1903 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



971 



that meeting- I have a feeling- that I am 

 lifted up a notch or two. I am satisfied 

 that the one tends downward, and only 

 down, and that the other is upward, and 

 ahvays up. I am not going to try to attend 

 prayer-meetings and dances both an3' more. 

 I am going to choose the prayer-meeting, 

 and let the other go.' That was years ago; 

 and you can see \>y her bright face now 

 that she has her eye on the crown. I do not 

 know how much dancing there is in this 

 neighborhood. I have not seen any card- 

 playing. I hope there is not anj' of it. It 

 certainly should go with the straws and 

 sticks and dust, for it does not leave any 

 thing behind it. I suppose there is more or 

 less drinking at the saloon near b}'; but I 

 am sure from the looks of these boys here 

 before me that none of them spend their 

 mone}' for beer. Let me emphasize the im- 

 portance of building Christian character in 

 another way. There is a greater demand 

 just now for boys and girls with a good sol- 

 id Christian character back of them thin 

 ever before since the world began. If you 

 read the papers, you know of the corruption 

 that exists in all our great cities. You 

 know, too, of the shameful revelations that 

 have come up within just a few days among- 

 those holding office in the postal department 

 of the United States. Selfishness — shame- 

 ful, awful selfishness! Men who have been 

 paid large salaries to protect that depart- 

 ment have, right while drawing their pay, 

 sold out the property of the United States 

 in order to get a few thousand dollars into 

 their own pockets. They have lost sight of 

 the crown that awaits them as the reward 

 of every honest man, and have been after 

 straws, sticks, and dust. Yes, they have 

 gone down to the depths of shame for a few 

 paltry dollars. Now, the great cities are 

 sending- out into the country continually for 

 honest boj's and girls. Thej' will pay al- 

 mo:?t any price for them, especially if they 

 are educated and skillful. The women get 

 great paj* as skillful tj'pewriters and in oth- 

 er important places in our offices and facto- 

 ries. But they must be honest. The gov- 

 ernment or the emploj'er does not demand 

 that thej' be Christians; but the word of 

 God tells us there is no real true honesty — 

 unselfish honesty — without the love of God 

 in the heart. Are you, my friends, looking 

 up toward that crown that is held by the 

 guardian angel just over 3'our head? Re- 

 member the text about overcoiiiino;. It is 

 the ones who ' overcome ' who are to be 

 made rulers over the nations. Are you 

 overcoming the temptations that beset you? 

 This has been a beautiful bright Sunday. 

 It is the first Sunday we have had this fall 

 since the daj' when hunting is permitted by 

 law. You have been so busy during- the 

 week that you could hardly think of stop- 

 ping to shoot partridges. May be some of 

 you have been tempted to hunt on Sunday, 

 God's holy day. Did you overcojne the 

 temptation? It is those who overcome who 

 are permitted to reach the crown. I do not 

 know what temptations present themselves 



before you, dear friends. But you know; 

 and the Holy Spirit will surely guide you, 

 if you make it a part of your life to ask the 

 great Father above day by day to guide 

 and direct you in overcoming selfishness 

 and in reaching up to those higher things 

 that concern the welfare of your neighbor 

 as well as yourself. God has given us glo- 

 rious opportunities. It rests with us 

 whether we shall rise up and look up, or 

 whether we shall, with bent backs and eyes 

 cast toward the ground, spend our lives in 

 raking up these straws, sticks, and dust. 



" Some of jou are now attending school. 

 Perhaps a few of you will go away to school 

 sooner or later; but quite a number of you 

 (and I have talked with some) feel that the 

 stern duties of life are such that you can 

 not go to school any more. Do not be dis- 

 couraged, friends. There are periodicals 

 or class journals published nowadays that 

 will enable a young man or woman to be- 

 come proficient in almost every line of bus- 

 iness. If you will probablj' follow farming" 

 for a livelihood, by all means avail your- 

 selves of the leading- agricultural papers. 

 Employ your time in getting useful knowl- 

 edg-e in regard to the occupation you expect 

 to follow. The great Father above is 

 pleased to see us study him through his 

 works; and one can nowadays get a good ed- 

 ucation in almost any line of work by carefully 

 studying the books and periodicals that are 

 published. Time spent in this way will 

 not only be profitable for years to come, but 

 it will enable you to be helpful to your 

 neighbors; and every thing of this kind 

 tends to build up Christian character, and, 

 indirectly, reaches out toward that golden 

 crown. Now, friends, shall it be a crown 

 of righteousness we are striving for, or shall 

 it be the sticks and straws and dust of 

 selfishness^ May God help you in your de- 

 cision. " 



I scarcely need add that there was net a 

 whisper during my talk of twenty- five min- 

 utes; in fact, i never in my life saw an en- 

 tire audience give better attention to a 

 speaker. With a praj'er in my heart that 

 this little story may help some other teach- 

 er, especially where he is met with consid- 

 erable inattention on the part of his hear- 

 ers, and with a prayer, also, for the restless 

 wide-awake young people all over our land, 

 I close this Home Paper. 



SELLING HONEY ON SUNDAY, ETC. 



I am much interested in A. I. R.'s remarks on Sab- 

 bath observance It looks to nie as though a man's 

 desires had much to do with forming his convictii ns. 

 In twenty years of Christian work I have never fourd 

 it necessary to buy or sell or travel on the Sabbath; 

 and I question whether the doing of those things, even 

 in exceptional instances, does not lessen the respect of 

 non Christ ans fi r Christians and for the cause of 

 Christ I am glad that Gleanings has a place for 

 such discussions. Austin D Wolfe. 



ParkviUe. Mo., Oct. 13. 



Mr. Root: — I have just read that letter of F. M. Mor- 

 gan's, on page H53, on selling honey on Sunday, and 

 your answer to it, and I must say that it does not suit 

 me. l''or 2.5 years I have been keeping bees, not very 

 extensively, being a. farmer, but because I liked to 



