1005 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



873 



be largely true of hybrids and blacks. But 

 with the Eastern races, especially Holy 

 Lands, laying workers might appear within 

 two or three days, but usually not for about 

 a week. The case mentioned is not unusu- 

 al, even with unsealed brood. When we 

 were rearing the Holy Lands extensively we 

 had to be extremely careful not to let a col- 

 ony be queenless very long. — Ed.] 



OUR 



HOMES, 



BY A. I. ROOT. 



On page 556 I mentioned one of the pa- 

 pers read at the Congregational conference 

 at Chatham, Ohio, and said I hoped to give 

 it a place on these pages. I take pleasure 

 in presenting here a paper by Dr. Leonard, 

 " What we Owe to the Young." 



Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them 

 not.— Luke 18:16. 



Jesus said to his disciples, " Suffer the lit- 

 tle children to come unto me, and forbid them 

 not." In the Greek original the phrase 

 "little children" has a meaning broad 

 enough to include the young of all ages, all 

 who nave not attained to adult years. He 

 seemed to want them in particular, them 

 more than any other class. If any are to 

 be hindered, let it not be these. Paul ex- 

 pressed the conviction that he was ' ' debtor 

 to all," that is, was under obligation to do 

 his very best for everybody, and counted it 

 his great business in life to pay that debt. 

 Just so it is with us all. But the present 

 consideration is the obligation we are under 

 to benefit the young, to hinder them in no- 

 thing, in every thing to help them to be 

 their best selves; how we are to regard 

 them; what treatment we shall accord, as 

 individuals, as communities, in connection 

 with church life. 



Well, certainly they have rights, claims 

 upon us, which are most sacred, and hence 

 are to be safeguarded and kept inviolate al- 

 ways and by all. Once it was only kings 

 and nobles to whom such privileges were 

 accorded; later to all men, if white; later 

 still to blacks as well; and, finally, women's 

 rights are asserted far and wide; and we 

 even hear of the rights of brutes, cruelty 

 to animals being counted a crime. Never- 

 theless, it is much to be feared that not 

 many have learned to put the rights of 

 children, little children, the young of every 

 class, in the forefront of thought, of solici- 

 tude, of planning, and of daily endeavor. 



It may not be amiss even to suggest that 

 the little ones are not to be esteemed nui- 

 sances, encumbrances, dead weights, loads 

 for adults to carry, torments, necessary 

 evils, costing tremendously but making no 

 returns for the expenditure required. Of 

 late, reports come from the cities that, from 

 certain flats and apartment houses, all mar- 

 ried couples with children are rigidly exclud- 



ed. In homes not a few, babies and trouble- 

 some tots are unwelcome; in more, they 

 are scolded and cuffed on frequent occasions, 

 while in very few are they rated at their 

 full value, accounted the very choicest trea- 

 sure the home can contain. But a house 

 without boys and girls in reasonable num- 

 bers among the occupants is most scantily 

 and miserably furnished at the best. "So 

 distractingly and everlastingly noisy," you 

 say. Well, a desert is quiet to perfection, as 

 is also the grave; but for all that, they are 

 deemed good places to be shunned. The young 

 pay their way from first to last, and much 

 more. They give to their elders far beyond 

 the utmost they receive. In many ways they 

 constitute the most important portion of the 

 population. Upon them the future of socie- 

 ty almost wholly depends. They keep us 

 young, they help wondrously to hold us back 

 from becoming altogether selfish and sordid 

 and earthly. When we cease to love them, 

 to hold them in reverence, and lose the dis- 

 position to minister to them in every way 

 possible, it is high time for us to take our 

 departure from earthly scenes. 



How solemn are our Savior's words, 

 though their full signification we may not 

 be able to fathom ! ' ' Whosoever shall cause 

 one of these little ones to offend [ i. e., 

 tempt, cause to stumble], it were better for 

 him that a millstone were hanged about his 

 neck, and that he were drowned in the depth 

 of the sea." And these: "Take heed that 

 ye despise not one of these little ones; for I 

 say unto you that in heaven their angels do 

 always hold the face of my Father." Is it, 

 then, too much to affirm that the young are 

 entitled to the best, the very best, of our 

 thought and planning and daily endeavor ? 



And what do we owe them? Well, among 

 other things, good homes, healthy bodies; 

 minds enlightened and trained by education; 

 hearts swelling with noble desires. We owe 

 them daily examples worthy of imitation, 

 surroundings in which good influences great- 

 ly predominate. It is with their welfare es- 

 pecially in mind, primarily for their sakes,. 

 that we are to handle the liquor question, 

 the tobacco question, the amusement ques- 

 tion, dancing, cards, etc. ; with supreme ref- 

 erence to them rather than to our pockets, 

 our convenience, to suit the business men, 

 or the politicians. Good schools should be 

 theirs, of course, with the best teachers to 

 be found to lead and inspire; the very best 

 of men and women, though such may cost 

 more. Our children are worthy of the ut- 

 most we can bestow. 



As churches and pastors, what do we owe 

 the young? How shall we carry ourselves 

 as touching them, their needs, the boundless 

 possibilities of good, of evil also, which re- 

 side within them? To begin with, our theo- 

 logical seminaries have a priceless oppor- 

 tunity, a solemn duty, at this point, to im- 

 press it upon the students that their minis- 

 try, whether in connection with preaching 

 or with personal work, is to be aimed, not 

 at grown folks so much as at the younger 

 half or two-thirds of their parishioners. In 



