292 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 



great many, and the number seems to be in- 

 creasing every day. Now do not imagine 

 I am doing business in a loose and slipshod 

 way, because I have said this. I am one of 

 the "fiercest" fellows on a dun, you ever saw, 

 and the way I go over and look at every 

 thing, insisting on even the last copper, in a 

 trade, might look a little inconsistent to 

 some of you. Here is a card from friend B. 

 after he got his last queen : 



The queen received, introduced, and laying. I 

 feel my unworthiness of such great kindness keenly. 

 I could not send out queens known to be bred from 

 an impure mother. The tears would trickle down on 

 the pillow last night, while thinking of nil your 

 kindness to me. I owe several debts, and have 

 only $1.50 at present, but if you will tell me how 

 much you candidly think I ought to pay you, I'll try 

 to get it for you. May you prosper in all you un. 

 dertake. Truly yours,— O. F. Bowen. 



Kandolph, N. Y., May 10, 1880. 



Nothing, friend 13. It is all paid. I can 

 feel this confidence and trust in my fellow- 

 men, when I can feel, in the language of our 

 opening text, that their lives have once been 

 lost, for our Savior's sake, and that they 

 henceforth, as far as a greed for gain is con- 

 cerned, shall be as anxious for my welfare 

 as for their own, — lost for evil, but found 

 for all that is good. 



Since writing the above, the following has 

 come to hand : 



Your card is received, offering to bear half the loss 

 of the queens sent me about April 14th. I am very 

 m uch obliged to you indeed, for the kind offer, but 

 cannot accept it, as I do not believe I would be doing 

 justice to you or myself either (more injustice to 

 myself than to you) to do so. I believe 1 said explic- 

 itly I did not bl.froe you for the loss sustained. 

 J-'hould I accept your offer. I should feel conscious 

 that I had taken your property without compensa- 

 tion. 



Fifteen years of laborious practice of my chosen 

 profession, I believe, has enabled me to feel much 

 of the desire you have to please your customers, 

 and also the willingness to suffer loss rather than 

 incur the displeasure of those with whom you deal. 



I cannot believe that anything happens to me, but 

 that all that befalls me is ordered by our Father in 

 heaven for our highest benefit ; and I hope to live 

 until all that I do shall be done for the glory of God, 

 and that Christ shall be to me all in all. 

 Fraternally yours, — 



Enoch s. Arwine. 



Bean Blossom, Ind., May 21, 1880. 



Where this spirit prevails, my friends, not 

 only will unkind words cease, but unkind 

 thoughts, even, will be unknown. 



On page 83 of February No , I told you it 

 seemed to me I would be perfectly happy if 

 I could say to all the boys and girls who 

 come thronging to me for work, that I could 

 give them a place, etc. I talked with my 

 wife about it, and told her it seemed as if 

 God was sending them to me that, while 

 giving them something to do, I might, at the 

 same time, give them of the bread of life. 

 Well, for many days, and even weeks, it was 

 a continual subject of prayer, that God 

 would send the work, that I might not be 

 obliged continually to send these young 



folks away in disappointment. I had prayed 

 so long about it that I finally felt, as I often 

 do, that an answer of some kind was surely 

 coming. I once before told you that ear- 

 nest, honest prayer, for something not self- 

 ish, seemed to me like 'piling fuel under the 

 boiler of a steam-engine. No immediate ef- 

 fect is at once perceptible ; but prayers day 

 after day, for something which, we are sure, 

 meets God's approval (now, bear in mind 

 that I mean earnest, hard work with hands 

 and brain right along with it, to show God, 

 as it were, that you are in earnest) is sure to 

 bring forth a result sooner or later. Up to 

 nearly the first of May our trade in hives, 

 etc., was not up to the average of other 

 years. So true was this, that Mr. Gray re- 

 marked that we should probably get along 

 without as many hands as we had last year, 

 and without working over hours, especially 

 as our machinery was so much improved 

 over previous years. Finally the apple- 

 bloom came out with an unexpected flow of 

 honey, and the yield seemed to be general 

 all over our land. As a consequence, our 

 friends discovered, all at once, that they 

 wanted hives and sections ; and, as many 

 swarms came out in apple-bloom, they want- 

 ed them right off. A great many apologies 

 were sent for waiting until they were just 

 ready to use the hives, etc., but each one 

 seemed to think himself probably the only 

 one who had been so careless. Hands were 

 called in a twinkling, the engineer got up 

 before daylight, % the furnace under the boiler 

 was urged by coal and shavings up to a fierce 

 heat, and kept there all day long, while 

 every machine in the establishment was set 

 going, and the roar and din of swarming 

 season commenced in good earnest. More 

 clerks were hired, additions were made to 

 the desks, and when all could not be ac- 

 commodated then, even my private office 

 was given up, and we determined at least 

 to give prompt and courteous answers to all 

 customers, if we could do no more. Realiz- 

 ing the dangers that would ensue from get- 

 ting out of lumber, metals, or any raw mate- 

 rials, I kept one girl almost constantly writ- 

 ing postal cards for supplies. Car loads of 

 lumber, coal, and tin came down upon us in 

 such haste that we could hardly find time 

 and men to unload them. Wax, glass, pa- 

 per, twine, nails, hoop iron, enameled cloth, 

 and everything that I could remember of 

 ever having had to wait for. were ordered in 

 such quantities that even the clerks began 

 to open their mouths and stare ; and I have 

 since wondered that I scanned the whole 

 needs so well that we have hardly waited a 

 day for anything that money could well buy. 

 For fear I might be disappointed in tin, 

 wax, and some such things at one house, I 

 often sent orders at the same lime to two 

 and sometimes three different houses. 



By getting our hands, and making arrange- 

 ments for further work, for a few days, we 

 kept the orders that came pouring in, in 

 sight of us ; finally, there came a clay with 

 160 orders, amounting in all to over $700.00, 

 as mentioned elsewhere. This was too 

 great a flood for us all around, and we were 

 almost staggered by it, but the next was 

 nearly as great, and the next, and so on. 



