1883 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



401 



the point of disagreement V One said the 

 church was all finished and paid for, and the 

 other said it Avas not all finished and paid 

 for. Any schoolboy might have readily 

 gathered, from the statements made, that 

 both were probably right, from their re- 

 spective standpoints of view ; but when we 

 come down to the real point at issue, did any 

 thmg hinge on the fact as to whether one or 

 the other was right ? I can not see that any 

 thing did. I never knew them to speak in 

 that way before; and although they stopped 

 very quickly of their own accord, it was a 

 lesson to me, that the best of us are constant- 

 ly in danger of being led by the wrong spir- 

 it, and that we can not pray too often for 

 the influences of the Holy Spirit, which God 

 has promised us as a free gift, it" we ask for 

 it aright. 



What is it we need, then, to help us win 

 the victory in this coming contest ? Is it 

 not the grace of (iod V Even in the Women's 

 Christian Temperance I'nion I have intima- 

 tions that there are sometimes faint symp- 

 toms of jarring and discord. Is it so, sis- 

 ters y If it is, there needs to be more pray- 

 ing, and very likely the prayers should be 

 mental ones to God for help, in the very 

 hour and moment when you are tempted. 

 Some of the richest blessings I have ever re- 

 ceived were in answer to prayers that were 

 sent up when my face was hot with sup- 

 pressed irritation. I need hardly tell you, 

 the irritation went down, and the spirit of 

 the Savior rose up, and I came off victor 

 over Satan. One who can do this, and al- 

 ways will do it, always comes off victorious. 

 Show me the individual who prays honestly, 

 earnestly, and hard, when temptation comes 

 upon him, and I will show you an individual 

 whom God will very soon use for his honor 

 and his glory, brothers and sisters, let us 

 all pray tor this Jloly Spirit during this bat- 

 tle for temperance. 1 do not believe that 

 "righteous indignation," as Christians are 

 sometimes wont to term it, is very often 

 wanted. I feel sure that God does not often 

 want me to exhibit it. I know he does want 

 me to show courage, and this is the second 

 great thing we need, as friend Hasty has it. 



To come right down close at home, in a 

 few days we are to celebrate the Fourth of 

 July, and I presume many of you who read 

 these pages will take some part in this yearly 

 anniversary of our nation's independence. 

 In our town we have decided to have a cele- 

 bration. A paper has been passed around 

 to solicit funds for the purpose of defraying 

 the expense of speakers, fireworks, public 

 dinner, etc. One of our saloons subscribes 

 $25, the other one $15. Of course, the sa- 

 loons must be kept open on the Fourth of 

 July. How could young America celebrate 

 the' Fourth of July without saloons V I by 

 no means mean to intimate that we could 

 not have a good, great, and glorious cele- 

 bration without any thing to drink at all 

 that did not intoxicate or exhilarate ; but I 

 was only thinking of past Fourths of July. 

 In connection with the fact of our saloon- 

 keepers subscribing so liberally, I may re- 

 mark that one of them received three bar- 

 rels of intoxicants (liquors, not beer, mind 

 you). These three barrels were probably to 



be sold on the Fourth of July, even if they 

 comply with the law so far as to permit no 

 whisky to be drank on the premises. The 

 three barrels will, probably, all of it be 

 retailed out in little bottles. Boys who get 

 patriotic (V) and reckless will get these little 

 bottles full, go off in the woods or some out- 

 building, and probably take their first drink 

 on the Fourth of July. I feel terribly about 

 this kind of work, because of the experience 

 I have had with my boys. You remember 

 my boy Albert whom 1 have told you about 

 in times past. Well, he could get along very 

 well until the Fourth of July or ]S'ew Year's. 

 Then he was sure to be treated and intoj^i- 

 cated. What a sad act is this on the day 

 when our nation celebrates the anniversary 

 of our independence ! 



Not very long ago, one of our citizens in 

 passing home in the evening stumbled over 

 some object on the sidewalk. He stooped 

 down in order to see what it was, and re- 

 ceived a volley of oaths and curses from the 

 prostrate body. It was our old friend Al- 

 bert ! When the man found himself unable 

 to get him up that he might take him home, 

 he went back a little Avay, opened the door 

 of one of our saloons, and said, " Here I 

 some of your work lies out here in the street. 

 Get him up and take hin;^ home, or he will 

 be a dead body before morning." Jf I am 

 correct, the saloon-keeper went and took 

 care of him without a word. 



You remember, too, of my telling you 

 about one of our young men whom I found 

 with his body across the railroad track, not 

 far from our factory. This boy had one of 

 these same little pint fiasks of whisky in his 

 pocket that he had bought at one of the sa- 

 I loons. They meet us at every turn. ^Ve 

 I find them along the sidewalks, thrown into 

 hedges, out in the fields, in the woods, scat- 

 tered about broadcast ; and I presume they 

 are scattered about just as thickly adjoining 

 all the towns of this our United States of 

 America — little fiat glass bottles, some- 

 thing that can conveniently be put in the 

 pocket. When I was in Cincinnati last fall 

 at our convention, in a lunch-room at one of 

 our large depots these little bottles of whisky 

 were tastefully labeled, '' Old Bye Whisky. 

 Price 20 cts." I presume the usual price 

 had been about an even quarter; but owing 

 to the lively competition, and their anxiety 

 to win favor with the boys, this enterpris'- 

 ing lunch-room keeper had got the price 

 down five cents. After I took my seat in 

 the cars I found that the bottles did not all 

 of them remain standing on the shelf, by any 

 means. Boys in their teens took out their 

 bottles, discussed the different brands, pass- 

 ed the bottles back and forth, as you might 

 expect boys would. 



My friends, do you wonder that our peni- 

 tentiary is too small, and that it must be en- 

 larged still more to accommodate the boys of 

 our land ? Do you ever have a Fourth-of- 

 July celebration in your town V Do the sa- 

 loon-keepers subscribe liberally ? Will your 

 boys probably be out late at night V Do they 

 ever get on a strain of carrying on until they 

 fail to consider the consequences of their 

 boyish recklessness ? Do we really want 

 open saloons with little bottles of whisky 



