42 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 



and sell so that those with whom we have to 

 do will be benefited as well as ourselves. 

 If you are a bee-keeper, have a neat place to 

 retail your honey, and have every thing nice 

 and convenient. If you are a carpenter, 

 spend your evenings in planning and mak- 

 ing little helps for the household, — things 

 that many will want; and have the prices so 

 low that your customers will be surprised 

 as well as pleased ; the same with the tin- 

 smith ; the same with the blacksmith; and 

 so on all through; but in all that you do, my 

 friends, pray and work at every step. Let 

 your foremost object and aim be to benefit 

 others, and your next, to get fair pay for 

 your work. Never loose sight of the idea 

 that it is better to work for 2-> c. a day, than 

 to remain idle. Do this, my friends, and you 

 can not help succeeding; for, although the 

 world is full of people, there is room, great 

 room, and always will be room, for those who 

 start out with the earnest determination to 

 obey the command, 



Si ek ye first the kingdom of God. and his right- 

 eousness; and all these things shall be added unto 

 you. 



My friends, this is Christmas Eve. I am 

 alone with my type-writer and the piles of 

 letters you have been sending me. For years 

 back, there have been warm, friendly ex- 

 pressions in them, in regard to the Home Pa- 

 lters, but this winter they exceed, by far, in 

 numbers and in warmth of expression, what 

 they ever did before. I once almost feared 

 to go on with them. I can not fear now, for 

 lam abundantly satisfied with the floods of 

 cheer and encouraging words that have come 

 from you. I tried, for a while, to reply brief- 

 ly to you all, but it is now impossible; and I 

 beg you will lake this as a reply, and believe 

 me. when I tell you that not one of these kind 

 words has been lost, or passed by unheeded. 

 I prayed that I might help you. and be of use 

 to you, and ( i od has answered this prayer; give 

 him the thanks. What shall I do to show 

 my gratitude to you all. this Christmas Eve V 



I will tell you what I have been thinking. 

 1 have finished the Home Papers, or rath- 

 er had finished them, and I mentally figured 

 up what it would cost me to put in just two 

 leaves more, that I might talk with you a lit- 

 tle further on this occasion. It will cost me 

 just about SCO 00 ; may God bless my words 

 to-night, on these four pages, and 'may he 

 make this investment a profitable one, for 

 his name's sake! 



I want first to give you a little picture of 

 one of the homes where Gleanings goes. 

 To explain it, I must remark, that I de- 

 cided this year that it wstsnot right to send 

 out our price list, as I had heretofore done, 

 with the journal, and so I mailed them all to 

 you in Nov., paving the postage, which was 

 quite a little bill. Several of you took the 

 price list for Dec. Gleanings, it was so much 

 enlarged; and among them our good friend 

 whom I will now allow to speak for himself. 



Bear in mind that he is thinking I have 

 dropped the Home Papers. 



Broth r Rant .-—To-day I went down town, looked 

 in my post office box, and saw a package. I thought 

 at nncp, this is from Brother Root. [ tore it open, 

 and found I was right. I went into a store and 

 lh' 'light 1 would read Our Homes, but found I was 

 without my glasses. I hurried home; but when I 



came there, my girl wanted me to put some window 

 glass in before dinner; so, when dinner was ready, I 

 took my glasses and the bee book, laid them beside 

 my plate, asked God's blessing, and waited on grand- 

 mother, and then took up the bee book, thinking to 

 read at least part of Our Homes, as you name it, be- 

 fore I ate my dinner ; for I always like to read holy 

 reading to my family, when we sit around the table, 

 for there they will all hear it. 



I opened the book, turned over, but couldn't And 

 the place. 1 said to my children, 



"I don't believe there is any home reading in this 

 book." 



One said, 



" Oh! you have not found it yet." 



But I looked it all through, and to my great sur- 

 prise I found nothing that 1 looked for. 



M ell, I was completely puzzled, but could not al- 

 low myself to think for a moment that as good a 

 man as A. I. Root had ceased to work in the vine- 

 yard of the Master; and yet, why not continue this 

 important and extensive work, which would reach 

 so many minds and hearts, and, without fail, be a 

 blessing to many a one? *\ hy, dear brother, your 

 preaching is just what the world needs, aud I know 

 it is the spirit of God in your heart, that moves you. 

 I believe that the good Lord has raised you up for 

 this good work. 



Now, just think what an instrument you can be, 

 by putting in2or3pages of s ich holy reading, to 

 gladden the hearts of many of God's children, and to 

 tiring in many who are not now his children, but 

 who will call thee blessed in eternity. It is a mes- 

 sage from God ; seud it along ; it may be,— yes, I 

 firmly believe it will be, as leven mixed in meal ; it 

 will rise and spread till it reaches eternity. 



Dear brother, we are the representatives of God, 

 the light of the world, the salt of the earth; let us 

 never become weary iu well doing, but always be 

 about our Master's business, and he will raise us up 

 and give us in return the indwelling of his Holy 

 Spirit, to rule in and over us. 



If 1 had anything else to say to encourage you, I 

 would not yet stop. But may God's blessing rest up- 

 on these lines, for the salvation of souls and to the 

 glory of God. 



Pray for me, and let me often hear of you.. I may 

 never see you here, but if we are faithful to our call- 

 ins", we will meet in Heaven. Good-night, brother. 



Vpsilanti, Mich., Dec. 18, 1879. Juel Resslek. 



Does it not seem as if you could really see 

 our good friend hunting for his spectacles 'i 

 and, when he finds he has left them, careful- 

 ly putting the" bee-book" in his pocket? 

 When he gets home, he attends patiently to 

 all the little duties first, asks Cod's blessing 

 on them all, then waits on grandmother (I 

 am afraid I know somebody who might get a 

 good lesson there), and at length wipes his 

 glasses, and turns over the leaves for the 

 "home reading." There was a providence 

 in it all, friend R.; had you not made that lit- 

 tle mistake, I should never have known what 

 a warm place I had in that family circle 

 away up there in Michigan. I think God's 

 blessing has indeed rested on the lines you 

 wrote, for long shall I remember and be en- 

 couraged by the thought that, in at least one 

 home, my poor work has been called "holy 

 reading, '*' and has been given a place near to 

 the family Bible. 



Two letters have been received cautioning 

 me against holding up "pious people who do 

 not pay their debts." Here is one: 



Will you allow one who is deeply interested in 

 "Our Homes" department of Gleanings to suggest 

 a query? If so, read tin. 



Are vou reallv sure that your replv to H. Allev, in 

 Dec. No., 1879, p. 49S, was dictated by the Holy Spirit? 

 Is this your special mission? Where would such a 

 course lead as to the size of the journal and in its 

 consequences to all concerned? Matt. vii. 1. — 2d 

 The«s. iii. 15. Would not a continuing- of holding up 

 the right, as shown in God's providential leading, in 

 your very marked experiences, win from error bet- 

 ter than 'holding them up to scorn? Matt, xviii. 15. 

 — 1st Sam. xii. 23. 



