1877 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



107 



tmm' 



lint when thou makest a feast, <'all the iioov, the 

 maimed, the lame, the blin<l: and thou sstiall be bloss- 

 od ; !or they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt 

 he recompensed at theresurrcclionof the just,— Luke, 

 it: 13, 14. 



^NE Sabbath morniug one of the boyi? 



_ uicntioued that he ^aw a young man on 



~' the street so intoxicated tliat he could 

 not walk, and I spoke to the seliool after men- 

 tioning the circumstances vsomething as fol- 

 lows: 



"What shall we do children, when we meet 

 drunken boys or men ; we had better turn out 

 of the wiiy and have nothing to do with them, 

 iiad we not y" 



"Yes, sir." 



"They had l>8tter be sent to jail, had they 

 not ?" 



"Yes, sir." 



"It is their own fault, and they have got just 

 what they deserve, and it is no concern of ours 

 at all?" 



At this the children began to look from one 

 to the other, and some of them were evidently 

 n little troubled. Finally one little voice sug- 

 ticsted that we ought to jmiy for them. 



"Just exactly, my little friends, we are re- 

 :-liousible for every boy in our community that 

 does wrong. Now, is there nothing else for us 

 to do besides praying for them V" 



"Ask them to come to the Sabbath School." 



"But you said a while ago, they should be 

 ■-(jnt to jail ; now which is the best pkace for 

 .-uch lx»ys, the jail or the Sabbath School ?" 



"The Sabbath school," came from a num- 

 ber of voices. 



"How shall we get them to come ?" 



"Invite them." 



"But," suggested one, "he would swear at us 

 if we asked him to come." 



i told them that my experience had been 

 ♦liat they would be- in no danger of being 

 -'.vorn at, if they went to these brothers on 

 llie streets, and asked them in a kind, pleasant 

 way to come in and be one of us, and then I 

 tried to explain how it was that it was our 

 business, and in what way we were all respon- 

 sible, for every case of the kind mentioned, 

 that was to be found in our town. 



Shortly after this, a young man broke into a 

 saloon, and was detected in the act of taking- 

 money from the di'awer. I found the poor fel- 

 low in jail, overcome by sorrow and shame, 

 and completely discouraged. He said he had 

 been unable to get work, no one seemed to 

 care for him, and he felt that he was almost 

 driven to the crime. 1 spoke of the Sabbath 

 School, but he pleaded no fit clothes to wear. 

 He knelt with me, and cried like a child, and 

 before 1 left, he had almost promised to come 

 with us if he ever had another opportunity. 

 Before 1 saw him again, his friends had raised 

 some money for him, procured his release, and 

 lie was told to ''Never show his f.ace in his na- 

 ■ ve lown again." The friends who subscribed 

 .e money, doubtless did it with kind inten- 

 ions, though I can but feel that they comi:!iit- 



d a grievous mistake when they banished 

 im from his native place, and turned him 



irift among entire strangers. I felt that the 



place where he had fallen, was the very one 

 for him to show by his future conduct, that he 

 really could aiul would yet be a true man. Is 

 it always a kindness, to shield people from the 

 consequences of violating our laws? 



About the time of the above occur- 

 rence, a friend found a boy a little out of town 

 lying in the roa(J. He took him into his con- 

 veyance and intended io take him home, but 

 before he arrived there, he came to himself 

 enough to say he would not be taken to his 

 parents in that condition, but directed him to 

 diive to a neighbors. When they arrived 

 there, the neighbor, in rather rude terms, de- 

 clined taking into his house a drunken man. 

 This seemed to add the final stroke to his hu- 

 miliation and shame, and although he was a 

 youth of but 17, he deliberately drew a revol- 

 ver from his pocket, cocked it, and held it to 

 his temple, saying that if they would not keep 

 him until he was fit to go home, he would end 

 his miserable life then and there. A drunk- 

 ard's grave loomed up before him in the future, 

 and what inducement wasjthere for him to live V 

 The friend who took him into his carriage, 

 here stci)ped up and told him he would take 

 care of bim, and as soon as he could, got the 

 revolver away from him, and found that it was 

 in reality loaded. This was on Saturday night. 

 At nine o'clock on Sabbath morning we have 

 a Bible Class for young men of this class es- 

 pecially, and this friend, although he has long 

 been one who ridicules and makes light of re- 

 ligion, proposed to take him up to this class, 

 recognizing, seemingly, that in spite of all his 

 unbelief, such a place would be the safest for 

 one who, at 17, would endanger his life by 

 risking freezing to death in the road, and af- 

 terward attempt suicide as a means of getting 

 rid of all his troubles. When informed of the 

 matter, I visited his home ; I found quite a 

 family of children, but none of them attended 

 Sabbath School. The mother had been a 

 church member, but for some reason, none of 

 them had attended church more than two or 

 three times during the past year, and yet this 

 mother, with tears in her eyes, wx)ndered why 

 her boy, who had formerly been so good a boy, 

 had all at once got into bad habits. One of 

 the little girls had seen some of the little Gos- 

 pel Hymn Books that were used in our mission 

 school about three miles away, and I took one 

 from my pocket and we had quite a little Sab- 

 bath School. As wc rose after a simple 

 prayer, tears were in the eyes of several. My 

 triends, do you not think that old-fashioned 

 Bi'ole a pretty good thing after all, for troubles 

 of such a nature ? 



Does anyone inquire if those who are 

 very low in habits of intemperance ever get 

 entirely over it y Within the past week we 

 have seen the very worst cases that could be 

 picked out in our town, come forward, and 

 say that by the help of their Heavenly Father 

 they would never more drink another drop, 

 and tliese brothers are at this minute baudcd 

 together going among their old companions 

 entreating them to come and do likewise. 

 Furthermore there are those with them, who 

 have been in the better path all the way 

 from a few months, to several years. One of 

 the oldest of these, and one who has been a 

 notoriorslj^ haid drinker, one who used to 



