834 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 15. 



On this account it is well to make frequent sow- 

 ings of spinach, lettuce, etc. One lot of lettuce 

 that I had planted for Thanksgiving has al- 

 ready commenced shooting up to seed. Never 

 mind; we have sold enough of it at .5 cts. per 

 lb. to pay the cost of the crop. 



Myself and my Neighbors. 



He that lovetli not his brother whom he hatli seen, 

 liow can lie love God whom he hath not seen ? — I. 

 John 4:30. 



A few days ago the text above suddenly 

 burst upon me. I was pretty sure it was in the 

 Bible sonnnvhere, but I did not know where. I 

 thought first it sounded like James. But we 

 Hnally found it as above. When it first came 

 to me, my impression was that it read neighbor 

 instead of brother — " He that loveth not his 

 neighbor whom he huth seen, how can he love 

 God whom he hath not seen?"' Well, shall we 

 make any mistake if we read it neighbor? I 

 think not. John may mean brother in the 

 church or a brother-Christian. But we are ad- 

 monished by the Savior not only to love our 

 neighbors as ourselves, but to love evim our 

 enemies. In the prayer-meeting and at church, 

 fn considering the matter we say, " Well, I do 

 love my neighbor;'" but when we come to week- 

 days and to week-day tasks and duties, do our 

 actions surely indicate that we have that con- 

 stant and (ibi(lin(j love? Do we not often be- 

 come discouraged, and say, " Well. I declare! I 

 do not believe there is any use in trying. I 

 really can't love that man"? But, hold on, ray 

 friend. Your next step will be to say you can 

 not love God. This epistle of John is a very 

 kind, loving, and gentle one. We can imagine 

 John as an old gray-headed man. In the second 

 chapter he commences with the expression, 

 " My little children." In the third chapter he 

 also uses the expression, " my little children;" 

 and his talk is almost constantly about love; 

 yet in the very verse from which I have chosen 

 my text, John uses some fearfully strong lan- 

 guage. Why. it almost makes me shudder to 

 read it. When I hear the word " liar'" used by 

 people who are talking, it almost always gives 

 me a start; and when some one calls another, 

 with whom he is talking, a ll((r, it sends a chill, 

 as if I had heard an oath uttered; but John 

 uses the word liar right in connection with our 

 text. In fact, the verse commences with the 

 sentence, " If a man say. I love God. and hateth 

 his brother, he is a liar.'" Oh I let us beware 

 when Satan so gets into oui' hearts that we be- 

 gin to feel hatred. Let us rememiier what John 

 says. We are really uttering lies whi-n we pre- 

 tend or profess to love God. and are at the same 

 time conscious of cherishing in our hearts ha- 

 tred toward a brothei'. 



In these days of anarchy and various organ- 

 izations whose leadei'S (if not followers) utter 

 fierce, hard, uncharitable speeches toward their 

 fellow-men, how quickly we see hatred toward 

 God follow along in the footsteps of hatred to- 

 ward humanity I Somebody says there is no 

 sucht/i/uyas fairness in this world; and if he 

 cherishes this thought, and associates with a 

 class who think they are misused, and do not 

 have a fair chance, very soon comes the charge 

 that God has not created all men free and 

 equal. Some of you may feel inclined to dis- 

 pute tlie mattei'. even now. Please beai' in 

 mind, my friend, that one of the first things in 

 the Declaration of Independence, on which our 

 system of government was founded, is this 

 statement; and love and obedience toward God 

 follows as a matter of course, immediately aft- 



erward. I can not take space, however, at 

 present, to go into the affairs of government. I 

 am dealing with Our Homes and Our Neigh- 

 bors; and I am pleading with you to have more 

 love, more faith, more confidence, in neighbors 

 you find wherever you are. There is. of course, 

 such a thing as having a foolish, unwarranted 

 confidence in your neighbors; but we so seldom 

 meet with this, compared with the grievous 

 troubles resulting from a lack of confidence, 

 that I am sure I am safe in dwelling continual- 

 ly on the latter. Yes. I feel sure I shall make 

 no mistake if my whole life be spent in encour- 

 aging that virtue that "' suft'ereth long and is 

 kind," and that " thinketh no evil." Some les- 

 sons I learned in my recent sickness are yet viv- 

 idly before me. INIost of us are given to falling 

 into notions. How much has been said about 

 bee-keepers getting into ruts, or getting into 

 notions, and sticking to them in spite of rea- 

 son or remonstrance from friendsl Now, inas- 

 much as Satan is watching to entrap us, even 

 during the delirium of fever, he is also watch- 

 ing for a chance to mislead us through this 

 same matter of notions. He is ever prompt and 

 active to suggest that such and such a neigh- 

 bor is a •' rascal:" and. if it is possible, he will 

 encourage this feeling until we fail to listen to 

 reason or to good sense. Oh do beware, dear 

 friend, that he does not entrap you in this way. 

 When he begins to whisper that nobody is any 

 thing but a downright rascal, spring up at once 

 and turn upon him with "Get thee behind me." 

 For many years I have had a "notion" that 

 my lungs were weak, and that probably I should 

 go into consumption before a great while; and 

 I have had another notion that I was laboring 

 under partial paralysis that I should likely 

 never get over. And during long years it has 

 never occurred to me that iSVifa/i had more or 

 less to do with these notions. I wish to men- 

 tion this, because I think that some of you may 

 have been tempted in a similar way. While I 

 advise you to have faith in your family physi- 

 cian, I do not by any means advise you to run 

 for him every time you feel bad. W'ell, while 

 under the doctor"s care I asked him about my 

 lungs. He said they were all right. But I felt 

 so sure they were not that he made an exami- 

 nation, and declared that my lungs were per- 

 fectly sound. In fact, he said I was remarkably 

 sound in body in almost every way— that all 

 my trouble resulted from overwork, and that, 

 too, mostly of a mental kind. At a time during 

 the fever when I did not seem to g(>t along very 

 fast, and at the solicitation of friends, a dis- 

 tinguished physician from Cleveland was called 

 in for consultation. Our regular physician in- 

 troduced him, and then told me he had not 

 informed him in regard to my case at all. He 

 said he wished Dr. Bennett to look me over and 

 question me. and then make his decision. Tlien 

 he laughingly suggested to me that I would 

 have an opportunity of seeing how well "doc- 

 tors ■' do " agree."" You know there has been a 

 good deal of sarcasm, and a good many insinu- 

 ations to the effect that no two doctors decide 

 alike. If some of the friends who say this 

 should meet with the conventions of the phy.si- 

 cians or our land, or read some of their class 

 journals, they might think differently. Well, 

 D»-. Bennett gave me a very thorough examina- 

 tion. He tested my lungs with expensive 

 modern instruments, and decided positively 

 that they were strong and sound in every 

 " corner." Why, dear friends, it has been worth 

 twenty-five dollars to me since then to feel that 

 I have a pair of .sound, capable, healthy lungs in 

 my body. I draw great long breaths every lit- 

 tle while, and thank God for healthy lungs. 

 Then he went all over me— punched me and 

 pinched me, felt of the different organs of my 



