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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 15 



hen had stirred me up and reminded me that my 

 old temper (or perhaps I should say my old 

 tempter) only lay hidden in the background, and 

 I think it must have been hidden by only a -xrrv 

 thin ambush. 



Our first text reminds us that wisdom, or the 

 ability to act wisely under all circumstances, is 

 more to be desired than any thing else this world 

 can offer; and our second one reminds us of the 

 exceeding importance of ruling our own spirits, 

 or keeping that wV.A demon that seems to be im- 

 planted in the most of us, if not all, in complete 

 subjection. Under no circumstances should it 

 ever be let loose. We can excuse a sitting hen 

 or a dumb brute for getting into a frenzy of rage; 

 but no human being should ever let any such im- 

 pulses from the evil one prompt his actions. 



I have not finished with my good friend Biddy, 

 however. A few days later she was hovering her 

 brood in the middle of the road leading from the 

 barn to the street. A team was coming up, and 

 I studied a little how to get her out of the way 

 without a fracas. After I got her chickens out 

 from under her I saw she was determined to fight, 

 and so I gently gave her a " hist" with my foot 

 clear up to one side of the road. Dear me! she 

 came back and right up into my face like a per- 

 fect whirlwind. I grabbed her by the legs and 

 caught her by the neck as I had on the former oc- 

 casion, but not before she opened anew some of 

 the scratches on the back of my hand, and, worse 

 still, stirred up also that old temper. I was 

 tempted again to wring her neck and not have 

 such a vicious animal around; but the temptation 

 was not nearly as strong as the former one,* and 

 just now I have got two jobs on my hand. One 

 is to teach this virago of a hen decency, and the 

 other is to teach this quick temper of mine to be- 

 have in a like manner. I can say with good 

 grace to both of these obstacles in my way, 

 "Here! you keep back and down. /, through 

 the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, am going to 

 be master and ruler. " 



Now, friends, this is a simple story. Some of 

 you may wonder why I have told it at all. Well, 

 I have told it because it illustrates humanity. 

 Husbands and wives are quarreling with no more 

 reason than there was why this mother hen and I 

 should have differences. + Over and over again 

 when we look into the matter we find it is mis- 

 apprehension and misunderstanding. When Sa- 

 tan gets hold of them, men and women often act 

 as silly and foolish as that mother hen. 



*Resist the devil, and he win flee from you.— James 4:7. 



1 1 believe Mrs. Root is one of the kindest, most sensible, and 

 best-tempered women in the world; yet if I were to be wicked 

 enough to set about it deliberately, I might be able (Satan help- 

 ing me) to make her as unreasonable and bad-tempered as that 

 sitting hen. Suppose, for instance, I should deliberately and on 

 purpose walk into some yellow clay such as we have here in 

 some places in this pan of Ohio, and suppose I should purposely 

 walk over her c'ean kitchen tioor, and suppose I did this again 

 and again, and give her to understand I did it on purpose to vex 

 her. 1 sincerely hope that none but a drunken man ever did such 

 a thing. But I greatly fear there are men, and perhaps women, 

 who show such a devilish spirit. God forbid, however, that any 

 xuftman be found of that kind. As I was going to say, I fear there 

 are men who, under the influence of Satan, deliberately nag and 

 provoke the women they have before God sworn to love and pro- 

 tect. Well, whenever such a state of affairs comes to pass, no- 

 body knows, who has not been there, what a frenzy of passion 

 may he stirred up in even a v-oman's soul. I say "may be." 

 mind you; for God's promises are all sure and true; and where 

 Christ Jesus rules in the heart of either man or woman they will 

 be saved from any temptation that this world has to offer; for 

 '■ God will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye arelable.'' 



I told you some years ago of a man who want- 

 ed to move a building past a neighbor's house, 

 and it was going to brush some of the shade-trees 

 — may be break off a limb or two. The two 

 neighbors got into a quarrel, and their wives and 

 children became so absorbed in it that they came 

 pretty near staying out in the street all day long, 

 or at least while that house was going by. Law- 

 yers were consulted, neighbors took sides, and it 

 was the excitement of that part of the town for 

 some time. But when they came to consider the 

 matter coolly, they all decided there was really 

 nothing to make a fuss about. 



When Huber and I were taking that trip up 

 through Northern Michigan, some people were 

 afraid their horse was going to be frightened by 

 our automobile. A woman got up in the buggy 

 and gave Huber and me a piece of her mind. Be- 

 fore I could stop him, Huber retorted back to 

 her, "We have just as good a right in the road 

 as you have." I succeeded in quieting him; and 

 I hope I convinced him, at least partially, that, 

 as our method of conveyance was an unusual one, 

 we had not exactly as good a right in the high- 

 way as they had, and when things became quiet 

 we found the horse paid no attention to our ve- 

 hicle at all, and I have found this to be the case 

 over and over again. 



There is one thing more I wish to consider. 

 Had I given way to temptation, and wrung the 

 neck of the poor mother hen by m> superior 

 physical strength, I should have succeeded in 

 crushing out the life that God gave. I should 

 have, in one sense, won the field, but would I 

 have been any happier by so doing.? There are 

 several points to be considered right here. If a 

 burglar breaks into your house at night, with a 

 revolver in his hand, perhaps you would be ex- 

 cusable in taking his life — that is, in self-protec- 

 tion. It may be that the good of the communi- 

 ty would demand that he be not permitted to 

 live; but if this is true, by far the better way 

 would be to have him put to death by law; but 

 neighborhood quarrels are quite a different thing. 

 Some years ago in our vicinity two men were 

 quarreling over a very trifling matter. One call- 

 ed the other one a liar; and as it seemed to be the 

 prevailing code at that time, and in that neigh- 

 borhood, that one should knock a man down who 

 had called him a liar, the other struck him a 

 blow that killed him. In olden times where two 

 men got into a fight the one who " licked " or 

 killed his opponent was supposed to come out 

 ahead. I believe it is not so much so now. If 

 I were obliged to take the place of one or the 

 other of those two neighbors I think I should 

 prefer that of the one who lost his life. The man 

 who killed his neighbor went to the penitentiary 

 for a time; but an intimate friend assured me that 

 his regret and remorse were so great for that act 

 that he had had scarcely a moment's piece of 

 mind since. Many times one is called on to act 

 as peacemaker; but where both parties are in a 

 frenzy of passion it is not only difficult but dan- 

 gerous. I have heard of cases where one who in- 

 terfered, with the best of intentions of stopping a 

 quarrel, was either killed or killed somebody else 

 before the matter was ended. I do not know how 

 many temptations policemen have in handling 

 men who are crazy with rage, or perhaps rage and 

 drink together, but I think it very likely they 



