950 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dkc. 1 



times a hard matter to find anj' particular 

 one on short notice. And this illustrates 

 how we often g^et cross, and grumble about 

 the very things we ought to be devoutly 

 thankful for. 



I have thought many times of late that 

 God has spoiled us by g'iving' us too much. 

 He has been too kind, and we are g-ettiug 

 to be ungrateful; and this certainly is true 

 in a majority of cases with husbands and 

 wives who quarrel after the family has 

 grown up. (3ne of the reasons why trouble 

 comes between the man and his wife is, as 

 I have suggested, that the_v are becoming 

 forgetful, and do not realize it. Another 

 is, that their health begins to fail, perhaps 

 in many ways. They do not hear what is 

 said as distinctly as they used to do. They 

 do not see as well. The g'lasses get lost. 

 As we get older there is more apt to be in- 

 digestion unless we are careful. We do not 

 take as much outdoor exercise as we used 

 to do, and we suffer in consequence. When 

 there are no children (or other people) 

 around we are not as careful to be cour- 

 teous and kind as we used to be. Satan 

 puis it into our heads to think it is a fine 

 thing to speak out plainly. Both of us be- 

 come more careless than we used to be be- 

 cause things are not crowding", perhaps. 

 Little by little an irritable spirit gets into 

 one or both of our hearts. Family worship 

 may be gone through with as a form, but 

 the spirit maj^ be lacking. In other words, 

 the Spirit may be o-yicvcd away, as we are 

 warned in Ephesians. 



Some months ago I told you of an experi- 

 ence I had that frightened me. I dreaded 

 to speak of it then, but I felt that it :nig-ht 

 prove a warning to others as it had been 

 ;;nd still is a warning to me. Something 

 that belonged particularly to myself was 

 cut of place. I did not mean to be unpleas- 

 ant or unkind, but I fear I must have been 

 so, thoughtlessly. At any rate I spoke in 

 a complaining tone. I was informed that 

 nobody had touched it but myself. What- 

 ever the condition of things, it was certain- 

 ly my own doings. I attempted to explain 

 that it was not my own doings, and could 

 not have been. B3' this time I certainly was 

 cut of temper; a bad spirit had entered my 

 heart. Now, dear brothers and sisters, let 

 me assure you that you do not know how 

 contagions a bad spirit or a bad temper is. 

 The reply I received was something differ- 

 ent from an}' thing I had ever heard from 

 the person who uttered it. It raised a tem- 

 pest in my heart — such a tempest as I never 

 dreamed, especially of late j'ears, was pos- 

 sible. That little warning beg-an to ring- 

 out sharp and clear, "Lord, help.'' But 

 for some reason or other the Lord did not 

 help. I prayed earnestly, but Satan had 

 gotten Ji foothold.> He kept declaring" that I 

 was wronged without reason, and thiit it 

 was not m3' duty to bear it. I knew it was 

 Satan. God knows I have, throug-h my 

 poor life, felt his clutches often enough so I 

 oug-ht to know him. I prayed most earnest- 

 ly. I tried to read my papers; but my ej^es 



went away out into vacancy beyond the pa- 

 pers, and pictured the wrong I had suffered 

 in different forms. Words came thronging" 

 in troops — hard bitter words. I arose and 

 went out into the darkness of the night, but 

 they followed me still. I could only groan 

 and pray. I did no^ understand it then, 

 and I do not understand it now. The whole 

 thing was preposterous. All of it grew out 

 of a little unimportant matter. Suppose I 

 was wrongfully accused; suppose I was 

 right, and somebod}' else wrong — what did 

 it matter, any wa^-? See what Peter says: 



What glon,- is it, if, when j'e are buifeted for your 

 faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if when ye do 

 well, and .siifTer for it, ye take it patiently, this is ac- 

 ceptable with God. — I. Peter 2:'20. 



I knew all these thing's, and I knew I had 

 taught all my life the beauty of suffering 

 for Christ's sake — of returning" good for 

 evil, and all that; but I was caught in Sa- 

 tan's toils, and I could not get out. Thank 

 God, I did have sense enough to keep still 

 and not say a word. This mental conflict, 

 this mental zvrestling, if yoti choose, with 

 the prince of darkness, kept his hold on me 

 for hours; and all next day I felt like one 

 who had been through a fit of sickness, or 

 had labored beyond his strength. It was 

 not my muscles that were sore, however — it 

 was my spirituality. Since that time I look 

 with horror at the thoug"ht of the demon 

 that lurks otit of sight, almost unknown, in 

 my own heart. The Bible says, "The 

 heart is deceitful above all things, and des- 

 perately wicked: who can know it?" I 

 know, if others do not, that this is true. 

 The memory of this thing I ain telling about 

 has made me afraid. 



I presui^ne people are imhapp}' after they 

 have separated. I know by what some have 

 confessed to me how much mental suffering 

 they endure while considering the matter of 

 divorce. I am pretty sure that language 

 can not express the misery and suffering 

 that would be mine if any thing serious 

 were to happen between myself and the 

 companion God has given me. After this 

 thing I have spoken of, I resolved over and 

 over again that I would avoid even the ap- 

 pearance of evil along this line. I decided 

 to set the example of avoiding any sort of 

 dispute or disagreement between us two 

 when we were alone. I resolved to keep 

 back all fretful or impatient speeches, and 

 dechired to myself and before my Savior 

 that I would be gentle and kind and cour- 

 teous to "the woman I love" as I would be 

 to any other woman whoin I might meet on 

 the street, for instance, or to the bee-keep- 

 ers' wives or grown-up daughters where I 

 may be visiting. Some people luay smile 

 at the idea of being as pleasant and cour- 

 teous and obliging to your own wife as to 

 other women; but, my good friend, if you 

 are, every moment of your life, as gallant 

 and civil to your wife as to any other wo- 

 man, you are a model husband.* 



* It sometimes transpires that something must be 

 said to your wife that yon know pretty well will pro- 

 duce unpleasant feelings. I have had several experi- 

 ences of this kind, some of them quite recently Be- 



