1881 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



.509 



of steaming sling; but how does he feel the next 

 morning after a •• spree"? A more wretched crea- 

 ture is scarcely imaginable. The tobacco-user does 

 not find hi3 real status so often, because he is drunk 

 nil tlic time, and thus mistakes his comfortable feel- 

 ing for cheerfulness. A very low grade of enjoy- 

 ment. 



IT IS THE POOR man's ONLY LrXURY. 



Would-be philanthropists put in the plea for to- 

 baccd that it is the only luxury which poverty al- 

 lows the poor laborer who toils for a dailv pittance. 

 With tobacc^^c feels contented with his lot. To 

 him it is fiwKt raiment, riches, and contentment, 

 for it readers him oblivious to the lack of any and 

 all of them. How cruel, then, to take from him such 

 a boon: 



Suppose all men were rendered thu? stupid and in- 

 sensible, incapable of aspiring to any condition high- 

 er, nobler, or better, than that in which circum- 

 stances or fortune placed them? How soon would 

 complete stagnation ensue! How soon would all 

 progress cease 1 and how quickly would the world 

 relapse into the barbarism of the Middle Ages! 



As he got to the end, Dobbin shook his 

 head and made such a vigorous effort to go 

 on. that it was hard t.. keep him still ; but 

 Mrs. M., to everybody's surprise, declared 

 that she had a word to say. 



"By all means, let us hear it,'" said they 

 all. 



"It is just this. I fear my husband has 

 given you the impression that we never have 

 any accidents in our home, and that all he 

 does is always all rifjht. and that he never 

 does careless or thoughtless things. .John, 

 will you please tell them about that nice 

 case of sections you had picked out Avith so 

 much pains, to take to the fair?"" 



" There were 4Ssections. and they weighed 

 38 lbs.;"' and he stopped there, with a sort 

 of sly twinkle in his eye. * 



" But you want to be honest, now. and go 

 on and tell the rest." 



" Well, they were very nice and straight 

 and true and white and perfect."" 

 " Yes ; but go on and tell it all."' 

 "I didn"t get the tirst premium.'" 

 "Now, that isn"t frank and honest. Tell 

 them why you did not take the premium."" 

 " I concluded not to take them to the fair."" 

 "Now look here; if you do not tell it 

 straight, I will."' 



" Well, the cover got left ofE, and the bees 

 got in." 



"You mean, that you left the cover off 

 yourself, and — "' 



" Well, have we not got all the honey in 

 the hives?"" 



Dobbin here concluded the rest might do 

 as they chose, but that he was going home ; 

 and oif he went, and nobody stopped him 

 this time. 



-John's mother felt sad during the day : 

 but under it all seemed to be a sort of bright 

 something — something like a promise that 

 made her light at times, in spite of herself. 

 Toward night, a neighbor brought her a 

 new bright half-dollar for some washing she 

 had done ; and as she had been wondering 

 how they should get the means to purchase 

 some butter needed during the Sabbath, she 

 gave her husband the plate and asked him 

 to get it for her at the grocery. A crowd 

 was lounging about as usual Saturday night, 

 and he, instead of doing his errand and 

 passing on, stopped to hear what they were 

 saying. The talk seemed to be on the 

 amount of beer a man might drink at one 



time. The keeper of the grocery-store was 

 evidently quite an interested listener, for 

 the subject seemed to promise to him the 

 sale of quite a lot of beer. The doctor said 

 he could drink three glasses without trouble. 

 The shoemaker said he would drink four if 

 any one would pay for it. 



" Suppose you fail." said one. 



" Then I will pay for it myself." 



"And drinks for the crowd?" said an- 

 other. 



The talk then went on, and banter after 

 banter followed until the doctor said he 

 would drink eight glasses if any one would 

 pay for it. and drinks for the crowd: as is 

 usual, no one of those present had any 

 money; but one of them, noticing the half- 

 dollar our friend had in his fingers, whis- 

 pered, — 



•' Take him up ! He knows he can't do it. 

 Why. it is an utter impossibility. He won't 

 hurt himself: let's see the fun." 



Poor, weak man 1 Thinking, of course, 

 there was no chance of losing his poor wife's 

 hard earnings, lie was coaxed into it, as 

 many another weak man has been. I pre- 

 sume he had forgotten the little text his chil- 

 dren had been repeating about being coaxed 

 by sinners. 



My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.— 

 Prov. 1:10. 



Tbe doctor, with a self-complacent smile, 

 stepped up and said. — 



'• Gentlemen, here is to your health. That 

 is onp glass. And that is another,'' and so 

 on with the whole eight. The grocer was 

 careful to set out only what beer the half- 

 dollar would i)ay for. I am glad to say, to 

 the credit of John's father, that he did not 

 drink any. What should he do? How 

 could he ever take that emptyiplate, and go 

 home facing that mild, patient, blue-eyed 

 Avife of his, and tell her he had fooled the 

 money away she "worked so hard and wearily 

 for, just to see one man make a brute of 

 himself ? 



He wisely concluded to go home and tell 

 his wife the whole truth, and ask her to 

 have faith in his resolution to keep entirely 

 away from the whole lot of such compan- 

 ions" in the future. Although there was a 

 tear in her eye, she told him to let it go and 

 never mind: that if it resulted in his hold- 

 ing aloof from that class of men, it was 

 probably a half-dollar well spent. Her kind- 

 ness was the severest blow of all. He could 

 have borne scolding and fault-finding far 

 better than this treatment. To use one of 

 his own expressions, it cut him up terribly. 

 He thought of new resolutions, and of what 

 his friend had said about his tobacco. He 

 thought how self-denying his wife was, and. 

 for that matter, his whole family, and of 

 how much comfort his tobacco moiiey would 

 procure for them all. " Oh if I could only 

 break off!" bethought. He had tried be- 

 fore. In fact, he liad made many resolu- 

 tions, but none had ever been kept very long. 

 In his inmost soul he felt that it would be 

 folly to promise any more. He knew it was 

 actions that were needed, not words. Where 

 did his wife get her new-found strength ? 

 Had that Bible he had so often seen her 

 reading, of late, any thing to do with it ? 



