148 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 



ming almost every day in the summer time, 

 and, although we had beautiful ])onds of 

 clear soft water, the gravelly bottoms to 

 walk and play on, I never learned to swim. 

 The rest swam all about me, and told me 

 how, and tried in vain to get me to do as 

 they did, and trust to the water to bear me 

 up ; but summer after summer passed in the 

 same way, and I could not muster up the 

 courage to take my feet rightoff the bottom, 

 and launch out as" they did. I would do it 

 almost ; but unless I could have at least one 

 toe on the ground, I was afraid I would sink. 

 Finally, one day, I was persuaded so much 

 that I said, "All right; I will sink then." 

 I pushed out boldly, and raised both feet 

 clear from the bottom ; but. to my great sur- 

 prise and astonishment, I did not sink at all, 

 but in one minute, almost, I sailed off like a 

 bird, and have always been able to swim 

 since then. I simply trusted the water. It 

 is exactly in the sande way, my friends, that 

 we are to tru.st God. Cut clear loose from 

 self and selfishness, and trust to that gentle 

 Spirit to rule in and through you, and to do 

 all that needs to be done. The ])arlicular 

 point that this book brings out is, that inas- 

 much as wrong actions are the result of 

 wrong thoughts, and thoughts of a wrong at- 

 titude of the mind, the surest way of forestall- 

 ing both is to make God an inclweller, as it 

 were, of our inner selves, and then none of 

 these sins and acts that give ourselves and 

 others so ipuch pain would ever have a start- 

 ing-point at all. To illustrate: Supposelhave 

 a boy in my employ who is exceedingly heed- 

 less and forgetful. Over and over again I 

 tell him to attend to some important duty, 

 but he forgets it. Finally I tell him some 

 morning, that I wish him to attend to this 

 duty right now, before he forgets it, and he 

 as usual promises to do it right away; but. 

 before he gets started to do it, he forgets it 

 again, and I find out, a couple of hours after, 

 it is still undone. If I should decide that 

 forbearance had ceased to be a virtue, and 

 dischargedhim peremptorily, the greater part 

 of the world would say I had served him 

 right, and he had no right to expect any thing 

 more. Or suppose I should, under the an- 

 noyance of linding he had not touched the 

 work, break out something like this: — 



" Look here, Z.! you go and do that work, 

 or let somebody else take your place ; I beg 

 to have you understand, sir, that when /tell 

 you to do a thing, I mean it. Now, let this 

 be the last time I have to tell you more than 

 once. Do you undeustandV" 



You see, I started out to be mild ; but as 

 I " got going." my tone waxed harder and 

 harder, until the last word was about as harsh 

 and rough as one could well speak. AVell, 

 I would try to think it was just what he de- 

 served, any way, and that it was for his own 

 good that I made him '• toe the mark ;" but 

 as the hours passed I began slowly to repent. 

 Pretty soon I remembered that it' was only a 

 few days ago that I had exhorted this boy to 

 accept "the Lord Jesus Christ for his savior, 

 and carry all his cares and troubles to him. 

 The hour of our noon service approaclies, and 

 as in fancy I see his troubled face among the 

 rest of the boys and girls who come up to 

 hear me read and pray for tliem, the feeling 



is awful. I fe^l as if I could never open the 

 Bible again. The awful inconsistency of my 

 position, even in his eyes alone, for no one 

 else may know a word of it, makes me al- 

 most feel as if I never wanted to come up 

 before them again. Will it be better to give 

 up the whole thing V Ah ! but there is no 

 comfort there. Oh that this hour were pass- 

 ed ! What shall I doV what shall I do? 

 God have mercy on me a sinner ! There is on- 

 ly one way, dear reader. Ilumilaiting as it 

 is, I must go to the boy and apologize, be- 

 fore I can stand before these boys and girls 

 without the awful feeling that I am, in at 

 least some measure, a hypocrite. The boy 

 accepts the apology, but "for all that I have 

 lost hold of him, and of my ability to in- 

 fluence him to be a Christian. I liave sunk 

 in my own estimation and his. Are these 

 but trifles V Suppose you are trying to work 

 for the Master, and a great many such little 

 trifles are lying around and about you, 

 and people are talking about the inconsis- 

 tency of your life, while you profess to love 

 the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you say peojde 

 will talk any way V The older I grow, the 

 more I feel that there is little need of people 

 talking very much ; and if you have half 

 tiied to put your life in God's hands, as we 

 have been reading about, the chances are 

 very great that people will be talking good 

 about you (instead of evil), and give you a 

 great deal more credit than you deserve. 

 Who are the people who complain so bitter- 

 ly of the unjust gossip and scandal that is 

 talked about them V 



Now let us go back. Suppose that, at the 

 time I felt so impatient because Z. should 

 so utterly disregard my jilain, positive orders, 

 I should have held this impatience in control 

 until I had gone away by myself, and prayed 

 God to guide me in the matter, more for the 

 boy's good than for the interest of our bus- 

 iness; suppose, in f.ut, Iliad said to myself, 

 'Ton have placed your whole life, business, 

 body, and soul, in God's keeping, and he is 

 to manage this matter, or at least to dictate 

 the way in which ym are to manage it, ;ind 

 therefore the first and most important idea 

 is the saving of this boy's soul." The result 

 would be something like this : after having 

 quietly subdued all feeling of annoyance, the 

 boy is' told pleasantly that he has not done 

 that work yet, and watched until he has 

 really set about it. It is soon done, and then 

 comes a natural feeling to let it drop and say 

 no more about it ; but now comes in God's 

 Spirit, and rebukes your indolence, and in- 

 sists that, for the boy's own good, you take 

 the matter in hand. After it has passed 

 from his mind, and he is feeling pleasantly, 

 j^ou speak to him alone, something like this: — 



" Z., why is it that you and I do not get 

 along better?" 



This speech takes him by surprise ; but it 

 appeals to his manhood also, because you 

 have by it placed him on a level with your- 

 self, ai if the relations between you were 

 like those of any business trade or transac- 

 tion between two friends and neighbors. 



" Why, Mr. lloot, do we not get along 

 well?" 



'• Usually, Z., except in one thing, and 

 that one thing has annoyed and pained me 



