ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



25 



PROCEEDINGS 



—OF THE— 



Twenty-Sixth Annual Session 



-OF THE— 



Illinois State Bee-Keepers' Association 



November 15th and 16th, 1916, 



^ IN SENATE CHAMBER. 



The 26th Annual Meeting of the Illi- 

 nois State Bee -Keepers' Association 

 was held 4n the Senate Chamber at 

 Springfield, Illinois, November 15th and 

 16th, 1916. 



The meeting was called to order by 

 the President, Mr. Emil J. Baxter, at 

 10 a. m., November 15th. 



President Baxter — The first number 

 will be the invocation by Reverend 

 Charles W. Ross, Pastor of the West 

 Side Christian Church. 



Prayer by Rev. Charles W. Ross. 



Our Heavenly Father, we come be- 

 fore Thee in this hour praying Thy 

 blessing upon us. We come thanking 

 Thee for every good thing that Thou 

 hast brought into our lives. We thank 

 Thee for the temporary blessings of 

 life, for the physical comforts, for 

 those things that Thou hast provided 

 for us that will help us to make the 

 most of our lives here upon earth. 

 Those things that will help us not only 

 in our own lives but will help us in 

 aiding and upbuilding the lives of 

 others. We thank Thee, our Father, 

 that, in the provision of these things 

 that have so large a part in our life, we 

 can in deed and in truth be laborers to- 

 gether with Thee, working hand in 

 hand with Him who is the author and 

 giver of life, who hast blest us time 

 without number in all the days of our 

 sojourn with Thee upon earth, but, our 

 Father, we thank Thee for the spiritual 

 lessons of life which we may learn 

 even in the writing of God that we are 

 able to read, who will, in the phe- 

 nomena of nature. 



We pray Thee, our Father, that Thou 

 wilt bless this Association under whose 

 auspices we are met here this day and 

 hour, and may we recognize the great- 

 ness of that character and that life, 

 that not a sparrow falls to the ground 

 but Thou art cognizant of it; that the 

 very hairs of our heads are numbered. 

 May we realize that if Thou dost so 

 clothe the lilies of the field, that are 

 here today and tomorrow are not, that 

 Thou wilt care for us. We thank Thee, 

 our Father, for the lessons which we 

 can learn, not only from this Associa- 

 tion but from the busy insect whose 

 husbandry is under consideration in 

 this assemblage, and may we, our 

 Father, try to be industrious; may we 

 be busy in season and out of season, 

 doing the work that Thou hast called 

 us to do. May we recognize, our 

 Father, we shall not be .iudged accord- 

 ing to our ability and not judged alone 

 as to the line of work in which we 

 are engaged if it be that which is right 

 and which may call forth Thy ap- 

 proval, but may we recognize, our 

 Father, that we will be judged as to 

 whether we shall do according to the 

 ability that Thou hast givefi unto us. 

 whether we shall fill our place and do 

 our work in love and do it well, not 

 that we shall do it better than some one 

 else can do but that we shall do the 

 work that Thou hast called us to do 

 the very best that we ourselves are 

 able. W^e pray in a special way that 

 Thou wilt bless all this assembly, the 

 officers and members, in their work, in 

 their lives, in their homes. Bless the 

 speakers, our Father, that they shall 



