is there not a greater need than 

 ever before of a loving Savior and Redeemer 

 to call us to order and to make us ashamed 

 of ourselves? 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



makes us IJu.sh for him; but the nice thing about 

 these people is, they understand -what a loose tongue 

 is, and pay very little attention to it. A good deal 

 used to be said about annexing Canada; and once 

 in a while a man comes back from there so full of 

 admiration that he wants to annex the United States 

 to Canada instanter; but most of us feel — and we 

 sincerely hope Canada can share the feeling — that 

 just being neighbors is the best thing for both of us. 

 We have the same problems in the main, and we are 

 glad to have Canada show how she thinks they 

 should be worked out. We have a good deal of 

 common property in the lakes and rivers which lie 

 between our shore and hers. It is a really beautiful 

 thing to think of — in the war-torn autumn of 1914 

 — that we have never had a serious difference about 

 this common property. Tliis is a good time to vow 

 that we never will. Our Lady of the Snows is not 

 so cold as her title might lead one to think. She is 

 distinctly our sort — and we hope she won't mind our 

 saying so. The frontier is an imaginary line only. 

 Thoughts are the true bond of friendship. " Let us 

 draw closer and closer to Canada in thought. Let us 

 seek, nationally and individually, to foster the rela- 

 tions which make us thank God for Canada as a 

 neighbor. 



I Avant to call particular attention to the 

 sentence in italics in the above. I did not 

 know — at least I did not think of it until 

 my attention was called to the above — that 

 there are no forts between us and Canada; 

 and may God grant that there never may 

 be; and, furthermore, it is my prayer that 

 forts, fortifications, and men-of-war may 

 speedily disappear from the face of the 

 earth. I know there are many people who 

 are ready to say amen to the above, because 

 I see it voiced more or less in almost every 

 periodical. 



THANKING GOD FOR GOOD NEIGHBORS. 



It affords me great pleasure to find the 

 following in Collier's Weekly for Oct. 17: 



COUSIN CANADA. 



As the war rages on, and we find ourselves pinch- 

 ed by it, we can and do thank God for good neigh- 

 bors.' The most wonderful thing in North American 

 life is the fact that for four or five thousand miles 

 our frontier is Canada's frontier; and not only is 

 there no fort upon it, but there is no place where 

 any one in either nation wants a fort. They are 

 people one is glad to have next door, the Canadians. 

 Somtimes a Taft or a Clark says something that 



TOY PISTOLS AND OTHER TOYS IN IMITATION 

 OF IMPLEMENTS OF WAR. 



Dear Brother Root : — I have just read Our Homes 

 for Sept. 15. I think it is fine. I hope you may 

 some time write on the toy-pistol curse and other 

 seemingly innocent practices which excite wrong 

 desires and lead to serious evil. 



Sulphur, Okla. Chas. R. Hill. 



Amen to what you suggest, my good 

 brother. I have had the matter in mind. 

 Now let us, each and all, especially the 

 Sunday-schools of our land as well as the 

 day schools, discourage by every means in 

 our power having any thing for the children 

 that would suggest war — tin soldiers, toy 

 pistols, toy swords, and, perhaps, even toy 

 drums. Let us encourage not only here in 

 America, but in the whole wide world, a 

 hatred for war and warlike implements. 

 There has been quite a start made for a safe 

 and sane 4th of July. Let this safe and 

 sane organization rule out guns and can- 

 nons. Let us, each and all, in view of the 

 awful lessons God is sending us from away 

 across the waters, do every thing we can to 

 teach and practice " peace on earth and 

 good will to men " instead of war and 

 bloodshed. 



