458 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 



a law, wherein this duty is assigned to the 

 P. M. where the magazine is mailed, and sta- 

 ted that he had pronounced it an advertising 

 sheet, but, to be sure, had mailed a copy to 

 Washington, and they had also so decided. 

 I made inquiries of those who should know 

 in regard to getting such a decision revoked, 

 but it seemed pretty certain that a decision 

 made by the P. M. G., whether right or 

 wrong, was seldom if ever recalled. (Queens 

 by mail for instance. ) It was like the law of 

 the Medes and Persians. I asked our P. M. 

 what feature of my journal I should remove, 

 in order that it might pass through the mails. 

 If I recollect aright, his reply seemed to in- [ 

 dicate that it was all objectionable. I do not \ 

 Wish any of you to think hardly of the man, j 

 for he has many excellent qualities, and, I be- [ 

 lieve. thought he was faithfully discharging j 

 his duties, according to the law. 

 I remembered the lines, 



and, 



"Man may trouble and distress me 

 'Twill but drive me to thy breast. 



"Foes may hate, and friends may scorn me, 

 Show thy face, and all is bright." 



I went off alone, and told God all about it. 

 The answer came very quickly, "All things 

 work together for good, to those that love 

 the Lord." Now, the point was, "Do I really 

 love the Lord and my fellow men, or do I 

 love to have all the business in furnishing 

 bee supplies, and is not the real primary pur- 

 pose of my journal to build up my establish- 

 ment, and make a great show in the world? 

 What is the primary purpose of the publica- 

 tion of Gleanings?" It did me good to go 

 over the ground, and as I prayed over it, it 

 occurred to me that God had sent this trial, 

 to caution me in regard to selfishness, and 

 that Gleanings might be remodeled into a 

 shape . where it would do more good . I wrote 

 briefly to the P. M. G., asking what features 

 of our journal must be omitted to allow it to 

 pass through the mails, sending them copies 

 of our letter heads, envelopes, etc., consent- 

 ing to the giving up of the manufacturing 

 business, and every advertisment of any 

 thing I had for sale from its columns, if it 

 was demanded, and closed with something 

 like this: 



"I do not know, to whom I am writing, 

 whether it be to one who believes in the Bi- 

 ble and Jesus Christ or not, but, if I know 

 myself, the primary purpose of Gleanings 

 is to serve the Lord Jesus Christ, and to 

 benefit my fellow man; and especially to 

 this end are the last two leaves devoted. In 

 behalf of the hands I emyloy, and the many 

 whom Gleanings helps, I beg that your 

 decision may be revoked/ 1 



I told the hands at the noon day service of 

 the blow that threatened us. and I told them, 

 too, that unless God helped us, I knew not 

 where to go for help. The decision exclud- 

 ing Gleanings came just after our April 

 number was mailed; and before our May 

 number was out, one day, one of the clerks 

 called from the top of the stairway, and say- 

 ing "Good news!" sent a paper floating down, 

 which fell at my feet. I raised it and read 

 .as follows: 



Washington, April 35, 1879. 

 The decision of April 1st, 1879. excluding- the pub- 

 lication named Gleanings in Bee Culture from 

 goina- in the mails at pound rates, is herehv revoked. 

 Signed, J as. H. Mark. First Assistant 

 Washington, D. C. Post Master General. 



As I give the above from memory, I may 

 not have got the wording exactly, the paper 

 having been mislaid. 



Furthermore, the news also came that, in- 

 stead of paying 3c. per lb. as I had hereto- 

 fore done. Gleanings could go at two cents 

 per lb., and sample copies, for which we had 

 before paid eight cents per lb., could also go 

 for two cents per lb. Now, do you know 

 that the greatest motive I have had in giv- 

 ing away these thousands of sample copies 

 yearly, has been that the last two pages 

 might, like tracts cast by the wav side, reach 

 hearts and do good, even if they did not 

 bring subscribers and customers. If you, 

 dear reader, should care to have any of the 

 Home Papers go to any one you know on 

 this wide earth, just send us the name and 

 address, and it will be sent them cheerfully, 

 whether they are bee keeners or not. 



At our noon day worship, I read the naner 

 to the hands, and we had a rousing singing 

 of the little hymn, "Praise God from whom 

 all blessings flow." Just try, my friend, giv- 

 ing up something, or taking up for Christ's 

 sake, some task, that seems like cutting off 

 your very "right hand," and see if a blessing- 

 does not come of it. 



The following letter from one of our young 

 friends, shows how this spirit may help bee- 

 keepers. 



Mr. Hoot, Dear Brother: — I call you brother be- 

 cause I feel that we are brothers in Christ. Please 

 bear with me. I want t • come to you i his miming 

 as to a father. Your "Home Papers" have caused 

 me to place implicit confidence in you. T believe 

 you are earnest I v trying to overcome all your bad 

 qualities, and I think it the dut\' of Christiins to 

 give each other an enconragin? word now and then; 

 this is the rea=on we should heed the admoni'ion, 

 "Forget not the assembling of yourselves together." 



Dear Bro , do nor let the Home Papers di-* down; 

 they help us lonely bee keepers when we are in tri- 

 al help u-» to "look up." 



1 must tell you something a bout my bee keeping. 

 I started (four years ago) with one swarm, when 

 eighteen, helped a neighbor log one dav with the ox- 

 en topayforit. I ha* efoundit a pleasant study, and 

 have spen' many happy hou'-s among them. Shall 

 start into winter with 2fi swarms; all are Italianized. 

 The past season I have had a great call for queens, 

 and felt that I needed an imported queen. I decided 

 the matter in Aug. '79. Y<>u did not have anv on 

 hand at that time, and Miss Andrews did: so I sent 

 her a draft for $5.00. In 3 davs, I had the queen 

 safe «t Randolph, and liberated *afelv on 4 combs of 

 hatching brood. Everything was done according to 

 the best knowledge I could glean from Gleanings. 

 In 5 days, I cnuld scoop out little "tauntv" larvae to 

 gr^ft into queen cells. Oh! ho* happy I felt! Just 

 to think; a queen of known purity, come across the *- 

 great water, owned by unworthy O. F. Bowen! 



About this tim°, I had to go to Horuellsville, N. Y., 

 to help fit up a camp ground. I left mv queen in 

 care of brother Tyler. He fed that nucleus every 

 night, so when I got home she had two combs partly 

 filled wilh brood. I now set about preparing bees 

 fur wintering. This 1 friime nucleus was not strong 

 enough to winter, so [ decided to unite it with a 

 good queenless Ftock by its side. I caired the im- 

 ported queen, and united the bpes. They commenc- 

 ed clustering on the cage, and building cells on her 

 brood. I cut out the cells, and, in two davs, they 

 ceased to knot ihemselves on the cage, so I ventur- 

 ed to liberate her. She crawbd about among the 

 bees and they acted kindly to her. In 10 minutes, I 

 raised the frame she was on. and all appeared riaht; 

 tho bees were performing their usual ceremonies. 



