1879 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



239 



ing me, but they all gave me a kind wel- 

 come. Some way, as soon as I came in, my 

 own conduct toward this brother, in the 

 years that had passed, began to loom up be- 

 fore me in colors that by no means contribu- 

 ted to my tranquility. I tried to talk, but 

 the talking machinery was someway clog- 

 ged, and not a word could I say. They all 

 looked distressed, and anxiously inquired 

 what was the mattter. I smiled through 

 my tears, and managed to say. I had drop- 

 ped in to tell them 1 had "come back home.' 1 



'•('(line hack home?" said my brother, in 

 surprise. 



k Tes. I have come back home, to stay the 

 rest of my life I hope. Do you remember, 

 my brother, the companion' of your child- 

 hood? the brother with whom you used to 

 play all day long? Do you not remember our 

 boats, our lish ponds, our little saw mills, 

 and all those happy days? Well, I, that 

 brother, have come back, and with God's 

 help, I expect to stay the rest of my life. 

 Will you forgive me for my past unkind and 

 selfish life?" 



Reader, do you believe there lives a broth- 

 er that could resist that ? He came and took 

 me by the hand, and while tears ran down 

 his cheeks, he and his wife told me how 

 pained and hurt they had been at my cold- 

 ness, and how they had given me up, as one 

 who was so much absorbed in his own pur- 

 /v ^uits, that they never need expect to see me 

 otherwise. "If this is religion," said he, "0 

 let the world have more of it ; for I did not 

 know there was a power on earth, that could 

 bring you here as you have come this morn- 

 ing." 



In that first prayer, I asked God to give 

 me my childhood back. How is it, my 

 friends? Was not that prayer answered? 

 Before long, I visited others of my brothers 

 and sisters, and nearer and dearer, have they 

 all been from that day to this. Once I al- 

 most dreaded to hear that a brother or sister 

 was' coming to see me, for fear they should 

 read my guilty heart, but now my heart 

 thrills with pleasure at the thought o.f their 

 coming, or even at the sight of a letter from 

 any one of them. Reader, have you a broth- 

 er or sister on this wide earth that you are 

 not on friendly terms with ? If so, go this 

 minute, I implore you, and make peace with 

 them ere it be too late. Forget all and ev- 

 erything. I do not care what the circum- 

 stances are, with the Savior's love in your 

 heart, and with a perfect willingness to heed 

 that guiding voice of conscience, you can, 

 in time, soften the hardest heart. Re- 

 member your childhood days ; remember the 

 mother who loved you both, and who loves 

 you still; remember the pain you cause her 

 by persisting in that foolish and profitless 

 pride that would make you hold aloof from 

 your own fiesh and blood. .Shake off the 

 spell that Satan has cast over you, in making 

 you think there can be any excuse for such 

 estrangement; it is Satan's work, the whole 

 of it, and he will lead you along in this way, 

 just as surely as he leads an intemperate 

 man, or as he led myself. 



Satan tears down, brings alienation, sets 

 brother against brother and husband against 

 wife; nay, farther, besets a man against 



himself, and, if he could, would persuade 

 him to take his own life. He is not confined 

 to one way, but has so many, that you arc in 

 danger of being entrapped, when you least 

 expect it. The religion of the Bible is direct- 

 ly the opposite ; it raises, strengthens, does 

 away witli quarrels and troubles, carries 

 peace and good will every where, softens 

 hard hearts, brings back childhood, and, in 

 short, makes mankind over again into God's 

 own image. Dare any of you say that it 

 was not the hand of God that pointed the 

 way into that open gate, and bid me fear 

 not the result of following the promptings 

 of that guiding voice ? 



JUST BEFORE G0IN& TO PRffi 



LThe contents of this department are supposed to 

 be given in an informal way, just before the last 

 form is placed in the press. You can imagine my- 

 self,-hat in one hand (said hat being covered with 

 sawdust, honey, bees wax, printers ink, etc.), and 

 the other hand on the door knob, just ready to bid 

 you good day until next month, giving you a sum- 

 mary of the last items of interest in the way of new 

 discoveries, etc. The press man will probably cut 

 my talk suddenly short, by telling me he cannot 

 possibly squeeze in another single word, saying noth- 

 ing about line or lines.] 



WmHE WESTERN HONEY BEE is the title of a 

 J8|| queer sort of a bee journal published in Leba- 

 ^ki non, Mo. If you will send for a sample copy 



you will know all about it. Its funny editor, Dr. 



Harrison, has invented a 



$5 COMB FOUNDATION MACHINE, 



which he describes as a book with one leaf and two 

 covers. This leaf and the inside surfaces of the cov- 

 ers are embossed like fdn. mill rolls. To use it, the 

 covers are folded back and used for handles, while 

 the leaf is used as a dipping sheet. Before the wax 

 gets cold, the covers are closed upon it, the whole 

 dipped in water, and two sheets of fdn., just right 

 for your frames, are dropped out. It does not seem 

 to have occurred to Dr. H. that this machine will put 

 fdn. into the wired frames just like a "book," so I 

 suppose I can claim this idea as myffj invention. 

 See what the Dr. says of this fdn. 



"There is no danger of sagging with the fdn. 

 made on this machine, as The grain of the wax is not 

 broken." ****** 



"We have seen the bees working on it ten minutes 

 after it was inserted in our observing hive. The 

 queen in the observing hive left the old combs im- 

 mediately and went to the foundation and laid sev- 

 eral hundred eggs right on the septum." 



I sent a telegram for a machine, the minute the 

 journal was put into my hands. Now listen to 

 another friend. 



FDN. WITH SQUARE CELLS. (SEE PAGE 327.) 



"Card of 16 inst. received. Sheets with square cells 

 are built out and filled with brood in all stages. 

 Cells are finished up in hexagonal shape, nearly as 

 regular as natural comb, or that built on the best 

 and most perfect fdn. I have tried square cells on 

 15 or 20 stands, putting in also the regular fdn. got 

 from you. The square cells are worked out first and 

 fastest, but I attribute this to the fact that my 

 sheets were made of good, fresh, yellow wax, while 

 that I got from you is harder and darker, and also 

 older. Wax sheets get hard by age; have you ever 

 noticed that? 



In making the square celled sheets, so far, I have 

 simply used the two pine boards, a tub of water, a 

 bench, and a hammer. I soak the boards in the wa- 

 ter (not too cold) a little while, take both out, wipe 

 them off with my hand, lay one on the bench, dip 

 1 he other in melted wax, lay it on the first and strike 

 wilh the hammer, slap both blocks in the water and 

 shake them about a little, when they will come apart 

 and the sheet fall out. 



My dipping board is pine. A handle is put in the 

 centre so I can dip it without getting wax on my 



