1018 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 1 



postoffice Saturday just because you could 

 do it on Sunday and thus save time; and it 

 behooves us to remember that in deciding- 

 all matters of this kind we are not deciding- 

 questions for our neighbors, nor for the 

 whole world to criticise. It is before the 

 g-reat all-seeing eye of God the Father, who 

 knows even our inmost thoughts. " God is 

 not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth, 

 that shall he also reap." 



The writer of the second letter asks the 

 question, " Is it right to do wrong to gain 

 a brother?" and I think I can agree — in 

 fact, perhaps I am safe in saying it is nev- 

 er right to do wrong; but I would add I do 

 not believe God will lay it up against us as 

 being "wrong" if, under certain circum- 

 stances, we let a neighbor have a small 

 amount of honey and take the money for it, 

 even if it is on Sunday. Remember that 

 Paul says, " I am made all things to all 

 men, that I might by all means save some." 

 When Jesus found the Jews buying and 

 selling, and were greedy for gain in the 

 temple, he found a great public wrong that 

 was going right along day after day and 

 year after year. It was not the case of a 

 solitary person who did not know or con- 

 sider he was transgressing God's com- 

 mands. There was nothing else to do than 

 to drive those sabbath-breakers out of the 

 temple. Few of us are called on to turn 

 people out of doors like that. We are, how- 

 ever, called on, every one of us, who pro- 

 fesses to be a follower of Christ Jesus, to 

 preach the gcspel in season and out of sea- 

 son. I am sure it is far better to make a 

 mistake, or say a little mistake, now and 

 then, in deciding what we shall or shall 

 not do on the sabbath day than to sit down 

 and do nothing. Whenever a neighbor 

 comes to j-our home you have an unusually 

 good opportunity of winning him to Christ. 

 The circumstances are quite different from 

 what they would be in the case of your go- 

 ing and hunting him at his home. Mission- 

 aries tell us that in foreign lands they 

 sometimes have to work months and years 

 to get a hold on those who are prejudiced 

 against them. They are always delighted 

 when somebody calls and wants something. 

 When a man wants something, and it is in 

 your power to supply his wants, he is in un- 

 usual readiness to listen to you. When I 

 am traveling I am glad of any opportunity 

 that permits me to form a new acquaintance. 

 If I am obliged to travel some distance be- 

 side even a bad man, I usually make some 

 effort to get acquainted with him; and very 

 many times I may be able to change his 

 views, especially where he has mistaken 

 ones. My conscience troubles me when I 

 let the hours pass without saying a word 

 to anybody or trying to do him good. Yes, 

 my conscience troubles me when I sit still 

 or spend too much time in reading, even on 

 Sunday; but I am always happy when I 

 find an opportunity for cheering and en- 

 couraging some one in ways that are right. 

 Those who judge by outside appearances 

 might think I hadn't any proper reverence 



for the sabbath; but God knows my heart 

 fully, and the hearts of those to whom I am 

 talking; and when I feel the approving 

 voice of the Holy Spirit, I do not feel much 

 troubled. 



A word more about selling honey on Sun- 

 day. Our seventh-day friends have not 

 said so, but I presume they would object to 

 selling honey on Saturday. Suppose a man 

 who knew nothing of their peculiar views 

 should go eight or ten miles on Saturday 

 for some honey. Would they tell him he 

 could not have it? Or suppose one of their 

 number kept a store. He could not sell on 

 Sunday, because few people would buy of 

 him except those of his own belief; and he 

 would not sell on Saturday because it is 

 his sabbath. Could he compete with other 

 storekeepers if he shut up two days in a 

 week? And this reminds me that many 

 people indicate to the public at large their 

 views on these matters by putting up little 

 signs. At the town of Bingham, near our 

 cottage, there was a notice saying, " Posi- 

 tively no goods sold on Sunday." In pass- 

 ing county infirmaries and other public 

 buildings I often see notices to the effect 

 that visitors will not be received on Sunday. 

 I am not quit sure, but it strikes me I once 

 saw a little sign in a bee-keeper's doorj'ard 

 something like this: " No honey sold on Sun- 

 day." This would answer two purposes — 

 everybody would take it for granted that he 

 did have hone3^ for sale on week days; and 

 they might also wisely conclude that this 

 bee-keeper was a good man and tried to do 

 right before God and his fellow-men. Of 

 course, accommodating a neighbor is quite 

 a dift'erent matter from running a Sunday 

 business. I do not believe in having butch- 

 er-shops, barber-shops, fruit-stands, nor 

 any thing of the kind open on Sunday. 



One Sunday, while in California, I pur- 

 chased a five cent tablet at a news-stand; 

 and I was promptly rebuked by the brother 

 I was staying with for encouraging Sunday 

 traffic. He lived out in the country, where 

 it might be difficult to get the stationery I 

 wanted, on week days. As we passed \>y 

 a news-stand on our way home from church, 

 without considering ver^' much I made the 

 purchase I have just mentioned, and I am 

 sorrj' I did it. But do you not see, dear 

 friends, how difficult it is to lay down rules 

 for each other in this matter? May God 

 give us wisdom and understanding, and 

 help us that not only on Sunday but all 

 through the week we may "do justly, love 

 mercy, and walk humbly before God." 



DRUGSTORES, SALOONS, ETC. 



Friend Root: — \ read with much interest your article 

 on the "Anti saloon League." I am with you on the 

 temperance question. It may be that things are dif- 

 ferent in Ohio from what they are here ; but with us 

 the drugstores are the worst of saloons. A man who 

 is able to set up a small drupstore would not go into 

 the saloon business, as the license is too high. He 

 will merely take out a "druggist's license," which 

 amounts to little or nothing, and opens up, to all in- 

 tents and purposes, a saloon. He may have a very 

 small stock of drugs ; but the barrel of whisky is sure 



