GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jax. 



now, brother Root, don't ever give up the Home 

 Department, you do not know the good that you are 

 doing. It will" tell in eternit}-. Toil on and the Lord 

 will bless you. E. E. Smith. 



Settle, N. C, Dec. 3, 1880. 



I see, by last No. of Gr.EANiNGS. that our year is 

 ended; and my husband would about as soon think 

 of dispensing "with his dinner as your useful paper; 

 and so, liking to give him pleasant surprises. 1 write 

 and inclose one dollar for the coming year. Besides, 

 I have felt a "big drawing" to pen you a few lines 

 this long while, to "sort of rest" j'ou again when 

 you sit down after a hard day's work, with your slip- 

 pers and dressing-gown on, and your feet a little el- 

 evated; for the many different businesses you are 

 getting engaged in must be tiresome to mind and 

 Dody. I can not conceive how you can think of hav- 

 ing "so many enemies, when every faculty of your 

 soui and body seems intent on doing somebody some 

 good. Even the long-neglected prisoner is made 

 happy by your visits and instructions. The printer 

 you spoke of as now being in your employ, we 'are 

 greatly interested in. Go on, dear brother, in your 

 good work; and, if you faint not, in the great judg- 

 ment-day Christ will make mention of your labors of 

 love to that unfortunate class. I told my husband 

 this morning that I would like so much to see your 

 operations, and I should go to Medina with some- 

 thing like the same feelings that the queen of Sheba 

 visited Solomon. 



Our bee business has occupied the time and mind 

 of Mr. Mattison quite a good deal: indeed, I might 

 say almost entirely. We began with 1-t swarms, and 

 increased to 23, all artificiiiUy. AVhen bees seemed 

 too many for a hiye, lie would take frames from sev- 

 eral hives, and sm(jke them to make them smell 

 alike; then give them some Italian larvte in the 

 right state to make a queen of, and they would sren- 

 ernlly soon be found to have " set up housekeeping" 

 nicely. The queen we got of you a short time ago 

 was, he thinks, gratefully received bv the mother- 

 less bees, though it has been too cold to make a 

 thorough examination. 1 see some of the women in 

 the country are turning their heads in a "bee-line." 

 Indeed, no*w-a-days they claim great liberty, and 

 must have their say too. Some of the communica- 

 tions from them read quite sensible. My husband 

 is trying to instruct m^, so if I survive him I shall 

 be able to carry on the business. I think favorably 

 of your intention of making a little book of your 

 laj--sermons, as they may truthfully be called. It is 

 encouraging to think tbat if any one is in straits, 

 and needs help of God, they can send their requests, 

 not only to the Fulton-street prayer-meeting, but to 

 Medina, Ohio. Go on, dear brother, in carrying the 

 needs of a dying world to God; and remember all 

 your patrons in their various necessities. Remem- 

 ber me particularly to your dear wife, whom 1 feel 

 aids you in your arduous and trying labors. 



Emeline Mattison. 



Ocean View, Cape May Co., N. J., Dec. (5, 1880. 



[Why, my dear kind friend, I never had such a 

 thing as a dressiiw-gowu and slippers in all my life, 

 and 1 hardly think 1 ever shall. The clerks all had a 

 good hearty laugh at the idea; and when I read it at 

 the dinner-table, we had another. My wife says I do 

 not even sit still on Sundaj-, unless I am obliged to 

 while in church; and then my restless disposition re- 

 venges itself by making me go to sleep, if they keep 

 me very long without letting me "do something." 

 We should be most glad to see you among us; but I 

 fear you might be sadly disappointed, and you know 

 that wasn't the case with the queen of Sheba.] 



KIND WORDS TO OUR CUSTOMERS. 



I FOUND the following sentences on a postal writ- 

 ten by one of the clerks to one of you:— 



.We beg pardon if we have been " short " or 

 " crusty." It was not intended. The " 1-90 " to 

 which you refer, means that your account stands on 

 Ledger 1, page 90. Our short sentences mean haste 

 — not churlishness. 



Now, inasmuch as quite a number have taken of- 

 fense at our brief way of answering, I thought it 

 best to remind you to try to have charity, even if we 

 are short in our replies. Very often, at this time of 

 the year, a great number of letters are waiting 

 for answers, and we felt that brief ones were 

 better than none at all. It is quite likely that the 



clerks are sometimes a little impatient in a way 

 they should not be, for I have a great' many times 

 made them write their cards over again, just be- 

 cause of this very thing. Please try to bear with us 

 when we get cross; and when j'ou get cross, we will 

 bear with you. Shall we not call this a bargain, 

 while we all try hard to do better? 



Please, my friends, do not take the trouble to 

 send certificates from your postmaster, justice of 

 the peace, or anybody else. Just make a plain, 

 frank statement of the case ; if any thing is wrong, 

 and if I think you have not told it fairly, I will be 

 equally frank. The more I become acquainted with 

 my fellow-men each j-ear, the more I am convinced 

 that by far the greater part of them are trying to be 

 just and honest. We lack wisdom and judgment, 

 many times; but the cases are very few where we 

 deliberately try to rob our fellows. If I am think- 

 ing too well of you, may God help you to come up, 

 instead of my faith going down. "vVhat shall it 

 profit a man, if he gain the whole world and lose his 

 own soul?" 



One more word about answering letters promptly: 

 As usual, about the close of the year we have quite 

 a little ' tu3sle," if we may so term it, with some of 

 the friends, to get them to answer postals, and have 

 all littl3 matters closed up. Well, after writing to 

 some of you four or five times, during nearly as 

 many months, we finally get quite a letter, and 

 sometimes a small "blowing up," if I may be ex- 

 cused again, because they did not owe the little bal- 

 ance, or else thought they didn't, which amounts to 

 the same thing, fir else that some of the goods were 

 lost or broken, or we were at fault in sending them 

 wrongly. Now, my friends, I do not mean, by these 

 statements, that you are necessarily owing me any- 

 thing, for very often the fault is all mine and not 

 yours at all; but are you not at least in fault in 

 waiting several months without saying a word? 

 Very likely I deserved the blowing up; but why not 

 give it to me at once, and have it done with? If 

 any thinff is wrong, why not say so, right off, and 

 have it done with? The poorest way in the world to 

 settle accounts, that I know of, is to keep putting 

 off, day after day, and month after month. If you 

 have not got the money, and are "hard up," say so, 

 in a manly way; if yoTi have paid the account al- 

 ready, or even think you have, by all means say so; 

 and if the blunder is ours, I will pay you for time 

 and postage, and for going to the postoflice too. Our 

 book-keeper receives the highest wages of any one 

 in the establishment, except Mr. Gray, and all these 

 delays cost me severely; in view of this, will yoti 

 not try harder to just scratch a line or two on a card, 

 and drop it into theoflBce? In trying to settle up 

 every thing before another season, we have written 

 repeatedly to some of your postmasters, and when 

 that didn't do, I have gone to the expense of hiring a 

 man to hunt you up, and ask you the simple ques- 

 tion as to whether you honestly owed that little bill. 

 Now, my friends, for your own good, and that you 

 may prosper and build up a thriving business, and 

 be an ornament to your neighborhood, please do at- 

 tend to these little matters. Do not have these lit- 

 tle sins lying on your conscience; but, rather, be 

 "diligent in business, fervent in spirit, serving the 

 Lord." Is it not the better way? Do you not feel 

 from the bottom of your heart, brother, that I am 

 right? 



