5:5(5 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Aug. 15 



fretting it out of the way in a hurry I left a 

 sharp stump sticking up. Right here is a 

 moral. When you cut down a tree, espe- 

 cially around your home, cut it ofT level 

 with the ground, so that nobody may be 

 hurt by falling on it in the dark or at any 

 other time. Well, I blundered over that 

 stump, and skinned my shins so that they 

 needed quite an application of courtplaster 

 and cuticura, and then Iceland laughed 

 again as usual. Of course, no one knew I 

 was hurt when he laughed; but the idea of 

 his grandpa blundering over that stump 

 after having tired himsidf out by climbing 

 over logs and lumbering through brushes 

 within a rod or two of his home, was suffi- 

 cient to proNoke liis keen susceptibility to 

 anv thing ridiculous. 



In our previous Home i>aper Satan sug- 

 gested that my grandson need never know 

 any thing about the thing in question and 

 that it was really none of his business. 

 Since the time of Adam, I suppose fathers 

 have excused themselves for doing certain 

 things they would not have their children 

 do by the specious philosophy that the chil- 

 dren would never know any thing about it, 

 or need not know any thing about it. 

 Sometimes we (or at least some of us) say 

 that certain things which have transpired 

 are known only to ourselves and to God. Is 

 this true? Does any thing ever happen in 

 the lives of any of us, especially those of us 

 who have children and grandchildren, that 

 can be concealed from anybody but God 

 and the one who commits the sin or jjer- 

 mits a sinful thought to enter his mind? 



During the past year or more I have told 

 you about my new discovery in poultry, 

 etc. Well, I have just made a new discov- 

 ery in regard to sin and Satan. I suppose 

 we are not altogether responsible for our 

 dreams, but I have discovered that we are, 

 at least to some extent, even for the things 

 we dream about. Dreams are a reflection 

 of our waking hours ; and we are certainly 

 responsible, or at least largely so, for the 

 things we think about. Now for my illus- 

 tration or discovery. When I spoke to Mrs. 

 Root about laughing at accidents I did not 

 mean to censure her. It is a splendid thing 

 to be able to look pleasant, and even smile 

 when trouble comes. I am sure it is God's 

 will and wish that we shall trust him 

 enough to smile when unexpected obstacles 

 block our way or e\ en give us pain. We 

 are told of some great and good men who 

 could even indulge in harmless pleasantry 

 when they were approaching death. This 

 ability to take things in a cheerful way, 

 and laugh at calamities, is a wonderful vir- 

 tue if taken in the right spirit.* Well, 1 



* Mrs. Root's happy faculty of catching on to the 

 ludicrous, even when on a bed of sickness, may 

 have had at one time in her life a very beneficial 

 effect on her health. She was very low with pleuro- 

 pneumonia, and our excellent trained nurse 

 thought it best to rouse her up a little at one par- 

 ticular crisis. When we were all tiptoeing about 

 the house to avoid disturbing her, all at once I 

 heard her well-known ringing laugh, although 

 faint, of course, on account of her sickness. Fear- 

 ing it was caused by delirium I cautiously went in. 



do not know that any one of our five chil- 

 droi shows this peculiarity that I have 

 mentioned; but in the next (feneration it 

 comes out, as we often see it illustrated with 

 poultry and other domestic animals, when 

 this peculiar trait comes to the surface 

 again. 



Sometimes in traveling in a place where 

 I am sure I have never been before, things 

 have a familiar look, and at times I can 

 hardly make it seem possible that I have 

 not at some time in my life been in that 

 very place. Others have s])oken and writ- 

 ten in regard to this. I have sometimes 

 wondered, when I was in a region where my 

 father passed his early days, if it were not 

 possible that I inherited, if that is the word 

 to use, the memory of things that happened 

 during his life. If this is true, and if indeed 

 it is possible that children are impressed, not 

 only with the things we do, but with the 

 very thoughts we permit to take possession 

 of our hearts, should we not be exceedingly 

 careful? If a parent has fallen into the 

 habit of giving way to his temper, is it not 

 likely that his children and grandchildren 

 will give way in a like manner? When 

 somebody has a touch of insanity, how 

 often people inquire, "Was his father or 

 uncles or grandparents thus afflicted?" 

 And very often it transpires that insanity 

 or other things have been running in the 

 family. There is a great mass of evidence 

 showing that an intemperate man curses 

 his children that come after him; and it is so 

 great that I shudder to touch it. May God 

 helj) us to consider, when we are tempted 

 to give vent to any feeling, whether good 

 or bad, to say to ourselves, as Bro. Reed 

 said to me over forty years ago, " Mr. Root, 

 do you want to see your boy grow up exactly 

 such a man as you are?" Now, then, when 

 you are again tempted to think no human 

 eye sees what you are doing, or that none 

 but God knows what you are thinking, con- 

 sider that possibly generations yet unborn 

 not only see but are likely to cojjy your very 

 thoughts and actions. 



THE SUNDAY SCHOOL TIDIES. 



Some years ago I told you that, if you 

 could not afford to take more than one peri- 

 odical, you should take the Sunday School 

 Times; and I have been studying over this 

 piece of advice for several years, and have 

 also been "studying" the Sunday School 

 Times since then. I think I added, when I 



when she laughed again, and in a perfectly natural 

 way, taecau.se I seemed so surprised and startled. 

 It seems the nurse, while giving her her medicine, 

 had managed to tell her a little story: and that 

 story was about a man who absent-mindedly put a 

 wooden toothpick back into his pocket after he had 

 used it. His wife called him to order by saying 

 suddenly. "Here, sir. what do you mean by putting 

 that toothpick in your pocket after having used it?" 



In his effort to make it appear that he really did 

 know what he was doing he replied, "Why. my 

 dear wife. I was just .saving it up to give to some 

 poor fellow." 



This well-timed joke, purposely managed by the 

 nurse, rou.sed her up from her stupor, and she be- 

 gan to gain at once from that time forward. 



