772 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 



Iiy llie tjiipybccs would pay all her school-bills for 

 a year, ami there would still be some of it left. 



Tommy entered the public school at home, and 

 pursued his studies diligently. Still he was lonely 

 without his sister, and it was always with a g-lad 

 heart that he left scliool at recess on Friday cve- 

 nlnp-s, and hastened home to bring his sister from 

 town. Those drives home were very pleasant, 

 and each longed for Friday to come. Tommy 

 told Jane the news of his school; she listened with 

 pleasure to him as he related all the little school 

 incidents which had occurred among the boys and 

 j:irls she knew fo well; and in return she gave 

 I'ommy the news about the town school, which 

 interested him, especially in view of the fact that 

 he intended to go there himself, if spared. 



Monday morning Mr. Meek usually took Jane 

 back to town, while Tommy went to his own 

 school; or, if he could not, this work also devolved 

 upon Tommy. It would be dilhcult to find two 

 happier children than they during that winter; 

 and one source of their happiness was the thought, 

 " Jane is being educated at our expense." 



Their attention to business had made them 

 thoughtful beyond their years. Of Tommy, peo- 

 ple often said, "What a manly little fellow he is! 

 and what an idea of doing business he has for one 

 so young!" Jane was often called a thoughtful 

 child, and was commended for her (juiet, ladylike 

 ways. It is not known how much their doing 

 business for themselves contributed to make them 

 the children they were. It is very probable that, 

 without their father's aid and counsel, their bee- 

 keeping would have proved a failure. But still 

 that aid and counsel was given in such a way 

 that Jane and Tommy felt they, and not their 

 father, were the real owners of the apiary. 



Kecently the firm had subscribed for a period- 

 ical devoted exclusively to bee keeping. They 

 felt sorry they had not done so sooner, as in it they 

 found so much instruction in the art. Through it 

 they learned of books which they felt certain 

 would well repay them if they should study them, 

 and they determined to purchase them as soon as 

 they were likely to have the time to read them. 

 Jane's school would be in session eight months, 

 and then there would be a long vacation;, and, for- 

 tunately, that would come in the season of hurry 

 in the apiary. After she had spent two years in 

 that school the children would change places 

 —Tommy would go to school, and Jane Avould tend 

 to the apiary. After both had finished the pre- 

 scribed course in the town school, if more instruc- 

 tions were desired they must attend a college. For 

 years their parents had been hoarding a little sum 

 of money, and adding to it from time to time in 

 hopes that they might give their children the ad- 

 vantages of a collegiate education; but until this 

 business of keeping bees seemed to prosper, they 

 could see no prospects of their hopes ever being 

 realized. Hope had now sprung up in their breasts, 

 that one day their children might be eni-oUed 

 among the graduates of some good college. If 

 their bees should increase steadily for the four 

 years the children would be in the town school, 

 they would have quite an apiary; and could not 

 the children then attend college, while a man hired 

 for that purpose would care for the apiary under 

 the direction of Mr. Meek, and the honey-crop be 

 sufficient to pay the expenses of the apiary, and 

 also do something toward paying the goUege ex- 



penses of the owners? It seemed probable to Mr. 

 Meek that such a result might be attained, espe- 

 cially as the long college vacation would come at a 

 time when the children's help would be very use- 

 ful in the ai)iary. 



Will the hopes of these parents ever be realized? 

 We can not tell. Will their children ever receive 

 the expected and desired education? We see 

 no reason why they should not. So far their apia- 

 ry has made a steady growth, and has been remu- 

 nerative. This may continue, or a disastrous 

 winter may kave them only empty hives. When 

 we look <at what has come outcf that old nail-keg, 

 it is difficult to tell what might still come from the 

 same source. Here, then, we will take our leave 

 of the firm of Jane Meek & Brother. 



AVe feel almost sad to think of for ever 

 bidding adieu to Jane and Tommy ; yet with 

 tlie correct principles they have so far re- 

 ceived in life, we feel sure they will not only 

 succeed in bee culture, but that they will 

 succeed in being ornaments to their home, to 

 their neighborhood, and to their country. 

 Some may object to this little story, becaixse 

 it gives too bright a view of bee culture as a 

 business; that is, the progress seems to be 

 more steady and sure than we find it in real 

 life. To which I would answer, that the 

 writer has taken a couple of good children 

 to start with ; and a couple of good children, 

 carefully instructed ancl directed by Chris- 

 tian parents, do almost invariably succeed 

 in whatever they undertake. Note, also, 

 that the end and object of their prosperity 

 was not line clothes ; it was not a pony and 

 carriage— not even an organ ; but tlie funds 

 were to be used to complete an education so 

 well begun, (-ould it well be otherwise than 

 that (iod should smile on such an undertak- 

 ing, and bless those young lives? In fact, is 

 it any thing more than working out the 

 promise given in the first Psalm? May God 

 grant that many homes in our land may have 

 just such young people as Jane and Tommy! 

 And may such men and women as they make 

 when grown up be found ready, when the 

 times demand them for the safety of our 

 nation. 



THE GKEAT MOBAL PROBLEM. 



MRS. CHADDOCK TELLS US OF SOME OF HEK LONQ-. 

 INGS AND ASPIRATIONS. 



T WANT a boy; I want two boys; I want three 

 (mF boys; I want four boys; I want five boys; I 

 ^t want si.x boys: I want a dozen boys. 1 want to 

 ■^ take them when they are si.x years old, anci 

 keep them till they are fourteen or fifteen. I 

 want to take a new one every year, so that, when 

 they begin to graduate— i. e , leave me and go out 

 into the world, they won't all go at once. I want 

 these boys to work for me, and for their work 1 

 want to give them their board and clothes. I know 

 that there are thousands of boys who do not have 

 good clothes— not regular food nor decent clothes— 

 and they would be much better off out hero on the 

 farm than they are in the large cities. 



" But, why dont you get them then?" you ask. Be- 

 cause I have a conscience a mile long, and it won't 

 stretch nor bend for any thing. Now, if I take 

 these boys to raise, my conscience will force me to 

 send them to school every day as long as school 



