932 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 



about bee culture. I have ie;i(l your writ- 

 ings a good while, and 1 knew you, even if 

 you did not know me. I wanted to say 

 something to you; but I felt that, before I 

 could say it, I must have you get acquainted 

 with me, and I wanted to win your confi- 

 dence, that my words miglit have intluence 

 with you. I have now got acquainted, and 

 I think I have won the friendship and confi- 

 dence V)oth of yourself and your good wife, if 

 you will excuse me for being somewhat pre- 

 suming.'' 



He paused here, and I believe that my 

 wife and I both felt a little as did the good 

 people over in England when Moody and 

 SanKey first came among them. The people 

 were anxious to know what the evangelists 

 had to sell, or whether they were agents for 

 a new musical instrument, or something of 

 that kind. Dr. Miller, however, soon dis- 

 pelled these thoughts by something like this: 



" Mr. Root, I want you to be a Christian. 

 I want you to exert the inflence you possess, 

 and to use the hold God has given you on 

 tlie hearts of the people, for the cause of the 

 Savior.'" 



I can not remember what else he said just 

 then, but I hastened to tell him that I was 

 already in favor of Christianity and good 

 morals, and I ejtpected him to '' let up." as 

 the exi^ression is, in the same way I had in- 

 duced our pastors and other good" friends to 

 pass me by. He had no intention, however, 

 of giving up thus easily. He told me that he 

 who is not /or the Savior is against him, and 

 kindly and" pleasantly insisted that my influ- 

 ence was on the wrong side. I quizzed him 

 and questioned him, and tried to make him 

 compromise a little, but he held fast to the 

 Bible and to Bible texts with such eainest- 

 ness and faithfulness tliat I iwvev got over 

 it. He talked with all the energy I had 

 heard drummers and runners talk to sell 

 goods, but he had nothing to sell. He held 

 up before me Christ and him crucified, and 

 pointed me to the open door of salvation — 

 open to all who will accept it without mnney 

 and without price. 



When I began to get intimately acqtiaint- 

 ed with Prof. Cook, the two men reminded 

 me so forcibly of each other that I wrote to 

 both that they must get acquainted Mith 

 each other. In a little tim« they became ac- 

 quainted, and I was not disappointed. Once 

 when in sore trouble as to where duty lay, it 

 occurred to me I should like the coiinsel of 

 two such men as Dr. Miller and Prof. Cook, 

 more than tl\8 counsel of any other two men 

 I knew of in the world. As it was during a 

 State convention, I started out, although it 

 was somewhat late in the evening, to find 

 them. To my surprise I found them room- 

 ing together; in fact, they were just getting 

 ready to retire. I stated the case to them ; 

 and after one proposed that we should 

 take the matter to God in prayer, we knelt 

 down then and there, and had a little pray- 

 er-meeting. I shall always remember the 

 prayers of those two friends; and I shall al- 

 ways remember, too, the feeling of safety 

 and security I felt as the little meeting 

 closed. It does not seem to me that one can 

 go very far wrong when he takes the advice, 

 given after praying over the matter, of two 



good Christian men. 1 do not mean that the 

 two think alike on all the great issues before 

 us, for indeed they don't ; but they are both 

 earnest, faithful servants of the Master, and 

 devoted heart and soul to the good of our 

 people and to the good of our country. It 

 does me good to see them both brighten up 

 at the thought of any ])ublic movement for 

 the well-being and happiness of humanity, 

 especially for the youth of our separate 

 States. 



Dr. Miller injured his health by incessant 

 hard study; and after practicing medicine to 

 some extent, and giving it up on account of 

 his health, he made music a profession. This 

 he also abandoned for the same reason, 

 and shortly after I first saw him he took 

 up bees, with the prospect of small pay, 

 when he was offered a salary by some of the 

 leading music-publishing houses of our coim- 

 try, that might dazzle almost any one of us. 

 He felt that the blessing of health, with 

 God's sunshine and outdoor air. with even a 

 small income, is better than large salaries 

 and a broken-down constitution. 



ARTHUR'S BEES. 



A Story for Boys. 



11 V MKS. CASTEr>LA WHITMAN. 



Continued from Nov. lo. 

 ETCHING his bees through the remainder 

 of the season was a pleasant pastime for 

 Arthur. He had always been a faith tu I 

 boy, but it really seemed as if a new 

 motive prompted him ro greater exer- 

 tions. No surplus boney rewarded him, but 

 by being- carefully protected through the wintei- 

 they greeted him the following spring, when all 

 nature was springing into new life; but, alas! how 

 little did this family know what great sorrow was 

 to come upon them I The darling baby-sister, the 

 pet of the household, scarce two years old, was 

 snatched from their midst, and laid to rest in her 

 flowery bed on Decoration day. This great grief 

 so unnerved the mother that it was a long time 

 before she seemed herself again. Though always 

 tender and self-sacrificing, she appeared doubly so 

 now, and nothing was left undone that she could 

 do to develop any thing noble and manly in her 

 boys. Still, she was as ready to correct them, if 

 she considered them in fault, as to commend when 

 they had done any thing worth j- of it. 



Arthur's bees remained in their old hive, instead 

 of being transferred, as he anticipated. They 

 swarmed twice. The second swarm came out on 

 the Fourth of July, and the children said they wei-e 

 holding their anniversary. 



Thus two new hives were placed near ilie stately 

 old barrel hive, forming quite a contrast, as Ar- 

 thur's father had exercised a great deal of skill in 

 making them. 



1 will hastily pass the remainder of this season 

 by. Arthur, too, was anxious to see what another 

 year had in store for him, notwithstanding he was 

 often admonished that the present only is ours-- 

 the future is uncertain. 



Before he scarcely realized it, another winter 

 had passed, and it was time to place his bees on 

 their summer stands. It was indeed a pleasure to 



