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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 1 



I think so even yet. A great many of us can 

 not even bear to be told of our faults — faults 

 that sadly need correcting ; and, oh dear me ! 

 I am afraid I too am one of that kind. I have 

 a few friends, and God knows I wish I had 

 more, who are not afraid to tell me kindly and 

 pleasantly of my faults and shortcomings. I 

 have had some tests lately along that line. 

 Some good friend who really shows his love 

 and regard for me reminds me of duties I owe 

 to society and to my fellow-men. I recognize 

 it, and thank him, and start about a reforma- 

 tion ; but ai'ter a while I get to defending my- 

 self, and before I know it I am feeling a little 

 spiteful toward the one who cared enough for 

 me to tell the plain frank truth. 



I am going to give you a letter right here 

 that I have just received. The writer did not 

 intend it for print, but I am inclined to think 

 he will not object, especially as he is a man 

 who is not afraid to speak out his mind. I 

 know from past experience that many of the 

 readers of Gleanings will be inclined to 

 bristle up and feel like talking back to him 

 for me. Please do not do it, friends. This 

 brother is a friend of mine, even if he has not 

 said what he felt, in as kindly a spirit as he 

 might have done. 

 The A. I. Root Co. 



Your paper is not quite common and practical 

 enough to suit me — travel notes and preaching. 

 When I pay for a bee-paper I'd like all bee. I must 

 preach to A. I. R. a little. He seems to be stuck on 

 his nice confessions, as though that would atone for 

 his lapses His Sunday excursion was just inexcusa- 

 ble. I think it would be better if he were not so 

 quick to see all the handi^ome women, and talk to all 

 the pretty girls. His Florida meandering was just 

 like liim — no definite aim and no settled convictions. 

 He will excuse us if we don't take his political preach- 

 ings at all seriously. He was never cut out for a lead- 

 er in thought or deed ; he slops over too easily. For 

 more possession and less profession (confession). 

 From a reader of over a quarter of a centurv. 



Dakota, 111., Aug. 20, — ,^,i j-rT"*:^. Wm. S. Fehr. 



Dear brother, I suppose you mean by your 

 opening sentence that I am getting to be a lit- 

 tle too worldly, and mixing in too much with 

 the aristocracy to suit you. Very likely you 

 are right, and I have been feeling something 

 of this myself. Perhaps you do not know 

 that I go to many fashionable and " high-ton- 

 ed " places, so called, not because my inclina- 

 tions lie that way, but because I feel that, in 

 my position, I ought to know a good deal 

 about this world of ours, especially the great 

 busy world. Just now I feel it a duty to visit 

 the Pan-American at Buffalo ; but, to tell the 

 truth, I should very much prefer to go off in 

 the woods on my ranch, and grow potatoes, 

 and play with spring water. My trip up 

 through the summer resorts of Northern Mich- 

 igan was a good deal because I thought many 

 people who have been, like myself, out of 

 health, ought to know about these things and 

 the facilities that are being offered to those 

 who are seeking health by traveling. I realiz- 

 ed, at the time I made that confession you al- 

 lude to (about going on Sunday excursions), 

 that I should be taken to task ; but so far only 

 one other reader of Gleanings has mention- 

 ed the matter. 



Now, dear brother, if, when I started out 

 on that excursion on Saturday morning, I had 

 plan7ied a Sunday trip without going to any 



place of religious worship at all, and had also 

 figured out that I would make it all right by 

 putting it in print in the way of Si ^' confes- 

 sion," then I should justly deserve your criti- 

 cism. Perhaps you may not bi^ieve me when 

 I tell you that I had no thought, when I start- 

 ed out, of omitting attendance on Sunday ser- 

 vices. It is true I might have guessed how it 

 was likely to come out, but I didn't. If you 

 think I am untruthful in this, then I would 

 recommend that you do as you say you will, 

 drop Gleanings entirely, and not waste any 

 more time in reading my writings. I made a 

 mistake, which I exceedingly regret ; but aft- 

 er all I have said about remembering the Sab- 

 bath day to keep it holy, my conscience trou- 

 bled me until I had confessed my mistake and 

 owned up. How could I come before you and 

 write these Home Papers, and leave you to 

 suppose that I at all times and under all cir- 

 cumstances practiced a strict observance of 

 the Sabbath ? You say, when you pay for a 

 bee-paper you would like it al/ bees. There 

 are several good journals that are devoted en- 

 tirely to bee culture, or almost entirely ; but 

 for almost 25 j'ears, the time you have taken 

 Gleanings, there has been a statement on 

 the cover to the effect that our publication is 

 "devoted to bees, honey, and home interests." 



Very likely you are right in finding fault or 

 complaining because of the way in which I 

 spoke of the handsome women out Sunday 

 afternoons on Mackinac Island. It is unusual 

 for me to speak of such things as I did then, 

 and my conscience troubled me about it after- 

 ward. While I like to see both men and wo- 

 men well and neatly dressed, I would not for 

 the world do any thing or say any thing to en- 

 courage the extravagance in dress that is so 

 common, especially in summer resorts. 



When I finished my Florida trip I felt some- 

 thing as you do — that I had been traveling 

 without any definite aim or settled convictions. 

 One reason of this was poor health during al- 

 most the entire trip. I think, however, I had 

 one pretty definite aim in starting out — that I 

 might find the warm weather in Florida more 

 favorable than the changeable weather here 

 at home ; but I did not find it so. 



I most heartily agree with you, dear broth- 

 er, that I was never " cut out for a leader in 

 thought or deed." But the last of your sen- 

 tence, about slopping over, is pretty tough. 

 Mav be, however, I do sometimes ; but if it is 

 really true, you are the first person who has 

 so far ever accused me of it, so far as I re- 

 member. I heartily agree with you, too, in 

 wishing for wore possession of the Holy Spir- 

 it to go with my profession. I notice you put 

 in parenthesis the word " confession " with 

 possession. Now, I am with you exactly in 

 thinking that confessions are in the main bad 

 things. A good many times in life, especially 

 during my Christian life, when seeing the aft- 

 er-consequences of confession, I have ques- 

 tioned the wisdom of it. If there was no 

 transgrcssio7i there would certainly be no need 

 of co7ifession ; and it behooves every one of 

 us who are professing Christians, and every- 

 body else, to live in such a way that there will 

 be 7iotInng to confess. 



