1878. 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



237 



But the seventh day iVs the sabbath of the Lord thy 

 <Jod; i)i it thou Shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy 

 son, nor thy daug-hter, thy man-servant, nor thy 

 maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that 

 is within thy gates.— Exodus, 30; 10. 



fX (lescribins nty visit to the brewery, I 

 ^^ neglected to mention that they plead, as 



-' an' excuse for selling beer on Sunday, 

 that their friends and neigh))ors would come 

 over and ask to be accommodated, and it 

 Avas not an easy matter to refuse a friend 

 and neighbor so trifling a rcjuest. You 

 may be inclined to call this only a pretext 

 or an excuse, but it really has a strong ele- 

 ment of truth in it, and I should know some- 

 tiiing about it by experience : for it is but a 

 very few years ago, that I would have felt 

 it almost an insult, had a saloon keeper re- 

 fused to sell nie a pitcher of beer on Sun- 

 day, if I chose to have it. It seemed to me 

 then, but a little thing, a mere tritie, and I 

 do not believe the idea ever so much as en- 

 tered my head, that, by so doing, I was en- 

 couraging a disposition" to ignore the Sab- 

 bath day. 



''If the people will not come here and ask 

 for beer on Sunday," said the l^rewers, "'we 

 will be glad to stop the business of selling 

 it ; for we woidd like to rest, and go to meet- 

 ing, too, if we could have our own waj^ in 

 the matter.'" 



Are the brewers entirely to blame V I 

 studied over the matter, and prayed over it, 

 and it began to be made clear to me, that I 

 must make friendly visits to the people in 

 their own homes, and talk the matter over 

 pleasantly, if I would build up the Sabbath 

 school, and have the i)eoi)le res])ect the Sab- 

 bath. I must go not only to those places 

 where I feel acciuainted. but every wliere, 

 and to every house ; and if tJiere is one in 

 the neighborhood, wlio feels a dislike to the 

 Sabbath school, it is to him I need to go. 

 All right, if tliis is my work, may God help 

 me to do it well. 



I have been in the habit, as I have told 

 you, of getting up between 4 and 5 o'clock, 

 <m week days, during this busy season of 

 the yenr, and the idea occurred to me, that 

 I should, to be consistent, give the Lord 

 <'ertainly as good a day"s work as I woidd 

 do for myself; accordingly, I arose on the 

 next Sunday morning, al about my usual 

 week day time, and made some of tlie folks 

 «cold a little, by asking for breakfast long 

 before the usual hour on Sunday mornings, 

 After breakfast, a thunder shower came up. , 

 and-:- — should I wait for another SimdayV j 

 N'o sir-ee! The Great Commander, who 

 calls us to duty, only asks of us to do our 

 part, and He will take care of the result. Is ! 

 not this a pleasant thouglitV How it light- 

 ens our responsibility, otherwise too heavy 

 for us to bear. When I thought of staying , 

 at home, I felt miserable; but as soon as I I 

 made up my mind to go anyhow, and trust 

 the result to Him wlio holds the thunders | 

 which were then rolling over my head, I felt i 

 as happy as I used to years ago," in my child- 

 hood days, when starting out into the woods 

 with my father on a bright June morning. 



As I crossed the rail road, and reached the 

 top of the hill, the great drops warned me 

 tliat I must seek a shelter, and guided me 

 to a little house, where I found a room full 

 of barefooted children, just taking tlieir 

 breakfast. I do not know exactly how it 

 came about, but very soon, the mother in- 

 formed me that not one of her whole flock 

 had ever attended a Sabbath school in tlieir 

 lives, and still farther, that none of them 

 had e^ er attended a day school. The reas- 

 on given was that they liad not clotlies to 

 wear, and that tliey had nothing to do to en- 

 able them to earn any. How quickly did 

 my mind revert to the brick factory, that is. 

 by (iod's ]iel\), soon to be started right with- 

 in siglit of their home, and bright visions of 

 the wliole family attending the morning 

 Sabbath school or Bible class, in a little 

 building that begins to be dimly shadowed 

 forth in close proximity to th.e factory, arose 

 in my mind. I said nothing of this however, 

 but talked to them, and learned that they 

 had picked up some little hymns, such as 

 ''Hold the Fort,'^ "The Hom'e Over There." 

 itc. and I had very soon passed tlie little 

 books to the elder ones, and we had a real 

 good time, singing and talking, until the 

 rain began to cease. I then asked if we 

 should not thank God for tlie beautiful rain, 

 and for the pleasant homes he has given us, 

 by all kneeling in prayer. 



"But your religion is not like ours," said 

 the mother, "we are Catholics.*' 



"Are you? I am very glad to hear it, and 

 I hoi^e you go to church every Sunday, and 

 are faithful to your religion. Do you not 

 have a Catholic Sunday school?" 



'vl guess not; we donot go very regular." 



"Has your priest never been to see you 

 and the childrenV" 



"He never has." 



"Well, the next Sunday when he preaches. 

 I will see him, and, with his consent and 

 sanction, we will have the children go to 

 Sunday school somewhere." 



The father here expressed his hearty ap- 

 probation of such a course, and remarked, 

 tliat if I felt friendly towards the Catholics 

 and everybody else, no matter wliat their 

 views of religion, he knew there could be no 

 harm in joining with me ; and as he called 

 to the children, all of them, to kneel. i)er- 

 haps for the first time in their lives, I felt 

 that we all had made a good start toward 

 keeping at least one Sabbatli holy. The 

 whole day was spent in just such Aisiting ; 

 and, after finding kind words and pleasant 

 greetings from all, even from those who 

 were sceptics, who worked on Sunday, and 

 who kept saloons, I began to realize that it 

 did not require any special miracle, after 

 all, to arouse a whole community to the im- 

 portance of remembering the Sal)bath day. 

 to kee]) it holy. We had a full Sunday 

 school in the afternoon, and an excellent 

 ])rayer meeting in the brick school house in 

 the evening. For the opening chapter, I 

 read a part of the 28 chapter of I)eut. 



After walking nearly 20 miles that day, I 

 got home !d)out 11 o'clock at niglit, with a 

 new faith, which I had never felt before. 

 How altont the Smiday school? Do you 

 suppose it "dwindled" "after this? To be 



