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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 15. 



horse gets so he does not pay any attention 

 whatever to rows or phmts. What a sad. sad 

 state of aflfairs this is, both for horse and driver! 

 It is the old trouble I spoke of in my last paper 

 — sin and Satan. Perhaps somebody may say, 

 "Well, Mr. Root, when you cultivate I suppo.se 

 we have perfect work, and an exhibition of per- 

 fect, even temper.'" 



My good friend. I do not often cultivate more 

 than one or two rows at a time — that is. I do 

 not cultivate potatoes and squashes much more 

 than that. But. oh dear me I there Js a kind of 

 •' cultivating" that I do every day of my life. 

 I am afraid— yes, I am sorely afraid— that, if 

 those around me were to tell the full truth, 

 they would be obliged to admit that I do soinc- 

 ti'mcs- " yank on tlie lines."' While it is bad to 

 spoil tlie disposition of a horse by giving way 

 to ill temper, it is a thousand times worse to 

 spoil the temper and disposition of human be- 

 ings by giving way in this manner to sin and 

 Satan." 1 suppose" the good friends about me 

 would be very loth to teTl I'ight out what they 

 sometimes think. Perhaps they would excuse 

 me by saying that I am overburdened with 

 cares, or suffering fjom nervous prostration, 

 etc. The best remedy for nervous prostration, 

 or, in fact, for any iuiirmity of the nerves, is to 

 practice the latter of our two texts — " Suffereth 

 long and is kind."" This little text is not only 

 conducive to the health, but it is a money- 

 making investment. A man who is cultivating 

 corn, and who has a disposition all day long to 

 "suffer long and be kind,"' accomplishes a 

 great deal more. He makes more inaiiey in 

 every way. If we look about us we shall find 

 sin and Satan along in this line almost cveriy- 

 whcre. It is not only out in the fields with the 

 horses, and among the farm help, but even in 

 our homes; and while I write, there comes to 

 me a plaintive letter from a child. When I 

 first thought of putting it into print it occurred 

 to me that there might be many, many homes. 

 and many fathers and mothers, "who might feel 

 startled, thinking perhaps it was a child of 

 their own— an inmate of their home who had 

 seen fit to write Uncle Amos that letter. As 

 you read it, dear friend, may God give you 

 grace to own up and set up a thorough reform, 

 if it is needed, in your family. May God give 

 you grace to say. •"Get thee behind me. Satan," 

 with such energy and determination that a 

 change shall be brought about. Here is the 

 letter: 



Dear Mr. Roo/;— 1 am so {flad ydu wrote about the 

 trouble in your German family. Wtjii't you be kind 

 enough to pray for my papa and mamma just as 

 you did for tliem? They are living the same way— 

 never see any thiuf^^ trood in eacli other, though 

 they are both good to otlier people. 1 have been an 

 invalid fcr a long time. I suffered liorrors; but T 

 don't mind tliat half as much as T do their ill treat- 

 ment of each other. Tliere is little or no enjoyment 

 in life for us t)u account of it. They will both read 

 your Home talli in tlie last Gleaninos, but I am 

 afraid they won't profit by it. Do help us to pray 

 for tliem. 



To be sure. I will pray for you. tny dear young 

 friend; and I wish to ask the readers of 

 Gleanings to unite with me in that prayer; 

 and won't this wonderful Endeavor society, 

 that is doing so much, not only pray with us 

 but try to help us? Let me beg of you, dear 

 father" and mother, whose eyes meet these 

 pages, foi- Jesus" sake do not " yank on the 

 lines'" when things go wrong. Don't "yank"' at 

 each other, no matter hoiv strongly Sdt^in 

 urges. When temptation comes, take my little 

 prayer into your hearts, and breathe a fervent 

 "Lord, help." and I assure you it will bring 

 peace and joy to take the place of rankling and 

 bitterness. Henry Drummond. in that wonder- 

 ful little book entitled •• The Greatest Thing in 



the World.'" has the following in regard to this 

 vice of which I have been speaking: 



"No form of vice, not worldliness. not greed 

 of gold, not drunkenness itself, does more to 

 nnchristianize society than evil temper. For 

 embittering life, for breaking up communities, 

 for destroying the most sacred relationships, 

 for devasting homes, for withering up men and 

 women, for taking the bloom off childhood, in 

 short, for sheer gratuitous misery-producing 

 power, this influence stands alone." 



A VISIT TO T. B. TERRY. 



HOW HIS FAKM LOOKS DURING THK FORK PART 

 OF .JULY. 



It was just after the thunder-showei', as you 

 may remember, when I came in sight of his 

 beautiful place. His premises were not only 

 plainly manifest by looking over into the fields, 

 but the sides of the roads indicated it at once. 

 His place is on a road rather unfrequented, and 

 therefore the grass comes np pretty well to the 

 wagon-tracks. But it is clean grass, and noth- 

 ing else. No weeds are allowed to go to seed 

 on any ground that he has any sort of control 

 over. I talked with him about abandoning 

 fences at the roadside: but he says his neigh- 

 bors are largely engaged in dairying and stock- 

 raising, so it would inconvenience them so 

 much that he must, at least for the present, 

 keep his farm fenced in. W"ll, when we ap- 

 proached the barn and dwelling-house, on op- 

 posite sides of the street, I came very near 

 uttering exclamations of surprise. The lawn 

 inside of the dooryard fence is not a bit hand- 

 somer than that outside. Yes, the grass was 

 so beautifully trimmed with the lawn-mower, 

 clear up to the barnyard and stable-doors, that 

 I almost hesitated to cross it with my buggy. I 

 said "stable-doors," but there are not any 

 stable-doors until you get inside of the covered 

 barnyard. I began wondering how it was pos- 

 sible to keep the premises around the barn in 

 such "citified"" style, if 1 may use the expres- 

 sion. Then I remembered that friend Terry 

 has not a chicken, cow, nor pig, on his whole 

 farm. Oh. yes! they do have one cow to fur- 

 nish milk and cream to go with the strawber- 

 ries. I did not ask what became of the refuse 

 from the kitchen, that is ordinarily given to 

 pigs and chickens, but I presume it goes into 

 the slop-barrel on wheels, and is then wheeled 

 out on to the ground, where it is soon worked 

 under. In banishing poultry he certainly gets 

 rid of a great deal of bother and a lot of un- 

 sightliness. In fact, I do not know of any ani- 

 mal that can make more distn'der and confusion 

 than an enterprising, go-ahead hen. Give her 

 a lot of half-grown chickens to help, and they 

 are certainly a terror to neatness. On the other 

 hand, there is a great deal wasted on the aver- 

 age farm and around the average farmhouse, if 

 there ai'e no chickens arouud to pick it up. I 

 do not like poultry around the house any better 

 than Mr. Terry does: but I am not yet quite 

 ready to lose the daily supply of eggs that I 

 get. "costing, a great part of the year, almost 

 nothing. Another thing. I do like to see a troup 

 of nice poultry start out to follow the plow or 

 cultivator. Where we manure ground up to 

 the highest standard of fertility, great quanti- 

 ties of angleworms seem to be a natural prod- 

 uct, and I believe they would eat up and destroy 

 a great part of this rich manure if we did not 

 have poultry on our grounds to follow after the 

 tools whenever the ground is stirred and turned 

 over. It is true, the chickens get into the tool- 

 house to some extent (but we have almost got 

 them broken of the habit, however), and I feel 



