812 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Not. 1. 



beer for hor, and I did so, and it is in my cellar. 

 T tell you the whole truth about it." 



'• Very good, X. If the doctor told you to get 

 some beer for your wife, it is your own business, 

 and not that of anybody else, that I know of : 

 only I tliink the doctor is mistaken in some of 

 his ideas. The only thing about it that inter- 

 ests us is, have you sold or given away any of 

 this beer that you got for your wife?" 



"No, Mr. Root, I have not. and I am not go- 

 ing to." 



"And you are quite willing that I should go 

 up to your house and look through your cellar, 

 as I have been told to do?" 



" Why. to be sure. Mr. Root. We should be 

 glad to have you come up to our house any 

 time, and go into the cellar or anywhere else 

 you want to go. Nothing would make us ?nore 

 glad than to have you come and see us; but 

 please come upstairs too. and see the baby." 



The genial, kindly good nature that beamed 

 in his face as he spoke the last words placed 

 him, without a doubt, very far higher up (even 

 with his beer for his wife and baby), than the 

 person who had tried to poison my mind by 

 telling me these false and wicked stories. 



" Look here, X, have you any idea why this 

 person should come to me with such a string of 

 falsehoods as this ? " 



" Why. yes. We had trouble about building 

 a sidewalk. She threatened me. and said if I 

 didn't do as she wanted me to she would go to 

 f/ou and gee me turned off." 



'■ And did you believe that anybody could 

 come to me and get one of ray good friends 

 turned off when he is doing his duty as well as 

 he knows how? " 



•' Why, Mr. Root. I didn't think you would do 

 so: but yet it troubled me a little, after all." 



One other of the three, a most careful, con- 

 scientious boy who goes regularly to Sunday- 

 school, and tries to do right as well as he knows 

 how. actually cried when I canje to him about 

 it. I do not know but my faithful little friend 

 felt hurt to think that I should even inquire in 

 regard to such a charge: any way. he ought to 

 have felt so, and I beg his pardon from the 

 bottom of my heai't. Now. do you see the mor- 

 al ? "Prove all things: hold fast that which 

 is good." When you are getting " red hot " in 

 regard to the iniquity there is in this world, go 

 slow. Don't be in haste to believe all that is 

 told you. Some astounding things are said, 

 and once or twice in my life I have heard 

 statements from the speaker's stand that were 

 almost as much out of the way as the story I 

 have told; and when you hear such stories, be 

 careful how you repeat them. Don't even tell 

 your wife until you have first gone straight to 

 the one who is accused: then, if nothing else 

 can be done, hold the offender up to public gaze. 

 I earnestly hope that this charge that our 

 government is even ?ion' at the present time 

 helping to push the liquor- traffic into foreign 

 countries is a mistake. No harm can come 

 from giving it publicity, any way. because the 

 charge is already being made and scattered 

 broadcast. Let us go forward hand in hand, 

 with malice toward none and charity for all: 

 and if it be really true, as St. John has it, that 

 ignorance and prejudice are the worst foes we 

 have to fight, let us fight ignorance and preju- 

 dice; but let us first get thoroughly acqunitited 

 with them. Let us visit them in their homes, 

 that we may know whereof we speak; and thpu 

 let us apply the remedy with the love of Christ 

 Jesus in our hearts. ' Let us love eyew oitr e/)- 

 emies while we are full of energy and godly 

 zeal in bi-inging them to justice, providiuK 

 mitliimj rise w\\\ turn them from the error of 

 their ways. 



High-pressure Gardening. 



BY A. I. ROOT. 



FAKMING doesn't PAY. 



Of course, I can not undertake to go over all 

 the reasons why farming doesn't pay at the 

 present time; but some of them have come 

 under my observation to such an extent that I 

 want to speak of it. In running about the 

 country on my wheel I am again and again 

 forced to the conclusion that farmers, at least 

 many of them, do not work as people do in 

 factories or at mechanical trades. Of course, 

 many mechanics get better prices than farmers 

 do. If you employ a stone or brick mason he 

 commences at 7 o'clock sharp in the morning, 

 and works till (i at night. He does not stop to 

 gossip nor to tell stories — seldom to eat even an 

 apple. He works hard, steadily, and busily, 

 straight thiough the ten hours. For this ser- 

 vice you pay him perhayjs three or four dollars 

 a day, and he ought to have it — that is, when 

 you consider how much he has to stop on ac- 

 count of the weather, and how he puts in when 

 the weathpr is favorable. You may say it is 

 not right for everybody to work every day like 

 that. Well, may be it is not: but if I were on a 

 farm, and a mortgage were hanging over me. 

 I think I would work just that way. Yes. T 

 know some farnu'rs do \\ork that way. and 

 some work hnrd even twelve or fourteen hours 

 a day. and wear themselves out: but these are 

 extremes. The great biilk and mass of farmers 

 do nothing of the kind. A few days ago I was 

 in a country town several miles from home, so 

 late that it was not wise for me to think of 

 going home on my wheel in the dark; so I stay- 

 ed over night, intending to start out at the peep 

 of dawn. But I was urged so hard to stay to 

 breakfast that I concluded to do so. Now, this 

 little town is a community of farmers. Almost 

 every man in the town has a farm, more or less, 

 back of his home. A good many of their farms 

 are mortgaged, and there has been considerable 

 talk at their farmers' institutes to the effect 

 that farming does not pay. I do not think, 

 however, that very many of them have got 

 where they talk of repudiating their debts; l3ut 

 it seemed to me there were quite a good many 

 who have not very much energy nor ambition 

 in Lifting the mortgages. I got up a little later 

 than my usual time. As nobody was stirring I 

 took my wheel and lan ai'ound the town some. 

 The weather was beautiful, and. in fact, it was 

 one of these beautiful October days we are just 

 now having. The roads were hard and firm. 

 Our own big team has been drawing two tons 

 and a half of coal at a load, right along, be- 

 cause the roads are so nice and the weather so 

 favorable. It was just the time for farmers to 

 be out and moving as .soon as they could see. 

 Yes. if I were going to lift a mortgage (come to 

 think of it. that is exactly what I am doing) I 

 think I should have my breakfast long before 

 the sun is up, and. under some circumstances, 

 even before real broad daylight. Well, while I 

 was waiting for i)eople to get up I thought I 

 would run around the town and look at the 

 homes. How many people do yon suppose I 

 found moving as I went past say thirty or forty 

 neat and tidy homes, little and big? I do not 

 know just what the hour was. but it was be- 

 tween six and seven. I caught a glimp.se of 

 only two individuals — a woman and a boy. As 

 I did not see any smoke coming out of the 

 chimneys I concluded theii' getting-np time 

 was generally about 7 o'clock. Some of them — 

 I do not know how many — finished their break- 

 fast about S o'clock. On another occasion I 

 visited one of our country towns, starting after 



