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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 15. 



get wearied, and more or less " rattled." by 

 being asked again and again, " How much are 

 these worth?" "Have they been transplant- 

 ed?" "Have you any that have been trans- 

 planted twice? "" How much are these a doz- 

 en?" "Do you sell them any cheaper by the 

 hundred?" "Are these early "or late? " "Why 

 do you charge more for tomato plants than 

 cabbage-plants?" "Is it too early or too late to 

 set them out?" etc. I do not often wait on 

 customers unless very early in the morning or 

 late in the evening. After a nice summer 

 shower I frequently find customers out in the 

 plant-garden, waiting, by half-past four in the 

 morning: and a good many times between sun- 

 down and dark, after the helpers have gone 

 home tired, somebody wants plants. Now, it is 

 very perplexing to me to remember prices, and 

 it also wears on me to get a catalog and hunt 

 up prices fi-om that. To help all around in this 

 matter we have had some very neat thin bass- 

 wood boards, T^.^xH inches in size, printed in 

 large plain letters as follows: 



PRICES OF VEGETABLE PLANTS. 



25 Sweet-potato plants . . . . 10c ) o 



25 Cabbage-plants 10c ^ o 



25 Celery-plants 10c ) tS 



12 Tomato-plants 10c | 3 



12 Cauliflower-plants .... lOe J= 



12 Strawberry-plants 10c I ^ 



6 Pepper-plants, 10c; 100, $1.25. 



100 Onion-plants, 15c; 1000, $1. 



We have these tacked up in front of the store, 

 and across the road on a neat little stake, right 

 in the midst of the plants. We print them on 

 one of our printing-presses. 



Not tliat which g-oetli into the moutli deflleth a 

 man; but tliiit wliicli g-netli out of the mouth, tliis 

 deflleth a man.— Matt. ]5:11. 



The man of the world or the unbeliever 

 spends his time and energies in warding olf 

 danger from the outside. The Christian fears 

 only that evil which he finds i/isicZe. or in his 

 own heart. The unbeliever fears and tries to 

 protect himself from the damage his neighbors 

 may do him— that is, such of his neighbors as 

 are his enemies. The follower of Christ has 

 nothing to fear from his neighbors, even though 

 they be envious toward and at enmity with him. 

 He fears only that he himself may be led or 

 tempted to do wrong. We sometimes say of a 

 man or boy. that he is his own worst enemy. 

 The evil in his own heart may do him Imrm— 

 may wreck his soul ; but evil in the hearts of 

 others can do him but little real harm. The 

 great difference between the Christian and 

 unbeliever, it seems to me, is right here: The 

 one tears God, and fears to do wrong. The 

 other fears the great outside world — the selfish 

 world, and fears that it may do him harm. Our 

 text says that the evil on the outside, or that 

 which surrounds a man, can not well defile 

 him. False stories and false accusations may 

 for the time throw a shadow over his fair name; 

 but if he is honest and sincere, his honesty will 



come out, and it will shine forth all the bright- 

 er for having been obscured a little whih'. 

 Why, come to think of it, there is an old familar 

 text, Prov. 4:18, which says, "The path of tln' 

 just is as the shining light, that shineth mun- 

 and more unto the perfect day." Those wlm 

 are evil-disposed, and those who are enviou-. 

 do quite frequently try to damage and slander 

 the reputation of almost any honest and true 

 man; but they do not succeed. 



I suppose most of you have been recently 

 considering the life of Joseph. For a time le- 

 seemed to suffer injustice and persecution 

 almost everywhere. He was honest and inno- 

 cent; but this very innocence seemed to get 

 him into trouble again and again. His brothers 

 hated him because he very properly informed 

 his old father of the tricks they were up to. 

 They decided to put him out of the way, and 

 probably thought they had managed it very 

 shrewdly. Joseph, however, was undismayed, 

 for his faith was in God and not in man — no, 

 not even in his own relations. He was reluc- 

 tantly obliged to lose faith in his own brothers. 

 But he never lost faith in God. His wonderful 

 industry, and his rare gift of generalship, soon 

 made themselves known. His faithfulness over 

 even any Little trust that was put in his care was 

 remarkable: and it called forth admiration and 

 esteem from every one. His very purity of 

 mind and thought made him a mark for the 

 evil-designing. No doubt they thought it 

 would be a smart thing to get that pure-mind- 

 ed Hebrew to commit sin and crime as they 

 did ; but they utterly failed, no matter on 

 which side the fiery darts of the evil one were 

 made to strike him. " No," said the boy, " my 

 master has trusted me implicitly. He has 

 turned over to me almost every thing, and put 

 it into my hand because of his confidence in me. 

 Shall 1 betray that trust, and sin against him 

 and in the sight of the great God above ? " He 

 did not say it out loud, but I imagine he said it 

 within his own heart, " No— a thousand times 

 no. God help me to continue saying, ' Get thee 

 behind me, Satan.' " He came near losing his 

 head, it is true, and just because of his un- 

 fiinchiug devotion to right and truth ; and 

 were it not that there was and is a great God 

 above, as Joseph believed, he doubtless ifowtc? 

 have lost his head. God rules. Joseph was put 

 down lower than ever. He was placed in the 

 companionship of criminals and murderers; but 

 his lidelity and wonderful industry kept coming 

 uppermost. May be he sat down in sorrow and 

 grief for just a little while to think that he 

 should suffer all that because he refused to do 

 wrung. I do not think he did very long, how- 

 ever. I can imagine that pretty soon he gazed 

 about in the darkness of his dungeon, and spied 

 an old broom. He went to slicking up an put- 

 ting things to rights. The keeper was surprise 

 ed. He had never met such a prisoner before. 

 It was an easy matter for him to let Joseph 

 take charge of the prison. Joseph was a mas- 

 ter hand at taking charge of any thing. I read 

 in one of the papers of a poor woman who 

 wanted work. She applied to an editor. He 

 asked her what she could do. She said, " I can 

 sweep; and if you will give me a broom I will 

 sweep out your office, and slick it up in a way 

 that it has not — at least for some time— been 

 slicked up before." She was a women of edu- 

 cation and intelligence. She was permitted to 

 sweep the office. Pretty soon some of the help 

 was sick; and when the question arose as to 

 what could be done without the capable man 

 who could no longer be at his post, she asked 

 them to let her try. They had but little faith 

 that the woman could fill such an important 

 place, but were greatly surprised to see her 

 show wonderful capabilities in that very line. 



