552 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



JlM.V 



|^YgELF Tip JAY pjEIGflB0Rg. 



Thou shalt love thy neighbor.— Lev. 19:18. 



fOU may wonder why I did not add the 

 customary "as thyself/' But I pre- 

 fer to leave it off— at least just now— 

 because it seems to me that this old 

 command has been repeated so often 

 that it falls on the ear almtst without ef- 

 fect. Another thing, quite a large class of 

 humanity smile, or sometimes laugh out- 

 right; and others go even so far as to jeer 

 and throw ridicule whenever the subject is 

 mentioned of loving anybody as a man loves 

 himself People say, "There can't anybody 

 do it;" and, again, "Nobody ever did do 

 it;" and, "It is all humbug, 11 etc. Per- 

 haps some of these friends forget that 

 Christ Jesus did actually, through every mo- 

 ment of his life, love his neighbors more 

 than he loved himself. Well, mankind will 

 have to have their own way, I suppose. 

 Those who ridicule this little text, however, 

 are, I believe, without exception, bad, self- 

 ish men. They oftentimes say it would be 

 a good thing if people would actually love 

 others more and self less, and then they go 

 on and tell about pretense and hypocrisy, 

 and they say we Christians do not have any 

 more love for our fellow-men, when we 

 come right down to it, than other folks ; and 

 1 think very likely we need a great deal of 

 exhortation' in this very line. All I am go- 

 ing to ask you to-day is that you shall love 

 your neighbor. If lie is not lovable, love 

 him as much as you can. If he hates you, 

 even then the best thing you can do is to 

 love him. If he is hateful and abusive, do 

 not get weary in trying to soften him by 

 kind acts. l)o not pay any attention to his 

 unkind words or spiteful actions. Try to 

 love your neighbor, whoever he may be. 

 Yes, try to love all your neighbors, and to 

 do them good. If something happens that 

 is going to take money out of your pocket, 

 try to see if it does not put money into the 

 pocket of somebody else, and be happy be- 

 cause of the good it does such a one. I 

 know what it is to get into a strife to see 

 who shall get the most trade and make the 

 most money ; but I know, too, that we can 

 light down this natural desire to accumu- 

 late ourselves, and find a far greater hap- 

 piness in seeing our neighbors accumulate 

 and prosper and do well. 



I have said considerable of late about low 

 prices. I have suggested to yon, thai, if 

 vou received only from 10 to 15 cents a bush- 

 el for your potatoes, some neighbor of yours 

 got his potatoes exceedingly low. Vou may 

 urge that there is reason in all things, and 

 that a man can not be very happy and feel 

 very pleasant when he does not get enough 

 for his produce to pay the cost of produc- 

 tion. Yes, there is truth in this; but for 

 all that, when circumstances make it neces- 

 sary for you to sell to your neighbor some- 

 thing for less than it actually cost you, you 

 can still congratulate him on his good for- 

 tune. Your loss is his gain. Another 

 thing, we Christians have the promise that, 

 if we seek first the kingdom of God, and his 



righteousness, all things else shall be added 

 unto us. 



I told you, June 13, that we were getting 

 15 cts. a quart for our strawberries. Just 

 after our journal went out, however, the 

 boys on the wagon reported that we could 

 not sell them as fast as they were picked, 

 unless the price came down. So they came 

 down to 14 cents; then to 12; then to 10. 

 Each decline started a fresh run on them 

 for perhaps a day ; but when people began 

 to find that the berries were dropping regu- 

 larly each morning, they very soon began to 

 take it for granted that it was to be the reg- 

 ular programme, and so they would not buy 

 to can until they got lower. When they got 

 down to 8 cents I thought that was low 

 enough — we certainly ought to have 8 cents 

 for such nice berries. But as people would 

 not buy the 10 or 12 bushels we were picking, 

 at 8 cts., what was to be done? We had had 

 some experience in letting a lot lie over, and 

 that certainly did not pay. Our customers 

 were beginning to say, " If you will give me 

 some that were picked this morning, I will 

 take some; but I don't want any that were 

 picked yesterday. 11 Some went even so far 

 as to decline having any in the evening that 

 were picked the same morning. We remon- 

 strated ; but they knew we were picking all 

 the while, and they preferred those which 

 had been only an hour from the berry-patch, 

 and that had not been jolted around on the 

 wagon. There was no help for it. We were 

 obliged to carry a few at a time, sell them 

 off, and then go back for more, thus mak- 

 ing quick work from pickers to consumers. 

 This state of affairs rendered it still more 

 necessary that the berries be made to go off 

 at sonic price. Well, they went down to ? 

 cts.; then to ; then to 5 cts.; and one day I 

 felt a little blue when the boys declared that 

 the whole town of Medina (2000 inhabitants) 

 would not take all the berries we were pick- 

 ing, even for 5 cents. They suggested ship- 

 ping them off somewhere. Now. my expe- 

 rience in shipping off garden stuff has not 

 been very favorable. Sometimes it sells for 

 enough to pay the express charges, and 

 sometimes it doesn't. The berries must 

 be sold in Medina. Mr. Weed suggested 

 that, if we could get rid of what we had on 

 hand, may be we could keep our heads above 

 water. I accordingly went round to the 

 hands in the factory and asked how many 

 wanted some nice strawberries, jnst picked, 

 for only 5 cts. I looked pleasant and good 

 natured about it, but there did not seem to 

 be any demand, even at this very low price. 

 I have been told that some said they guess- 

 ed the berries would be lower still than 5 

 cts., next day. 1 confess I was inclined to 

 feel a little bit discouraged, and I don't 

 know but I did suggest to my wife that I 

 would plow up part of my vines and not 

 raise so many berries, especially as it seem- 

 ed evident that we were raising too many 

 for our small town. I had not yet read 

 friend Terry's article, which you will find 

 on another page, in regard to this matter; 

 but when I did read it, it caused me to 

 smile. My wife suggested that our beauti- 

 ful berries, instead of affording me recrea- 

 tion and enjoyment, were adding to my 



