1905 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



493 



OUR 



BY A,l. R OOT, 



And whoso shall receive one such little child in my 

 name receiveth me.— Matt. 18 :5. 



While, no doubt, we all inherit evil ten- 

 dencies more or less, I feel sure that we 

 start out on the voyage of life with a tenden- 

 cy toward truth and honesty. Children, as a 

 rule, are innocent. Their natural bent is 

 toward uprightness and unselfishness. While 

 environment might not have all to do with it, 

 it is certainly a very large factor in making 

 a child turn out good or bad. Children 

 should be isolated from evil associates. I 

 would not shut them up and overdo the mat- 

 ter, but they should be fortified and drilled 

 to look out for evil— to love righteousness 

 and hate iniquity. Many a child has gone 

 to the bad because of its bad surroundings ; 

 and all workers in mission and other reform 

 work know that a child that is started 

 wrongly may be rescued and turned back. 

 It is also true that, after a child has been 

 well started in wisdom's ways, some sudden 

 change in its life, say the loss of father or 

 mother, may so expose it to evil influences 

 that the good start is lost, or drowned out, 

 we might say. After I have told my little 

 story that is to be the principal part of this 

 Home talk I shall have something more to 

 say on this subject. 



Our train was passing through the pine 

 woods of Northern Michigan. It slowed up 

 at a little station called Merritt, between 

 Manistee and Baldwin. I was reading some- 

 thing, and hardly noticed a freckled-faced 

 boy who passed through the car with a tin 

 pail in his hand. After he had gone by I 

 roused up and turned, and began to look at 

 him. I try to notice the small boys, wher- 

 ever I am. He said something to the pas- 

 sengers in the back part of the car that I 

 could not understand, so I rose up and called: 



"What is it you have to sell, my young 

 friend ? ' ' 



He looked up shyly, and a faint smile 

 came over his freckled face as he said slow- 

 ly, with a low voice, "Wintergreen berries." 



I repeated the words so loudly that every 

 one in the car heard. I did it because I 

 caught on to the fact at once that he had 

 passed through the car without getting any- 

 body to notice him or his berries, mainly be- 

 cause he was too bashful to make himself 

 heard. * 



" Why, bless your heart, child, whatbeau- 



* It is a trade to sell berries— yes, even wintergreen 

 berries. For that matter it is a trade to know how to 

 eret this busy world to notice what we have to sell, even 

 if it is something that everybody would be glad to get if 

 he knew of it. The little incident reminded me of .'some- 

 thing I read in one of our agricultural papers. I do not 

 know that I have got it just right. It is something like 

 this : 



He who whispers down a well 

 About the things he has to sell 

 Will never makp the shining dollars 

 Like him who climbs a tree, and hollers. 



tiful large berries these are! Haven't you 

 sold any ? " 



He shook his head as he looked up in my 

 face wistfully. 



" How much for a cupful? " 



"Five cents, " he answered with that quiet 

 low voice of his. 



" Why, that is cheap. Here— I want two 

 cupfuls. These are my favorite fruit." 



The passengers began to wake up and 

 smile, and gathered around us. Most of 

 them had never seen wintergreen berries, 

 and did not know they were good to eat. 

 Dear readers, I suppose most of you know 

 that I have served an apprenticeship in sell- 

 ing berries. One Saturday night several 

 years ago our strawberry-pickers told me 

 they had been all over town and sold every 

 berry that could be sold at any price, and 

 yet there were something like fifteen or 

 twenty bushels left that would not keep un- 

 til Monday morning. I laughingly told them 

 I would have to give them a lesson in selling 

 goods, and I sold the whole lot standing 

 right in front of our store. Of course, there 

 were a good many people passing by on 

 their way home, and when it became dark I 

 lit a lamp. I sold all at a fair price. After 

 I got the town waked up, two or three peo- 

 ple came with pans and pails after I had 

 sold out. 



Well, I felt sorry for the boy because he 

 had had such poor luck, and in a few min- 

 utes I made him happy, and I think every 

 passenger in the car was happy also, judg- 

 ing by their looks, with their beautiful and 

 luscious berries. After they were gone, 

 and somebody wanted more, this young 

 friend of mine (oh! he was my friend, you 

 may be sure) beckoned to another freckled- 

 faced boy outdoors, and he came in with his 

 pailful. He had been through another car, 

 but with little success evidently. If the car 

 had not started while we were busy with our 

 traffic, I think the second pail would have 

 been emptied also. As I helped the boys to 

 get off the car I said jokingly, "Wouldn't 

 you like to have me go with you and pick 

 berries ? And just think what a lot you 

 could sell if you had me along! " 



Their faces brightened up so much at the 

 suggestion that I actually meditated getting 

 off and going berrying until the next train; 

 but I found I would have to wait five hours, 

 and I could not well spare the time. Let us 

 now go back a little. 



When I told my little friend I would take 

 two cupfuls I gave him a quarter, and he 

 gave me back four nickels. I was so busy 

 eating the berries that I did not think of it 

 till he was pouring them into his little bags 

 for somebody else. Then I said, "Why, 

 look here, my son, you have cheated your- 

 self. Now, suppose I had not been an hon- 

 est man, but had kept still and kept that 

 nickel that belongs to you." 



He looked up with his soft blue eyes, and 

 said, "Oh! I wouldn't mind. I could pick 

 another cupful in just a few minutes." 



The passengers began to laugh at this, 

 and then a lady said, "Why, dear me! he 



