1893 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



313 



promise, when the lives of these good people 

 shall be finished: "Come, ye blessed of my 

 Father, inherit the l<ingdom prepared for you 

 from the foundation of the world." When the 

 end of all things conies, it is not to the greedy 

 and to the strong, and to the successful ones in 

 elbowing dhedil of the rest of the crowd; but it 

 is to the humble and faithful followei' of Christ 

 Jesus. In fact, they are to inherit all things. 

 "Blessed are the m^^ek, for they shall inherit 

 the earth."' Again, the kind and loving Savior 

 uses these wonderful words to his faithful, 

 trusting, obedient ones: " Fear not. little flock; 

 for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you 

 the kingdom." 



Now, please let us understand, friends, that 

 these promises are to the rational and consist- 

 ent Christian. In this world we meet many 

 who complain and murmur, saying they have 

 been unselfish and kind, and yet God has not 

 rewarded them. Some of them say, " I have 

 been too honest to get a living." Some even 

 say, "I have tried Christianity, and it does not 

 bring sufficient to support my family." 



A young friend of mine who was dismissed 

 because he would persist in leaving his own 

 work and rambling about through the different 

 rooms of the establishment, urged as a reason 

 why I should continue to keep him, that he had 

 been going to meeting right along regularly of 

 late. What he'said was true. He had been at- 

 tending the meetings; but this fact did by no 

 manner of means atone for his neglect of busi- 

 ness during working hours. Christianity must 

 be consistent. If a man is not honest, and 

 faithful to his employer, attending a/1 the meet- 

 ings won't amount to very much in enabling 

 him to earn his daily bread. While considering 

 this matter, I can almost say as did David, "I 

 have been young, and now am old." I am not 

 very old yet; but I am getting older day by 

 day; and my observation is this: That there is 

 a continual and unceasing call for good men 

 and good women. Of course, we want a well- 

 balanced man. We have not any use at all for 

 one who thinks that going to church is going to 

 excuse him from attending strictly to his busi- 

 ness. The man who commences ^londay morn- 

 ing to figure sharp and keen to see howhe can 

 get more pay without rendering a correspond- 

 ing equivalent to his employer, is not wanted 

 anywhere; but one who sets to work on Monday 

 morning' to look after his employer's interests, 

 to study up short cuts in business, to look out 

 for leaks and losses, and unnecessary waste, it 

 he is even fairly bright and smart will be want- 

 ed right and left. Some of my very best help, 

 and some who are climbing steadily to better 

 pay as the months and years go by, will often 

 say, "Mr. Root, wouldn't it be a better way"— 

 and then he will go on to explain how he could 

 make a short cut— kill two birds with one stone 

 —possibly have the team take a load both ways 

 instead of carrying an empty wagon half of the 

 time. Just now we have a carload of beautiful 

 potatoes stored in a good cellar; and in order to 

 keep them from sprouting, I want that cellar 

 open nights, or at any time wlien it is colder 

 outdoors than it is inside; but when the airout- 

 doors is warmer ihan it is inside, I want the 

 doors closed, and the shutters put over the win- 

 dows, so as to keep the sunshine and warm air 

 out. If it were not for my burden of cares. I 

 coiild attend to this nicely* and I really enjoy 

 the fun of doing it. 



The same operation is required with our hot- 

 beds and greenhouses. Oh how I do love to 

 manipulate the sash and the shutters, so as to 

 make every hour of the r>4 count in the growth 

 of these plants! It needs wisdom and sense, 

 and devotion to the business in question. Some- 

 times a fierce wind, even when the weather is 



warm enough, twists and whips off the little 

 plants, recently moved from the greenhouse, so 

 as to do them considerable injury. If it is a 

 cloudy day. the sashes may be put over them to 

 keep this wind off. If the sun is shining, how-" 

 ever, the shutter should take the place of a 

 sash. Little plants, newly transplanted, should 

 be protected from the sun by means of shutters 

 until it clouds up, or until night comes. You 

 see, we must watch the sicn, watch the temper- 

 ature, watch the ivind. and watch the rain. 

 We must make all /our of these serve us. 



How many people are there, do you suppose, 

 who could be int'rusied with such a task? Not 

 very many. We want somebody who Loves the 

 plants; somebody who loves them because they 

 are Ood's creation would be the right man for 

 the place; but as such duty would not occupy 

 all of his time, we should want to set him at 

 work transplanting, getting out weeds, and 

 sowing seeds in the meantime. Then he must 

 have enough interest in and love for his work to 

 keep watch of the sun, the clouds, the rain, and 

 the temperature, at the same time he is doing 

 this other work. Oh! there arc such men, for 

 we have quite a lot of thi>m in our different de- 

 partments. But they all bring a good sum of 

 money almost anywhere. When we find such 

 a man, we tell him what he is to do, and keep 

 an eye on him to see that he does not get caught; 

 and wlien we find that he manages it all nicely 

 — no plants are scorched or frosted, nor left 

 covei'ed up so they can't get ihe rain when it 

 comes, then comes the pleasant feeling — we can 

 afford, to increase his wages. The chances are 

 that he will be surprised when we tell him he 

 is worth more money. Yoti see. he has been so 

 devoted to the Interests of his employer — or, in 

 other words, he has been so devoted to his al- 

 lotted task of making the little plants thrive 

 and boom (the last word maybe slang, but no 

 other one expresses exactly what I mean), that 

 he did not even know he was worth more mon- 

 ey. It is like those people in the text, who 

 said, " Lord, when saw we thee a hungered or 

 thirsty?" etc. Contrast this kind of man with 

 one who is worrying all the while because he 

 does not get what he thinks he is worth, or be- 

 cause he does not get as much as A. B, and C 

 right around him, when he is sure he is a better 

 man. 



While thinking of these things, and this mat- 

 ter of worrying about the future, another old 

 familial' text brings up past memories — "O 

 thou of little faith! wherefore didst thou 

 doubt?" Why. my dear good friend, there are 

 thousands and thousands of good places, with 

 excellent pay too. for the man who will enter 

 into his work with such heart and soul that he 

 can manage a greenhouse and a lot of plant- 

 beds, or do a hundred other things of like care 

 and responsibility. The only condition is. that 

 he must be in love with his work and with his 

 fellow-men, instead of being in love with self, 

 and narrow selfish interests. The last verse of 

 our text hits the whole of it — "But seek ye .first 

 the kingdom of God. and his righteousness, and 

 all these things shall be added unto you." 



Gr^KANiNGs is still a welcome ^uest at my liome, 

 and is a jf reat lilessing- to my wife and myself. It 

 ma.v be some satisfaction for" you to know that here 

 ill far-away Australia Gleanings carries spiritual 

 blessiiif^s with it. and that in many liomes you and 

 your very practical Home talks are very iiiucli talk- 

 ed of and appreciated. I believe what is wanted in 

 the work to-day is more of tlie Iiomely influence you 

 disseminate through your .iounial, to successfiill.v 

 lessen existing- evil. God bless you, and long spare 

 you for thie excellent good you are doing-. A very 

 poor honey crop this year all over. I shall be send- 

 ing- away an order to you atioul April next. 



Geohoe Kendall. 



E. Biindaberg-, Queensland, Au.stralia, Feb. 22. 



