780 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov 



n monume'iit, ;ind I wanted the monument 

 away up high— liigtuT than the one I made 

 of snow and ice the winter before. The 

 problem was, to get the building material. 

 I couldn't buy lumber ; stone was plentiful, 

 but they were too heavy for me to lift, and I 

 couldn't cut and put them together Avith 

 mortar. Nothing presented itself better than 

 stovewood. I well knew, without asking, 

 that father and mother hadn't a bit of ob- 

 jection to my cutting up lots of stovewood 

 ahead, and piling it up so the sun and wind 

 would dry it nicely for the kitchen stove. 

 At it I went, and up went the monument. 

 Of course, the six children were anxious to 

 know what new hobby that brother had got 

 into his head now— one tiiat even made him 

 neglect his chickens somewhat. Of course, 

 the only way to preserve my monument in- 

 tact was to keep wood enough in a pile by 

 the gate ; and I was greatly tried some- 

 times, because some of ray older sisters 

 pulled wood out of my monument, instead 

 of taking from this little pile. When I re- 

 monstrated, with tears in my eyes, they 

 couldn't see that it made much difference 

 where they got the wood. Mother saw the 

 difference, though, and 1 presume she would 

 liave scraped up chips, and burned old 

 chunks as before, rather than to have laid a 

 finger on the structure that I had builded 

 with so much boyish pride and enthusiasm. 

 I wondfr if the mothers who read these lines 

 realize Avhat a hold they may have on these 

 boyish minds— a hold that they may keep 

 through life, even when those boys are great 

 strong men. Had it not been for the kind 

 Christian coiuisel of this good mother, who 

 knew me through and through, as no other 

 human being did, I might not have been 

 Avriting here to - day, with this beautiful 

 little text at the head of my chapter. 



The above little sketch illustrates what a 

 difference it makes with the one who has 

 work before him, whether he has a pur- 

 pose and an end in view, or is simply work- 

 ing mechanically, Avithout any purpose or 

 end. Now, before I start out to tell you 

 what to do, I want to try to awaken a pur- 

 pose and an object in your hearts. Having 

 a family on your hands to support, or being 

 in need of tlie wherewith to purchase your 

 daily bread, is an inspiring motive, or, at 

 least, it ought to be such, I very Avell know ; 

 but, dear friends, I think there is a higher 

 and a better one still, and 1 want you to 

 start out with a plan i'or building a monu- 

 ment that shall not only go on through this 

 life, |)ut through the lifp to come ; and I 



want you to take into partnership with you 

 in your undertaking, the great God of the 

 universe. Whatever we do, we want to do 

 it out of love to him. I want you to love 

 his sunshine as I have been loving it for 

 several months past, because it is his sun- 

 shine. I want you to love the gentle rain 

 and the dews, because they are gifts he sends 

 us daily. I want you to learn to love old 

 Mother Earth, because it is his gift to man; 

 and I want you to love the dumb animals 

 about you, because they are his creatures. 

 Furthermore, I want to show you how to 

 appreciate these things so that you will love 

 to make use of them for his sake. We want 

 to learn to love the sunshine so much that we 

 shall feel guilty if we lose even a little bit of 

 it. We want to get up early in the morning, 

 to enjoy the first glimpse of it. Then we 

 want to be ready to go to bed about as soon 

 as the last glimpse of it disappears. Even 

 in the longest summer days, we want to be 

 able to economize all the sunshine there is ; 

 and in the same way we would economize, 

 as far as we can, all the rain and dew. We 

 want to use these gifts as a faithful steward 

 would xise the money and property put into 

 his hands. Do you begin to suspect that I 

 mean to liave you all become gardeners? 

 Well, in ojie sense that is exactly what I 

 have had in mind — at least, this far. No 

 matter what your calling in life may be ; no 

 matter how you are situated, I feel sure it 

 will add to your happiness to learn how to 

 make things grow, with these aids God has 

 given us. And even should it transpire that 

 you may not have an opportimity at present 

 of seeing things grow at all, I expect to give 

 you general rules that will be great aids in 

 making any business in life a success. One 

 who can grow plants, and make them do his 

 bidding, is prepared, to a certain extent, to 

 make any other kind of business do his bid- 

 ding. 



I do not know how you are situated, of 

 course ; but my talk is principally directed 

 to those who have leisure time on their 

 hands ; who liave their evenings unemploy- 

 ed, or who have leisure during the winter 

 months of the year. If you have unoccupied 

 time during the usual growing season for 

 plants, all the better. Neither do I know 

 whether you are situated where frost and 

 snow is the rule for nearly half of the year, 

 or whether you are like the friends I met in 

 New Orleans last March, who knov; nothing 

 of any frost, sutlicient to make it needful tq 

 have any kind of a cellar. Now, although 

 my talks will be principally directed to thosg 



