30 



GLEANmGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



April 



say they are not, then I ask, why do you cen- 

 sure and find fault with others? Don't you 

 find fault with anybody you know? Get 

 some friend to watch jrou all day, and see if 

 you do not; especially if you are leading an 

 active business life. 



We are all careless and heedless, awfully 

 careless and heedless of the rights of others. 

 How do I know? Well I will tell you. Since 

 I have been engaged in the Sabbath School 

 work, I have been obliged to make humanity 

 a study, more or less, and I have tried to 

 terke an outside view of things, and to de- 

 duct general principles, from seeing what 

 the grea,t majority of individuals would do, 

 under the same or similar circumstances. 

 I tried experiments on humanity, if you will 

 pardon the term, not solely with a purpose 

 of seeing how much evil there is in us, but 

 with a view also, of bringing out the good. 

 The water tank at our door, has been one of 

 the experiments. I really do not like to tell 

 you all the results, for it will sound like find- 

 ing fault with my fellow men, or fellow boys, 

 rather. Kind words we have had from 

 many, it is true, but careless indifference 

 from by far the greater number. The best 

 water in town has to be carried quite a dis- 

 tance, and as I found by experiment that 

 the greater part of the people preferred wa- 

 ter from that particular well, we have kept 

 the tank supplied from that source for the 

 past year. As a drinking cup of anything 

 but metal was out of the question, we were 

 obliged fco keep the cups chained to prevent 

 their being lost. Could they not hang up a 

 cup after slaking their thirst? Well it would 

 seem they could, but in actual practice, we 

 find a good many will drop the cup on the 



f round, as soon as they have had enough, 

 confess that seems rather a hard statement, 

 but try it, and see how it works, on a busy 

 street. During one time in the hottest of 

 the weather, some of the street boys got a 

 fashion of turning the faucet, so as to let 

 the water all run out on the sidewalk, 

 obliging us to go and bring more. What 

 was to be done? The patience of our most 

 patient hands was worn threadbare, and 

 many times did I decide to take away the 

 water tank, and give up the experiment; 

 but as often did the disappointed looks of^ 

 thirsty humanity, when they found the tank 

 empty, soften my heart, and I prayed that 

 all beams might be taken from my own 

 eyes, in a way that would enable me best to 

 labor for the good of those provoking street 

 boys, and to say in sincerity, "Father for- 



five them, for they know not what they do." 

 "walked round the central stairway," and 

 besides studying bee-hives and bee-feeders, 

 studied on some plan of giving thirsty people 

 pure water, out on the street, without tempt- 

 ing the boys to such deeds of mischief. Per- 

 haps I should remark that they started their 

 first fun, by fixing a long string to the 

 cups in the evening, watching until some in- 

 nocent pedestrian had raised it just to his 

 lips, then jerking the cup out of his hands. 

 Of course, we scolded the boys for this; they 

 replied back, and then I am afraid we — some 

 of us— threatened them. It did seem, as if a 

 little wholesome "pounding" would be just 

 what these "street Arabs" needed to bring 



them into a sense of the "fitness of things," 

 and it seemed also, as if such a course would 

 be particularly "soothing" to the one who 

 had to bring the water and ice. l3o you 

 suppose I could ask God to help me, when I 

 had aay such thoughts towards these poor 

 boys. I used to be one among j ust such boys, 

 when I robbed strawberry gardens. I tell 

 you I find a "great big" mote in my own 

 heart, if not in my eye. I mentioned the 

 matter in the Sunday morning Bible class, 

 and we decided to pray for these boys who 

 were troubling us. The young man who 

 carried the water was present, and he, like 

 our young friend of last month, doubted the 

 wisdom of trying moral suasion with any 

 such boys, as these in question. Do you 

 wish to know how it came out? Well, I'll 

 tell you. A bright new tin cup now hangs 

 beside the tank, without even a chain to it, 

 for the boys broke off all the chains and 

 carried them away; yet the cup has been 

 there some time, and it is very seldom drop- 

 ped on the pavement, as before. No one 

 wastes the water as they did, and no one 

 leaves the faucet turned. Of course I shall 

 h,ave fresh battles to fight, for Satan or "evil 

 impulses" are always at work, but the same 

 weapon is always ready for all of us, and it 

 is always equal to any emergency that may 

 turn up. The two edged sword of prayer, 

 will always conquer, if we honestly pray that 

 the beams may be taken from our own eyes 

 that we may see clearly. If you should ever 

 undertake any kind of mission work, my 

 friend, be careful you do not get provoked oV 

 even annoyed, no matter what may come up; 

 very provoking cases will do you good, if 

 you only keep the beams out of your own 

 eyes. "Blessed are ye when men shall per- 

 secute you, and say all manner of evil things 

 against you, falsely, for my sake." This is 

 true, without any question, if we could only 

 rise above these trifles, and make a practical 

 application of it. I believe it, in my better 

 moments, and I resolve to have more faith 

 next time; but how far, how very far, I fall 

 short in practice. Oft-times I can only say, 

 "My Father, I am a poor blind stumbling 

 child, stubborn and headstrong withal. I 

 have tried to do better so often, and failed so 

 miserably, that all I can do, is to come to 

 Thee just as I am. Take me. this journal, 

 my business, and all, and use it for tlie ben- 

 efit of this busy throng of humanity, of which 

 I am but OMC." 



You may say that such prayers are only 

 plain common sense after all, for when the 

 boys saw there was no fight in me, they stop- 

 ped bothering me. I agree with j^ou, for 

 the religion that lielps me through this world 

 of trouble, is plain common sense and noth- 

 ing more. There is a kind of beam that gets 

 into our eyes in trying times, that seems es- 

 pecially hard to get out; and to illustrate the 

 l)oint I will narrate a little incident from 

 real life. 



A man who was much in the habit of going 

 to God in prayer with all his business troub- 

 les, discovered that some one in his employ 

 was, in spite of careful watching, robbing 

 his cash drawer. The matter went on for 

 weeks and months, until a year had ])assed, 

 and yet the mystery baffled all his skill and 



