l8?8. 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CtlLTtlllE. 



377 



glad, tliat you came." 



•'Thank God, my friend, and not me. 

 Shall we not go in and talk with your wife?" 



''I think you had better not'. Since my 

 wasting my' money and i)rodnce as I did 

 last week, slu^ does not feel very pleasant, 

 and has but little conlidenee in nie.''' 



*'Byall means tell your wife, my friend, 

 and get her to help you. Come! Shall we 

 not go in V" 



Tlie man was crying, and I was not afraid 

 anymore; God was with me, and I had no 

 fear of going forward where he seemed to 

 lead. The poor wife was truly in no frame 

 of mind to meet strangers. She had no de- 

 sire to have her husband's shame spread 

 abroad any farther. 1 learned that slie had 

 long ago been a member of the church near 

 tliere, and I asked for a 15ible. It was not 

 furnished at lirst, but I felt that I must have 

 it, and by and by, tlu^ little girl brought it. 

 I read a part of Luke. 6th cliapter, and then 

 sang out of Gospel Hymns, "Only Trust 

 Him." After a short' prayer we got ac- 

 quainted, and I told them of Christ's work 

 in my own home. I worked witli all the en- 

 ergy God has given me, and in less than two 

 hours time after my visit there, they almost 

 insisted that I should stay over night. My 

 Savior kept me warm that cool night, and I 

 was too happy to feel the frosty air or catch 

 cold. 



It is not no unusual tiling for such men to 

 make promises which they never kee]); but 

 this man came promptly "on the day he had 

 named, and asked me what he should do to 

 show his sincerity of puri)ose, and to help 

 reform the young men of our town. Feel- 

 ing the need of counsel, I took him to the 

 minister who had been the means of my 

 conversion, and we had a good talk. It 

 seems the saloon keepers had not only got 

 his fruit of him when he was so drunk that 

 he did not know tliat they never paid him, 

 but they even borrowed his money ; he nev- 

 er knew where it went to, until a bystander 

 Informed him of it after he became sober. 

 After he had knelt in prayer, he expressed 

 a determination to prosecute by law, every 

 saloon keeper who had sold him drink while 

 thus intoxicated. I confess that I had a lit- 

 tle misgiving about advising a newly con- 

 verted man to take almost his first step, by 

 going to law. The minister, however, 

 thought it was the very best symptom of a- 

 sound and thorough conversion from his 

 former ways. We went with him to the 

 court house, where the grand jury hnppened 

 to be in full session, and he told his story 

 before them. It implicated every saloon 

 keeper in our town, and, although they sent 

 abroad for the very best counsel that could 

 be secured, tor once in the world, everything 

 seemed to be against them. None of the 

 usual twists and subterfuges seemed to 

 avail a ]»article, and in a panic of alarm, the 

 two leading saloon keepers, who had baf- 

 fied every effort for years, sold out in liaste, 

 and left the town. Simon's mother, who, it 

 was suspected, liad sold him drugged licpior, 

 locked up lier slio]) and disappeared, no one 

 knew wliere. Tlie saloon keeper across 

 from the factory, was heavily fined, and 

 was, I was told, most empliatic in his de- 



nunciations of myself and the minister, 

 for having caused innocent people so much 

 trouble and exi)ense. 



At just about this time, I was one day su- 

 perintending tlie putting up of a wire for a 

 telephone, from my old store to tlie factory. 

 It was to be attached to tlie buildings, and 

 tlie saloon keeper's barn was just in the line. 

 I looked at other buildings, with a view of 

 going around him, feeling sure he would 

 not give me the "right of way." "Why 

 sliould you hesitate to ask him," said a bet- 

 ter voice. "Have you wronged liim in any 

 way that should make you feel guiltyV" I 

 knew I had not, and so I walked boldly in 

 and made my wishes known to his wife, 

 who said he was at the court house trying 

 to save his property from the "temperance 

 ring." I sat as still as I could, and listened 

 quietly, wliile she gave me a "piece of her 

 mind." When through, I quietly assured 

 her, that I belonged to no ring unless it was 

 one in wiiich God Almighty had a leading 

 hand, and that, instead of its "being my work, 

 it was the work of the hand of God, in just 

 the way I had told them, in my former vis- 

 its, that it Avould come, if they persisted in 

 selling beer. When the husband came 

 home, I had a talk with him, and the Avire 

 now rests securely on the top of their barn 

 and I am trying to get a dozen boarders for 

 them among my factory hands, that they 

 may be able to ])av their rent, without sel- 

 ling beer at all. ' Although the lawsuits 

 cost them §86.00, they give me a pleasant 

 recognition, every time I pass their house. 



Simon stop])ed"me in the streets, at about 

 this time, and informed me that my Abbey- 

 ville Sabbath School would be closed up, if 

 I did not stop advising people to take the 

 law on saloon keepers. My going and talk- 

 ing to tliem was all right, and it did them 

 good ; I had done him a great deal of good, 

 by my pleasant talks and exhortations, but 

 if I wanted to bring peace and good will 

 among men, I had no business with the law 

 in my hands. He M'as trustee of the 

 school house and, unless I withdrew at once, 

 from my offensive and quarrelsome position, 

 it would be locked up forthwith. As the 

 above illustrates exactly the position of 

 some of the friends who have criticised my 

 work m Humbugs and Swindles, as I see it, 

 I would call particular attention to the mat- 

 ter. Many times in life, the very shortest 

 road to p'eace and good will, is not only 

 through law, but as in my oi)ening text, by 

 the use of the sword itself. Through the in- 

 fluence of my mission work, Simon's mother 

 had been obliged to flee the community as 

 an outlaw. Was the Avork mine ? By no 

 means. When you put a quantity of fuel 

 under the boiler of a steam engine, and stir 

 up a rousing fire, no immediate effect is seen 

 in the machinery, and an inexperienced per- 

 son might not see the connection between 

 the firing up and the vast amount of work 

 that would soon be performed, tlirough the 

 agency of that little heap of fuel. Of late, 

 this has seemed to be the result of fervent 

 and heartfelt prayer. After ])leading and 

 wrestling with God, as I did that night 

 alone in my buggy, I have come to feel, that 

 very soon, "somewhere, a powerful answer is 



