84G 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 



vide it into halves. One half shall go to the 

 Juvenile Missionary Society, to do good 

 somewhere away off ; and tlie other half 

 we will keep to do good to ourselves, just 

 the best v:e know how." And he worked 

 the thing up until some of the boys became 

 quite enthusiastic about lending to the 

 Lord. Tliey perhaps had in mind this verse: 

 He that hath pity upon the poor, lendeth unto the 

 Lord; and that which he hath g-iven will he pay him 

 ag-ain.— Phov. 19:17. 



Monday morning, almost before our Sun- 

 day-school teacher had time to get up, a tim- 

 id knock came to the door. When he opened 

 it one of his Sunday-school boys stood there 

 with a buck-saw and a saw-liorse. 



" Why, Johnnie, what are you going to 

 doV" said his teacher. 



" Why, you said yesterday we were to go 

 to work and earn all the money we could be- 

 fore Christmas." 



" Yes, so I did ; but, what then?" 



" Well, you see I am going to do it, and I 

 want to get some wood to saw, and so I 

 thought I would come to you, and see if you 

 hadn"t some you wanted sawed." 



The preaciier thought awhile, and it oc- 

 curred to him he had some wood he wanted 

 sawed. He wanted it sawed "• l)ad " too, for 

 it was seasoned hickory, and it had waited 

 long for some one who had courage enough to 

 tackle it. He looked at the boy, and con- 

 cluded he wouldn't make much headway on 

 that hickory wood, but decided to let him 

 try it. 



" How much wood do you want to saw, 

 Johnnie?" 



"Why, sir, I should like to saw about 25 

 cents' worth." 



He then told Johnnie to go ahead, and, to 

 save time, extended him a quarter, with the 

 remark,— 



'' There, Johnnie, is the 25 cents. You go 

 and saw about as much wood as you think 

 will be worth 25 cents, and it will be all 

 right." 



The minister went back to his sermon, or 

 whatever else he was at work on. By the 

 way, I wonder if ministers commence writ- 

 ing their sermons Monday morning. Well, 

 Joluuiie was forgotten for the time, until 

 ihe minister went to look to see how much 

 wood he had cut for the 25 cents. To his 

 astonishment he found that Johnnie had 

 given a tiptop "value received " for the 25 

 (•ents ; in fact, he had sawed more wood for 

 the small sum of money than probably any 

 man that could have been found would be 

 willing to do. But this little act indicated 

 the man. It said in plain words, that John- 

 nie was going to go through life, giving 

 " full value " for wluvtever he received ; and 

 I tell you. my friends, this comes pretty near 

 summing it all up— what constitutes great- 

 ness? 



You see, Johnnie was in the habit of do- 

 ing a good job on whatever he undertook. 

 Instead of being selfish, and studying how 

 he could get his pay with the least exertion 

 and tlie smallest equivalent, he was a whole- 

 souled boy who loved to give good measure, 

 even if he did not know of the promises in 

 the little text at the head of our article. 



Johnnie wus on hand bright and happy at 



the Sunday-school, on the Sunday before 

 Christmas. Half of the quarter was to go 

 to the mission fund, and the other half he 

 was to have himself. His teacher concluded 

 that Johnnie would be a good hand to take 

 up the contribution. Johnnie took the hat, 

 and started. He didn't forget, however, as 

 ushers sometimes do, to put in his own con- 

 tribution first; no, sir. Johnnie was not 

 that sort of a boy ; and as he looked at the 

 quarter, and meditated how he should man- 

 age it, a good impulse came over him, and 

 he l)owled the whole quarter right squai-e 

 into tiie hat, as an example for the rest, and 

 did his W'ork with a happy smile on his face. 

 The Methodist preacher ivas called away, as 

 I Metliodist preachers often are, you know, 

 I and Johnnie was forgotten. Years passed ; 

 1 and to recruit his failing health the preach- 

 er took his trip to California, and there you 

 have them, boys, both of them— the little, 

 thin, sickly Methodist preacher, and the 

 great brawny Johnnie Stubbs. 



'• But, Johnnie, what does this mean? 

 what are you doing here?" 



" What am I doing here? Why, I am 

 General Freight Agent of the Union Pacific 

 Railway." 



The minister stared at him in surprise. 

 Now, our friend is a great man and a won- 

 derful orator (I do not mean he is great like 

 Johnnie), but he has a great big heart, and 

 a soul that is capable of spreading not only 

 from Atlantic to Pacific, but one that can 

 not be confined entirely within tlie limits of 

 the Methodist denomination, for that matter. 

 He loves God and he loves humanity, and I 

 know that he loves Johnnie. But for all that 

 he is a practical man, and no doubt he has 

 had a tussle, as Methodist ministers do once 

 in a great while, in making both ends meet, 

 and so the financial part came up before him, 

 and he talked it right out. 



" Johmiie, how much money do they pay 

 you? What salary do you get for taking 

 care of this great business?" 



Johnnie's reply was characteristic of the 

 boy of old— very quiet and honest. 



" Oh! they give me S3000 this year, and 

 thev say if I tend to things well, and take to 

 the' business, they will make it §5000 next 

 year.'' 



The preacher opened his mouth and eyes 

 in astonishment. Tlien he clapped his hand 

 on Johnnie's big shoulders, and replied, 

 "Now, Johnnie Stubbs, that is just good 

 enough for you. I do not pity you a bit." 



Well, Johrmie took his old Sunday-school 

 teacher along through the train ; and when 

 he expressed a wish to ride on the engine 

 with the engineer, so he could see things, 

 you know, he just put him alongside of the 

 engineer, and of course he enjoyed it. 

 What do you suppose Mr. Stubbs' salary is 

 now, for the place he occupies? Why, boys, 

 it is $10,000 a year ; and he never would have 

 had more than the wages of common men if 

 he hadn't formed that disposition in early 

 life, to give full value for whatever he re- 

 ceived. Strange, is it not, that the world 

 can not realize nor comprehend nor inider- 

 stand that no one ever gets to be well off by 

 scrimping, and being mean and small and 

 stingy, especially when somebody trusts to 



