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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 15 



people who go to sleep during the opening 

 prayer. Please do not ask me how I know ; 

 and I wish to add it was not the fault of 

 the prayer nor of the pastor who made it. 

 Well, this openmg prayer at the beginning 

 of our covention was made by Bishop Math- 

 ews, of the United Brethren Church. When 

 he started out he hesitated, and seemed to 

 find so much difficulty in saying just what 

 he wanted to say that I rather pitied him. 

 But it was not long before I changed my 

 mind and began to pity my poor self. I do 

 not know but I was the first person in that 

 great meeting to say amen to something that 

 struck home to me in a remarkable way in 

 that prayer. The amen came almost of it- 

 self; and I was a little frightened when I 

 found I had said it so loud and I began to 

 think it was, perhaps, not the fashion among 

 that great body of educated and cultured 

 young ministers to say amen. Very soon, 

 however, I was at ease on that point. Other 

 amens like my own followed fast and quick- 

 ly, and one good pastor warmed up and put 

 such wonderful thoughts and suggestions in 

 regard to the needs of our nation, together 

 with thanksgiving for the victories that have 

 just been granted us in answer to prayer 

 that the amens came from all over that vast 

 audience like veritable hail. They drowned 

 the prayer so that the dear brother had to 

 wait till they had ceased before he could go 

 on; and for quite a time it was brief, short 

 sentences, so wonderfully to the point, and 

 suggesting things we had never thought of 

 before, but which, notwithstanding, com- 

 mended themselves so to the hearts of the 

 great listening audience that it seemed as if 

 it was not the leader who was speaking, but 

 the people who were listenmg. He voiced the 

 thoughts, the longings, and the hungering of 

 all those grand, noble hearts united in one 

 petition. I thought of the words, "Blessed 

 are they which do hunger and thirst after 

 righteousness, for they shall, be filled;" and 

 it seemed as if the answer was coming while 

 we prayed. Yes, it is true we all prayed. 

 Amid the praying and the shouting (for it 

 was almost that before the prayer was end- 

 ed), a sweet, motherly voice near by uttered 

 the words, "Yes, Lord"— just those two 

 words, but they almost seemed to lift me 

 off my feet. My mmd went back to that re- 

 vival of toward thirty years ago in the Meth- 

 odist church here m Medina, when I first 

 spoke in public for Christ Jesus, and where 

 my voice was first heard in public prayer. 

 They were union meetings. We h-^ld them 

 first in one church and then in another. 

 When we got around to the Methodist church 

 it was always a little more noisy there than 

 at the other places of worship; and at one 

 of those noisy meetings a dear sister, who 

 has long since gone to her heavenly home, 

 used the words, "Yes, Lord," when some 

 brother or sister expressed just the thought 

 that she felt needed more emphasis. Those 

 words and that sweet, motherly voice still 



ring in my ears. It expressed a close and 

 intimate acquaintance with the Lord Jesus 

 Christ, and expressed, too, a faith, a happy 

 faith, that God zvould hear and would send 

 the blessing. That opening prayer, it seemed 

 to me, gave us all an uplift. It suggested to 

 me the chorus of that beautiful hymn : 



Lord, lift me up and let me stand 

 By faith on heaven's table- land. 



Governor Hanly, of Indiana, is a com- 

 paratively small man. He looks boyish and 

 acts boyish, especially when he first starts to 

 speak; but when he gets a-going you forget 

 all about his size and his apparent diffidence 

 when he first stands up before you. May the 

 Lord be praised for such a man as Governor 

 Hanly! When our beloved President 

 Roosevelt absolutely declines being President 

 any longer, I should not mind voting for 

 Governor Hanly. He said the Anti-Saloon 

 League is the great ally of the church, and 

 that he was glad to extend a Hoosier wel- 

 come to all the dear brothers and sisters 

 who had come to Indianapolis from far and 

 near — not because of what we have done, but 

 for what we stand for. He commended the 

 League for the quality of its work, for its 

 practicability. "You are not only right," he 

 said, "but you know how to bring men to 

 your support, how to appeal to the thoughts 

 of men, then stir them into action. You have 

 succeeded because you have been wise 

 enough to keep out of politics." There were 

 a good many smiles right here, and the peo- 

 ple in the audience looked at one another 

 to see just what he meant. After he had 

 paused a little he smiled and then added: 

 "Don't misunderstand me. Some people 

 complain because you have gone into politics. 

 When I say politics I mean partisan politics. 

 You have made your appeal alike to Demo- 

 crats and to Republicans who are in sym- 

 pathy with the principles for which you 

 stand. 



I hardly need tell you what Governor Han- 

 ly has done toward closing the saloons nights 

 and Sundays, for it has been in the papers 

 pretty much all over the United States. 

 While he was speaking the daily papers were 

 announcing in big headlines that seventy sa- 

 loon men had been arrested for keeping open 

 the Sunday before ; and I was told that some- 

 thing over a hundred in Indianapolis had 

 been fined and imprisoned for breaking the 

 law. There was a big stir about it, and 

 they were threatening the good Governor all 

 manner of evil things for having enforced 

 the Sunday-closing law all over Indiana. 

 There were many jokes to the effect that 

 Hanly had not only "shut down the lid," but 

 had "screwed it fast." The mayors, mar- 

 shals, and policemen of the different towns 

 and cities in Indiana who seemed inclined 

 to connive with saloonkeepers to evade law 

 are being straightened out at a rate that 

 makes their heads swim. But the churches, 

 the temperate, and the temperance people of 

 Indiana are rejoicing and declaring just as 



