1888 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



891 



dreams that come in the night time— of pos- 

 sessing some sort of power that enabled me 

 to go away up in the air, and traverse space. 

 I never had any wings ; but it is always ac- 

 complished by some "new invention." 

 Over and over again I feel perfectly satis- 

 fied — that is, in my dream— that the thing is 

 really practical, and will work when expos- 

 ed to the light of day. Daylight, however, 

 always reveals the fact that it is "only a 

 dream." Well, oftontinjes 1 wake up and 

 speculate as to what use I should make of 

 such a faculty, if it were ever given me. In 

 fact, I have again and again asked myself 

 the question. What would be the result on 

 myself and on " my neighbors," if God 

 should see fit to place in my hands some 

 great invention that would enable me to 

 outstrip our fastest railway trains and ocean 

 steamers? Dear reader, my decision has in- 

 variably been, that vo good could come of it. 

 There is and always has been too much 

 A. I. Root and too little of Christ Jesus to 

 make it safe to intrust me with any such 

 power. I dreamed once that I used the gift 

 as a means of carrying the glad tidings of 

 free salvation to the utmost parts of the 

 earth ; but when I aw^ke I reflected that it 

 was not very prol)able. for I am not now 

 using my hands and feet tt) carry the glad 

 tidings even to my next-door neighbor. I am 

 sorry to acknowledge that the evidences are, 

 that I should not d<> very much better were 

 I permitted to go to China or Africa this 

 very afternoon. A great many times in my 

 dreams I have seen people stop and gaze at 

 me in wonder as I slid noiselessly over the 

 tree-tops, and past the busy traffic of men. 

 Sometimes they would stop and look quite a 

 while. Scientific men even began to specu- 

 late on the explanation of the phenomenon ; 

 but the greater part of mankind, after a few 

 minutes, would turn back to their daily oc- 

 cupations, and concluded that it was my 

 affair and not theirs, even if I did skip half a 

 mile over fences and house-tops at a single 

 stride. Would it be safe for the Almighty 

 to offer any human being who now lives or 

 who has lived, the power of perft)rming mir- 

 aclesV Judging others by myself, I do not 

 believe it would. Christ Jesus stands alone 

 in this matter. All the arts and powers of 

 Satan were unable to make him proud and 

 overhearing for one single Tuoment. 



Now I want to make some extracts from 

 the Woman''s Missionary Advocate Before 

 doing so, however, I want to say that I re- 

 joice to think there are men and women 

 both in this world who can be trusted with 

 large sums of money. Yes, the Lord may 

 pour into their hands thousands of dollais, 

 and it does not hurt them one bit ; and the 

 good friend of whom 1 have been talking is 

 of this class of individuals. 



A Stnrii nfthr Been, fiy J. S. Hximphre]i. 



Al)out three years since, there came to my desk 

 the following' letter: 



Dear Brother in Christ :—'!i'->me two years ago we 

 made up our minds that, as poon as we were ont of 

 debt, and our business was on a firm has!-', we would 

 devote the surplus money to the Lord's work while 

 in our lifetime, rather than lay it up to s"ive when 

 we wanted it no longer. This year our anticipa- 

 tions have been met; therefore find inclosed a 

 check for four hundred dollars, to be used in the 



interest of the American Board of Commissioners 

 for Foreign Missions, and our prayers go with it. 



The letter closes by saying: 



We are bee-keepers as well as farmers. We have 

 two hundred and twenty colonies of bees, and you 

 have perhaps seen our honey in the Chicago mar- 

 ket. 



Very truly yours, 



Feb. 3, 1882. Mf{. and Mks. . 



This practiciil illustration of a doctrine which I 

 was just then pressing home with such eiirnestness 

 as I could was both a surprise and a delight. Indeed, 

 only the day before, I had attempted to set forth to 

 a congregation larg-ely made up of families like 

 this one, in moderate circumstances, tf)kens that we 

 were living in "the latter days," and th.-it God, 

 through his providence, wns appealing to us as never 

 before to devote ourselves and our possessions to 

 his work. And 1 have ventured to predict that a 

 revival was at hand in which a chief feature would 

 be the consecration of property to the Lord; a revival 

 in which there would be found men of brains, of 

 experience, of business 1 act and opportunity, who 

 would as distinctly devote themselves to making 

 money for Christ as Moody and Whittle devote them- 

 selves to saviny souls for Christ. 



So opportune an example seemed to be a testi- 

 mony that this teaching was after the mind of the 

 Lord. 



I was also greatly touched by the thought— two 

 hundred and twenty colonies of bees gathering 

 honey out of the Lord's flowers for the Lord's mis- 

 sionaries! How could I help saying: "Blessings on 

 the bees? May white clover and all blest honey- 

 bearing flowers bloom abundantly the coming year 

 for the thrifty little workers!" 



The following summer was indeed a season of 

 wonders in honey-making. ' These friends with 

 whom a pleasant correspondence had thus been 

 commenced wrote in August: "We never have had 

 such a honey yield before. It would seem as if the 

 'windows of heaven' were really opened. We are 

 having such great abundance that we have hardly 

 strength to care for it, or room in which to put it." 



As neither this farmer nor his wife is in good 

 health, It is a marvel that they could have done so 

 much. The wife writes : " It has been very hard on 



Mr. and myself. But our loving Father has 



helped us daily. Never has a year passed in which 

 we have felt more than this year that we were 

 helped of God in our daily duties. As we have seen 

 the honey flowing in until in our weakness we 

 were almost ready to cry, 'It is enough. Lord!' yet 

 the thought has sustained us that we were fellow- 

 laborers with the dear missionaries in heathen 

 Africa and China; and while our bodies have been 

 taxed to their utmost, our hearts have rejoiced in_ 

 God our Savior that we have been permitted to suf- 

 fer and labor for him." 



A later letter said: "The yield was about two 

 hundred and sixteen pounds to the hive. One of 

 our best colonies gave three hundred pounds. We 

 have sent thirty thousand pimnds of this year's hon- 

 ey crop to Chicago, and placed it on the market for 

 sale." 



Of the proceeds of that season's labor, after all 

 expenses were paid, one thousand nine hundred 

 and thirty eight dollars an(i thirty two cents found 

 its way into the treasiiiy of the American Board. 

 I have since learned that a still larger amount was 

 given to home mission and church work. 



They had not means sufflcieut to build a Imrn, 



