91:2 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dp:c. 1.' 



no fencerows for bee-plants, and the lindens are 

 disappearing. Hurry up that short- enrol I aed 

 red clover, friend Hasty, and we'll teach stock 

 to eat melilot: and then with buckwheat and 

 white clover we're not so desperately bad off. 



"After moke than 25 years' experience.'" 

 says that usually careful writer, C. H. Dibbern, 

 "we know of no other industry that offers so 

 many opportunities to a poor man as bee- keep- 

 ing to get a start in life." Some of those who 

 are asking what other business they can unite 

 with bee-keeping so as not to be obliged to give 

 it up, will scratch their heads when they read 

 that. 



A NEAT EXPERIMENT is reported by F. H. 

 Richardson, in A. B. J. Into four cages, each 

 containing a drop of honey, were turned re- 

 spectively one, two, three, and four bees with 

 empty sacs. "All quickly found their drop and 

 began business. The two bees diminished their 

 drop very considei'ably: the three cleaned 

 theirs up very nearly; the four cleaned up and 

 'licked the paper;' while the one lonesome bee 

 undoubtedly wished it had two more sacs. 

 Now, this proved that one drop was just about 

 three bee-loads." 



LANGSTROTH'S REMINISCENCES. 



EARLY PASTORAL EXPERIENCES. 



The Rev. Samuel Phillips, the first pastor of 

 the South Andover Church, served his people 

 about sixty years. He was a man of very 

 marked peculiarities. It is related of him, that, 

 if any head of a family was absent from church, 

 and he knew no cause for it, his practice was to 

 call upon such as soon as he could, to inquire 

 why he was absent. Perhaps this habit of his 

 had something to do with producing that un- 

 usual punctuality in attending divine services 

 which I think I never saw equaled anywhere 

 else. The church records kept by him were 

 written in a hand nearly as legible as print. In 

 looking over his lists of baptized children I 

 found, with scarcely an exception, that every 

 child had a Scripture name. From one of the 

 old men I had the following characteristic an- 

 ecdote: 



One morning a father presented his infant 

 daughter for baptism. Being asked her name 

 he replied. "Betsv." 



"Betsy!" said Dr. Phillips— " Betsy ! that is 

 no Christian name; it is a heathenish name. I 

 suppose you mean Elizabeth." 



"No. sir," responded the man; "I mean 

 Betsy." 



Proceeding to administer the rite of baptism. 

 Dr. Phillips said, in a loud voice, and with a 

 strong emphasis on every syllable of the name, 

 " E-liz-a-beth, I baptize thee." etc. 



The father was so angry that he went stamp- 

 ing down the aisle with his child in his arms, 

 crying out repeatedly in a loud voice, " This 

 child's name, I say, is Betsy! this child's name 

 is Betsy!" 



In Dr. Phillips' time no fires were ever kindled 

 in the church. From a large old-fashioned 

 fireplace, in a dwellinghouse near by, the live 

 coals were pj-ocured for the women's footstoves. 

 No doubt, when the mercury outside was far 

 below zero it must often have sunk inside to a 

 very low temperature. The men could then 

 keep their feet from freezing only by frequently 

 stamping upon the floor; and I have been told 

 that the noise was occasionally so great that it 

 was next to impossible to hear the words of the 

 preacher. 



At the time of my settlement the congrega- 



tion was composed very largr^ly of farmers. 

 There was one member of the church who came 

 more than once to the minister to complain of 

 the pride of his brethren and sisters. To him 

 the strongest proof of their unchristian pride 

 seemed to be the painted outside of their houses 

 and the carpeted inside. One day when he 

 came with his usual complaints I said to him, 

 "Let me tell you a story. In ancient times 

 there lived a philosopher by the name of Plato, 

 who kept a large school for the instruction of 

 the Athenian youths, and he had carpeted the 

 doors of his academy. Now, there was an old 

 man among his acquaintances, named Diogenes, 

 who lived on the plainest food and in the mean- 

 est way. One day when Plato was instructing 

 his classes. Diogenes entered with his feet all 

 dripping with mud. Striding over the floor 

 with great demonstrativeness. and splashing 

 the mud as he goes upon Plato's elegant rugs, 

 while the pupils looked on with astonishment, 

 he cried out with a loud voice, • Thus I trample 

 on the pride of Plato!' The philosopher looked 

 up. and, smiling upon him, only replied, 'But 

 you do so with greater pride.' Then, appeal- 

 ing to my complaining brother, I asked him if 

 he had never thought that perhaps he was 

 prouder of his unpainted house and its naked 

 floors than others were of the things which 

 offended him so much. Perhaps for the first 

 time he felt that he had made a mistake in 

 being so censorious, and he actually acknowl- 

 edged to his young minister that it might even 

 be that he had as much or more pride than he 

 had laid to the charge of others. 



Ministers are often annoyed, especially when 

 young, by church-members who gather up all 

 the current scandals, seeming to think it their 

 special duty to empty them upon him. One 

 such person otn'U obtruded himself upon me. in 

 spite of my decided manife'^talion of unwilling- 

 ness to listen to him. I at last induced him to 

 discontinue his visits, by the following treat- 

 ment: As soon as he opened his budget of evil 

 things said and done by church-members, I 

 turned from him and gazed intently on a corner 

 of the. ceiling, and he could get neither word 

 nor look from me. Taking at last the hint I 

 intended, he left me, and never came back upon 

 similar business. 



My father had two paper-mills in the vicinity 

 of Philadelphia, which required him to keep 

 team horses and horses for travel; so I early 

 learned to manage a horse. But I certainly 

 knew very little about the practical details of 

 life. One day a carpenter was making some 

 repairs upon my barn; and from some questions 

 that I asked him he found out that 1 did not 

 even know how to drive a nail. I knew very 

 well that I was quite an adei)t in splitting 

 boards, and first learned from him that a nail is 

 a wedge, and how to drive it. Never having 

 had any experience in ministerial matters, so 

 that I coulil learn how a parish should be treat- 

 ed. I doubtless made many mistake^. 



I have often thought what an admirable dis- 

 cipline it was for a young man, studying for the 

 ministry, to be in the family under the eye and 

 instruction of some able pastor who could im- 

 part to him not only theological knowledge, 

 but that practical, common-sense way of deal- 

 ing with parishioners for want of which so 

 many pastors fail. They now go to a theologi- 

 cal seminary and hear lectures, and learn 

 theoretically their future duties; but often they 

 enter upon them lamentably ignorant of what 

 they might so easily have learned in a pastor's 

 family. 



THE SLAVERY QUESTION. 



In the senior year of my college life the ques- 

 tion of slavery became very prominent. Presi- 



