40 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 



gy and faith that will, with (iod's help, carry 

 you to the gates of the golden city. 



My friend, I have spoken thus to an utter 

 stranger : I know nothing of your faults and 

 failings, but I trust God has directed these 

 words, and that they may do good. If I 

 never meet you here on earth. I hope to meet 

 you in the world beyond; and I confidently 

 expect to hear, ere long, that you are out of 

 trouble. May (jod bless and guide you ! 



And now, a few words to others of my 

 friends who are in debt, and who, like our 

 friend above, may be getting discouraged 

 and disheartened: Please do not mistake 

 me, my friends, when I say the first and 

 most important thing to be done, is to go 

 down on your knees, and ask your Heavenly 

 Father to help you. A few days ago, in 

 talking with a young man who was going to 

 start a saloon, that he might get the where- 

 with to pay his debts, he came out with the 

 question, 



•' Mr. Root, what shall I do, to support my 

 wife and children V" 



Of course, I gave him the advice I have 

 given above. lie laughed ironically, and 

 told of an old fellow he knew that prayed 

 the Lord to take care of his sheep, and they 

 starved to death, the whole of them. Are 

 there any of my readers who can so far mis- 

 take me as to think I mean that God will pay 

 their debts while they sit by the stove ? You 

 have no business asking God to help you, 

 unless you are doing: all you can, and instead 

 of doing less, after so praying, I should cer- 

 tainly expect you to continue doing all you 

 can. and more as the Lord gives you oppor- 

 tunity. In the first place, you want your 

 creditor or creditors to be patient, and give 

 you a little time. Ask God to bless your 

 words or letters to them, and then state the 

 case fairly and honestly. Do not, by any 

 means, allow yourself to cherish any hard 

 feelings toward them, even should they be 

 importunate, and speak or write harshly; 

 those you owe, in all probability, have be- 

 friended you, or you would not be owing 

 them. If 'you get a dunning letter, reply to 

 it at once. Any reply, no matter how brief, 

 is better than silence. I know it is often 

 said promises are cheap, but I believe the 

 world thinks far better of a man who keeps 

 promising, than one who makes no reply at 

 all. If, along with your promises, you can 

 pay just a little, on what you owe, it will go 

 a great way in restoring confidence. God 

 seems to honor even little evidences of good 

 intentions, and the man who keeps paying a 

 little, month after month, or year after year, 

 will in the end triumph. Do not, I implore 

 you. my friends, ever give up. and make up 

 your minds you will have to go down to your 

 last sleep with the consciousness of having 

 used some other brother or sister's hard 

 e i rninys, for which you have never rendered 

 them any equivalent. 1 know a hard work- 

 ing farmers boy, who got a few hives of 

 bees, lie chopped wood to pay for his bees 

 and hives, getting up and working early in 

 the morning, and late at night. With the 

 sweat of his face, did he earn his little pos- 

 sessions. Hard and rough were his hands, 

 and bent was his form with toil, yet he loved 



work, and loved his bees. To get his crop 

 of honey secured in good shape, he got in 

 debt some for boxes and an extractor. He 

 raised a fine crop of honey, and took it to a 

 city to sell. At one of the groceries, he was 

 offered a better price, but the proprietor 

 said he could not pay him for it that day. 

 He trusted him, and a few months after 

 learned that the man was irresponsible. He 

 never got a cent for his honev, and the blow 

 seemed to crush him entirely. How could 

 that man, how could any body, be content, 

 to take a boy's hard earnings, like that? 

 My friend, are you sure that the money that 

 you or I may be owing somebody, and which 

 should have been paid long ago, is not indi- 

 rectly robbing some poor soul in just that 

 way ? Do you know that professing Chris- 

 tians sometimes sit down idly, with folded 

 hands, by the fire, when they have appro- 

 priated, perhaps eaten up, just such hard 

 earnings of others? Does some one say, 

 ■' But what else can I do V" I will try to tell 

 you presently. I wish first to follow the 

 fortunes of this boy. He seemed to lose 

 heart in his work, and his bees were neglect- 

 ed. I soon saw him with a cigar in his 

 mouth, idling away his time. Do you not 

 see why. boys, I almost shudder at such a 

 sight ? He has not paid me for the supplies 

 he bought last, but I do not care for that ; I 

 would rather lose it a thousand times, than 

 to feel that my young friend is in danger of 

 being lost. Do you ask how praying could 

 have saved this boy from making bad bar- 

 gains V That is exactly what I expect pray- 

 ing to do, or rather praying and working. 



If any of you lack wisdom, lot him ask of God, 

 that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; 

 and it shall be given Mm.— Jas. i. 5. 



Do you not realize that wisdom is far ahead 

 of physical strength i The weakest and 

 most obscure one among us, had he wisdom, 

 even in business matters, would far outstrip 

 the mighty. Ask God to save you from 

 making bad debts, and ask him to bless you 

 in making business ventures, but by all 

 means push ahead, and show him by your 

 actions, that you mean what you say. 



AVhat shall I do? I am asking God now, 

 to guide me and give me wisdom, while I 

 attempt to answer this question. To those 

 who have wages or salaries, I would say stick 

 to your places, and do your work faithfully 

 and cheerfully and well, in the sight of God, 

 and it will soon be well in the sight of man. 

 If your time is all occupied, the greatest task 

 you may have is to learn to save. A little 

 scrap of paper sent me by one of you seems 

 to hit the point. 



A wife, writing to a friend, said: 



"We have a csy house; it is thrice dear t > us be- 

 cause it is our own. 



We have bought it with the savings of our earn- 

 ings. Many were the soda fountains, theconfec- 

 liouarv saloons, and the neeessaries of the market 

 we had to pas*; many a time mv noble husband de- 

 nied himself the comforts of tobacco, ihe refresh- 

 ing draught of b'H'r, wore his old cloihes, and even 

 patched up boots; and I, O me ! made my old bon- 

 net <io, wore the plainest clothes, did the plainest 

 cooking. 



Saving was the order of the house, and to have a 

 homp of our own had been our united aim. Now we 

 have. There is no Ian Uord troubling us with rais- 

 ing the rent, and exacting this or that. There is no 

 fi-ar harbored in our bosom that in sicknessor in old 

 age we will be thrown out of house and home, and 



