94 



GLEAKINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



Feb. 



played cards, pretty Avell along into the night, 

 lu one sense, this was nothing so very ter- 

 rible either, because it is not so very uncom- 

 mon. 



A few years ago, I went one Sunday after- 

 noon to see a bee friend. Of course, this was 

 before the era of Sunday-schools and such 

 like dawned upon my life. Not finding my 

 friend among the bee-hives, I wandered 

 through the orchard, and, hearing voices,went 

 over the hill, and found four or five men and 

 boys sitting on the green grass, playing cards, 

 with a jug in the midst of them, containing, 

 I suppose, cider. " Well, what of it?" Why, 

 nothing particular, and yet the scene has oft- 

 en recurred to my memory. At that time I 

 was pretty well known as a skeptic, but still 

 it was also known, I believe, that I did not 

 drink cider nor play cards, and the group 

 seemed to rather stop their merriment as I 

 came up. Pretty soon they broke up and 

 went away. It may be hard to put your 

 finger on any precise sin, right there; 'but 

 still, my friends, without any regard to what 

 you believe, would you not a little rather 

 your boy should not be found in such com- 

 pany V it would be a little rough to call these 

 men and boys either intemperate. Sabbath- 

 breakers, or gamblers ; but, my friends, was 

 it not just a little start toward "the stone jail 

 in which D. and I Avere sitting that Sabbath 

 night ? Header, do you know what it is to 

 feel,— 



Where is my wandering boy to-night— 



The boy of my tendei est care, 

 The boy that was once my joy and light, 



The child of my love and praj^er? 



Let US go back to D.'s story. After they 

 had played until the employer went home, 

 D. drank still more deeply from the jug. In 

 a stable near by was a horse that 1). some- 

 times borrowed. Near by was a wagon, be- 

 longing to another acquaiutance. D., under 

 the influence of the cider, put the horse into 

 the wagon, without saying a word to any- 

 body ; took a load of stuff from the shop, be- 

 longing to his employer, and, not forgetting 

 the inevitable jug, started off' in the night. 

 About daylight he drove into a town sufii- 

 ciently far away to be safe, and bargained 

 for the stuff at a fair price. The purchaser 

 not having the money in his pocket, went 

 out for it, but was cautioned against buying 

 the goods. He went back and spoke to I). 

 about telegraphing to where he came from, 

 to see if it was all right. D. assented ; but, 

 anticipating trouble, walked to the nearest 

 station, took the first train, and left horse, 

 buggy, and all. Before going out of the 

 State, however, he stopped, got work again, 

 but soon afterward, in another drimken 

 spree, got into trouble again, which sent 

 him to the penitentiary. Before going, how- 

 ever, a kind lady visited him in jail, and 

 told him of a Savior's love and a new life. 

 U. promised her to go to prison and behave 

 himself, and when he got out he would try 

 to be a man and a Christian. He kept this 

 promise, and one who knew of the facts told 

 me that when he bade the boys good-by as 

 he left at the expiration of his sentence, he 

 said, "Boys, I am going out, but never to 

 come back here again. And the reason I 

 shall never come back here is because I am 



going to behave myself and become a good 

 man." 



Alas for good resolutions! D. had not 

 yet stepped out into the open air, a free man, 

 before a warrant was served on him for 

 horse-stealing, and he was taken up and 

 lodged in oui^county jail, where I first found 

 him. 



Now, my friends, the whole point of my 

 discourse comes in right here. J^. was de- 

 spondent and discouraged. He was in the 

 attitude of nearly all I meet in our jail, and 

 not very far from the attitude of some out 

 of jail. He insisted that the world is unkind, 

 uncharitable, and corrupt; that the prevail- 

 ing tendency of mankind is to "■ kick a man 

 when he is down," to use a common ex- 

 pression, and that when really he makes an 

 effort to reform and lead a "new life, he is 

 met straightway by some underhand clip or 

 set-back, that "makes it a wonder anybody 

 ever succeeds in stemming the current of 

 evil that is met everywhere. My friends, 

 have you ever talked or thought that way V 

 Oh that I could persuade you to believe me 

 when I tell you it is the promptings of Satan 

 himself that gets you into these moods, and 

 that makes you judge so harshly of the 

 world, of which you are a member! In do- 

 ing this, you are placing yourself with the 

 great army of criminals ;ind guilty men, who 

 invariably talk thus. When I have a class 

 of saloon-keepers in jail, as I have now at 

 this moment, their talk about hypocrites, 

 and denunciations of church-members, and 

 even ministers, is such that I have to insist 

 on their stopi)ing, or I could not get in a 

 word. W^hat does this indicateV Are these 

 men better than those they so bitterly stig- 

 matize? Well, now, for a contrast, just go 

 and talk with some one who is a real, hon- 

 est, earnest Christian worker. I have often 

 spoken of a young friend who is fitting him- 

 self in college for mission work in Africa. 

 I have spoken of liis successful work with 

 our boys in jail. Do you think he spends 

 time in talking about the hypocrites he finds 

 in the world? He has just passed the holi- 

 days with us, and I have had long talks with 

 him, but I never heard him utter a word 

 against humanity. I never heard him speak 

 of ever having known a hypocrite. J5ut, my 

 friends, I have heard him, with bowed head, 

 speak of his own sins, and beg of me that I 

 would join with him in praying that (iod 

 might keep him from any temptation that 

 would mar his usefulness to his fellow-men. 

 His whole life seems wrapped up in the 

 work of leading men to repent, but no word 

 of censure or reproach ever ])asses his lips. 

 He reproves and rebukes sin, but the one re- 

 proved is ever his friend afterward. Some 

 there be, it is true, who at first laughed at 

 his meek, inoffensive ways; but when he 

 left, I am sure that from almost every heart 

 went up a ''God bless Mr. House!" 



Well, when I first met D., he was settling 

 down, as it seemed to me, in a hard, bitter, 

 stony spirit, toward everybody. It was not 

 so much what he said, as a hard, bitter curl 

 of the lip, when he said, " Oh! I know ; you 

 need not talk to me ; I know all about it, and 

 that is just the way it goes always. If they 

 will let me try, I will show them I can be 



