216 



raising crops you will find that the tile will 

 be an exceedingly good investment without 

 considering the worth of this running 

 spring. What is prettier or more exhilarat- 

 ing than to see a stream of water that con- 

 tinues to give pure, clean, health-giving 

 water? The water in our spring which I 

 have described is so soft that it washes with 

 soap just as well as rain water. When vis- 

 itors are around our i)remises they always 

 utter an exclamation of surprise and de- 

 light when ihey see the corn for the ducks 

 down at the bottom of that pan of clean 

 sparkling water. 



I have had great pleasure in raising ducks, 

 as I have told you before. I have had ex- 

 cellent success; have scarcely lost one un- 

 less by some accident, and I think one great 

 reason is that they have running water all 

 the while — all they can consume. AVhen 

 they get to a sufficient age 1 give them this 

 same running water to bathe, splash, and 

 play in. Now, there may be something in 

 animated nature more pleasing and more 

 thrilling than young ducks playing in 

 beautiful clean running water; but if so I 

 have not found it. Whenever I feel dull, or 

 when inclined to feel overburdened with 

 care, nothing rests me like going out and 

 looking at these young ducklings in their 

 play. By the way, are there any of God's 

 creatures as joyous and full of fun, and as 

 happy, as a lot of ducklings? Just now I 

 have a Leghorn hen leading about a flock 

 of twenty-nine taken out of an incubator. 

 They are just three days old to-day, and I 

 wish the readers of Gleanings could get a 

 gUmpse of those twenty-nine ducklings as 

 they rejoice and give thanks to God for the 

 little lives he has given them— at least so I 

 understand it when they flop their wings 

 and start off full of exhilaration and thanks- 

 giving for life. Just after dinner to-day, 

 when I had first put them out on the grassy 

 plot where they stay, and where they had 

 been playing in the dropping water, the sun 

 came out, and all at once they started on a 

 sort of jubilee. I called it their Indian war- 

 dance, and called Mrs. Root in a hurry to 

 come out and see them perform. 



If you have ground on your premises that 

 you find higher than your dwellings, of 

 course you can have this water piped into 

 the house. In this case vou would, of 

 course, be careful to have your tile laid in 

 ground that is not near to the barn or 

 stables or other outbuildings. None but 

 those who have tried it can realize what a 

 blessing it is to have a stream of water run- 

 ning right into the kitchen. Even if it does 

 cost some money, how can the money be 

 better invested? If you have a sufficient 

 stream or vein of water, even if it should be 

 lower than your dwelling, by use of a hy- 

 draulic ram you can even then have a 



^^■■fURr, 



ACE 



rJIRE CLOTH S THA INER 



HALF BARREL 



Gleanings in Bee Culture 



stream of water running into your dwelling 

 and to your barn and stable. Even a small 

 stream, where it runs continuously day and 

 night, week in and week out, will afford 

 quite a quantity of water, as you can readi- 

 ly determine by figuring it up. The diagram 

 will give a pretty clear idea of our spring. 



Our older readers may remember that the 

 fourth chapter of John is the one that I 

 learned to read in Spanish when I was on 

 the island of Cuba. Ever since that time 

 this chapter has had a special attraction to 

 me; and when I saw that beautiful stream 

 of pure water running into that tank, and 

 overflowing, giving life and enjoyment to 

 my ducks, I kept thinking of this passage, 

 especially of the living water. Just now in 

 our nation there are a great number of peo- 

 ple who are interested in the matter of drink. 

 There are those who drink that which de- 

 stroys both body and soul; and, worse still, 

 who are engaged in manufacturing and rec- 

 ommending it, and demanding laws so that 

 they can furnish it to their fellow-men. Do 

 you think those who are interested in this 

 sort of drink are the ones who are going 

 to inherit eternal life, as mentioned in 

 our text ? What is to be the outcome of 

 the great inventions and discoveries that 

 are now coming so thick and fast? We have 

 wireless telegraphy, the dictaphone (that I 

 am using now while I am talking to you) , 

 the flying-machine that the Wright broth- 

 ers are still pushing further and further, 

 that is to be the great excitement of the 

 whole wdde world in just a few weeks more, 

 and other discoveries that are coming thick 

 and fast. The question naturally arises, 

 " What about the future, and what is com- 

 ing next?" Those of you who are getting 

 old, like myself — say those who have passed 

 the period of threescore years and ten, I 

 wonder how many of you are thinking of 

 what will be going on in this world of ours 

 after we are dead and gone. Shall we know 

 of earthly things after we have passed this 

 brief stage of life? Our text tells us that we 

 shall. But does it seem likely that those 

 who are spending their lives for self and self- 

 ish purposes, with no thought of the future, 

 with no thought about humanity, nor care 

 nor regard for God or his creatures, shall in- 

 herit eternal life, and know what is going 

 on, and what the outcome shall be of this 

 world of ours? What did the dear Savior 

 mean when he said, "The water that I shall 

 give shall be a well of water springing up 

 into eternal life," or into everlasting life? 

 What shall we do, as the woman said, to 

 have this water that we thirst not? 



"Living water," as I understand it, is ac- 

 cepting Christ Jesus as our Lord and Savior, 

 obeying his commands, and following in 

 his footste|)s so far as we can. If we com- 

 mence to study his life here on earth, and 

 the words that he spoke, we shall very soon 

 have it plain before us what it is to be a fol- 

 lower of the Lord Jesus Christ. Thus there 

 is the promise that they shall have eternal 

 life, and this spring of water that is to be 

 given by this one who has decided to be a 



