46 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



JAN. 



that now in this day and age there is a great 

 call and cry for bright, clean, pure men and 

 women. They are wanted unsullied or tar- 

 nished with any nncleanness. Dusty Chris- 

 tians are at a discount. Cleanliness and 

 freedom from dust costs money nowadays. 

 If you don't believe it, go into any of our 

 cities, and try the cheap hotels and low- 

 priced boarding - houses. 1 by no means 

 wish to blame them ; tliey evidently do the 

 best they can under the circumsiances- 



I'o keep the dust brushed off requires 

 more help, and it also requires more expen- 

 sive help. The man or woman who can 

 build a fire in three minutes, and not leave 

 any traces behind, even to the keen .sharp 

 eye, costs quite a little more than that one 

 who "don't know how to do any thing." 

 Still further, cheap help is almost always 

 help with bad habits. Men or women, clean 

 in body and pure in heart are so eagerly 

 sought for that you must pay a price for 

 them. This is getting to be the case every- 

 where. 



A remark was made a few days ago, that 

 religion is now getting to be a thing of com- 

 mon sense, instead of senseless rites and su- 

 perstitions. When one unites with the 

 Church now^adays, everybody expects him 

 to be clean. People are getting to think as 

 did Solomon, the wise man, when he said, — 



When thon vnwest a vow unto God, defer not to 

 pay It; for he bath no pipasure in lools: pay that 

 which th'iu hast vowed.— Ecc. 5:4. 



When it comes to hiring a minister, we 

 want him just like that dish-pan, if you will 

 excuse the comparison. No dustiness want- 

 ed here. He must be clean and bright. 

 " Not slothful in business, fervent in spirit, 

 serving the Lord." Jsitan easy matter to 

 be a minister, and get, say, $1500 or $-J000 a 

 yearV Not very, I tell you. I know pretty 

 well what some of thern do, and what they 

 have to do. If you or I were held up before 

 the broad daylight of public gaze and opin- 

 ion, and expected to shine like the new dish- 

 pan, with undimmed and " dusted " luster, 

 year in and year out, we should break down 

 and give up in the outset. How can one be 

 expected to lead the bright trained minds of 

 the present hour, unless he is up and dressed 

 in all the arts and sciences, as well as the 

 leading events of the day? He must not talk 

 and make a parade, biit he must live an 

 honest, self-denying life, forgetting self while 

 he is shaking the dust from the dusty crew 

 all round about him. Not a speck of selfish- 

 ness or weakness must be visible anywhere, 

 and nothing must be left undone that falls 

 within his province. His pure life must 

 preach constant sermons, or those he deliv- 

 ers from the pulpit will be of little avail. 



AVheu I commenced to write these Home 

 Papers I used to get somewhat disturbed by 

 the letters that came now and then from 

 those who said they had always learned to 

 look out for those men who mix religion and 

 business. I didn't quite feel like telling 

 them that, although others might be insin- 

 cere, 1 wasn't. In fact, that would be just 

 about what the ''others " had said also, if 

 they were not sincere. I finally decided that 

 it wasn't best to say much of any thing. I 

 think I told one or two to wait a little before 



they passed too severe a judgment upon 

 my ways of doing things ; and as they were 

 mostly new subscribers who wrote thus, I 

 proposed to return the money they had sent 

 me, and leave them to pay or not as they 

 chose, after we got a little better acquainted. 

 After di)ing this I just made up my mind, — 

 yes, and I prayed God to help me too,— to 

 keep my character and reputation as it stood 

 before the gaze of these critical ones, free 

 from dust and specks. I made up my mind 

 that, with God's help, I would try to keep 

 just like that new dish-pan, just out of its 

 paper wrai)pings. I don't mean that I did 

 this to convince them they were wrong, nor 

 because I wanted folks to stop and admire 

 my "tinware." Ton know I did not, 

 friends. I worked hard because the Bible 

 I had learned to love said, " Blessed are the 

 pure in heart, for they shall see God ; " and 

 while working and praying I did see God, 

 and had glimpses of his great love for all 

 who were trying to please him. I don't 

 mean to say 1 made a clean record, for my 

 best friends all know what bungling work I 

 often made of it ; but you saw 1 was trying, 

 and God saw I was trying, and you and he 

 both seemed to take the will for the deed, 

 and you have all, and are now, wondrously 

 kind to me. Since I have chosen Him for 

 my shepherd, friends I have found without 

 number, and that, too, even though I am 

 but of the commonest dust. 



Lest I leave the impres=?ion that we would 

 advise everybody to have grates instead of 

 stoves when building, I will add that, after 

 the building was all up, after discussing the 

 matter a great deal, we decided to nave 

 grates in each of tlie seven rooms. Al- 

 though no provision had been made for them 

 when the chimneys were built, except the 

 one chimney already mentioned, we were 

 told they could still be fixed so as to carry 

 the ashes all down into the cellar, etc. It is 

 done ; but our mason assures me now that 

 it would have saved me ;?100 had I decided 

 on this course at first, and had all the chim- 

 neys made accordingly. Furthermore, they 

 won't burn any thing but soft coal ; and 

 when Sue's critical tye discovered flakes of 

 black here and there around on the window 

 seats, just recently painted and varnished so 

 nicely, she has had a great longing for her 

 old stoves that burned only wood, at the old 

 home. I fear, too, she has had a pretty big 

 longing for that old home, humble though it 

 was. 



Tlie boys are home from college, and by 

 accident proved to be the first occupants of 

 the new building. Christmas day Sue went 

 over and thought she would set their room 

 to rights. Some way the ashes and coals 

 had wandered almost all over the room ; and 

 before she got it all swept and dusted up 

 according to her ideas, she got pretty tired 

 and somewliat discouraged. The next day 

 I went over with her, and, lo and behold"! 

 things were in a worse fix than the day be- 

 fore. Was the house haunted? The ashes 

 had strayed out again, and even unburned 

 coals were crunched into the new floor over 

 a great part of the room. The paint was al- 

 so knocked off from around the fireplace, as 



