324 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr, 



we were talking to a child. Let it be " chil- 

 dren of an older growth " for the time 

 being. We are all of us employing some- 

 body. You employ your grocer to keep such 

 things as you need, and at such time as you 

 need them. You employ the dry-goods deal- 

 er, the blacksmith, and the shoemaker, in 

 the same way. They are serving you foi- 

 wages. They misunderstand, or jperhaps 

 get lazy and indifferent ; they forget ; they 

 burden you with grievous burdens", may be. 

 A shoe that does not tit ; is too heavy or too 

 light ; the meat is not fit to l)e sent to any- 

 body. You don't tell the butcher so to 

 his face, but perhaps you say it to some one 

 of the household. What is the best way to 

 right these wrongs ? The way your good 

 sense will dictate when you start" out to do 

 it for Christ's sake. 



Paul says he takes pleasure in infirmities. 

 1 wonder if he meant a badly titting shoe 

 that pinched some tortured corn. If he got 

 pleasure out of such an atfliction, he certain- 

 ly was a good and faithful servant. He took 

 pleasure in reproaches. I3id you ever have 

 anybody call you names, or revile you V If 

 so, did you look pleased ? If they called you 

 names because you were good, and because 

 you were trying to be a Christian, you ought 

 to have felt happy. I do not know that it 

 would be a Christian duty to look up at 

 your persecutor and smile, because you 

 might thereby make him madder still, and 

 defeat the object in view ; namely, to call 

 out his better spirit, and make him a Chris- 

 tian. Paul says, also, that he took pleasure 

 in his necessities. Have you any necessities, 

 my friend V Are you pinched or scrimped 

 anywhere V Are you worried and tried V 

 Take it for Christ's sake, and you may be 

 serene and joyful. 



May be you have been tried and vexed be- 

 cause there is so much time and talk wasted 

 in this world. I grant that there are a great 

 many false motions; that is, there is a 

 great deal of work done that is just a form, 

 and accomplishes nothing. There is a great 

 deal of talk going on, too, that is idle talk. 

 It does not do a bit of good anywhere. In 

 these days, when economy is so much 

 needed, how very desirable it is that noth- 

 ing should be wasted ! I enjoy saving. It 

 is really a pleasure to me to get some good 

 thing out of nothing. I lik« to pull up a 

 weed and make a tomato or strawberry grow 

 in its place. I like to take the heaps of 

 ashes that disfigure the landscape about our 

 homes, and make them help raise the above- 

 mentioned strawberries and tomatoes. I 

 like to gather up the old tinware that is 

 kicking about — bits of hoop iron, broken 

 crockery, and all that sort of rubbish, and 

 put them into the reservoirs to hold water, 

 down under that same strawberry or tomato 

 plant. It is real fun and enjoyment to me 

 to gather up what everybody else passes by, 

 and make it do good somewhere. In the 

 same way I greatly enjoy taking the surplus 

 energy of some mischievous, meddlesome 

 boy, and utilizing it so as to do good some- 

 where, instead of evil — starting him to set- 

 ting out plants, for instance ; give him a 

 frame so he can set them in rows at equal 

 distances, without any possibility of hav- 



ing the work look crooked and awkward, 

 and then see him smile when you tell 

 him how beautiful is the Avork of his 

 own hands, and let him follow it out and see 

 the good that follows from it. In almost 

 every neighborhood we have talkative people. 

 Their tongues get to wagging, and they so 

 enjoy letting them wag that they never ac- 

 complish any thing anywhere. I have some- 

 times tliought they were worse than old tin- 

 ware and hoop iron. But 1 have found a 

 use for them. We don't bury them to make 

 reservoirs (their tongues, I mean), but we 

 tind them a place where somebody is wanted 

 to do a great amount of talking. During 

 certain seasons of the year we have a great 

 number of visitors in our establishment. 

 They want to look around, and they want 

 somebody to talk to them, and tell them all 

 about things. Now, since the new agricul- 

 ture has come on to our grounds there are 

 more things than ever before to talk about 

 and explain. Almost anybody can show 

 visitors around, and make it pleasant by ex- 

 plaining things, say for one day ; but who is 

 there who wants to go over the same thing 

 the next day, and the next, and so on ? 

 Why, all that is needed is one of these people 

 who are so excessively fond of talking and 

 visiting. This love of talk comes right in 

 play here, and is just what is wanted. In- 

 stead of getting out of patience, and calling 

 them names, let us use these talkative pro- 

 pensities in such a way that they will work 

 for Christ. Is it w^orking for Christ to en- 

 tertain visitors ? Most surely it is ; and 

 where the spirit of Christ has found lodg- 

 ment in the heart of a great talker, this 

 tongue that might otherwise be working 

 mischief is a powerful factor for Christ's 

 sake. 



Of late there is an overplus of people want- 

 ing employment. People object to going in- 

 to tl)is, that, and the other industry, be- 

 cause the product brings so little on the 

 market, or because it requires such diligence 

 and such strict economy to come out whole. 

 One must work from morning till night to 

 make both ends meet, and he does not get 

 ahead even then. Yes, I know it is so ; but 

 I am inclined to think that this very thing 

 is a part of God's plans. He wants to teach 

 us over and over again, as he taught the 

 children of Israel, by line upon line and pre- 

 cept upon precept, that there is no excel- 

 lence without great labor. He wants us to 

 learn to clip off useless expenses, useless 

 motions, useless talk, and useless reading. 

 My friend, if you have leisure on your hands, 

 so that you can sit down and read from 

 morning till night, it is a misfortune for 

 you. I do not see how we can be good 

 Christians unless something spurs us all the 

 time to be throwing away the useless and 

 selecting only the best. Pick out that which 

 is for Christ's sake, and throw away the 

 other. When you feel like giving somebody 

 a big blowing-up, remember you have not 

 time, and it won't pay. Sift out the phrases 

 and expressions you are going to use that 

 are for Christ's sake. Leave the rest unsaid. 

 Then shall you have treasure laid up in 

 lieaven. Never mind feelings • of spite or 

 revenge ; never mind the gratification of 



