1888 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



889 



with our tongues, but express themselves. We 

 came to a steep hill, and our horse, whose name is 

 Bird, stopped and looked bacli at me, saying,"! 

 can't go up that hill— it's too steep— and haul a tat 

 woman lilie you." So I got out, and Lucy too, and 

 said, "Bird, go up the hill." When she was half 

 way up she stopped to rest; and when she had got 

 over the steepest part she looked back, saying, 

 " You can get in now; I can pull you the rest of the 

 way," and we did. Mrs. L. Harrison. 



Peoria, 111- 



My good friend, you have fallen into a 

 way of meeting troubles before you come to 

 them, I fear. I believe in being prepared 

 for every eveuL in life; but worrying about 

 imaginary troubles is no preparation for 

 any thing. I have myself a good many 

 tiriies started oft without being ready, as 

 you term it, and found that nothing very 

 disastrous happened after all. I have dis- 

 covered, Mrs. H., that horses can talk as 

 well as ourselves, and I greatly delight in 

 talking with them, and in getting acquaint- 

 ed, especially where they are inclined to be 

 unsociable. Some horses are cross and crus- 

 ty, and resent any advances to being neigh- 

 borly. I often think, however, that the 

 poor fellows have got soured by meeting so 

 many cross and ill-tempered people. I 

 have long had a sort of a hobby, however, 

 that we might heap coals of fire on their 

 heads, and in time soften a bad disposition. 

 I have never had time to work it out very 

 thoroughly, however. 



dun JlejiE?, 



God hath chosen the weak things of the world to 

 confound the things which are mighty.— I. COR. 1:27. 



§()METiIlNG over two thousand years 

 ago, a poor commonplace individual 

 who had, perhaps, no particular merit, 

 tmless it was that he trusted in God, 

 began wondering whether something 

 could not be done to gather together the 

 scattered remnants of his people, that they 

 might build up the walls of Jerusalem, and 

 again serve God as they did in times past. 

 On account of wickedness, disobedience, and 

 a lack of faith, God had permitted them to 

 tall into the hands of their enemies until 

 they had been so crushed and scattered 

 abroad in captivity that the world hardly 

 knew such a people ever existed. This cond- 

 monplace individual, however, kept right on 

 thinking, and began praying that God would 

 in some manner open a way to the re-estab- 

 lishment of his kingdom among his chosen 

 people. Xehemiah had no power nor money 

 nor influence anywhere. lie was. in fact, 

 one of the humblest servants, for his posi- 

 tion was to wait upon the king, and to bring 

 him his wine wlien he wished for it. Not- 

 withstanding all these adverse circumstan- 

 ces, he had f;iith to pray to the " great God 

 of heaven,'' and toineditate on the matter. 

 In olden times kiiicjs were in the habit of 

 choosing for their attendants men of mirth 

 and jovial spirits. Perhaps Nehemiah had 

 ordinarily been of tliis class, for we are told 

 that the king finally noticed his sad looks. 



and perhaps, greatly toNehemiah's surprise, 

 very kindly questioned his humble waiter, 

 asking him why one in apparent good health 

 should look so sad. I do not know whether 

 Nehemiah recognized in this any answer to 

 his prayers or not ; but he frankly told the 

 king his feelings ; and as the queen was 

 present he explained to her, also, the condi- 

 tion of his people. All faith, spirit, all en- 

 terprise and energy, had departed from the 

 whole race. They were clear down, and 

 their condition was so utterly hopeless, they 

 had fallen into a kind of apathy, and just 

 lived, as some folks do nowadays — lived, 

 witliout a solitary ray of the glad sunshine 

 of Gods love, arid no glimpse of his plans, 

 and no hope to brighten a single hour of the 

 daj s as they came and went — without pur- 

 poses or end or aim. I have not time to 

 give you the full particulars of the story 

 here, but you can And it in the book of Ne- 

 hemiah, if you wish to read it. I presume 

 it was a wonderfully strange thing indeed 

 for a great king to "listen to the wants and 

 needs of his cup-bearer, and to give him a 

 long vacation, with men and money besides, 

 to go down and see what he could do toward 

 building up the tumble-down walls, and 

 putting up new gates with massive locks 

 and hinges to keep out the warlike and un- 

 scrupulous wild Arabians round about them. 



But notwithstanding the king's kind aid, 

 Nehemiah did not have easy and plain sail- 

 ing, by any means He was a man of good 

 sound sense, even if he was poor and igno- 

 rant. He knew pretty well that the idle 

 apathy and indifference, so long as Jerusa- 

 lem lay silent and in ruins, would change in 

 a moment as soon as any one started out to 

 build up God's kingdom amid the deserted 

 ruins. In fact, the first night he got on the 

 ground he went out by himself to view the 

 ruins, during the night time, so as not to ex- 

 cite suspicion. He rode on his pony as far 

 as the pony could carry him, and then he 

 traveled on foot in order to get. before morn- 

 ing, a view of the immense task that lay 

 before him. Most men would have given it 

 up in despair, and gone back home content 

 to die, because the project seemed so utterly 

 impossible. Not so with Nehemiah. He 

 visited the remnants of his people, and, aft- 

 er much pains and hard labor, awakened in 

 their hearts a sort of dim faith and energy 

 to go at the work. The Arabians very soon 

 got an inkling, and commenced to poke fun 

 at him, and to ridicule the project. They 

 laughed him to scorn, and even made sport. 

 " What ! do these feeble Jews think they 

 can build up the walls of Jerusalem V" Then 

 the other took it up, and declared that, if a 

 fox should chance to run over any wall they 

 could build, it would tumble down forth- 

 with. Nehemiah decided, however, to get 

 along with it the best way he could. He 

 made them no reply, but stuck to his work. 

 Wlien they found that jeers and talk did not 

 hinder the resolute Hebrews, they began 

 meddling with their work, and trying to 

 pick a quarrel with them, so that the labor- 

 ers were obliged to lay down their tools and 

 take up their arms alternately, and even 

 keep a standing watch by night, not forget- 

 ting to pray continually to God to bless tneir 



