1883 



juve:n"ile gleanings. 



677 



lur tcivm- 



Thou Shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God 

 in vaiu.— Exodus 20: 7. 



SN the first part of this number I have told 

 you a story of a bov who was tempted 

 and led to drink. In my talk I dwelt 

 especially on the danger of having our boys 

 exposed to such temptations as saloons. I 

 endeavored there to show, that although the 

 bov was perhaps at fault, he was not alone 

 to blame. Now, we who are laboring for the 

 salvation of souls work in two wavs. While 

 we earnestly strive to have temptation kept 

 out of the way of the youth of our land, we 

 also try to instill into the minds of these 

 same youths principles that will keep them 

 from the temptation. We try to have their 

 minds so firmly anchored "on the Lord's 

 side" that even the saloon-keei>er with poi- 

 soned lemonade would be unlikely to get 

 them from the path of duty. It is true, that 

 almost any boy might be persuaded to take 

 a glass of lemonade, and might in that way 

 get a taste for strong drink ; but we should 

 want that boy so brought up that, when he 

 • discovered that he had been entrapped into 

 taking something that he did not under- 

 stand, he would go to his mother, father, or 

 best friend, or guardian, and inform him in 

 regard to thenjatter. Almost all de]»artures 

 from the path of rectitude and virtue come 

 about gradually. In the story I have already 

 told you it would seem almost certain that 

 the boy was a victim of evil intluences and 

 surroundings, rather than bad at heart. On 

 questioning closely I was led to Ijelieve. 

 liowever, that there was something back of 

 it somewhere. Those conversant with crime 

 will often find out where the trouble lies by 

 a little questioning, much as a kind mother 

 would take hold of a sore finger. She might 

 say. " My child, when did this come V what 

 rnaJces the swelling and inflammation on 

 that little finger V " 



"• Why, mother, it just came of itself. I 

 don't know what in the world makes it so 

 awful sore." 



" T think, mv son, there is a sliver in it, 

 and we must take a needle, and may be a 

 verysharp knife too, and get the sliver out." 



"But, mother, T am sure there isn't any 

 sliver there, or I should feel it. I have not 

 had any sliver in my hand at all." 



The mother has, however, seen many boys, 

 and she knows pretty well all about slivers ; 

 and so she quietly sits down by a good 

 strong light, and in due time she carefully 

 and lovinsrly picks out a great black naughty 

 sliver. The little one may cry during the 

 operation, but she knows full "well that its 

 tears of pain will soon be changed to tears 

 of joy and smiles; and she saw, too, per- 

 haps, there was no other way than to dig 

 right down into the soft little hand to get at 

 the seat of the mischief. Well, I felt some- 

 thing the same way about this young friend 

 of mine. When I would start to go away he 

 M'ould say, "Oh ! don't go jnst yet, Mr. 

 Root; " and I knew he was willing to talk, 

 and tell me about even the bad part of his 

 life, if I sought to get at it with a view of 



helping him to a better state of mind and a 

 better life. He admitted that he not only 

 drank, but used tobacco. But he said he 

 knew nothing of the habits until within the 

 past year. I asked him what he worked at 

 when there was no school. It had been 

 mostly farming. 



" Have you learned to swear also V " 



He admitted he had. 



"Can you remember the first time you 

 ever uttered an oath V " 



" Yes, Mr. Root, 1 can.'' 



And then he told me all about how it hap- 

 pened. It was not while he was in company 

 with bad boys : it was while he was alone at 

 work in the cornfield. He got tired and 

 warm, and rebelled against his lot in life. 

 He was " weary in well doing," and Satan 

 entered into his heart and made him take in 

 vain the name of tlie God who gave him life. 

 My friends. I fear many a sad life is com- 

 menced in just tliis wav. Instead of taking 

 up patiently the lot in life that God had giv- 

 en him, or working quietly and steadily un- 

 til he could honestlv comrnand a place 'more 

 to his liking, he cherished rebellious and 

 wicked thoughts, and encouraged them in 

 his heart, until they broke forth in hlasphe- 

 m]i toward his ISIaker. Not long after, he 

 got hold of a book,— the life of Jesse .James. 

 Other boys might read such a book as this 

 without any apparent harm, perhaps ; but to 

 one in his state of mind it was rank poison, 

 and acted on him as the poisoned lemonade 

 acted on the brain of the other boy. To his 

 rebellious and disordered imagination these 

 adventurers seemed something worthy of 

 emulation, and in one sort of way he honor- 

 ed the man who robbed honest people of the 

 money they had earned by the sweat of their 

 face, of the money they labored for and sav- 

 ed up. Drink, of course, fed and inflamed 

 these feelings, until he thought it would be 

 a grand thing to defy the laws of our coun- 

 try, and to live upon the hard earnings of 

 others. How many are there who read these 

 Home Papers who have not some time in 

 their life read with interest the daring ex- 

 ploits of highwaymen V I believe the num- 

 ber is less now than a few years ago. Things 

 are changing, and our boys find sufiicient 

 excitement and adventure in legitimate bus- 

 iness, and, I trust, enough fascination in 

 such simple, harmless, and innocent indus- 

 tries as keeping bees for a living. Think of 

 the contrast. In keeping bees we take from 

 dame Nature, and she smiles her approval 

 by rewarding ns with the gains of a bounti- 

 ful liarvest. God smiles, too. and gives us a 

 feeling of peace and enjoyment in our hearts, 

 whicli is, perhaps, one "of the sweetest re- 

 wards that fall to the lot of humanity. Now, 

 what hai)piness can there be to him who 

 robs his fellow-men, even thongh he does it 

 in such a wholesale way that he defies the 

 authorities who seek to arrest him ? Do 

 you not see, boys, that swearing, drinking, 

 tobacco-using, and the like, all ])roceed from 

 a wrong attitude of the heart V If the heart 

 is right, the actions will be right. If one in 

 the inmost recess of the heart has deliber- 

 ately decided to do wrong, then all these 

 other things follow. 



We sometimes hear of men selling them- 



