1902 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



297 



dian tomahawk when I was a boy, I took 

 aim at the cat's head. The hammer whizz- 

 ed throui^fh the air and struck the cat fair 

 and square on the side of the head. The 

 poor thinof just rolled in a!,^ony, and gave 

 me such reproachlul hx^ks I could not g"et 

 over it. The voice of conscience I have 

 been telling- 3'ou about then commenced: 



"Now, old fellow, are you satisfied? A 

 few days ag-o you had the toothache and 

 the earache; but probably all the pain you 

 suffered then was not a comparison to the 

 suffering- you have deliberately inflicted on 

 this poor dumb brute. It is winter time, 

 and poor pussy was very likely starved into 

 being- bold. You, with your possessions, 

 could doubtless feed all the cats in Medina 

 County, and not be impoverished either. Is 

 it really true that, with all the abundance 

 you have around you — an abundance that 

 God in his mercy has entrusted to his care, 

 you can not allow even this poor cat a meal 

 of the cold victuals you bring- out to the 

 poultry? " 



Conscience kept on, but I think I will not 

 tell all it said. I would g-ladl}' have patted 

 poor kitty on her head and tried to explain 

 to her how sorry I was. When she g-ot a 

 little better she slipped off among- the ever- 

 g-reens to g-et over her pain the best she 

 could. Now, I would have given a good 

 deal to have that foolish act undone; and 

 when the cat came up next day to g-et her 

 share of the cold victuals, apparently as 

 good as ever, and certainly not cherishing 

 any unkind feelings toward me, it rejoiced 

 my heart. 



Suppose, dear friends, that some power 

 beyond us could help, us to see all our 

 faults and littleness as the loving eye of the 

 great Father above sees it all, what a dif- 

 ferent world this would be! As I think it 

 over while I studj' the problems that beset 

 this great nation of ours, I pray again and 

 again that the influences of the Holy Spir- 

 it may shine into our hearts, each and all, 

 and help us to see the. folly of heaping up 

 dollar after dollar when not even the small- 

 est fraction of it can be carried along when 

 we die. It is true, we may heap it up and 

 leave it to our relations; but a great manj' 

 times of late I have thought it would be far 

 better for said relations if the deceased had 

 put the money to some good use before he 

 died, instead of leaving it to them to wran- 

 gle over, and possibly give it all to some 

 lawyer who is too lazy to work for a living. 



And now, friends, can we not get an ex- 

 ample from the man who was cutting down 

 tough beech-trees, and splitting them into 

 firewood for 60 cents a cord? If he in his 

 tough job — a job that took an unusual 

 amount of strength — could aft'ord to give 

 ^ood measure, so that his daily tasks might 

 be pleasing in the sight of God, can not we, 

 each and all, at least strive a little harder 

 to do OUT work in such a manner that we 

 are sure God is pleased when he looks down 

 lovingly on us? And can we not have faith 

 enough to believe our other text is true 

 where it says, " Thou God seest me " ? 



Tobacco. 



GETTING A "raise" IN WAGES — CIGAR- 

 ETTES. 



Every ambitious young man or woman in 

 our employ is looking forward to advanced 

 pay — that is, I hope they are. I would not 

 give much for a boj' or g-irl who did not 

 have some ambition and enthusiasm in this 

 matter of advanced wages. Daily we are 

 called on to discuss the matter. A boy — we 

 will call him John Brown for illustration — 

 goes to his foreman and sa3's he has work- 

 ed a long while at 12'4 cents an hour, and 

 asks if he is not worth a little more. I do 

 not know just what the foreman does, but I 

 presume they talk the matter over more or 

 less, and the foreman refers the matter to 

 one of the firm. The reply is usually some- 

 thing like this: 



"If John Brown is worth more money 

 than he is getting, all things considered, of 

 course he should have it. We are alwaj^s 

 glad to hear that an3'- of our employees are 

 worth more money than they are getting. 

 This 3'oung man is diligent, capable, and 

 is making progress, is he?" • 



"Why, yes; reasonably so." 



"Is he on hand every time when the ma- 

 chinery starts?" 



"Well, to tell the truth he is not. A good 

 deal of the time he is half an hour late, and 

 sometimes a whole hour." 



"Have you talked with him about this? 

 Can he give any good reason for it?" 



"Yes, I have talked with him about it; 

 but he does not seem to do much better." 



"Do you know whether he is out nights? 

 Has he any bad habits?" 



"Why, to tell the truth, I think he is out 

 nights; but I do not know that he has any 

 bad habits except smoking cigarettes." 



At this perhaps there is a smile on both 

 sides; may be it is a sad smile on both sides 

 — I rather hope it is. Later on John Brown 

 is interviewed by the senior member of the 

 firm. 



"John, is it really true that you are 

 smoking cigarettes?" 



"Why, Mr. Root, I will not tell any lies. 

 I do smoke cigarettes; but I am not smok- 

 ing now as many as I used to." 



"John, you surely know what the papers 

 and almost everybody else is saying about 

 cigarettes. Do you read a daily paper?" 



John shakes his head. 



"Haven't you heard that, since the Chief 

 of the Weather Bureau has set the example, 

 quite a number of manufacturing firms are 

 declining to employ boys who persist in ci- 

 garette-smoking? Haven't j'^ou heard of 

 that?" 



"Never heard of it." 



"Well, you surely have heard that some 

 of our leading physicians say that every 

 cigarette a boy smokes is one nail more in 

 his coflin." 



John smiles at this, and says he has 

 heard it. He further adds that he will try 

 hard to be on hand promptly when the 



