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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 



times when I have thoughtlessly and un- 

 feelingly spoken of my friends and neigh- 

 bors with a lack of cliarity. May God help 

 me to do so no more. May that Holy Spirit I 

 have been telling you of help me not only to 

 speak of, but to look upon every human be- 

 ing us something sacred and holy— as a 

 piece of God's handiwork. And may this 

 same Holy Spirit help me to see the good 

 and saintly traits in fallen ruined humanity. 

 " O Lord God, help not only my poor self, 

 but help every reader of Gleanings to 

 pray often, in faith believing, for that Holy 

 Spirit that Christ Jesus thine only Son 

 promised to those that ask. Help us that 

 the influences of the Holy Spirit may find 

 such a lodging-place in our "hearts that kind- 

 ness and love shall characterize our every 

 thought and word and deed ; and may its 

 influences brighten and ennoble our poor 

 hearts that are so prone to wander after 

 the bad. Help us to remember our sacred 

 calling ; help us, who have enlisted under 

 the banner of the cross, to remember our 

 profession ; help us to see light ahead, and 

 not darkness and ruin ; help us to look up 

 to the great God above, who created us in 

 his own likeness and in his own image. 

 Save us from the peculiar temptations 

 that so often beset at least most of us, 

 and which tempt us to see only the defects 

 and misfortunes of the neighbors round 

 about us ; help us, O Lord, to see the God 

 part, and inspire us with that Spirit, that 

 w^e may be able to encourage and bring out 

 the good ; give us, we pray thee, of that 

 Holy Spirit according to those unfailing 

 promises, as in the language of our text 

 to-day.'' 



Come, Holy Spirit, iieavenly Dove, 

 With all thy quick'ning- powers; 



Kindle a flame of sacred love 

 In these cold hearts of ours. 



BUSINESS AT THE HOME OF THE 

 HONEY-BEES. 



SOME PRETTY SEVERE CHARGES AGAINST 

 A. I. ROOT. 



Don't be troubled, dear friends ; it is not 

 somebody else that I am going to complain 

 of, it is only myself ; and the particular rea- 

 son why I speak of it is that I may ask you 

 all to be slow in condemning your friends 

 and neighbors, and to remember that there 

 are almost always palliating circumstances 

 that we do not know all about. In the past 

 two or three issues I have told you that 

 things were in a rather bad shipe here this 

 present season, on account of the unexpect- 

 ed rush for goods. Amid it all, however, 

 we have tried to be prompt in answering all 

 inquiries, and we have tried hard to tell the 

 truth. I do not know that I have ever ex- 

 horted our clerks more, relative to making 

 some sort of answer to every complaint that 

 has come, than this present season. Not- 

 withstanding, however, a great many of our 

 friends have had great reason to complain, 

 and perhaps good reason to say hard things 

 of your old friend. The following letter il- 

 lustrates this : 



Dear Sir:—1 write you once more concerning the 

 supplies I ordered of you six weeks ago, which 



have failed to materialize. After four weeks had 

 passed I wrote you about the matter, and you 

 claimed that orders had overwhelmed you so that 

 you had been running night and day, but would 

 ship my goods the next day (May 30). 



After reasonable time for the shipping bill to 

 reach me, I wrote again for the reason you failed to 

 do as you agreed, and you failed to ship, or explain 

 any thing. I have talked with several bee-keepers 

 about the matter, some of whom are readers of 

 Gleanings, and all agree that your promise to me 

 of May 29, that you would ship my goods to-mor- 

 row, was a base deception. If you could not fill the 

 order, say so like a man. My bees are swarming, 

 and I shall get supplies elsewhere. A portion of 

 the goods will be worthless to me before you get 

 around, if you ever do. 1 demand my money back 

 by return mail. F. F. Harrington. 



Hartwick, N. Y., June 9. 



Whoever undertakes to carry on a busi- 

 ness requiring many hands, should take in- 

 to consideration the fact that sickness and 

 accidents will occur more or less, as a mat- 

 ter of course, and two or more should be 

 trained, if possible, for the very important 

 posts. The proprietor ought to ask himself 

 the question almost daily, " What should I 

 do just now if so and so should be sick or 

 kept away ? " This I have tried to do to 

 the extent of having one or more " loose 

 men " around, with nothing particular for 

 them to do. This season has been no ex- 

 ception. I mentally wondered several 

 times what I should do if a certain one were 

 disabled or kept away, and in a very few 

 days the very thing happened. Sometimes 

 two valuable hands were laid up at once. 

 During the very height of our rush I told 

 my wife that nothing would make greater 

 disaster than to have something happen to 

 "John," who takes the entire charge of oi:- 

 ders, and tells people what we can do an,d 

 what we can not do. Well, John sprained 

 his ankle at this very crisis, and w^as kept 

 from the office nearly two whole weeks. 

 But even when he could hardly endure the 

 pain, the clerks were running to him with 

 inquiries concerning business. This state 

 of affairs threw our good friend Harrington 

 behind, with a lot of others. Although Er- 

 nest was pretty well burdened with the 

 journal matter, bees, and attendant letters, 

 he took Mr. Calvert's place as best he could, 

 and wrote the letter promising that the 

 goods should be shipped May 30. He did 

 this because " Jacob " told him they could 

 surely go at that time. But there are other 

 "big guns" in our establishment besides 

 Jacob ; and somebody overruled Jacob's 

 ruling, it seems, and, in fact, in John's ab- 

 sence there were several who had been 

 promised, and the promises could not well 

 be all fulfilled at once. The postal card 

 which friend IL says was not answered was 

 answered promptly, but perhaps not as ex- 

 plicitly as the urgency of the case demand- 

 ed. About the time the goods did go, I got 

 hold of the transaction and declared that 

 this shipment should be put on the next 

 train, even if it stopped even/body else. Now, 

 I do not know that even "/ had a right to 

 say this, for a promise is as binding toward 

 one man as toward another. It is true, that 



