IS'.H 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



But Jesus said, . . . Ye know that the princes 

 of tlie Gentiles exercise domitiion over tlieni, and 

 tliev that are great exercise authority upon tliem.— 

 Matt. 20:25. 



A few days ago Mrs. Root eamo to me with 

 unusual animation, saying slie had found an 

 excellent article in the StiiKhtij Schotii Times. 

 She said it was one of the best articles she ever 

 read in her life anywhere, and she finally con- 

 cluded with something like this: 



■' Why. I really believe it is the best thing I 

 ever read in my life, anywhere." 



I could not helj) smiling; for had it been my- 

 .self, such unusual enthusiasm would not have 

 bi'en any thing strange; at all; but she is so 

 carrful and so moderate in her use of adjec- 

 tives, especially in the way of commendation, 

 iliatl thought there must be something exceed- 

 ingly remarkable in the production. And, by 

 the way, 1 have often wished I could induce 

 hiM' to let me give the world some of her excel- 

 lent ideas through these Home Papers. In 

 fact, I have urged her to write something her- 

 self; but she has always been so very positive 

 that it was out of her line, and that she had 

 not any thing worth giving to the world, I 

 have been obliged again and again to give it 

 up. She will probably never write any thing 

 for the papers unless some nnnaikable force or 

 iuHuence, or set of circumstances, is brought to 

 bear. Never mind. I have something that 

 will give you a glimpse of her character, even 

 if she did not writ(> it her-elf. Uefore I got 

 through reading it I was obliged to laugh out- 

 light to think that anybody should have given 

 in print her ideas so exactly. No wonder she 

 was pleased with what she found. Well, after 

 all this ramble I am ready to make some con- 

 siderable clippings from the article in question. 

 It appears on ihi' first page of the Times for 

 Feb. 17; and the title is. ""A Domineering Spir- 

 it." Let us examine the first paragraph: 



To " domineer " is, literally, to exei-ci-^e control or 

 mastery ; l)ut. in the oidlnai'y meanitifr of the word, 

 the man who domineers is one who has no mastery 

 over himself, but who wants to sliow liis mastery 

 over sonieliody else. Dominion is God-fjiven powei-; 

 hut domineerinsT is evideiK-e of utter lack of God- 

 likene-^s in the ti-e of p iwer. He who has a rig-ht 

 appreciation of the rt»sponsii.ilites of dominion can 

 not domineer over any pei'son or creature in the 

 realm of his donunion. Domineering' is utterly in- 

 compatible witli the sense of rig-lit dominion. 



Very good, is it not? Now. this next para- 

 graph -allows Mrs. Root's special individuality 

 completely : 



The domineering- spirit manifests itself in weak 

 men and women in every position and grade of 

 hfe, from the sovereign on the throne to the head- 

 servant in the kitchen, and to tlie owner of a liorse 

 or a dog in the lowest walk of life 



In this world of ours, everybody and every 

 dumb animal \\i< rights of its own. I have 

 sometimes thought these indivii'ual rights were 

 like a litili' circle that siii-rouiids a person, ani- 

 mal, or insi'ct. A man has a right to live. It 

 is his privilege to go ai)out in the world, and a 

 certain amountof deference and respect belongs 

 to him. The open street, or ■" king's highway," 

 as we tised to Utrm it, is. to a certain extent, his 

 property — :it least, he has a right to use it, 

 providing he does not let his circle encroach 

 too much on that of somebody else. A child, 

 also, has its rights. If some one should say, 

 '■ Here, you kid. get off the sidewalk, and let me 

 get by," the kid would be very likely to resent 



the encroachment on his rights, and other 

 people who might be near wotild also resent 

 this encroachment. The child has as good a 

 right on the sidewalk as anybody else --of 

 course, within the limits before mentioned. 

 Now, the horse has rights also. lie knows 

 what is due him, and most horses are inclined 

 to resent encroachment on their accustomed 

 rights. So long <ts a horse or dog attends to its 

 business, and does good and faithful service, it 

 is entitled to respect, and to a ijlacf; in the 

 world. The domineering spirit disputes these 

 rights, and encroaches on them, and most good 

 people are moved to make a prot(!st when this 

 domin(M>ring and overbearing spirit comes 

 around. By the way, I forgot to say that even 

 a honey-bee has its rights and sense of justice. 

 If you do not believe it, let some of these domi- 

 neering, overbearing chaps undertake bee- 

 keeping. The bee. like the old hen with the 

 chickens, or the dog or the horse, gives the 

 domineering person to understand that its 

 rights or its circle I have spoken of is not to be 

 readily trampled on. If you treat the honey- 

 bee in a proper way you may open its hive, and 

 do almost what you please. But you must be 

 thoroughly acquainted with it, aiid you must 

 pay a certain sort of deference or respect to its 

 rights; and the same with the dog. You can 

 abuse him considerably, and he will take it 

 meekly; but if you tread on his tail, and espe- 

 cially if you do it on purpose, he will, if like 

 most dogs, give you to understand that said 

 tail is his own personal property; and the same 

 with the hen and her chickens. She tells you 

 to go along and attend to your own business, 

 and she will attend to hers. 



Mrs. Root is not a quarrelsome woman. Why, 

 what an ideal Wait a bit. There is one way 

 in which you can lUiiUe her aggressive. A 

 man who had charge of a pony of ours once 

 struck it a severe blow with the whip when the 

 little fellow was not doing a thing out of the 

 way. He was behaving just as well as he knew 

 how. and the man who struck him was obliged 

 to admit it. He said he did it simply to let the 

 pony know who was master. Now, if you think 

 that is the way to get along with a horse you 

 could not get along with Mrs. Root. Another 

 thing, when a man is whipping a horse brutal- 

 ly, and somebody tells her not to make a fuss 

 about it, as the man is drunk, and does not 

 know what he is doing, it does not pacify her a 

 particle. Under th<' circumstances she always 

 wants somebody to take the whip and use it on 

 the man. and take the horse tiwav from him. 

 Let tis read a little more from the Times: 



And, wherever this spirit exists, it is a sign of 

 weakness and not of strength. God gave man do- 

 minion over the lowt>r animals, but God autliorized 

 no domineering over any I)ea8t or bird in subjection 

 to man. God gives man dominion in various 

 spheres of social life— spheres of state, and churcli, 

 and school, and family, of practical business, and of 

 mere manual labor— but God holds man responsible 

 for the measiii'e, the manner, and the spirit, in 

 which he exorcises his deputed authority. Only as 

 man forgets the source of liis authority, and lacks 

 titness for its exercise, does he dumineer over God's 

 subjects, instead of serving God in liis exercise of 

 right dominion. Yet many a man is thus forgetful 

 and thus incompetent, and therefore; it Is that it 

 can be so truly said of one who domineers in his 

 realm of dominion: 



" Hut man, proud man! 

 Brest in a little brief authority; 

 Most ignorant of what he's most assur'd. 

 His glassy essence, like an angry ape. 

 Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven 

 As makes the angels weep." 



Oh, dear me! I knew when I started out to 

 give you this article that it was going to cut 

 severely on my poor self. From what I have 

 said, you might think that I would be especial- 



