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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



93 



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Great peace have they which love thy law.— Psalm 

 119:1«5. 



iSffT was Sabbath ruorning,and as the weather 

 was getting: cold I had put on my over- 

 coat preparatory to goicg out on my 

 Sabbath's work. I pxished my hand absent- 

 ly down into one of the pockets, and brought 

 up some little cards. On one of them was 

 the text above. The cards Avere probably 

 some I had used the winter before over in 

 our little mission S.ibbath-school that I tnld 

 you of last winter. Why, what a beautiful 

 text tliat is! snid I. and I began wondering 

 that I had never before noticed the singular 

 power that lay in its mild statement and 

 promise. Surely no one but David ever put 

 so much simple grandeur into so few words. 

 As I thought of it, it began to come out 

 sharp and clear, like a new engraving in our 

 printing-press, when we tirst begin to work 

 with it. These bright texts are a wonderful 

 comfort and joy to me, and this one, this 

 Sabbath morning, seemed a new bright to- 

 ken from the kind Father above, of his great 

 love to me. Not simply peace alone, but 

 '■'• r/rcat peace'' was the promise. And to 

 whomV under what conditions? Just sim- 

 ply " to those — who love — thy law." Was 

 ever any thing more beautiful '? And it was 

 not a promise: it was a reality, for it says, 

 "/mrethey." I almost trembled at the joy 

 that came pouring in, when I reflected that 

 I did indeed ?oi-c that law. Once I fretted 

 and chafed under it, and felt it a fetter ; but 

 now, thank God, it was a pleasure and a 

 privilege to obey those laws, for I loved Ilim 

 who, in such great wisdom, framed them. 

 Perhaps not quite all the time did my voice 

 and actions show that I loved them, and this 

 was likely the key to the fact that I did not 

 have, all the time, that great peace, 

 either. 



Before night I met a friend who was in 

 trouble. I listened to the circumstances, 

 and ventured a word of hopefulness and 

 consolation ; but it seemed a difficult matter 

 to quiet the troubled spirit. While I was 

 trying to think of something from Scripture 

 that would cover the case and show this 

 friend where she stood, I again absently 

 pushed my hand far down into my coat- 

 pocket. It touched these cards again, and I 

 gladly drew them forth and held up this 

 briglit little gem. It covered tlie ground, 

 and as its great truth in all its powerseemed 

 to answer and embrace all I had been vainly 

 trying to say, 1 felt like thanking God again 

 for my bright new treasure, this text. Ilave 

 I ever told you how these texts and hymns 

 come to me, and grow and enlarge as I con- 

 tsmplate them, until they seem like little 

 nuggets of gold ? Why, I often see and feel, 

 when I tirst get a sight of them, that they 

 are to prove new and bright friends, like 

 ministering angels, when I get toknowthem 

 more. Well, my friend did venture to sug- 

 gest something, to the effect that she inigJit 

 have " great peace," if folks would only let 

 her alone. 



"■ But," said I, " it don't matter what folks 



do ; they are not even mentioned in the con- 

 ditions at all. AVhy, all the people on earth, 

 and Satan with them, can not rob you of, nor 

 prevent your having, that great peace, if you 

 simply love that law." I knew my words 

 were true ; but when I reflected, that I often 

 forgot them myself, I felt like asking God to 

 help me not only to remember them, but to 

 be sure I put them in practice. 



I have told you that Ernest is going to 

 school in Oberlin. Well, his cousin George, 

 the one who is such an enthusiast on the 

 microscope and electricity, is also at school 

 with liim. Witliin the last few weeks George 

 has been converted, and, to theastonisliment 

 of almost everybody, has thrown oil: his usu- 

 al diffidence, so much so as to stand up bold- 

 ly for the cause of Christ before men. The 

 two boys came home from college for a vaca- 

 tion during the holidays, and almost my first 

 thought was, when I welcomed George, a 

 fear that I might, in some way, before the 

 vacation was ended, check or chill this new- 

 born spirit of love and good will for every- 

 body. I knew he had had a pretty good 

 opinion of me, and I shuddered to have him 

 find out, tliat, after all, I was but — clay. 

 George is a printer, and, true to his usual 

 habits of industry, he very soon went right 

 into the printing-office, and resumed his 

 place among his old shopmates, even during 

 ins vacation. Well, one day toward the 

 close of the year, when a multitude of cares 

 seemed to center all together on my poor 

 bald head, I fear I must have got into one of 

 my old uncharitable moods. Come to think 

 of it, I am not sure they are so very old aft- 

 er all; but I wish they were. You know we 

 always print the month on our postal cards, 

 so the clerks have only to put in the figures 

 indicating the day of the month. It was 

 about the 28th of December, and of course 

 we did not want a great many to last until 

 the new year; but the clerks were out, and 

 some more must be printed ; but George 

 was using the job press to print some honey- 

 labels in red ink, and he thought he could 

 not stop to wash up the press and rollers, 

 when I, perhaps pretty peremptorily, told 

 him not to wash the press at all, but to print; 

 the cards with red ink. Then came a dis- 

 cussion as to how many should be printed to 

 last until the new year. It was getting pret- 

 ty close on to the hour when I am obliged to 

 have the mail read, ready for the office ; and 

 the reviewing of the work of so many clerks, 

 correcting mistakes and misapprehensions, 

 is quite apt to get me into a fretful mood be- 

 fore it is all off. At such times I very often 

 decide pretty hastily in giving orders; and 

 often, too, it is better to decide some way, 

 and get the wheels of business moving along, 

 than to spend too much time in dallying 

 over matters that are really of no great im- 

 portance. I reiisoned thus: that it would 

 be better to print a few postals into Janua- 

 ry, rather than waste time in trying to de- 

 cide just how many would be likely to be 

 used in three or four days. With my fingers 

 stuck between the postal cards and letters, 

 to keep those read from those that were not, 

 I asked George about how many blank 

 cards he had all together. Others were 

 waiting for answers to their questions, and 



