826 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 



happy and buoyant and rejoicing always, 

 let us follow the text, as did even our Lord 

 and Master ; for he came " not to be minis- 

 tered unto, but to minister, and to give his 

 life a ransom for many." 



In many avocations and pursuits of life, 

 we are crowded. Sometimes the house you 

 live in is too small. Sometimes the young 

 folks, when they get married, start to live 

 with father and mother; and with the love 

 of Christ Jesus in the heart of even one side 

 of the house, there will never be any feeling 

 of being crowded. Yet the feeling some- 

 times comes, however. The young folks 

 want to have more room and more liberty. 

 A good many of the friends complain be- 

 cause so many pitch right into any line of 

 business when it begins to be a little profit- 

 able. Somebody makes a pretty good thing 

 of raising strawberries. Then everybody 

 else in the neighborhood goes to raising 

 them until they hardly bring enough to pay 

 the pickers. There is a constant crowd. 

 Somebody starts a drygoods store in a little 

 town. Pretty soon another one starts up 

 on the opposite corner. There is not busi- 

 ness for both of them. It is overdone. So 

 with the drug-store and the printing-busi- 

 ness; so with the hotel-keeper. Why, I 

 have even heard such things whispered 

 about the bee-journals. Gleanings in Bee 

 Culture has done tolerably well ; and oth- 

 ers start bee-journals, thinking that they 

 may also do tolerably well. By and by the 

 old trouble comes up— there are too many 

 bee-journals — the field is overworked, /did 

 not say so, my friend ; but it is what the 

 world says. We occasionally meet people 

 who have tried strawberries, honey-raising, 

 dry goods, drugs, hotel-keeping, and may be 

 they have started a bee-journal. All of 

 them fail, because there was not a chance 

 anywhere for a man to turn an honest pen- 

 ny. Sharpers and the tricky ones get all 

 the money, so they say. Sometimes they 

 indulge in bitter flings toward the middle- 

 men, who " toil not, neither do they spin." 

 They do not wait for their heavenly Father 

 to feed them— at least so the world says— 

 but get a pretty good feed by cheating right 

 and left. Now, please remember, friends, 

 that I have not said this. I do not believe 

 it. The middlemen are my friends, and I 

 love them. I hope I should love them, even 

 if they toere all enemies ; but I am glad they 

 are not. The world has also a way of talk- 

 ing about the " bloated aristocrat." It pains 

 me to hear this term, because it is a hateful 

 one. Well, I have made quite an array of 

 truths, have I not? I have not spoken of 

 strikes and trusts, but I might have done so. 

 Is there a remedy? Why, Heaven bless you, 

 my friend, to be sure there is ; and the rem- 

 edy is this last text of mine. I wish it were 

 painted on a great big shingle, and tacked 

 up at all the street corners — yes, in letters 

 so big that they could be put up above the 

 tops of the highest trees or meeting-house 

 steeples. Why, since I think of it, I do not 

 know but that it would be more needed 

 above the steeples than over the trees. 1 

 should like to see it across the sky — lt Not 

 to be ministered unto, but to minister." 

 Now, please do not turn away, dear friend. 



There is room for all the world under the 

 banner of this text. There is plenty of em- 

 ployment, witli good pay to be had, right 

 along in this line. The business will not be 

 overdone for a thousand years. No, it will 

 never be overdone. Thousands and thou- 

 sands may enter into it, and yet there will 

 be elbow-room— plenty of room for more — 

 " Not to be ministered unto, but to minis- 

 ter." The sad part of it is, that human 

 nature unregenerated is continually clam- 

 oring for servants to wait on them ; and if 

 the servants would work without pay, all 

 the better. Christ Jesus stands almost alone 

 in this grand, glorious, loving work of help- 

 ing people— helping everybody, being glad 

 because you can help— being a servant. The 

 world clamors lor fat salaries and not much 

 hard work. The servant of Christ wants 

 only a chance to serve somebody. He does 

 not trouble himself about the pay, whether 

 it be big or little. Why, bless your heart, 

 dear brother and sister, he does not need to, 

 for the Lord of all — the Judge of all the 

 earth— takes care of the pay. He has said, 

 in a thousand ways, that we need not wor- 

 ry; and he is the best paymaster on earth- 

 more prompt and liberal than any man who 

 ever lived. There is only a little condition ; 

 and that condition is, that we " seek first 

 the kingdom of God, and his righteousness," 

 and the reward is promised that "all things 

 shall be added unto you." It is true. I 

 know it is true ; for every thing around me 

 emphasizes the truth of it. Now, when I 

 started out, perhaps you did not see that 

 my two texts had any connection with each 

 other. Do you see it now, dear friends? If 

 we love to minister to those around us— to 

 these brothers and sisters, shall we not go 

 through life rejoicing, and singing the little 

 hymn that gladdened my heart and made 

 me joyous as I approached my home? 



One sweetly solemn thought 



Conies to me o'er and o'er; 

 I'm nearer home to-day, to-day. 



Than I have been before. 



CHORUS. 



Nearer my home, nearer my home, 

 Nearer my home to-day, to-day, 

 Than I have been before. 



Nearer my Father's house. 



Where many mansions be; 

 Nearer the great white throne to-day, 



Nearer the crystal sea. 



Nearer the bound of life. 

 Where burdens are laid down; 



Nearer to leave the cross to-day. 

 And nearer to the crown. 



Be near me when my feet 



Are slipping o'er the brink; 

 For I am nearer home to-day, 



Perhaps, than now I think. 



Would you like an illustration or two of 

 the way I understand this text? A few 

 days ago, a man with a very heavy load, in 

 driving on to the hayscales, got one of the 

 wheels between the platform and the bor- 

 dering timbers. The enormous weight had 

 squeezed the wheel down so that the load 

 would apparently have to be removed be- 

 fore it could be extricated. He stood with 

 a troubled look on his face, for he was 

 doubtless in a hurry. 



