624 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 



sad one, my friends, and I know, by my 

 own experience, that it brings darkness, dis- 

 trust, and trouble, if very long indulged in. 

 Don't even tell your wife of people's faults ; 

 you will make her think ill of those she 

 might otherwise think well of ; and you will, 

 besides, encourage in your own heart a way 

 of thinking all the world is bad, while you 

 alone are good; and this is a most mischiev- 

 ous tiick Satan has, when he can get any- 

 body foolish enough to listen to sucli tempt- 

 ations. 

 Jesus was always the same. 



J< sus Christ the same yesterday, and to-day, and 

 for ever.— Hkb. 113: 8. 



We have no record that he at any time 

 talked to any of his disciples about some of 

 the others who might be absent, in a way he 

 would not talk right to the absent one. If 

 he had any complaints to make, these com- 

 plaints were always made in a spirit of lov- 

 ing kindness, directly to the erring one. lie 

 never talked to any one about the shameful 

 way in which some other person whs going 

 on. He wasn't kind and sympathe;ic one 

 day, and then proud and overbearing at some 

 other time. The tirst two verses of one of 

 my favorite hymns are as follows:— 



Ever patient, gentle, meek. 



Holy Savior, was thy mind; 

 Vainly in myself I seek 



Likeness to uiy Lord to find; 

 Yet, that mind which was in thee. 



May be, must be formed in thee. 



Days of toil 'mid throngs of men, 

 Vexed not, ruffled not thy soul; 



Still collected, calm, serene. 

 Til on each feelinsr couldst control: 



Lord, that mind which was in thee, 

 May be, must be formed in me. 



The hardest battles I have to fight now 

 are just in this line. It is only by hard striv- 

 ing that I can avoid saying any thing of the 

 absent, which I would not say if they were 

 present. Again and again 1 have resolved I 

 would not tell even my wife of how I have 

 been tried by people during the day. I 

 know it is wrong to talk of people's faults, 

 because it always impairs my nearness to 

 God when I allow myself to do so. It also 

 tends to make her think the world is all bad, 

 and that I alone am good, which is by no 

 means the truth. Whenever I keep down 

 this spirit, and tell her of the good I have 

 found in people during the day, I always 

 feel a great deal happier. 



Two things tempt me to find fa.dt with 

 folks, and enlaij^e their faults. First, I do 

 not love the world as Jesus loved all man- 

 kind; and I do love myself as Jesus did not 

 love himself. 8elf-love, instead of love to 

 my neighbors, is the trouble. Whenever 

 folks begin to talk about some of my efipecial 

 friends, I can take the part of the absent one 

 with a good grace. I tell you ; now, why do 

 I not have love enough, and charity enough, 

 for the whole humnn family, to do the same 

 when ami one of them is assailed V Do you 

 not think, friends^hat such a life would be 

 helping toward '*T.liy kingdom come, thy 

 will be done in earth as it is in heaven"? 

 It was the same kingilom that Jesus meant, 

 remember, when he saiil,— 



To thiscHUSf was I born, and for this cause eame T 

 Into the world, that I should bear witness unto the 

 truth. Every one that is of the truth heareih my 

 voice. 



It was exactly this kind of fair, honest 

 truth, that he came to bear witness of. 



In closing this talk to you, I wish to give 

 here a few words from our pastor, read to us 

 at our last teacher's meeting. It sums up, 

 in a few words, the results accomplished, by 

 the crowning act of our Savior's life here on 

 earth:— 



What did the atonement of Christ accomplish? 

 This question is often asked. Any answer other 

 than that which comes from Scripture Is of little 

 value. There are in reason, hints of the need of an 

 atonement; but the fact is set forth in the Bible 

 only. AVe must, therefore, gather the value of this 

 great fact from the Bible: What does Christ's dy- 

 ing for sinners accomplish;' 



1. It gained tlieir attention.— John 12:32. 



2. It took away the tear of death from those repenting.— He- 

 brews 2:1,'). 



;i. Brought eternal life more clearlv before men— II. Tim. 1 :10. 



4. Freed from sin.— I. John 1:7. 



.I. Saved from hell —Rev. 1:18. 



0. Made plain the wav to heaven.— John 11:2.'), 20. 



BITTER HONEY, AND WHERE IT 

 COJTIES FR01?I. 



ALSO SOMETHING ABOUT HONEY-DEW. 



M BOUT 30 years ago this country was overrun 

 ^3v with a weed commonly called "bitter-weed," 

 ' and sometimes " wild chamomile." It resem- 

 bles the chamomile, but the flower is of a deep yel- 

 low color, and the stalk is quite hard, and it grows 

 about 18 inches high. In the spring of the year it 

 comes up with the grass, and the cows eat it (I think 

 unintentionally), amd yield bitter milk. It blooms 

 from May till fro-^t. But so l<ing as there are better 

 flowers, or honey-dew. the bees do not gather honey 

 from it. In dry weather it yields but very little 

 honey; but every fall our honey is made bitter by It. 



This year there was a honey famine from June Ist 

 to the middle of July, from which I lost several May 

 swarms. About the middle of July, at>UDdant rains 

 began to fall, and the bitter-weed began to flower 

 profiiselj'. Everywhere yellow blooms greeted the 

 eye, and from 10 o'clock a.m. till near dark every 

 evening, the bees swarmed upon the bitter-weed. 

 The farly morning hours they spent on the diminu- 

 tive morning-glory and the poor land-weed, from 

 which they gathered a little good honey. At first 

 the honey was very abundant, but so thin that it 

 would pour out of the combs when tilted, like water. 

 The bees, for the purpose of evaporating it (as I be- 

 lieve), kept up a continited roar in the hives night 

 and day. In the latter part of August the bees 

 capped their honey, after which the roaring, for the 

 m.'St part, censed. 



About this time I extracted five gallons of the 

 honey. It is as yellow as gold, and exceedingly bit- 

 ter. It can not he eaten. Is there any way of puri- 

 fying it? The color and taste are evidently from 

 the pollen of the bitter-weed. Is it possible to filter 

 it So as to purify it? In my past experience I have 

 had bitter honey from the chinkapin bloom, but 

 nothing to equal the bitterness of the bitter-weed. 



Last winter my bees wintered on a small stock of 

 this bitter honey, but now they have an abundant 

 supply, and oui/ht to com^ out strong next spring. I 

 had three large swarms about the 1st of September, 

 two of which I hived. I think they will store up 

 honey enough to winter on. Had my beea been 



