188 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 



verv gravel v took her by the hand and led 

 her" up by 'his side, and then made her sit 

 down by the steps of the pulpit. It seemed 

 to me a little severe, and I was afraid she 

 was going to cry ; but she only hung down 

 her head ; and pretty soon, when his atten- 

 tion was taken up by the work of the school 

 she edged off slightly, so that, when he 

 looked" for her again, she was missing. 

 Now, this was a mere trifle, dear reader; 

 but somehow or other it brought vividly be- 

 fore my mind the task that the Sunday- 

 school teachers and superintendents have 

 upon their shoulders— the leading of these 

 precious little souls to Christ Jesus. And 

 then burst upon me, as never before, the 

 words, " Suffer the little children to come 

 unto me. and forbid them not." 



After the school was over, the little blue- 

 eyed chick came up to me again, and the 

 superintendent came at the same time. It 

 was his little girl. It seemed to me as if I 

 loved them both — father and child — as 

 though they had been near relatives all my 

 life. I told her about my little Huber at 

 home ; then I asked her some questions. 



" Will you tell me your name, my little 

 friend?'' 



The only reply I got, however, was, " I 

 had my hair cut yesterday ;" and then she 

 indulged in her childish fun again. 

 " But won't you tell me how old you are?" 

 " Next May*" was all the reply I could 

 get. Then her father asked me how I got 

 on with my class. I looked up into his 

 kindly face, but I did not dare to tell him 

 the whole truth. Had I done so I should 

 have said it was one of the happiest half- 

 hours of my life. I decided to say only, 

 that, for my part, I had enjoyed it exceed- 

 ingly. One of the members of the class— a 

 bright, intelligent lady, who had strength- 

 ened me by her kind and wise words, added : 

 " And I am glad to say, Mr. Superinten- 

 dent, that the class have enjoyed it also— at 

 least, I have enjoyed it very much." 



What a nice lot of men and women were 

 in that class ! Was it possible that Mani- 

 tou contained more good people than all the 

 rest of the world, or was it only the peace 

 of Christ Jesus, and that his great love had 

 found a lodging-place in my heart that Sun- 

 day morning, that had made me feel like 

 loving every thing and everybody ? 



There was another little circumstance 

 that made that morning service so bright 

 and glorious. Right back of the pulpit, in 

 beautiful letters on the wall, were the fol- 

 lowing words : 



"Let the words of my mouth, and the medita- 

 tions of my heart, be acceptable in thy eight, O 

 Lord, my strength and my redeemer." 



When those words first burst on my view, 

 it seemed that it was the most grand and 

 glorious text that the Bible ever gave to 

 poor humanity; and the often er I read the 

 words, the brighter they shone forth, as a 

 beautiful prayer for weak and sinful people 

 like myself. I thought of my wavering de- 

 cision of the night before ; but T can not tell 

 you how I thanked God that I had not chos- 

 en to'travel on Sunday. During my stay I 

 had had several arguments, and some pret- 

 ty serious talks, with avowed infidels and 



skeptics ; and the thought came into my 

 mind, Is there an individual in the whole 

 wide world who can honestly raise the 

 slightest objection, or offer a single breath 

 of criticism, on that wonderful prayer V 



I can't tell you the wide difference be- 

 tween having the prospect before me of Sun- 

 day travel, contrasted with a day among 

 Christian worshipers. Do you say it is an 

 easy matter to make me happy ? My friend, 

 it is an easy matter to make everybody happy, 

 when they are in the path of duty. A thrill 

 of peace and joy poured down into my soul 

 so like that of my first experience, when 1 

 dropped the whole world for Christ Jesus, 

 that it was hard for me to keep the tears 

 back. What a bright and pretty gathering 

 of boys and girls, and what a class full of in- 

 telligent and refined gentlemen and ladies 

 were in my class. My heart went out in 

 love to every one of them. I read the text 

 again and again, dwelling longingly on the 

 (1 i ft'erent shades of meaning. Did David ev- 

 er long for the presence of God in his heart 

 as I have longed, and did he ever have 

 cause to pray as / have prayed, that his in- 

 most thoughts might be acceptable to God V 

 How exactly it tits with my temptation and 

 triumph of yesterday ! To-morrow I am go- 

 ing to visit, and describe to you some of the 

 natural curiosities about here; but, dear 

 friends, there is nothing in this whole uni- 

 verse to be compared with the riches— the 

 boundless and inexhaustible riches of the sim- 

 ple words of the text I have quoted. 



Recent Deyemppe^ 



CONDUCTED BY ERNEST R. ROOT. 

 THE DOVETAILED HIVE. 



I HE tendency of the times is more and 

 more toward simplicity. The most 

 practical honey-producers— those who 

 own colonies by the hundreds and not 

 by the tens, incline toward (if they do 

 not already use) cheap, substantial, and sim- 

 ple hives and fixtures. Indeed, the price of 

 honey is such that they can not afford ex- 

 pensive and complicated arrangements. In 

 the past few months our foreman (Mr. J. S. 

 Warner), Mr. Calvert, and your humble ser- 

 vant, have been considering the question of 

 a still simpler and still cheaper hive than 

 the Simplicity, though not necessarily cheap- 

 er in quality. Dr. C. C. Miller's advice and 

 assistance have been freely sought through 

 correspondence. After a good deal of ar- 

 guing and discussion, and a careful study of 

 the needs of the times, we have at last 

 brought out what we shall call the Dove- 

 tailed hive, a cut of which we append below. 

 As the name indicates, its distinctive fea- 

 ture is the dovetailed corners. To do this 

 work we have recently put in some expen- 

 sive machinery. Almost anv child can drive 

 such a hive together. If each of the dove- 

 tailed ends be dipped into paint before driv- 

 ing them together, and then cross-nailed, 

 you have a joint that, for strength, can 

 hardly be surpassed. No iron gauge-frames 

 nor any thing of the sort is necessary. The 

 hive proper is simply an eight-frame hive 



