1898 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



147 



People often say, " Oh ! no wonder vo// are 

 happy. If I were situated as you are, / could 

 be happy too," etc. Let nie suggest right 

 here that such people often mistake cause for 

 effect. The fact that they are happy and joy- 

 ous and cheerful and good-natured has been 

 excellent capital to start business with. This 

 Christian hope and Christian life give them 

 success in their undertaking. Once more : 

 Helen Keller is an illustration of about as many 

 misfortunes as are ev'er heaped upon a single 

 person. She was launched into life deaf, 

 dimib, and blind. But there was a beautiful 

 Christian spirit waiting to be unfolded ; and, 

 in spite of all those adverse " environments " 

 (as scientists put it), Helen Keller now stands 

 before the world as a living wonder. Her 

 bright, hopeful, joyous life and never-failing 

 stock of good-natured zeal promise to carry 

 her possibly to the highest pinnacle of educa- 

 tion and culture. I hardly need to describe 

 her as she has come before the world at the 

 present time. You see and hear of it in all 

 the papers. Another thing, her life has dem- 

 onstrated, as nothing ever did before, what 

 may be done b}- untiring, unselfish Christian 

 teachers. If I am correct, poor Helen did not 

 even have money to pay for the expensive 

 work of breaking down the apparently insur- 

 mountable barriers that cut her off from the 

 great storehouse of intelligence and learning 

 that is around the most of us. If she succeed- 

 ed, as she has, shouldn't we who have sight, 

 hearing, and speech, be asliauied of ourselves 

 when we complain of Providence or of our 

 fellow-man ? 



Why are some people happy in the way I 

 have just described, and why are some so ex- 



plaiit-beds across to the house should be in excellent 

 working order on that wedding day. By some mis- 

 management too much steam had been sent across to 

 the house, and it had burst out of the groutid, filling 

 the tiles with mud, and made general havoc. One of 

 my trusty German helpers volunteered to fix it, if I 

 said so, but it was necessary for me to be out in the 

 storm all day long and supervise the work. Along in 

 the middle of the afternoon it seemed utterly impos- 

 sible that we could get it completed. My willing 

 helper was covered with a mixture of snow and mud 

 (I was not gui/f so bad), and was doing his best. 

 When it looked as if we should have to give it up — 

 that is, unless Providence intervened — I breathed my 

 little prayer. Shortly after, the long pole we were 

 working with unexpectedly passed through the ob- 

 .struction. I turned on the' .steam, and it gradually 

 worked its way through. Before the sun went down 

 the job was completed, steam was heating the circle 

 of pipes under the floor, and going out in the frosty 

 air at the top of the highest chimney. 1 felt glad be- 

 cause we had succeeded. Then I thought of the many 

 times when that little prayer had availed when every 

 thing el.se .seemed hopeless. Then my heart went up 

 in praise and thanksgiving to the great Father. I 

 thanked him that he had given me a life to live, even 

 though it was one of striiggles with difficulties. Yes, 

 I thanked him for the difficulties. I thought of my 

 text, " from death unto life." I remembered vividly a 

 portion of my life when I was sinking into spiritual 

 darkness, for /have had a glimpse of "death," but 

 through Christ it has all been changed to " life;'-' I 

 could have shouted for joy as Huber does; and had I 

 been off alone where none but the great Father above 

 would see or hear, I believe I should have done so. 

 Yes, vou can be joyous, even if you are old. Some of 

 the happie.st and most precious experiences of my 

 life have been since nearing sixty years of age. My 

 labors during the .stormy wintry day were not for self, 

 but for the loved ones in our ho'me.' At the marriage- 

 service, the minister alluded to the fact that Jesus 

 himself once attended a wedding, and assi,sted in the 

 festivities. 



ceedingly unhapp}? ? What makes this vast 

 difference — this great gulf in this world of ours 

 — between life and death .^ Why, bless 3'our 

 heart, dearly beloved (I think this is the first 

 time I ever used this expression, but just now 

 it expresses my meaning better than any thing 

 else), our text explains it all, and makes it 

 clear — " because we love the brethren." De- 

 spondency, the blues, ill temper, and all these 

 things, come from setfishitess. The selfish 

 man or woman wnll sooner or later find this 

 living death. Selfishness ends in this spiritual 

 death, and spiritual life hegi>is with love for 

 others — with love for humanity. If you are 

 miserable, it is because you are selfish. If 

 yott are joyous, it is because you love some- 

 body in.stead of self — '"because we love the 

 brethren." What a wonderful Scripture text 

 that is, any way ! I have often thought that 

 Bible texts were beyond any other form of 

 "language the world has ever known, in pre- 

 senting a great amount of truth in a few words. 

 "We know." Yes, indeed, we do know. I 

 know that the gospel of Christ Jesus raises us 

 from death unto life as well as I know that a 

 good colony of bees has a queen. When I 

 commenced bee-keeping there were certain 

 people who used to try to argue me out of 

 that theory. They did not comprehend — in 

 fact, they had not a glimpse of their own 

 atvful stttpidity. The idea of wanting a man 

 to stop and talk with them when he was 

 as familiar with the inside of a hive as a 

 schoolboy is with his thumbed and dog-eared 

 spelling-iaook ! My good friend, do you say 

 that you are a professing Christian, but that 

 religion has not brought you peace and joy ? 

 Then it is because your religion is a selfish 

 one. You are loving self and hating some- 

 body else. Do you plead that there are pecul- 

 iar circumstances ? The great Master admon- 

 ished us to love our enemies, and to do good 

 to those who hate us. If you are doing this, 

 working at it day by day, you will certainly 

 be happy. You can not escape it. Let us 

 now see some other precious Scripttire texts 

 with the illttmination that will shine around 

 them after what I have been saying. At the 

 grave of Lazarus he said to Martha, "lam 

 the resurrection;" " He that believeth on me, 

 though he were dead, yet shall he live again;" 

 and, " Whoso liveth and believeth on me shall 

 never die. ' ' Now, while you read these words, 

 interpret the word "life " as I have presented 

 it. In another place he said: "lam come 

 that they might have tife, and that they might 

 have it more abundantly." Is there any one 

 thing in this world that is to be desired more 

 than this "life" I have been describing? I 

 do not mean alone exuberance of spirits, but 

 a bright, kindly, loving life — a life that not 

 only inchides activity, but good will and loye. 

 Again, he says, " I am the bread of life;" and 

 still again, "I am the living bread which 

 came down from heaven ; if any man eat of 

 this bread he shall live for ever;'''' and all 

 through that sixth chapter of John you will 

 find the words "life" and "living" used in 

 this sense. Once more : " He that eateth of 

 this bread shall live for ever."* 



*Je.sus came from heaven to earth on purpose to 



