642 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Here comes in the second one of my 

 texts. For fully two hours Satan kept 

 persuading me I had done exactly the 

 right thing by "setting my foot down." 

 We very soon had a board meeting on 

 some other matters, and toward the close 

 of it the matter of the cellar came up 

 again; but I said I preferred not to have 

 any changes made. Meanwhile one of my 

 sons-in-law was making a mai? of the 

 street; but I was still too headstrong to 

 look at it. It was time for my daily nap 

 just before dinner. Oh, what a boon these 

 refreshing naps are to me just before noon, 

 and again just before sunset! This beau- 

 tiful little electric automobile, in order to 

 do its work well, and get up speed at the 

 word of command, must have its storage 

 battery "charged" at least once or twice 

 every day. If this is neglected, instead of 

 going like the wind, it just "crawls" at a 

 snail's pace. Well, my sjDlendid health is 

 in like manner kept up by these daily naps. 

 I started to go over to the house to lie 

 down, and then discovered it would be of 

 no use. The Holy Spirit had deserted me. 

 I had "grieved it away" by being rude to 

 these kind friends of mine. Just as I 

 was crossing the street Ernest (he is not 

 only Ernest in name, but "earnest" in spirit 

 and has always been so) came along and 

 said, "Why, father, they say you have 

 started those men digging again. Arthur 

 has made a nice plan of the whole street. 

 You surely will come over and look at it, 

 will you notf" 



At first I started to tell him I did not 

 wish to look at it, and that I did not want 

 any more changes. But there was no re- 

 sisting the honest enthusiasm he showed 

 in having me get exactly right before I 

 "went ahead." I went over and looked at 

 the drawings. I saw the point the boys 

 were making, clearer than ever before, and 

 then I went back to where the three men 

 had been throwing out dirt; and it seemed 

 to me they had thrown out an astonishing 

 lot of it, in just two or three hours. I 

 confess it was humiliating to stop them 

 once more, and tell them that, when we 

 got time, the dirt would all have to be put 

 back where it came from. But it was the 

 only way — the only road out of the trou- 

 ble; and that road is described in our con- 

 cluding text— "Strait is the gate and nar- 

 row is the way that leadeth unto life." 



You doubtless have heard it said that 

 relations can never agree. Think of the 

 wicked and foolish jokes that have been 

 said about "mothers-in-law"! Now, if you 

 wish to have the "peace of God" constant- 

 ly with you — that peace which "passeth 



all understanding" — let me beg of you to 

 avoid family quarrels; and especially make 

 it the rule of your life to be kind and gen- 

 tle in all your dealings with the man or 

 woman who married your daughter or your 

 son. Whatever you do, avoid difficulties 

 and disagreements of this kind. 



Let me go over briefly a little story I 

 have told several times before. At one 

 of the York State conventions they were 

 discussing the matter of bees troubling the 

 neighbors. One man got up and said a 

 very rich man moved into his neighbor- 

 hood, and commenced to put in some ex- 

 tensive improvements. Very soon he de- 

 cided that the large apiary belonging to 

 the speaker was a nuisance to the neigh- 

 borhood, and would have to be moved 

 away. Litigation was started, and there 

 was going to be expensive warfare on 

 both sides. The speaker hesitated right 

 here, and when somebody asked him how 

 it came out he replied, "It did not come 

 out. This man had a daughter and I had 

 a son ; and while we were planning for a 

 big lawsuit those two 'fool kids' took it 

 into their heads to 'fall in love' with each 

 other. We two fathers stormed and re- 

 monstrated ; but that only made matters 

 worse. Nothing would pacify the young- 

 sters until we two shook hands across the 

 'bloody chasm' and dropped all litigation. 

 He finally decided the bees did not make 

 any bother worth mentioning, and I for my 

 ]^art found out that he was a real nice 

 and neighborly man when I came to get 

 really well acquainted with him.'" 



Now, then, friends, one of the morals 

 of my story to-day is that the ties of 

 relationship should be held most sacred.* 

 Let me use the beautiful text I quoted in 

 closing my Home papers in the previous 

 issue : 



Let there be no strife between me and thee, 

 for we be brethren. 



* The place in the land where those men worked 

 so hard on that hot summer day in digging out 

 the cellar has been filled up, and we have tried 

 to put the dirt back where it came from ; but in 

 spite of all we can do, the traces remain to dis- 

 figure more or less the green landscape; and in 

 a like manner the memory of giving way to an 

 impatient impulse remains. Not only my three 

 relatives but the three men who were digging, and 

 some others who stood around, got a glimpse of 

 A. I. Root that did not exactly accord with his 

 teachings and admonitions on these pages. As I 

 look back I feel as if I would give a big lot if 

 that little incident had never happened, or if I 

 could forget it ever happened. 



A KIND WORD BRIEFLY EXPRESSED. 



If A. I. Root is alive, thank him for his kindly 

 treatment of me 22 years ago. 



Seattle, Wash., Aug. 14. R. Z. Pahs. 



[Many thanks, my good friend; and although I 

 can not recall any thing about what you refer to, I 

 am glad to think that I was enabled to lend s 

 helping hand to some child of humanity 22 yeari 

 ago.] 



