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GLfiANli^GS iH BEE CULTURE. 



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JljYgELF WD MY ]\[EI6PB01^S. 



Whether therefore ye cat, or drink, orwhatsoevei* 

 ye do, do all to the glory ol God— I. Cor. 10: 31. 



tINCE mv last talk to you, my dear 

 friends, 1 have been learning some les- 

 sons ; but the memory of those lessons 

 is very pleasant. Satan's evil sug- 

 gestions seem to have mostly passed 

 away, and in place of them these" lessons 

 witii ])leasant memories come. I am getting 

 better ((diiiaintcd with the small boys than I 

 ever have been before, yet almost all my life 

 I have been much with them and among 

 them. The results of getting acquainted 

 are just like those 1 have so many times 

 told you about. When we understand each 

 other better, we have better opinions of 

 each other. A few days ago a boy was set 

 to work hoeing weeds out of the strawber- 

 ries. It was after a rain, and the ground 

 was very soft and mellow, and I don't know 

 how anybody could ask for a nicer job. 

 Why, the work itself is soextremely fascinat- 

 ing that I would ao out among the plants, 

 and work after dark as long as I could see, 

 just because I loved to work in the mellow 

 soil, and see the plants grow. I was busy, 

 however, and didn't look after my young 

 friend that morning as I intended to do, and 

 he made very little progress with his work. 

 Satan whispered that any one whi) would 

 take pay for such a miserable show of being 

 busy should be sent liome forthwith, with- 

 out wasting words or any more money in the 

 attempt to make him useful. I was begin- 

 ning, however, to get a glimpse of these 

 boy's' peculiarities and dispositions ; and so 

 instead of listening to Satan T went and got 

 a hoe with a great big wheel attached to it. 

 The wheel is as large, or larger, than a good- 

 sized hoop, and it was a very good tool to 

 Avork with in good ground. I took iiim off 

 to another field, and told him I wanted him 

 to cultivate the beets with this machine. 1 

 found I had made no mistake. The tool 

 suited his boyish spirits, and pretty soon lie 

 was all in a glow of perspiration from the 

 violent exercise, and he had accomplished a 

 man's work, and was ready for more of the 

 same kind. I told him I was afraid the 

 work was too hard for him ; but he insisted 

 that it was just what he liked. From that 

 time until tliis he has been a valuable hand, 

 but I have been careful to give him some 

 kind of a job that would enlist his energies 

 and abilities. 



A good many times it is desirable to send 

 something after the wagon, that is some- 

 where on the streets of our town every aft- 

 ernoon. Well, a good many boys would be 

 gone hours, and perhaps come back and not 

 find the wagon at all. One, in fact, wheeled 

 a heavy load aroun<l the town from nine 

 o'clock till noon, and did not fiiid the wagon 

 even then. I gave him careful directions 

 and had him try his luck another day ; but 

 it was about the same. He hadn't any fac- 

 ulty for finding the wagon, and I had to de- 

 cide that it was a mistake to send him on 

 such an errand. This same boy. however, 

 did exceedingly well at other kinds of work. 

 Well, we soon found out that the boy who 



took such a fancy to the wheel-hoe would 

 lind the wagon awi time, in short meter, and 

 he would do it with very meager directions. 

 When (luestioiied how he always found it so 

 quickly, it was discovered that he had rare 

 observing powers. He is one of the boys 

 who know everybody, and every thing that 

 is going on. We have another boy who will 

 never earn his salt picking peas by the bush- 

 el, lie is, however, worth almost as mu(di 

 as a man in any kind of work that can be 

 done with horses. lie lias made friends 

 with one of the biggest and stoutest horses 

 on tlie place, and he will perform teats with 

 this horse that 1 would not think of at- 

 tempting myself. One of them is to take 

 the horse up into the bank-barn and make 

 him turn the wagon around when the horse 

 lias only a couple of yards between his fore 

 feet and the edge of the floor over the bay. 

 I would not have permitted him to attempt 

 it had he not been doing it before I knew it. 

 He loves the horse, and the horse has such 

 confidence that he will not get him into 

 trouble that he obeys every word the boy 

 says to him. I hardly need tell you that he 

 governs the horse entirely by kindness, and 

 by constantly appealing to the intelligence 

 of the noble animal. This boy has made me 

 love horses more than I ever loved them be- 

 fore. 



A short time ago our people took it into 

 their heads that they wanted me on the 

 school-board again. At first I declared I 

 could not possibly take another burden 

 upon myself ; but then, again, came the 

 thought," by accepting the office I might pos- 

 sibly have opportunities for feeding Christ's 

 lambs that I would not have otherwise. I 

 did not think of the text at the head of this 

 talk to-day. but the spirit of it came into 

 my mind, and I decided to accept the call. 

 Very soon it became necessary for us to 

 visit the first primary school ; in fact, our 

 large union schoolhoiise is beginning to 

 prove too small for the swarms of little ones 

 who are now ready to be taught. I knew^ 

 the lady who had charge of this department, 

 for she" is an earnest Christian, and 1 had 

 met her several times at our teachers' meet- 

 ings. Now, I haven't been in a primary 

 school before for a good many years. If the 

 same is true of yourself, my friends, I would 

 advise you to "take time "and go to school 

 some day with the little folks of the house- 

 hold. There were p>2 pupils in her room. 

 Tliey are the same kind of little folks that I 

 ofteii have around me, teasing for a job ; in 

 fact, some of them who work for me morn- 

 ings and evenings were right before me. 



The first thing that attracted my atten- 

 tion on coming into the room was, that 1 

 did not see any of the tired, wearied looks 

 that I used to see on the faces of small chil- 

 dren when it was time for recess, or time 

 for school to be out. These little folks, on 

 the contrary, looked as if they had been hav- 

 ing fun, and expected very soon to have 

 some more. I soon decided they were not 

 disappointed either. Miss Smitli has made 

 the care of children a study for many years. 

 She not only is conversant with all that has 

 been done, but she has invented some plans 

 of her own to make teaching accord with the 



