1905 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



827 



has probably boarded a freight train and 

 gone bacl< to his old tricks. What did I tell 

 you? " 



I still insisted that Ransom was all right, 

 although I could not find him anywhere 

 among the berries nor explain where he had 

 gone. I wonder if it may not do him a little 

 good if I now confess how badly I felt at 

 even the thought that he had broken his 

 good record and gone away. After I had 

 given him up (I am ashamed to say it) he 

 came around with a heaping panful of ber- 

 ries. His face was covered with sweat, 

 showing he had been hard at work. He had 

 got down into a channel we have cut to let 

 "Champion Brook" go straight through 

 our land, and found berries where nobody 

 else would take the trouble to go for them. 

 He told Mrs. Root that was not all, and got 

 a little pailful besides, later on. 



After I had become a little acquainted I 

 began questioning him about the sheriff's 

 report. He owned up that he got ugly in 

 jail; but he said if I knew the provocation 

 he had, he thought I would at least partly 

 excuse him. He said his temper got up, 

 and he did use bad language, as the sheriff 

 said; and he explained his lack of education 

 something like this: 



"Mr. Root, my father and mother quar- 

 reled when I was only three years old, then 

 they decided to separate and put their chil- 

 dren out wherever anybody would take them. 

 The man who took me evidently decided to 

 make me pay my way. He gave me very 

 little schooling, and that reluctantly. As a 

 rule he would let me go to school one day 

 and then keep me out two because the work 

 was pressing. I never went regularly. The 

 teacher and I, somehow, did not agree. Per- 

 haps it was a good deal my fault, but I did 

 not see it so then, and the teacher pro- 

 nounced me no good. The man I worked 

 for said if I was no good in school I was 

 worth a little something on the farm. So I 

 worked on the farm until I could not stand 

 his treatment any longer. If I stayed till I 

 was 21 he was to give me a certain sum of 

 money. It seemed to me he wanted me to 

 leave so he would not be obliged to pay this 

 money. I got in with a show, and learned 

 to swear. When I got all the ' show ' busi- 

 ness I could stand I ran away from it and 

 tried to get to Fostoria, O., where an uncle 

 of mine lives. My money gave out when I 

 was within a hundred miles of Fostoria, and 

 the boy who was with me said we could 

 steal a ride on the freight, without harming 

 anybody. Now you know it all. I can read 

 enough so I saw your name on the building 

 and the word ' Office ' over the door. If 

 you will just keep me at work I will do anv 

 thing in the world you want done, and I will 

 try to learn to read. ' ' 



A little later on, that same day, he asked 

 me if there was not a Thursday-evening 

 prayer-meeting somewhere. I told him there 

 was; and without any invitation from me he 

 expressed a desire to go. At the close of 

 the prayer-meeting, as our subject was lack 

 of faith, or half-heartedness in doing the 



Lord's work, I briefly told Ransom's story, 

 and asked those present to extend the right 

 hand of fellowship to our young friend who 

 was then present, and who, notwithstanding 

 my lack of faith, was, in almost one short 

 week, emancipated out of the jail and into 

 a prayer-meeting. 



As a matter of course. Ransom attends 

 church, and is in my Sunday-school class. 

 During the week I noticed he seemed to 

 have something on his mind, and finally he 

 spoke something like this: 



"Mr. Root, you were kind enough to ask 

 me into your class. Now, I am willing to do 

 any thing in the world to turn over a new 

 leaf, and be a different boy; but you know 

 how it is about my reading. Do you think 

 it would be any thing wrong if you were to 

 pick me out a verse in the lesson and let me 

 study on it between now and Sunday so I 

 can read it reasonably well when my turn 

 comes in the class? I do not believe in any 

 sort of deception — that is, I don't now. I 

 want to be fair and square; but you see I 

 shall not only have to study a good deal, and 

 practice reading that one verse, but you 

 would have to manage it so the verse would 

 come to me. If you think there would be 

 any thing wrong in so doing, I would not 

 think of it." 



Now, friends, there is a problem for some 

 of you older Christians— some of you who 

 can not only read and write, but perhaps 

 have been through college. How many are 

 there who are as conscientious in regard to 

 little matters of every-day life as my young 

 friend Ransom was? 



Of course, I do not know that this boy 

 will hold out. This story that I am telling, 

 that most of his shopmates will read, may 

 make it harder for him, but I hope not. 

 May the Holy Spirit guide him in his ear- 

 nest and honest efforts to walk henceforth in 

 the straight and narrow path that leads not 

 only out of jail and into the prayer-meeting, 

 but also leads out of darkness of every kin/i 

 into the light that leads from earth to heav- 

 en. May God forgive me for my want of 

 faith when he called me to take a part of 

 my Sunday afternoon and go into our county 

 jail and hold up the gospel of Christ Jesus to 

 our erring brothers who have got into trou- 

 ble. Perhaps more than one of them may 

 have been as little at fault in reality as was 

 our friend Ransom. 



THE EQUITABLE, AND OTHER INSURANCE 

 COMPANIES. 



For some time past I have been feeling 

 that I ought to help spread a warning in re- 

 gard to insurance companies. The Chicago 

 Advance has, however, nut it in so much 

 better shape than I coula do that I take the 

 liberty of quoting from that paper: 



The country has been shocked at the wanton extrava- 

 g-ance, boodling, and graftin;? methods of the Equitable 

 Assurance Society. To use a phrase of the streets, the 

 society had money to bum, and it burnt it. Officials 

 were voted salaries twice as large as that of the Presi- 

 dent of the United States. Directors put their hands 

 in up to the elbows. The great and sui^posedly gxx>d 



