GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



October, 1917 



The doctor was compelled to assent that 

 he did remember ; and he also added that lie 

 explained to his friend that it was often a 

 question as to whether it would do good vv 

 harm to venture even a protest. And then 

 came the reply. Now listen, dear reader, 

 and remember. The poor bereaved man 

 said something as follows : 



''Doctor, you should have rebuked me 

 fairly and squarely on the spot; and if 

 words would not have been sufficient you 

 should have planted your fist between my 

 eyes and pounded some sense into my poor 

 befuddled brain." 



I want to confess, dear reader, that of 

 late — yes, for a year or more past — when 

 there has been some little disagreement be- 

 tween Mrs. Root and myself, when hasty 

 'words have eoms into my mind, or, perhajDS 

 I had better say, words prompted by Satan, 

 I have had the good sense to say to myself, 

 "The dear woman is now getting closer and 

 closer to eighty years. If she should b? 

 taken away first, is it possible that I may 

 recall what I am about to sayf May the 

 Lord be i3raised I did not say it; but I feel 

 guilty to think of anything so unkind or 

 lacking in gentleness even coming into my 

 mind toward the dear companion who has 

 set an examjile before me and led me out of 

 countless troubles in the years we have 

 passed together. 



Dr. Barker said if we wanted to be hap- 

 py, the shortest cut toward real genuine 

 hapi^iness and satisfaction is to go a littl^ 

 out of the way to give encouraging words or 

 a helping hand to somebody else. It does 

 not matter particularly who it is. Give the 

 whole wide world to understand that you 

 are a friend to every man, woman, and 

 child, no matter in what guise or what sort 

 of clothing or circumstances you find them. 

 Make them smile if you can, and give them 

 a lift if they need a lift; and keep on so 

 doing. If you lose some treasure that you 

 might have obtained here on earth by rush- 

 ing off to business, you will not only find 

 yourself happy, but in the great future you 

 may find also treasures laid up in heaven. 

 Then the speaker quoted in a most eloquent 

 way that beautiful passage in the 25th chap- 

 ter of Matthew, commencing at the 31st 

 verse. At the close lie laid particular em- 

 phasis on the passage, "Inasmuch as ye have 

 done it unto one of the least of these my 

 brethren, ye have done it unto me." 



No. 5. This was the closing secret of 

 happiness. When the doctor started out I 

 could not make up my mind clearly as to 

 vvlietlier he was a professing Christian or 

 not; but his quotation of beautiful texts to 

 clincli st)ine point he bad made caused me 



more and more to decide that, even if he was 

 a doctor instead of a preacher, his talk 

 would be of inestimable value to many 

 preachers as well as to A. I. Root. 



Dr. Barker said in closing that the dear 

 Savior, over and over again (I do not know 

 but it was a hundred times or more), em- 

 phasized the thought expressed in the be- 

 ginning of that wonderful prayer, "Our 

 Father who art in heaven;" and that we 

 should all keep the thought constantly in 

 mind that God is our Father — the Father of 

 every man, woman, and child who looks up 

 to him and calls him Father. He reminded 

 us that we have a fashion of praying for 

 things that we think are needed to make us 

 hajipy. Sometimes the prayer has not been 

 answered, and we feel sore about it. Doubt- 

 less many in that audience, he said, had per- 

 sisted and insisted on getting the thing 

 prayed for, even if the means used in get- 

 ting it were not exactly fair. And then he 

 added, "You can doubtless rem'ember also 

 that the thing you coveted did you harm in- 

 stead of good. God knew best." 



" CAST THY BREAD UPON THE WATERS." 



Mr. Boot : — I have jvist read Our Homes in this 

 month's Gleanings. "Seek ye first the kingdom of 

 God" is part of your text; That reminded me of 

 something that I had Letter attend to before I 

 forget. 



You will remember that I wrote you a letter some- 

 thing over a year ago — I think it is quite a bit over 

 a year, but I am forgetful, and haven't time now to 

 look it up. I wrote you something about my print- 

 ing-shop, bees, and about our gospel-tract work, etc. 

 You printed my letter in Gleanings, and remarked 

 that the readers could get my little calendar by 

 sending for it, and added that they should enclose a 

 stamp or something more than a stamp if they felt 

 able to do so. Well, what made me think of that 

 incident when I read this month's Homes is this: 

 The motto or text at the vop of this year's calendar 

 is that very text; and in answer to your remark in 

 Gleanings, a man in or near Modesta, California, 

 sent us some stamps (I think 20 cents, if I remem- 

 ber right), and wanted calendars, etc. He also 

 asked me to mail a calendar to a person somewhere 

 in California, giving name and address. We mailed 

 the literature as requested, and now comes the part 

 that is of most interest to you. Not many months 

 after that he wrote that the calendar which was sent 

 to his brother-in-law was the means in God's hands 

 of that man's salvation, especially the text "Seek ye 

 first the kingdom of God," and also the ope for July, 

 "Be thou faithful unto death." This man further 

 wrote that his brother-in-law had been a very pro- 

 fane man, and not very long after his conversion 

 died in the hope of salvation. 



How wonderful the dealings of God! That notice 

 or remark in Gleanings caused this man to help us 

 with stamps. His request for a calendar sent to his 

 brother-in-law brought the mentioned text under his 

 eyes, so that God could use it to his conversion. 

 Some very insignificant things, with God's help and 

 blessing, may accomplish great things. To God be 

 all the glory. 



I would just like to mention tliat our 1918 calen- 

 dar will soon be I'cady fur mailing. Tlie first text is, 

 "The coming of the Lord draweth nigh." The 



