94 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 



mail time was nearinf? ; and without waiting 

 for a very detinite answer I directed tliat all 

 should be printed December, reasoning that, 

 if you got postals in Januaiy, marked De- 

 cember, you would all know at once how it 

 should be, and it would do no harm. Well, 

 the book-keeper is one of those pref.ise little 

 bodies (as of course all book -keepers should 

 be), and she could not think of having 

 things go out in that shapp, even if 1 had so 

 decided it. Worried as I was, this some- 

 what offended my dignity, and it looked to 

 me then as if it was my privilege to have 

 things as I chose in my own business, even 

 if it was not just as other ])eople do things. 

 Did you ever hear of the farmer who had 

 been' greatly troubled to get a hired man 

 who would do exactly as he Avas bid ? Well, 

 I suspect he must liave been one of these 

 touchy i)eople who are always afraid their 

 rights are going to be encroached upon. At 

 any rate, he decOared he would never hire 

 another man until he had given a decisive 

 test. Well, an applicant soon came for a 

 place. 



" I am hard to suit," said our friend. •• Do 

 you think you can please meV " 



'' I should like to try, sir." 



" And will yon do exactly as I say. wheth- 

 er you know all my reasons or not? " 



'' Try me and see." 



"Very good. Here; take this saw. and 

 saw oft the wagon-tongue." The man did 

 as he was bid, and soon came back with the 

 saw in one hand and the wagon-tongue in 

 the other. 



"All right," said his employer; " I think 

 you will suit me. Now take the wagon to 

 the shop and get a new tongue in it, and we 

 will go to work." 



You see, I had got it into my head I was 

 like the man who had the wagon, and that it 

 was necessary for me to let the hands know, 

 by a bold stroke, that I was " boss," and that 

 I would be obeyed. Accordingly, in spite of 

 the protests of the book-keeper, I declared 

 they should all be printed December. 



" Why, Uncle Ame," says George, "there 

 are almost a thousand." 



Of course, it would not do for me now to 

 give way, after all I had said — or at least I 

 thought so, and so I told him, "It doesn't 

 make any difference ; 'print them all Decem- 

 ber.'' 



After this, with a happy consciousness of 

 having set ray foot down, and given all to 

 understand that when 1 spoke 1 was to be 

 obeyed, I went over to my type-writer and 

 sat down to read my mail. I read the neatly 

 written lines, but, for some reason or other, 

 I did not understand them. Just then it oc- 

 curred to me that my face was hot and 

 flushed, and also that if one of you, my friends, 

 should have called just then, it would have 

 been a hard matter for me to have extended 

 my hand with a pleasant smile of welcome. 

 Then remorse began to creep up, even though 

 the old pride did for a little time hold it at 

 bay. May God help me ! I have been angry! 

 Oh that terrible stinging conscience, from 

 which there is no escape ! Ts there no loop- 

 hole, and no way of escape, but to beg par- 

 don (igaia frorti those from whom I had 

 hoped never to be obliged to ask forgiveness 



any more in that way ? It seemed for a while 

 as if even God would not hear my ])rayers 

 again. Jlelentless time pushed on, and the 

 niail must be read. In fact, I had not even 

 time for an apology, it" I a\ anted to make 

 one. A little comfort soon came, in the line 

 of my father's text, " He knovveth our frame, 

 he remembereth that we are but dust." I 

 ki'.ew God would forgive me, but J felt I was 

 crippled in my power for intiuencing others, 

 at least for a time ; and oh how 1 did resolve 

 to be more careful ! I wanted to be alone, 

 and so I pushed back behind my type-writer 

 into a sort of closet, or clothes-press, with 

 my unhappy thoughts and — letters and pos- 

 tal cards. God did hear, though, and, in 

 spite of my poor weak sinfalness, gave me 

 even there a glimpse of: his wondrous kind- 

 ness and love that made me more ashamed 

 of myself than ever. To explain it, I shall 

 have to go back to the events of the morn- 

 ing. 



I had been apprised that on tliis day, at 

 about 10 o'clock in the morning, I should be 

 wanted to testify, as an expert in bee cul- 

 ture, in regard to the case with which you 

 are nearly all familiar, of the bees and 

 grapes of the two friends Krock and Klasen. 

 The two opi)osing lawyers called, with a no- 

 tary, to take down my evidence. The law- 

 yer for friend Krock (the grape-man) was a 

 stranger; and as I felt instinctively that he 

 was employed to make out a case against us 

 bee-folks, a prejudice was inclined to spring 

 up. I fought against it, however; and when 

 I was put under oath, I menially asked God 

 to help me to tell the truth, the whole truth, 

 and nothing but the tinih. I felt a little 

 pained at his wary distrust, as I felt it, when 

 I lirst saw him, and I longed to have liim 

 know I was a friend to grape-men as well as 

 our own folks, and wistied peace and good 

 will to triumph, no matter who was the loser 

 in the end. When I gave st)me facts that 

 helped his side, whicli I might not have been 

 expected to give, I was pleased to see him 

 apparently soften toward me. I felt he was 

 becoming" disarmed, and the man was com- 

 ing out; and before we got through I felt 

 quite an interest in his soul's salvrition. One 

 point struck me forcibly. I was telling him 

 we have those among our ranks who keep 

 large apiaries, and acres of grapes too; and 

 thai, therefore, bees and grapes can not be 

 so very antagonistic. 



" Oh, yes ! '' said he ; " where a man owns 

 both, I grant you he will get along, for no 

 man emarrels intJi himself."" 



"Well, then," said 1, "if that be true, 

 when we can get mankind so that everybody 

 loves his neighbor as himself, all difliculties 

 will be at an end, and we shall have the mil- 

 lennium, shall we not? " 



He assented ; and although no one said 

 there would then be no furtlier use for the 

 profession of lawyers, I presume all felt it. 

 We did not get througli by noon ; and as the 

 time came for our noon sprvice, I asked all 

 three to come out and sit down with us. All 

 declined, except the one of whom I have 

 been speaking. I had no time for prepara- 

 tion, and so I took up the thought that I 

 have just alluded to. If every man loved his 

 neighbor as himself, peace on earth would 



