1898 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



775 



"before I had gone a rod I said, " Well, I de- 

 clare ! my wheel has got injured in transit, 

 after all. And how strange it has happened ! 

 that very same crank is bent that was bent on 

 Mr. York's wheel." 



I got off and looked the crooked crank all 

 over, and it seemed all right. I spun it 

 around with my foot. Every thing was per- 

 fectly free, perfectly solid and true. I got on 

 again, hut there it was. My foot wanted to 

 rock back and forth at every revolution of the 

 crank, just as it had been doing in Chicago. 

 Do you guess at the truth, dear reader? Well, 

 I did about that time, and began to have a big 

 laugh. In just one day's riding my ankle had 

 become so adapted to its unusual conditions 

 that the stupid thing would not work right 

 when I had a crank that was )iot bent; and I 

 had to go through the sanse experience in 

 teaching my left ankle to adapt itself to a 

 crooked crank. It did not take so long, how- 

 ever. But the next morning the ankle com- 

 menced again to make a feeble protest, and to 

 demand a crooked crank. 



Now, there is a great moral lesson here. 

 God has, in his infinite love and wisdom, 

 made these bodies of ours so flexible, if that is 

 the proper word, that they can put up with or 

 adapt themselves to an infinite variety of cir- 

 cumstances and suggestions. Some months 

 ago I wrote 3'ou about a second self or another 

 fellow that exists in my make-up, and who 

 seems to be taking care of the welfare of my 

 physical being. This fellow gets turned 

 around, as I told you, and almost declares at 

 times that the sun rises in the west and sets in 

 the east. Now, I had a glimpse of this con- 

 trary chap right here. He kept insisting that 

 a crooked crank is better than a straight one, 

 simply because he had, with much trouble 

 and pains, adapted himself to the former. 



Well, I have had a long talk (have I not?) 

 about something which, even though it be in- 

 teresting and peculiar, has no particular bear- 

 ing on our text. But are you snre it has no 

 bearing? Does it not just begin to occur to 

 you that, if these bodies of ours are capable of 

 such adaptability, we should gather from it 

 moral and spiritual lessons? While I have 

 been telling this .story, doubtless more than 

 one of you have remembered similar experi- 

 ences. When a boy first tastes of tobacco his 

 whole physical frame rebels — yes, and contin- 

 ues to rebel; but if the boy gets it into his 

 head that it is going to make him manly, and 

 if he persists in forcing the unnatural poison 

 into his system, this wonderful economy of 

 ours makes arrangements to get along and en- 

 dure the poison. Getting inoculated so as to 

 enjoy comparative immunity from the poison- 

 ous effects of bee-stings is along in the same 

 line. Nature does at first protest, then does 

 the best she can under the circumstances; 

 then she quiets down and gets along in toler- 

 able comfort, and without being very much 

 disturbed by the poison. Perhaps it might be 

 well to suggest here, however, that dear, kind, 

 patient, and oftentimes long - suffering, old 

 Dame Nature does finally, at least sometimes, 

 give way, finding herself unable to stand the 

 strain. The result is tobacco ulcers, and. 



with strong drink, delirium tremens; and 

 some of our veteran bee-keepers declare that, 

 after one has been .stung an imusual number 

 of times, month after month and year after 

 year, serious derangements begin to follow.* 



Just now, however, we can not stop to follow 

 through all this line of thought. I told you 

 how I got along with the crooked crank. 

 Some of us have had a like experience in get- 

 ting along with crooked or cranky neighbors. 

 Where they are both cranky and crooked, it is 

 .sometimes pretty hard to follow out the teach- 

 ings of our text. But, dear brother and sister, 

 I want to assure you that there are great and 

 unexplored regions in this direction. I my- 

 self am not naturally constituted so as to get 

 along with contrary people. I have said hun- 

 dreds of times, " I declare, I will not put up 

 with this thing any longer;" but when I have 

 considered the matter a little more, or, better 

 still, when I have come to pray over it, oh 

 how many times I have decided as I did with 

 the crank to that wheel ! and as I have made 

 my decision I have said to myself, " Lord, 

 help me to get along with this unreasonable 

 neighbor of mine Help me to choose the 

 best and wi.sest way under the circumstances, 

 and help me to bear with him for his own 

 sake and for the sake of his wife and children. 

 Help me to put down self, and to live peacea- 

 bly with him for Christ's sake.'" And how 

 glad I am that I have put up with the peculiar 

 characteristics — nay, more than that, with the 

 unlovely traits of those I sometimes meet. 



Years ago I became acquainted with a man 

 who had some peculiar things aV)Out him that 

 were very vexing He had had bad luck in 

 getting a place, and worse still in keeping it. 

 Sooner or later almost everybody who worked 

 near or with him became tired of his ways. I 

 remember distinctly that one of his own coun- 

 trymen declared he would not work with him 

 at all. This was very annoying under the cir- 

 cumstances, but we finally concluded to keep 

 the two men away from each other, even 

 though it was very desirable at times to put 

 them together to do certain work. This man 

 tried me so exceedingly that I several times 

 declared I could not be bothered with him 

 any more. Finally his wife came to me plead- 

 ing. She said, in substance, "Mr. Root, I 

 can not deny what you say; but suppose you 

 were in uiy place — suppose you were obliged 

 to put up with this very thing every day of 

 your life, as I am. You certainly can not ad- 

 vise /;/.;' to give him up, as yon have decided 

 to do, for you know the large family of chil- 

 dren that are about us." She was a Christian 

 woman; and as she closed her remarks she 



* I clip the following from a recent issue of the 



A men'can Cn/Zira/oi : 



According to the results of an inquiry among the 

 bee-keepers of Germany, human beings may acquire 

 immunity from the effects of bee-stings .simply by 

 being stung a sufficient number of times. In some 

 cases thirty stings sufficed to impart the desired 

 immunity; in other ca'es as many as one hundred 

 stings must be endured before the victim ceases to 

 suffer serious inconvenience from the attack of bees. 

 Occasionallv a person is found who is naturally im- 

 mune to the effect of bee-stings, while others are not 

 able to acquire immunitj by any amount of heroic ex- 

 perience. 



