1880 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



445 



\ur f ciRSf. 



Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the 

 earth.— Matt. v. 5. 



ggJINCE these home papers were started, I 

 v^i have received many excellent books, 

 from friends almost all over the world, 

 and I have often felt sad when I looked at 

 them, to think it is almost beyond possibility 

 that I should ever read them all. Some that 

 have been received during hurried seasons 

 have been laid aside until some more con- 

 venient time, until I have actually forgot- 

 ten from whom they came. Others have 

 been read part way through, and then drop- 

 ped. Please do not think me careless or un- 

 grateful, dear friends, for it is not that, but 

 only that my life will not cover so much. 

 At many seasons, it is all my brains will 

 bear, to read all of your letters, and were it 

 not for the intervals I get in the open air, 

 out among the honey plants, away from 

 everybody, I fear I should not be able to do 

 this. I mention this, that you may not think 

 me purposelv careless or ungrateful. I al- 

 ways, at least, give every book a hasty re- 

 view, and many of them have been of more 

 value to me than you are perhaps aware. 



A kind friend in England has just sent me 

 a work entitled "From Death Unto Life," 

 with the request, if I think proper, that I 

 would read portions of it at our noon-day 

 service. I have done so; and one simple lit- 

 tle story contained therein, I wish to give 

 you here. It is as follows: 



One morning-, while we were sitting at breakfast, 

 I heard some one walking about in the hall with a 

 heavy steD, saying-, "Praise the Lord! praise the 

 Lord!" On opening the door, I beheld a happy- 

 looking little man, in a black Quaker-cut coat, which 

 it was very evident had not been made for him, but 

 for some much larger body. " Well, my friend," I 

 said, "who are you?" 



" I am Billy Bray," he replied, looking steadily at 

 me with his twinkling eyes ; "and be you the 

 passnn?" 



"Yes, I am." 



"Thank ihe Lord! Converted, are ye ?" 



"Yes, thank God." 



"And the missus inside" (pointing to the dining- 

 room), "be she converted?" 



" Ves, she is." 



"Thank the dear Lord!" he said, moving forward. 



I made way for him, and he came stepping into 

 the room; then making a profound bow to the said 

 "missus," he asked, "Be there any maidens (ser- 

 vants)?" 



"Yes, there are three in the kitchen." 



" Be they converted too? " 



I was able to answer in the affirmative; and as I 

 pointed towards the kitchen door when I mentioned 

 it, he made off in that direction, and soon we heard 

 them all shouting and praising God together. When 

 we went in, there was Billy Bray, very joyful, 

 singing, 



"Canaan is ;i happy place; 

 I am bound for the Ian 1 of Canaan. ' ' 



We then returned to the dining-room with our 

 strange guest, when he suddenly caught me up in 

 his arms and carried me round the room. I was so 

 taken by surprise, that it was as much as I could do 

 to keep myself in an upright position, till he had ac- 

 complished the circuit. Then he set me in my 

 chair, and rolling on the ground for joy, said that he 

 "was as happy as he could live." When this per- 

 formance was at an end, he rose up with a face that 

 denoted the fact, for it was beaming all over. I in- 

 vited him to take some breakfast with us, to which 

 he assented with thanks. He chose bread and milk, 

 for he said, "I am only a child." 



I asked him to be seated, and gave him a chair; 



but he preferred walking about, and went on talk- 

 ing all the time. He told us that twenty years asro, 

 as he was walking over this very hill on which my 

 church and house were built (it was a barren old 

 place then), the Lord said to him, " I will s-ive thee 

 all that dwell in this monntain." Immediately he 

 fell down on his knees and thanked the Lord, and 

 then ran to the nearest cottage. There he talked 

 and prayed with the people, and was enabled to 

 bring them to Christ; then he went to the next cot- 

 tage, and got the same blessing; and then to a third, 

 where he was equally successful. Then he told 

 "Father" that there were only three "housen" in 

 this mountain, and prayed that more might be built. 

 That prayer remained with him, and he never 

 ceased to make it for years. The neighbours, who 

 heard his prayer from time to time, wondered why 

 he should ask for "housen" to be built in such an 

 " ungain" place. 



At last, after sixteen years, he received a letter 

 from his brother James, to say that they were hack- 

 ing up the "croft" to plant trees, and that they 

 were going to build a church on the hill. He was 

 "tine and glad." and praised the Lord. Again he 

 did so, when his brother wrote to say there was a 

 vicarag-e to be built on the same hill, and a school- 

 room also. He was almost beside himself with joy 

 and thankfulness for all this. 



In the year 18l8, when the church was completed 

 and opened, he came on a visit to Baldhu, and was 

 greatly surprised to see what a change had taken 

 place. There was a beautiful church, a parsonage, 

 with a nourishing garden, and also a schoolroom, 

 with a large plantation and fields round them. He 

 was quite "'mazed," for he never thought that the 

 old hill could be made so grand as that ! However, 

 when he went to the service in the church, his joy 

 was over; he came out "checkfallen," and quite 

 disappointed. He told "Father" that that was 

 nothing but an "oldPusey" He had got there, and 

 that he was no good. While he was praying that af- 

 ternoon, "Father" gave him to understand that he 

 had no business there yet, and that he had come too 

 soon, and without permission. So he went back to 

 his place at once, near Bodmin, and continued to 

 pray for the hill. 



After three years his brother James wrote again: 

 and this time it was to tell him that the parson and 

 all his family were converted, and that there was a 

 great revival at the church. Now poor Billy was 

 most eager to come and see this for himself, but he 

 obtained no permission, though he asked and looked 

 for it every day for more than three months. 



At last, one wintry and frosty night in January, 

 about half-past eleven o'clock, just as he was get- 

 ting into bed, "Father" told him he might goto 

 Baldhu. He was so overjoyed, that he did not wait 

 till the morning, but immediately "put up" his 

 clothes again, "hitched in" the donkey, and set ou f . 

 in his slow-going little cart. He came alonsr singing 

 all the way, nearly thirty miles, and arrived early in 

 the morning. Having put up his donkey in my sta- 

 ble, he came into the house, and presented himself, 

 as I have already stated, in the hall, praising God. 



We were a long time over breakfast that morning, 

 for the happy man went on from one thing to an- 

 other, "telling of the Lord," as he called it, assuring 

 us again and again that he was "fine and glad, and 

 very happy "—indeed, he looked so. He said there 

 was one thing more he must tell us; it was this— 

 that he had a " preaching-house " (what we should 

 now call a mission-room), which he had built years 

 ago. He had often prayed there for "this old 

 mountain," and now he should dearly love to see me 

 in the pulpit of that place, and said that he would 

 let me have it for my work. He went on to say that 

 he had built it by prayer and faith, as "Father" 

 sent him help, and that ho and another man had 

 built it with their own hands. One day he was short 

 of money to buy timber to finish the roof ; his mate 

 said it would take two pounds' worth; so he asked 

 the Lord for this sum. and wondered why the money 

 did not come, for he felt sure that he was to have it. 

 A farmer happened to look in the next morning, and 

 IJilly thought he had come with the money, but he 

 merely asked them what they were doing, and then 

 took his departure, without giving them help. All 

 that day they waited in expectation, and went home 

 in the evening without having done any work. The 

 next morning the same farmer appeared again, and 

 said, " What do you want two pounds for?" "Oh," 

 said Billy, "you are come, are you? We want that 

 money for the roof yonder." The farmer then went 

 on to say, "Two days ago it came to my mind to 



