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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May J 5, 



the thousands of geese away up in Paget Sound 

 when 1- had that pleasant visit with friend 

 March. 



Now, then, what sort of ruisdom is it that 

 says there is no God — there is no intelligence 

 in the universe that knows things we haven't 

 learned, and may never learn? Verily, the .foot 

 saith in his heart, "There is no God."' 



" Destruction and death say. We have heard 

 the fame thereof with our ears." We look into 

 the faces of our friends when on the death-bed, 

 and we wonder whevher or not they could tell 

 us, if they had voice and strength, of the hid- 

 den mysteries of the world beyond. Sometimes 

 through their looks we seem to catch a glimpse 

 of the glories beyond; but it is only a glimpse. 



"God understandeth the way thereof, and he 

 knoweth the place thereof." It would be a lit- 

 tle sad if we were placed here in this world of 

 ours just long enough to comprehend how much 

 there is we do not know, and never can know, 

 to think that there is not an overruling power 

 who knows. The Bible tells us that God under- 

 standeth the way. Furthermore, " For he look- 

 eth to the ends of the earth, and seeth under the 

 whole heaven; to make the weight for the 

 winds, and he weigheth the waters by measure." 

 Nothing is hidden from him. "Even the winds 

 and the waves olDey him." God notonly knows, 

 but he fashioned the whole universe, and it is 

 always subject to his bidding. He can at any 

 moment say to any of the elements, " Peace, be 

 still." " When he made a decree for the rain, 

 and a way for the lightning of the thunder, 

 then did he see it and declare it; he prepared it, 

 yea, and searched it out." The above answers 

 some of the questions propounded at the head 

 of our talk — " Where shall v^isdom be found ?" 

 but yet the conclusion forces itself irresistibly 

 upon us. that the sacred writer has not yet fin- 

 ished. In all his talk he has been approaching 

 a climax. When he says .that " God under- 

 standeth the way," it satisfies just a little what 

 the listener might have been expecting; but it 

 is not the capstone of the,whole of it. "Where 

 shall wisdom be found?" If gold can not pur- 

 chase it; if neither the depths of the sea nor 

 the heavens themselves can give us the secret, 

 where then shall it be found ? Is it any use for 

 us to long for and hope for and labor for wisdom ! 

 Yes, indeed it is. The final ending of this 

 beautiful chapter caps the climax; and every 

 time I read it over of late, it seems to me as 

 though it is inspiration from on high. The au- 

 thor of that chapter certainly must have had 

 hold on God himself, or else he never could have 

 framed the concluding verse. See if you do not 

 agree with me as wei'ead it together: 



" And unto man he said, The fear of the 

 Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil 

 is understanding y 



In olden limes, and even at the present time, 

 some would-be sages and scientists seem to im- 

 agine that a man can be very loise and at the 

 same time very wicked; and I have sometimes 

 thought there were men who stood high on ac- 

 count of their skill — say skill in medicine, for 

 instance— men who thought that, because they 

 were skillful and learned, and had a great 

 name, that they were excusable for being wick- 

 ed. In other words, that it was not as bad for 

 them to indulge their intemperate or licentious 

 habits as it was for somebody who did not know 

 so much. God forbid I " The fear of the Lord. 

 that is wisdom." Any kind of wisdom that is 

 not coupled with the fear of God is a poor, mis- 

 erable, silly thing; and any sort of wisdom that 

 would teach us that, because we are wise, there 

 is less need of departing from our evil ways, is 

 ridiculous. Shame upon the man who thinks 

 that, because he is educated in books, or among 

 men, that he has any better right to persist in 



his evil habits. If the present age has not em- 

 phatically set its foot down on this sort of phi- 

 losophy, may God help us to do it speedily. 



Now. I am not going to bring the moral of 

 this beautiful chapter to bear only on those who 

 are committing crime. None of us can aspire 

 to true wisdom unless we are careful. We must 

 be exceedingly careful if we would be wise. 

 Some of us are in the habit of doing things un- 

 der a sudden Impulse, and then feeling sorry for 

 it afterward. VVell, it is a thousand times bet- 

 ter lo feel sorry than to go on wronging people 

 right and left, and not caring any thing about 

 it; but it would be a great deal better still to 

 listen to the voice of wisdom, and thus avoid 

 being obliged to feel'sorry. Again, some of us 

 can not have any peace of mind unless we apol- 

 ogize for the hasty words we have been heed- 

 less enough to let slip. It is right to apologize 

 — in fact, it is an indication of a tender con- 

 science when we can not have peace or rest un- 

 til we have tried to recall the unwise speech or 

 act. But what do you think about a friend 

 who is wounding you, and then making apolo- 

 gies right straight along? You may think he 

 means well; but in a little while you begin to 

 pity him, and after a while nobody knows ex- 

 actly when he is himself and when he is not 

 quite himself. Imagine how a man's helpers 

 must feel when he comes around and makes a 

 stir about something that is not just according 

 to his notion; and suppose they say to them- 

 selves, " Well, now, I wonder whether the boss 

 really mert?is what he says, or is he a little off 

 his base just now, and will come around after a 

 little whileand apologize for being hasty." The 

 question comes up, " Had we better keep right 

 on as we have been doing, or does he really mean 

 what he said, and is he really going to stick to 

 it?" Why. the employer wlio lets his feelings 

 and temporary impulses thus run away with 

 him is certainly not wise, and he is hardly fit to 

 be intrusted with ht;i|j. His changeable moods 

 will not only ruin his business, but they will 

 spoil his reputation in any community. 



A few weeks ago I undertook to reprove a 

 hand who needed reproving. I foolishly said too 

 much, and was too severe. I could not rest until 

 I had made him some sort of apology. I knew 

 from experience that, if I were not careful, I 

 should apologize too much, and thus make mat- 

 ters just as Dad as or worse than if I had not 

 undertaken to straighten the matter in the first 

 place. For several days afterward I kept think- 

 ing how unwise it was to let my feelings or im- 

 pulses run away with my better judgment — or, 

 if you choose, run away with wisdom, or crowd 

 wisdom out and make her take a back seat. 

 Yesterday the ground finally became fit to work. 

 It had not rained for as much as four days. 

 Planting was away behind; the horses and the 

 men and boys were all out in the lot. The ba- 

 rometer said it was going to rain, and the Weath- 

 er Bureau had sent us a telegram saying there 

 would be rain before night. The seeds, with 

 the stakes properly labeled, were out in the lot, 

 and we were waiting for one of the boys to fetch 

 the seed-drill. He came back, saying that a 

 neighbor had borrowed it about two weeks be- 

 fore, and had not brought it back. I remem- 

 bered then that said neighbor promised to bring 

 it back in a couple of hours, or before night, or 

 something of that sort. I told him, when he 

 wanted it to plant his onion seed, how I had 

 been annoyed by lending that special seed-drill; 

 but he was so sure he would bring it back be- 

 fore I could possibly want it, that I gave way 

 in order to be accommodating. He told the boy 

 he would go right after the drill; but it was 

 several miles away, and therefore we must drop 

 our seeds by hand, or run the risk of being stop- 

 ped again by another rain. If you have ever 



