GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



JUL,T 1. 



A. I. Root— thai will not listen to reason or 

 common sense. He is a dangerous adviser and 

 an unsafe counselor; but yet I can not get rid 

 of him. He has been wiih me as long as I can 

 remember — at least I can remember of being 

 bothered by getting turned around in certain 

 localities, even as far back as when I was four 

 years old; and that very spot where I was 

 turned around at that time bothers me to this 

 day. The sun does not come up in the right 

 place, neither does it set where it does here in 

 Medina, and I have to be constantly figuring 

 and planning when I am in that locality unless 

 somebody is with me to keep me straight. 



I shall have to explain to the friends in Bel- 

 mont Co. that I started on my trip with such a 

 sudden rush that I actually forgot to look up 

 our list of subscribers in that locality. And 

 another thing, work was so much crowding 

 here at home that I had absolutely no time for 

 more than a flying trip. I was so much pleased, 

 however, with the beautiful country, nice 

 farms, and farmers' homes, that I contemplate 

 another visit after we are through with our 

 present rush. So don't think your old friend 

 purposely passed by you. 



GUIDE-POSTS. 



My story in the present issue, about getting 

 turned around, missing trains I expected to 

 meet, etc., illustrates the great need of legible 

 guide-posts throughout our land. Since the 

 wheelmen have agitated the matter, however, 

 we have a good law in this State, a copy of 

 which is as follows: 



Section 4734. The township trustees shall cause 

 to be erected and kept in repair, at the expense of 

 the township, at all intersections of the public ways 

 of the township which lead to any city, town, or vil- 

 lage, depot, or other important place or road, post 

 and guide boards, displaying, in legible letters, the 

 name, and indicating the direction and distance to 

 all such places to which each of said roads leads. 



TJpoa presentation to one of the trustees of a 

 petition signed hy ten free-holders, electors of the 

 township, asking for the erection of a post and 

 guide board at any designated intersection of the 

 public highways of such township, and naming the 

 Inscription desired thereon, the trustees shall forth- 

 with cause the same to be erected; and, failing or 

 neglecting to do so for the period of sixty days, the 

 petitioner may cause the same to be erected, and 

 collect the cost thereof, not exceeding five dollars 

 for each post so erected, from the township trus- 

 tees. 



Section 3. This act shall take effect and be in 

 force from and after its passage. 



In spite of this, however, I did not see a single 

 guide-post on my route, although I looked care- 

 fully and anxiously for them. 



Our Homes. 



And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the 

 ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of 

 life; and man became a living soul.— Gen. 3: 7. 



Dear friends, it may not be true that this per- 

 verse part of us that will not acknowledge the 

 truth when it is presented to us (when we are 

 " turned around ") is the evil part of humanity, 

 but it is certainly a stubborn and perverse 

 spirit that exists in us all, or at least nearly all. 

 When I can plainly see the sun rise and set, 

 then this stubborn, unyielding spirit usxially 

 gives up, but not always, even then. Instead 

 of confessing that he is wrong, he sometimes 

 insists that all creation, including the sun it- 

 self, is out of joint rather than acknowledge 

 his own blundering. As I am saying, it may 



not be true that this unreasoning spirit is the 

 spirit of evil that is within us all, yet in some 

 respects it is much like it. A good Christian 

 mother was reasoning with a little boy: She 

 said: 



"Sammy, aren't you sorry you were so 

 naughty? " 



But he shook his head. She repeated the 

 question, and insisted on his answering. But 

 he only replied that he was not sorry. Poor 

 Sammy! He was perhaps depraved and wick- 

 ed, but he was truthful; and even since I have 

 got to be 57 years old 1 have had some expe- 

 riences like Sammy's. 



One day when 1 was tired out in both mind 

 and body, and thirsty besides, and suffering 

 also for my morning nap, 1 came into the house 

 for my daily drink of hot water. I fell so tired 

 and worried I would have gladly kept out of 

 sight of anybody until I could reach my desired 

 resting-place. But it did not seem possible 

 unless I went without the cup of hot water I 

 longed for. In securing it, something vexed me 

 and I uttered .some impatient words. Then 

 came a conflict that lasted not only several 

 hours, but I felt some of the effects of it for 

 several days. The bad spirit said, " It surely 

 is your privilege to have rest and a drink of 

 water if you ask for nothing more, even if you 

 do make somebody else a little trouble in get- 

 ting it." 



But another spirit (and I trust it was the rul- 

 ing one) kept remonstrating by saying: 



'"Are you living for self or for the good of 

 others ? Are you going to take care of your- 

 self through life? and when you come to die 

 are you alone equal to the task of closing your 

 dying eyes, or do you expect others to care for 

 you when you can not not care for yourself ? 

 Is your life in this world ' to be ministered unto 

 or to minister ' to others ? " 



And then comes the thought of my favorite 

 text, about bearing not only our own burdens 

 but those of other people, for Christ's sake. 

 Christianity opposes point blank the idea of 

 self and selfishness. At such times this other 

 spirit, or " other fellow,'' will say: 



"Oh! these nice texts are all very pretty to 

 talk about in prayer-meeting. The idea of 

 self-sacrifice is very well to sing about in 

 hymns; but when it comes right down to living 

 it out in every-day life, it is a good deal hum- 

 bug and folly." 



Yes, dear reader, it is true that I, who have 

 been a Christian, or at least have called myself 

 one, for 35 years or more, have something with- 

 in me that suggests thoughts like the above. 

 There is the selfish, unreasoning brute nature 

 remaining still. Somebody has suggested that 

 we were created brutes or savages, and would 

 have remained so had not God himself breathed 

 his spirit into us; and, in the language of our 

 text, from that time forward " man became a 

 living soul." That word "living," I think, 

 should be taken in the sense that our Savior 

 uses it in speaking of life— John 10:10: "lam 

 come that they might have life, and that they 

 might have it more abundantly." We do not 

 understand by this simply animal life, but 

 spiritual life born of God. The Bible enjoins 

 us on nearly every page to beware of this selfish 

 animal nature. In some places It is spoken of 

 as the old Adam. In one text It says, " He that 

 ruleth his own spirit is greater than he that 

 taketh a city." 



There Is a suggestion that the God part with- 

 in us should hold In check this unreasoning 

 animal nature. This "other fellow" that I 

 have spoken of in my travels in this Issue would 

 urge to strike back when we are Injured. The 

 God part says, however, " Love ye your enemies; 



