1878. 



GLEANINGS LN BEE CULTURE. 



167 



"Forgive them, Father, they know not 

 what they do." What gentleness, what 

 kindness to the erring world, is expressed 

 in these few simple words. Keep constantly 

 this feeling in your heart, and you will be 

 very near keeping out tlie least feeling of 

 anger. Make up your mind, wlien you get 

 lip in the morning, that trials are going to 

 come ; that you will not only be disobeyed 

 where yon have a right to obedience, but 

 that you may be robbed of your money, 

 falsely accused, treated patronizingly, and 

 be tried in other unexpected ways. Make 

 up your mind, too, that you are, with God's 

 help, going to rule yourself, and, in so doing, 

 show Him that you are capable of being en- 

 trusted witli the ruling of all tliose about 

 you that need careful and loving guidance. 



In last year's Gleanings, I told you, my 

 friends, something of a young man that was 

 converted from oiu* Bible class in the jail. I 

 told you about his going with me to the mis- 

 sion schools. Well, one Sabbath afternoon, 

 as we were riding along on our way to one 

 of these schools, lie spoke to me of his hav- 

 ing no home, no money, and almost no 

 friends in the world. I quoted to him my 

 favorite text, ''He that is faithful In a few 

 things sliall be made ruler over many.-' I 

 pointed to a pretty residence by the roadside 

 and said ; 



'T., if you are faithful in the work God 

 lias given you, he will give you a home as 

 nice as that; an orchard, a house, broad 

 acres, every thing you need ; and all will 

 come pleasantly, and easily, if you will only 

 be faithful." 



Not one year has passed since then, and 

 yet God has given him all these. One of 

 the teachers in the mission schools has late- 

 ly become his wife, and for a few weeks he 

 iias been at work on his father-in-law's 

 farm. But a few days ago, he asked for his 

 old place at setting the type for Gleanings, 

 and. I am sure, we were all glad to welcome 

 liiin back among us. He now takes charge 

 of the farm, and sets type too. Do you see 

 how God gives us more to do, as fast as we 

 are "faithful?'' The F. of one year ago has 

 ceased to exist, for he has, most truly, been 

 ''born again." Do you not think it possible, 

 that that mother who prayed for her orphan 

 boy, as slie breathed her last breath years 

 ago, now looks down from heaven smiling- 

 ly on him , as she witnevsses his struggles, 

 while he "battles for the right"? Can you 

 Slot also think how fei'\Tntly I thank God 

 for having put it into my heart to go to those 

 boys in jail, and try to tell tliem, in my sim- 

 ple way, that "he that- ruleth his spirit is 

 greater than he that taketh a city?" 



Nearly two weeks have passed since the 

 above was written, and, as I look back, I can 

 see again that I have been veiy far from 

 practicing what I i)reacli. Only day before 

 yesterday, a friend came, who said he want- 

 ed to imrchase some bee lixtures, but that, 

 if he did, I must stop and Vv'ait on him my- 

 self. He said he wanted to have a talk with 

 me, and he did not want to be waited on by 

 the clerks. It was Saturday afternoon, 

 <iuite a number of new hands had just been 

 set to work, and the whole establishment 



needed all the supervision my poor brains 

 could give it. One hand was grooving for 

 the fdn., and his groove was not in the cen- 

 tre of the top bar. and not near deep enough. 

 Another had lost nis gauge, and was cutting 

 up stuft without it. The dovetailing saws, 

 for some unaccountable reason, were making 

 the dovetails in the sections so loose that the 

 pieces would almost fall apart, and no one 

 could account for the sudden freak. The 

 printers were calling for copy, clerk* wait- 

 ing for me to examine the day's mail which 

 lay in the proper heaps all around my type 

 writer, and, more than all else, the bell was 

 ringing for our Saturday afternoon prayer 

 meeting. I was standing still, for I was de- 

 vising how I could best bring order out of 

 all this chaos. Our friend very naturally 

 supposed, if I had nothing to do, I could just 

 as well attend to him as not, and so com- 

 menced to ask the price of fdn.; a civil 

 question, was it not? but, unfortunately, 

 when I am worried, if there is anything I 

 cannot tell, it is the price of fdn. I told him, 

 as well as I could, how much I had to attend 

 to, and that the boys would tell him all 

 about it. I knew I was just where I espe- 

 cially needed the quiet and strengthening in- 

 fluence of the prayer meeting. I believe 

 my friend does not approve of these home 

 papers, and, if I went to mcetinij instead of 

 waiting on him, what would he think? I 

 could not explain to him that I felt it would 

 perhaps be better to lose a great many dol- 

 ars than to miss the meeting, so. in a sort of 

 cowardly way, I fear, I tixecl things as well 

 as I could, and then reached the meeting 

 just 10 minutes before it closed. I took no 

 part, and, I fear, studied on saws more than 

 I did on the danger I was in from so much 

 care and worry, and, more than all, from 

 having so much money as has been entrusted 

 to me by you all, of late. It is true 1 do not 

 get proud of my clothes, nor good looks, but 

 I fear I do get proud of my money and busi- 

 ness, and it was in this frame of liiiiid that I 

 went back to business. Copy was outagain, 

 and I had just commenced work on the type 

 writer, when this friend came up. 



"Mr. Root, I want to buy some goods, and 

 I have got the money right in my ])ocket to 

 pay for them, if you will wait on me ; if you 

 cannot, I guess I shall have to go without 

 them." 



Like Christian in the Pilgrims Progress, I 

 had lost my sword, and my armor had been 

 forgotten. After all I had said in these papers 

 about kindness and gentleness, and of being 

 ready and on hand for temptations, I listen- 

 ed to another voice that kept telling 

 me it was my duty to let him know that 

 money was no i>articular object with me, and 

 that a man with nearly 40 hands in his em- 

 ploy could not be expected to stoj) his work 

 for evei'ybody. I did not know that I was 

 doing something I should be so sorry for. 

 and 1 did not reiilize how wrong I was when 

 I replied, 



"Mr. , if you can not trade with 



those who are ready to wait uijon you, you 

 will have to keep your money, for I have 

 not a minute to spare," and I went on ^\Ti- 

 ting vehemently, to show how busy 1 was. 



I very soon felt this was too rough, and so 



