110 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



February, 1919 



than double our entire national indebted- 

 ness at the close of our own four years of 

 war. How is that for lending? And the 

 amount loaned bj^ individual Americans is 

 reckoned by the hundreds of millions. Did 

 the world before ever hear of such a thing? 

 And the glorious part of it is that our na- 

 tion did it exactlj^ in the spirit of that 

 wonderful text, collecting it all from our 

 own peojDle, " hoping for nothing again." 



One of the conditions just now imposed 

 on Germany is that the great seas — God's 

 great national highways — shall be open to 

 ail the nations of the world. It is the most 

 gigantic undertaking the world ever saw 

 or heard of. Nothing has ever transpired 

 that can compare with it, even in the small- 

 est degree. Our second text will come in 

 I'ight here also. America has been truly 

 seeking the kingdom of God and his right- 

 eousness; and God's coming kingdom be- 

 gins to be visible here and there all over 

 the world. And one of the greatest 

 glimpses comes with the abolishment of 

 the liquor-traffic. While I write, the sa- 

 loons are going out of business by the hun- 

 dreds and thousands; and they are giving 

 it up good-naturedly, without any hostile 

 feelings toward the new ordinances or to- 

 ward ' us fanatics " as we were called a 

 short time ago. A new heaven and a new 

 earth seem ready to be ushered in. Of 

 course the cost was awful ; but the great 

 God above seems to have decided that noth- 

 ing short of such a chastisement would 

 bring about this great reform. 



On the heels of the abolishment of the 

 liquor-traffic comes the investigation in re- 

 gard to houses of ill-fame. Our great 

 cities, one after another, are instituting a 

 crusade or houseeleaning; and this terrible 

 tramping under foot of God's holy com- 

 mand, " Thou shalt not commit adultery," 

 seems to be yielding its awful punishment. 

 Men who are afflicted with these unmen- 

 tionable diseases can not fight; and T 

 might almost say they can not be cured. 

 They and their companions in crime are to 

 be either done aw^ay with or made over; 

 and, finally, in this new kingdom of God 

 that is being ushered in, we are to have 

 better Ijabies. Their mothers are to be bet- 

 ter cared for before and after the babies 

 are born. See what is said about the babies 

 in our November issue. 



Well, ever since Gleanings was started I 

 have had some rare enjoyment in follow- 

 ing out that injunction, " Do good, and 

 lend." Wlien I got hold of that new an- 

 nual, white sweet clover, I felt it would do 

 lots of good to send the seed free of charge 

 to the readers of Gleanings. Just as soon 

 as the seed was mature enough to be gath- 



ered, I so announced it in our October is- 

 sue; and before I had reason to suppose 

 the journal had reached our readers calls 

 came for a little pinch of the seed, and I 

 realW felt happy in filling the orders. *An 

 unexpected thing made me feel still hap- 

 pier. Almost every letter asking for seed 

 had a kind word in it; and some of them 

 mentioned the enjoyment they had receiv- 

 ed from the seeds I had sent them free 

 of charge in past years; and while these 

 good friends were writing me they told me 

 some of their troubles or asked my advice 

 in regard to some way they had planned 

 for investing their money. As they sent 

 a directed stamped envelope for reply I 

 could easily offer a little word of counsel, 

 and especially with the aid of the efficient 

 stenographers here in my Medina home. 



Now, it is not always money that we may 

 do good with, and lend. Every one of us 

 has opportunities every day of our life to 

 lend a helping hand. We can lend our tools 

 — yes, let us keep on lending, even if it 

 does sometimes make us trouble. Lend to 

 your i^oor unfortunate neighbor. If he is 

 young and inexperienced, you can, per- 

 haps, show him a better way of doing his 

 work. Wlien you happen to have more 

 fruit or vegetables than you really need, 

 " do good and lend, hoping for nothing' 

 again." 



For fear you may find fault for my fre- 

 quent repetition of this beautiful text, I 

 want to tell j'ou that in the years that are 

 2)ast these precious texts have become 

 music to my eais. I like to say them over 

 and over again to myself when alone; and 

 I like, also, to thank God for that precious 

 Bible that contains these wonderful truths 

 that, if practiced, will bring about God's 

 kingdom and his righteousness here on this 

 earth of ours. 



*After we had been sending out quite a lot of 

 packages of seeds Mrs. Root interposed that perhaps 

 the seed would not grow — that it mi^ht not he suf- 

 ficiently mature. But I wanted to have all orders 

 as much as possible filled before I went back to 

 P'orida. So I planted some seed in a box of rich 

 soil ; but as it did not seem to germinate after sev- 

 eral days I was a good deal worried. .Just this 

 morning, however, I found quite a number of seeds 

 coming up. The trouble was, I did not keep my 

 loves where it was warm enough; and so I am 

 happy again in the consciousness that the seeds we 

 are sending out will grow and produce white 

 sweet clover the first summer. Some of the plants 

 are now higher than my head, and covered with 

 bees, when the weather permits, even during this 

 middle of October. 



AVIATION ANG STIINIULANTS. 



In the Sunday School Times for October 

 3 was an item that brought to mind a coup- 



