970 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 15 



the org-an were all young- ladies. After I 

 had prayed for wisdom I said something 

 like this: 



"Dear friends, it makes my heart glad 

 to see you all gathered here to-night; and it 

 makes it gladder still to think that you 

 have honored my poor self by asking me to 

 talk to you. I am not a preacher, as you 

 know, and I am not an orator, as you also 

 probably know; therefore I shall give you 

 only a friendly familiar talk; and as it is a 

 little hard on my lungs to make you all 

 hear (and I want every one of you to hear 

 every word I say), I shall be very glad if 

 you will come up near me and occupy the 

 ifront seats. I want to look into your faces, 

 and I want to suggest some things to you 

 that I think will help you all your lives to 

 be better men and women." 



At this juncture I began to realize that 

 the boys in that further corner would hard- 

 ly have the courage to come up in a body 

 so near the pulpit. I do not think they 

 feared me, but perhaps they felt a little em- 

 barrassed about coming up so near what is, 

 in revival times, called the " anxious seat." 

 But in a moment a bright idea came to me. 

 God sent it, I think, in answer to my 

 prayer. I turned to the young ladies back 

 of the organ, and said, " If the singers on 

 the platform will take the front seat, I am 

 sure the young men will come up and sit 

 right back of them." 



At this there was an audible titter among- 

 the boys and girls; but I saw in an instant 

 that my plan had appealed to their best na- 

 ture in the right way. They arose in a 

 body, and came up as near to me as the 

 seats would permit, for I stood just in front 

 of the pulpit. They did not know how I 

 thanked God; but I realized then and there 

 the result of that talk was going to be effec- 

 tive. Perhaps never before did I realize 

 how dear to my heart are those young peo- 

 ple in that neighborhood. Too often the 

 minister meets people only in the church, in 

 the role of a preacher; but it was my privi- 

 lege to be around among them in their work 

 in the fields more or less. My love for the 

 potato industry has given me an advantage, 

 perhaps, that many pastors do not enjoy. 

 The talk I gave them is one I gave in these 

 Home Papers some years ago. I will go 

 over it again briefly. 



" In Pilgrim's Progress, which I hope j^ou 

 have all read, Christiana and her children, 

 while at the Interpreter's house, were 

 shown an object-lesson. A poor man with 

 a little rake was stooping over and spend- 

 ing his time raking up straws, sticks, and 

 dust. While he did so, a shining angel 

 stood over him, holding just over his head a 

 golden crown, and the angel offered to swap 

 the crown for his poor little ricketty rake. 

 But he refused to listen to her, and even re- 

 fused to look up, but continually rejected 

 the offer of the crown. You see, if he let 

 his rake go he could no longer scrape to- 

 gether sticks, straws, and dust." 



Then I continued, something as follows: 



" Dear friends, this is a figure from Bun- 



yan's Pilgrim's Progress. It is supposed 

 to be a figure from real life — such lives as 

 you and I are living. Is it possible that 

 we in our busy daily cares are struggling 

 after only straws, sticks, and dust, while 

 a golden crown is just over our heads, and 

 we won't even look up, much less lift our 

 hands to take it as a free gift? Bunyan got 

 all his figures from the Bible. In fact, 

 Pilgrim's Prog-ress is founded on the word 

 of God. The question that confronts us to- 

 night is, 'Is there really any such crown 

 within our reach? Is this ^fiction, or is it 

 really truth? Are there opportunities before 

 us as young people that we might embrace 

 if we could onlj'^ bring ourselves to make 

 the sacrifice of letting go the straws, sticks, 

 and dust ? ' Now I am going to give 3'ou 

 some Bible readings to-night to show you 

 what the Bible says about it; or, if j^ou 

 choose, we will together look the Bible over 

 and see what authoritj^ it gives Bunyan for 

 such a statement. 



" You will notice the straws, sticks, and 

 dust that this man gave his whole life to 

 gathering, represent selfishness. He was 

 trying to scrape every thing within his 

 reach for self. A farmer, for instance, aft- 

 er he has paid for his own farm, makes a 

 slave of himself and may be of his wife and 

 children, to get another farm, and still 

 another. I mean one of the kind who is so 

 grasping that he loses the respect and good 

 will of his neighbors and ever3'body else; 

 one who can not take time to go to church nor 

 to remember the Sabbath day to keep it 

 holy (what shall it profit a man if he shall 

 gain the whole world and lose his own 

 soul?), and, we might add, one who never 

 takes time to look above his head and see a 

 golden crown continually offered him day 

 by day by the shining angel. But let us 

 come a little nearer home. Many of you 

 who listen to me have no farms. Perhaps 

 you maj' say truthfully that you have noth- 

 ing but health and strength. But are you 

 sure, dear friends, you too are not wasting 

 your time in looking continually down after 

 the straws, sticks, and dust? Are you im- 

 proving your leisure moments in good read- 

 ing? Many of the periodicals, I am sorry 

 to say, I have seen in various homes, are no 

 better than straws, sticks, or dust — perhaps 

 worse. If you want that golden crown, be 

 careful of your reading. I am sure }'Ou 

 admire the passages I have selected from 

 the Bible that I have read to you here to- 

 night. That Bible is full of such hopeful 

 promises. Whether you belong to the En- 

 deavor Society or not, make a pledge to 

 yourself to read the Bible just a little, if not 

 more, every day of your lite, and then ask 

 God to guide you in looking forward to that 

 proffered crown. The crown is above ; the 

 straws, sticks, and dust right below, on the 

 ground in the dirt. A bright young lady 

 said to me once, ' Mr. Root, when I go to a 

 dance, the next day I have a feeling that I 

 have gone down a notch or two. When I re- 

 sist the temptation to go to a dance, and go 

 to a prayer-meeting instead, the day after 



