1877 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



139 



\ur 



Neither do men li^ht a candle, and put it under a 

 \mshel, but on a candle-slick ; and it giveth light unto all 

 *hat are iu the house.— Mat. 5: 15. 



-HEN I first commenced in the Sabbath 

 School, or rather, when I first presented 

 myself and told them I was ready for 

 tiny kind of work the Lord had for me to do. 

 -hey <ravc me a class of juveniles. At first, I 

 so far stnck to my old life that I imagined my- 

 self equal to the task of teaching almost any 

 class ; but as ihe most prominent lesson before 

 '.ne was to learn humility, I, after a little re- 

 flection, decided that if I were really capable 

 of filling a higher post, the superintendent 

 would perceive it iu due time, and I would 

 'Eventually get all the promotion I merited. So 

 1 went to work with the little boys, resolving 

 ihiit I would do ihe work that lay before me 

 AS well as I knew how. Shortly afterward the 

 uracher who had formerly had the class return- 

 <-i1, and I was kept as a kind of reserve teacher 

 to take the place of any one who happened to 

 5)e absent. At first I was inclined to complain 

 It this, but when I overheard the managers 

 »aying this was one of the most difficult places 

 ^vo fill, for no one wanted to be pushed about 

 from one class to another, 1 resolved that I 

 would fit myself for just that post, i. e., pre- 

 pare my lesson for either old or young pupils, 

 'hat I might teach at least tolerably, any class 

 ■tjjat was off'ered me. I found that by cultivat- 

 '«g a willingness to let our light shine in any 

 '.IJrection where it might be needed, keeping j 

 *1own all preferences of our own, and without 

 rnquiring whether we thought we could do 

 ■Viiy good or not, we might get into a particu- | 

 urtrly pleasant frame of mind ourselves, and 

 into a position where we were pretty sure to 

 '<w happy, no matter what turned up. Now, 

 .iiere was one class of very bad boys iu our 

 ■^I'hool — I wonder if there is not in every 

 ■*i^hool V — and they finally gave me this class 

 <-«<ie Sabbath, without even informing me that 

 ■'>iit one teacher could do anything with them, 

 :*iid that he manaaed principally by main j 

 v.rength. Imagine the shock I felt, when 1 1 

 -»';is greeted with an oath, almost the first I 

 ■?>ing. I was very soon humbled, vtry much j 

 Mumbled, aud before I had finished, they had 1 

 viikeu the conceit out of me pretty efitctually. ! 

 -Ivnowing that I was a young convert, they j 

 -vidently proposed seeing how much Christian 

 ■TVirtitudc and forbearance I was possessed of. 

 After school I approached the managers with ' 

 •vhat must have been a troubled look, and to 

 -iiy astonishment, they burst out laughing, as 

 liey asked how I liked the class. After I had 

 intntioued my trials, they thought best to 

 •^ave the worst of the boys expelled, and the ' 

 - lass broken up, notwithstanding my request 

 "'Vjry them once more. This was done, and 

 ■<u: boy,« have made progress in the wrong 

 wj^- for the past two years, until the recent 

 revival iu our town. One of the worst of 

 ^■■A-m is to day, however, exhorting his com- 

 : ailes every evening, to turn from their eyil 

 V- a.j,s, and take the first step in forming a good 

 <. hristian character. 



i Jiis boy ciiiae 1(» me a few days ago and 



asked me to call and talk with a poor GeiTnaa 

 Catholic shoemaker, who could talk but little 

 English. As usual, I at first began to think I 

 could do no good, but remembering that on 

 former occasions my eflbrts in similar cases 

 had been strangely blessed, I decided to go. 



As soon as I entered the shop I saw another 

 German, with whom I had been wanting to 

 talk, as he had been very unkind to his wife, 

 and resented any interference when our minis- 

 ters visited him. His boy was in my class, 

 and I soon had both the men talking 

 earnestly, but the intemperate one evaded any 

 responsibility on his part, by many excuses, 

 as is usually the case. As coming to church 

 would point out clearly the error of his ways, 

 and his past transgressions, he was skeptical, 

 and did not believe in such things. I arose to 

 go, thinking my visit had been almost hopeless, 

 but as I stood up, it occurred to me that the 

 most efiectual thing I could do would be to 

 pray with aud for them. I stood meditating 

 whether it was really proper to kneel in prayer 

 in such a public place, where customers might 

 be expected to come in at any minute, but as I 

 knew I should feel sorry if I did not do my 

 whole duty, I decided to err on what I thought 

 to be the safe side, and as I asked the Lord to 

 help me to decide upon just such words as 

 was best for the case in hand, 1 cast my eyes 

 toward the floor. Down among the scraps of 

 leather, my eye caught on a piece of paper 

 that looked familiar ; it was a torn fragment 

 of the Bible, and I welcomed it as an answer 

 to my mental prayer. I picked it up and in- 

 quired how it came there. No one knew. 

 Very soon my eyes fell on. 



But I say unto you which hear. Love your enemies, do 

 good to them which hate you. 



And I read from the 27th verse of the Gtk 

 chapter of Luke to the 43d. I confess that I 

 did not myself know before, what a beautiful 

 sentiment is therein expressed. After I knelt 

 iu prayer, I found my friend in quite a difi'erent 

 mood, and was astonished to find that all 

 my own reluctance at calling on people had so 

 far itft, that I was ready for another visit. I 

 went into a drug store kept next door, where I 

 knew was a pretty hard skeptic. 



" I have been talking to your neighbor aboufc 

 going to oar union meetings." 



" Yes," said he, " I know you have. The 

 partition is only thin wood, and I have hear(S 

 it all." 



I talked with him some, without his making 

 much reply, but presently he came out with, 



" I tell you, Mr. R., if we would all live up 

 to the teachings of the few verses you just 

 read in there, we should all get to Heaves 

 without any trouble." 



" So you do believe in the Bible ?" 



" I believe in that part of it." 



He soon went back again to that passage ctf 

 Scripture, and I found that the simple and 

 plain truths I was so unconsciously trying t» 

 impress upon my German friends by reading: 

 Tery slowly and distinctly, had had more 

 weight with him, than anything I could pos- 

 sibly have prepared for the occasion. Whe* 

 he learned, as I was taking my leave, that it 

 was not something I had looked up, but only a 

 fragment I had found among the rubbish, he 

 asked In surprise, how it came there? I told 



