The tares arc the children of the wicked one; tlic 

 enemy that sowed them is the devil. -Matt. ia:;{s, :v.\. 



WONDER how many of the little fiteiuls 

 know any thing abotit foul brood. A 

 good many people say it can not be 

 cured— that the only way to get rid of it 

 is to burn up the bees, hives, honey, and 

 every thing. That is an awfid severe way 

 to cure disease, is it not. little frientlsV 

 Well, our friends 1). A. Jones, and Mr. 

 Muth. of Cincinnati, both say it can lie 

 cured ; and a Mr. Cheshire, across the ocean, 

 thinks he has a remedy for curing the bees 

 l)y just feeding some of it in honev. Tlu'v 

 call it iihenol. 'it will be tested thoroughly 

 this season. J)o some of you ask wlieic foul 

 brood comes from"::' \\'ell, I tiiink it comes 

 about the wayTopsy.in Incle Tom's Cal)in. 

 thought about herself. She said she 

 ■• 'spected that she growed." and I guess 

 that foul brood just grows. Now. then, does 

 it grow out of " nothing." as scmie folks put 

 it? Iflam correctly informed, there is not 

 any thing that grows out of nothing. There 

 are always seeds hidden away somewliere. 

 iSeeds have a trick of lying dormant a long 

 while ; and then when every thing is just 

 right, they up and grow, as if tiiey had only 

 just tliought of it, or took a notion to grow. 

 Alsike clover sometimes lies in the soil sev- 

 eral years. A good many of the friends have 

 sown ligwort and spider-plant seed, and they 

 said not a seed came up. The following 

 spring, however, or may be longer after- 

 ward, the plants came np thickly. If yon 

 ask any old farmer if corn ever comes up 



where none is planted, he will laugh at you, 

 and say, " Why, to be sure, not, sonny. 

 There was never a stalk of corn grew since 

 the world was made, unless a grain of corn 

 got planted there some way." I'erhaps this 

 same old farmer will gravely inform you 

 that weeds grow without seeds. He may 

 tell you that lireweeds, the kind that bear 

 honey, start up where brush-heaps and log- 

 heaps have been burned, and where there 

 coiUd not have been any seed ; for if there 

 was any seed in the ground, the hot fire 

 would surely have killed it all. AVell. now. 

 with all due deference to old farmers, and I 

 know they are wise and sharp in their own 

 line of business. I thiid< it is pretty well set- 

 tled that they are mistaken. No weed ever 

 grows without a seed. ])ut the seed may be a 

 thousand years old. 



I low many of you little friends, and I 

 guess I will say old ones too. have not. some 

 time or other, thought to yourself, " What 

 makes me feel so ugly this morningV"' or, 

 •• M'hat does possess me, that such wicked 

 and bad thoughts should come into my head, 

 as if some imp of Satan had whispered them 

 in my ear?' 1 once heard a good woman 

 say. \\ ho was a chmch-member, that some- 

 times awful blasphemous words would come 

 into her mind, as if somebody had whis- 

 pereil them. Where do they come from? 

 In the Pilgrim's Progress, which many of 

 our little folks have read. Christian, as he 

 walked along one day, was startled by aw- 

 fid fold, wicked word's that came into his 

 mind so vividly tliat it seemed as though he 

 spoke with himself; and this was just after 

 he left the palace Beautiful. He was after- 



