1034 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 1 



nois or in the dense woods of Michigan, but 

 not in the streets of Henderson; neither can 

 you store up d5'namite in your cellar in Hen- 

 derson. Here you have prohibition again, 

 and it prohibits. Now just apply this prin- 

 ciple to the sale of intoxicants and you have 

 prohibition for another purpose. It may not 

 make men temperate, Vmt it is a mighty fac- 

 tor in preventing men from helloing others to 

 become intemperate. If you will take a map 

 of the United States of "fifty years ago and 

 mark on it all the area under prohibition then, 

 and then mark a new maj) in a similar way, 

 you will soon see that you yourself, like the 

 old map, are just lifty years behind the head 

 of the procession. 



In regiird to the witchcraft 200 years ago, 

 if you have been reading Gleanings you are 

 doubtless aware that I have all my life been 

 as vehement against superstition, signs, and 

 notions, as almost any other living writer. 

 We both thank God that witchcraft and all 

 like superstitions, under the searchlight of 

 modern scientific investigation, are being 

 rapidly relegated to the past. 



I think I shall have to confess that there is 

 at least some consistency in what you say 

 about intelligent men not going to church; 

 and it pains me, my good friend K., to think 

 that you yourself are possibly one of that 

 class. Now please pardon me if I tell you I 

 fear it is owing to this very fact— that is, 

 that many of our men and women stay away 

 from church (or, if you choose, do not attend 

 church and stand by it as much as they did 

 some fifty years ago) I fear it is owing to this 

 very fact that we are having so much bribery, 

 graft, and stealing, of not only hundreds but 

 thousands and sometimes millions of dollars. 

 If the men who do these things had held fast 

 to the religion of their fathers — the religion 

 of olden times if you choose to put it so — 

 they could not have been tempted by Satan 

 to ruin their fellow-men as they are doing, 

 as we see by the daily papers. Yes, I know 

 there are a few men who continue to go to 

 church — may be Sunday-school superintend- 

 ents — just to keep up appearances. Jesus 

 had one hypocrite in his little band of twelve; 

 and from that time on there has lieen here 

 and there a man who went to church and 

 pretended to piety just in oi'der to find a bet- 

 ter chance to get hold of the bag that holds 

 the money that belongs to the crowd. May 

 God help us all to weed out hypocrites, and 

 put them where they belong. 



Yes, in one sense I have a right to print 

 what I please; but unless I take great care in 

 what I select for print and in what I dictate 

 I shall not have the standing and backing 

 that I have now. If you could read the 

 postals and letters that came in the same 

 mail with yours I think you would decide 

 that I am marching with a pi'etty good-sized 

 "procession" after all. I shall be exceed- 

 ingly glad to meet you and have a friendly 

 chat with you as you suggest; and if in iuy 

 trips through Michigan I ever come near you 

 I certainly will stop. I am glad you like 

 my talks on bees and chickens; but I am sur- 

 prised that so good a man as you seem to 



think that religion — that is, the genuine re- 

 ligion that teaches a man to love his neigh- 

 bor as himself — should ever need relegating 

 to the garret together with the bats and 

 owls. 



Our good pastor, who, I am glad to say, is 

 a special friend of mine, happened to be in 

 our oflice when your letter was lying on my 

 table. We together had a good laugh over 

 it; and by my request he gave me a copy of 

 what he has written you, which I append 

 below. 



Mr. William, Kohlineijer: — I was in the office of Mr. 

 A. I. Root the other day when he was liokiny over his 

 mail and came to your letter on the " relation of b6es 

 to religion." Because I hold views similiar to those 

 he entertains, he read me your letter and asked what 

 I thouyht of it. I asked him for the privileti-e of re- 

 Ijlyins to it. If you will kindly yive me a litt e of your 

 time I think I can show you that you are laboring un- 

 der a misapprehension 



I certainly agree with you when you say that 

 "prohibition is not temperance, but sometimes the 

 greatest intemperance." The advocates of any re- 

 form have some among them which go a little too far, 

 and sometimes do the unwise and intemperate thing. 

 You ask. "Where did you tret the right to say r .should 

 or should not take a drink?" That is precisely, as I 

 understand Mr. Root, what he does not say. Thi.s is 

 a free country, and every man can do just wriat he 

 pleases so long as it does not limit the rights of others. 

 But it certainly ought to be the privilege of every man 

 to try to persuade any one that his philosophy of life 

 will give the greatest hapi:)iness to the greatest num- 

 ber, if that man believes it. That. I take, is the posi- 

 tion taken in Gleanings. This whole agitation on 

 the drink question miuht be quickly solved if it affect- 

 ed only the men who drink; but the facts are that the 

 people who suffer mo'^t from it are those who do not 

 drink, such as wives mothers, and even the public 

 who ofttimes unwillingly suffer. If you will tell us 

 how to confine the effects of liquor to those who want 

 to use it we will promise you that the agitation will 

 be kept out of journals devoted to other subjects. 



Your statement that Mr. Root was fifty years be- 

 hind the times because he_ paid attention to the 

 Christian religion, and that "very few intelligent men 

 go to church any more.'' attracted my attention. I got 

 to thinking of that coming home, and remembered 

 that a man whom I had heard of, who was a graduate 

 of Harvard College, and an author of some repute, and 

 quite popular with some people, and bears the name 

 of Teddy Roosevelt, is quite a regular attendant of 

 the church. I remember that the world now looks 

 upon Lord Kelvin as the leading scientist in all the 

 universe, and he is a regular attendant and ardent de- 

 votee of his church. Need I m( ntion that there is cot 

 a president of anv college, of any size, that is not a 

 church-member, and in most cases even a minister, in 

 this countryy Almost any man of promin' nee in the 

 public life of your State is and has been for years con- 

 nected with some form of religion. Florence Night- 

 ingale. Gladstone. Balfour, Kepler, Newton, Faraday, 

 and a list of such worthies, have their splendid illus- 

 tration in the present who are notdeists nor agnostics 

 but open and ardent Christians. 



You say a man is fifty years behind the times if he 

 pays attention to religion. May I ask you a question? 

 Is there a God? Is there a Providence that is large 

 enough to take care of the stars and lender enough lo 

 care for the fallen sparrow? What is right? Who is 

 my neighbor? What is the worth of a child? Can a 

 man who has made a great mistake be made to feel 

 right and in harmony with the universe, and start 

 anew? Is character a permanent thing? It there 

 any thing after the grave? Now, my question is this: 

 Is a subject that discusses themes of this kind behind 

 the times? Do you think these subjects are antiqui- 

 ties, and fit only for the garret? 



I am not going to say any thing of the numerical 

 strength of Christianity, because some Christians are 

 not very good ones; but after making all due allowance 

 for these, I think you will find, even on a superficial 

 examination, that the essential things for which 

 Christianity stands were never so widely emphasized 

 and effective as they are t "i-day. There were never so 

 many prominent and intellige.U men in this country 

 who were practicing their religion as at present 



I appreciate the good nature of your letter; but real- 

 ly, my friend, J tbinli you are wholly mistaken, and 



