1878. 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



375 



§ur %om§- 



Think not that I am come to send peace on earth; 

 I come not to send peace, but a sword.— Mathew, 

 10; 34. 



f' SUPPOSE oiu- I^oi'd gave utterance to 

 tlie above words, like inaiiy otiiers of his 

 — ' sayings, in accordance with tlie people 

 and circumstances with which he was sur- 

 rounded. The spirit of Christianity is gen- 

 erally supi)osed to bring peace aiul goodwill 

 wherever it goes, and so it does eventually; 

 but it maij require a sword to bring about 

 this same peace and good will. 



On page 203, 1 mentioned that I was cho- 

 sen on a committee, to suppress drunkenness 

 in our streets, l_»y law. It seemed an easy 

 matter to ])romise to do this work, but when 

 I took a second thought about it, and re- 

 flected that the ones I should cause to be ar- 

 rested would, without doubt, meet me in 

 jail, in the Bible class, I confess that I himg 

 back, because I could not see my way clear 

 to do mission W(n'k, aiul undertake prosecu- 

 tion at the S'lme time. 1 prayed over it, 

 earnestly, and pretty soon the way seemed 

 opened. A prcuninent, and otherwise good 

 citizen had for years been in the habit of ap- 

 l)earing intoxicated on our streets, and many 

 times had the boys in jail held him u]), as 

 one that nobody dared arrest, while they 

 were taken uj) for the flrst olfense. This 

 man l)ought his whisky by the l)arrel, and 

 boasted that it was nobody's business, so 

 long as he in no way interfered with any- 

 body else. I called at his house one Sabbath 

 morning after the Bible class, and had a 

 long and friendly talk with him, concluding 

 l>y telling him that I should l)e obliged to 

 have him arrested if he was any more seen 

 in this condition on the streets. Although 

 we had some pretty plain aiul strong talk, I 

 left with permission to arrest him, for the 

 next offense, and a promise, too, that he 

 would harbor no malice if I did. I assure 

 you, my friends, it took some earnest ju'ayer 

 to accomplish this, both for him, befcu'e I 

 went, as well as imtli him. Months passed. 

 and he did a great deal better; but slowly 

 he got back into his old courses. I saw hini 

 several times intoxicated, but so dreaded to 

 mar the harmony of our town that, notwith- 

 standing my plain and decided warning, I 

 let it i)ass. 



About this time, an old gentlenum, a par- 

 tial stranger in our town, came into our 

 prayer meeting, one Saturday afternoon. 

 Something came up in regard to intenii)er- 

 ance, and the damaging effects of the half 

 dozen saloons in our i)lace. The old gentle- 

 man rose up, and after some pretty strong 

 exhortations, said that a half dozen earnest, 

 God fearing, and praying men coidd close 

 all the saloons in the jjlace in less than 8 

 weeks. This statement was veliemently de- 

 nied, and by the oldest and api)arently 

 strongest pillars of our church. Although 

 our minister was apparently with him in his 

 position, the old gentleman cjuietly gave 

 way, when he saw how much opi)Osition 

 there was from others. The next day, he 

 offered to go with me to the mission Sab- 



bath school. When well on the Way, the fol- 

 lowing came out, as near as I can tell it. 



''Mr. Ji., why were you so positive yester- 

 day in regard to the possibility of closing \\\^ 

 Our saloons ?'' 



"Because I have seen just the same thing 

 done." 



"Why did you not tell us al)out it, then V" 



"Weil, I should have done so, but they 

 were so veliement, they would not let me tell 

 it." 



"You will tell me ?" 



"Yes, certainly. It was in the town of I)., 

 in Conn., many years ago. We had been 

 bothered by saloons, which were doing a 

 thriving and increasing business, in spite of 

 us, until we finally took it up in our prayei' 

 meeting, and told God we were ready to do 

 anything, if he would only guide us, ami 

 shoAv us our duty. Several volunteered, and 

 a sum of money was pledged to make good 

 any damage to ]_)roperty tliat residted from 

 undertaking a vigorous ])rosecution l)y law, 

 I was chosen to do the work, and lit it I 

 went. I got a book, ami jiut in it the name 

 and date of every one who became intoxica- 

 ted. I also collected all the evidence I c(udd 

 against the saloon keepers, until I had quite 

 a book full. I then connnenced work in a 

 (piiet way. If they beat me on one case, I 

 took up another, until they l)egan to think 

 there was no end to them. One after anoth- 

 er declared that nothing earthly coidd stand 

 such a volley of charges, and when it came 

 to a distinguished lawyer who had staggered 

 about the streets with impunity, he, too, de- 

 clared with an oath, that he su])posed he 

 might as well give in first as last, for old 



B had got him tightei' than . In 



a few weeks, the saloons all broke up, and 

 temperance and order prevailed." 



"But siu-ely. Mr. B., you were persecuted 

 in some way y" 



"Ye-e-e-es, they did not give up without 

 a struggle. They sent off for the best law- 

 yers they could get, and when that failed, 

 they cut iny harness in pieces, spoiled a bug- 

 gy, and got hold of me and pounded me 

 some. Tliey once, in fact, ducked me in a 

 pond, but I crawled out again." 



"Did the committee pay you damages for 

 your property V" 



"Yes, they paid me for my buggy and har- 

 ness." 



"IIow almut the pounding and ducking?" 



"Oh, I didn't charge them nothin', for 

 that." 



I turned around in astonishment. There 

 was no trace in the old gentleman who sat 

 by my side, of any disposition to boast of 

 his courage ; in fact, I had to draw out of 

 him. word by word, the account of his own 

 sturdy deterlniuation, and mulaunted cour- 

 age. Would I dare to go on, if my property 

 were damaged i* Would I bear pounding 

 and ducking for the sake of the community 

 in which I lived ? for ChrisVs sake ? I con- 

 fess, I felt rather ashamed when I thought 

 of it. 



A few days after, the offender I have spo- 

 ken of was ])assing along the streets held up 

 by one of his comrades, and when he started 

 to go alone, he came so near running over a 

 little girl, that I put away my scruples, and 



