1881 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



24'.) 



having paid a large cIoctor"s-bill, than they 

 were oefore they ever went to the doctor. 

 Go to your Bible' instead of the doctor, and 

 see where you have been trespassing on God"s 

 laws. If you go about your work Avith a 

 bright faith in God, and a love for him and 

 humanity that will shine out on every feature 

 of your face, it will ward off fevers 'and ma- 

 laria better than any drug that was ever in- 

 vented. 



Few people work over ten hours a day. 

 Well, there are of sunlight in the summer, 

 three or four hoiu's more. If your work is 

 indoors. I would spend as much of these ex- 

 tra hours as possible in the open air, with 

 your wife and children, making garden, 

 raising liees and chickens, or some siich pas- 

 time. Do not let these pursuits run away 

 with the money, but make them help sup- 

 port the family. Stop outgoes: have money 

 coming in, l)ut stop letting it go out unless 

 it has been decided, by family council, that 

 the expense is a necessary one. A great 

 many emi)loyees are in the habit of purchas- 

 ing things right along, that their employer 

 would not think of doing, because they are 

 too expensive. Pray over this matter, and 

 ask God to make you wise. If you have 

 tried to make garden, etc., and did not suc- 

 ceed, try again ; and while you try. pray for 

 God's blessing on the work. Make your 

 Savior your business partner, your elder 

 l)rothei , as it were ; and when you succeed, 

 be sure you do not forget to give him thanks. 

 ~\^isit your neighbors who are successful in 

 gardening, and make up your mind you will 

 succeed as well as the best of them. When 

 you learn to be master of these little things, 

 when you get the knack of making things 

 grow and thrive, whether or no, so to speak, 

 you will find you are growing and thriving 

 too, and that your faith in God is growing 

 and thriving. There is a kind of feeling, as 

 it were, in feeling yourself master of these 

 things, as if God had taken you into his con- 

 fidence, and was showing you. step by step, 

 of his wondrous power tln-ough animal and 

 vegetable life. 



God in his wisdom has not placed you 

 alone, friend X. It is far Ijetter tor you that 

 you have a wife and family; and, although 

 it is hard to see these loved'ones destitute of 

 what you feel they ought to liave, it is an in- 

 centive to you to action that you could not 

 have otherwise. Often in life we feel that 

 we would not mind it if no one else depended 

 on us ; but it is a mercy they do depend on 

 us. You do not need lo understand these 

 riddles. They are none of our business. To 

 think of death is cowardly. 



There is an old Scottish song that speaks 

 of lying down to die because a loved one 

 had been taken away. You and I, my 

 friend, do not want any of that advice at all. 

 We are to get up and live; live for those 

 who are left, and not only to make them re- 

 joice, but to rejoice with them. It is Satan 

 himself who tells you every man"shandis 

 against you. You' have no business tolerat- 

 ing such tJioughts a minute ; it is one of the 

 blackest of lies, coming from him who is the 

 father of lies. I can prove it to you at once. 

 Are you against every man ? and yet you are 

 probably, like myself, about a fair average of 



humanity. You are doubting God and 

 doubting your fellowmen. Stop it ; get out 

 and make garden, and keep both your hands 

 and brains so busy you will never have time 

 agam to think of such things. 



Does Satan ever tell you that a man may 

 M'ork his life out for his employer and never 

 ])e appreciated either? That is another 

 falsehood too. Do you not appreciate those 

 who work faithfully for you i God may try 

 you by letting you work a long while before 

 he rewards your diligence ; but the reward 

 will come sooner or later. Do you not re- 

 member how many years Joseph stayed 

 meekly and patiently in prison? Do you 

 suppose he had no task to keep out hard and 

 rebellious thoughts? and yet we find God 

 was all this time preparinghim and school- 

 ing him for his great life of usefulness. God 

 has a life of usefulness for you too, and a life 

 of joy and peace, if you will look up and ac- 

 cept "it in God"sownway. Only trust him. 



1)0 you say that if all hands are as faithful 

 and efllcient as the one I have pictured, 

 there would not be room for them all? That 

 is a mistake equal to the one the English 

 operatives made when they arose in molis 

 and destroyed the power-looms. If all were 

 like him your employer could do Imsiness on 

 smaller margins, and could sell goods at 

 lower prices, so that thousands could use 

 them now. Avho find them beyond their reach , 

 and a still greater demand for hands would 

 spring up. The same remarks I have made 

 will equally well apply to tillers of the soil, 

 and men and women "in all the avocations of 

 life. People Avho work for themselves, and 

 who have no employer, frequently waste 

 time fearfully. I presume, without doubt 

 this bright ^Vpril Monday morning thousands 

 are standing with their hands in their pock- 

 ets, wasting their time. Some will say, 

 doubtless, they have nothing to do ; nobod'y 

 has set them to work. ^1>' friend, it is your 

 ov:n business to set yourself to work. If 

 there is nothing else to" do, there is always a 

 chance open to us to cultivate the soil. If 

 you haven-t ground of your own, you can 

 get enough to keep you busy, almost for the 

 asking. 



Now, a word about being satisfied with 

 moderate wages, and a little of the good 

 things of this world. "\\'hen we are doing 

 the best we can. we should be thankful. 

 Having very small wages is certainly better 

 than having no Avages at all. Of course, I 

 do not mean you should be satisfied Avith the 

 product of a lazy and slothful Avay of going 

 about your Avork, for in that case you ought 

 not to be satisfied Avith yourself. To avoid 

 the danger of repining against God and om- 

 fellow-men, we should strive to be satisfied 

 Avith Avhat (jod and our fellow-men see fit to 

 give us, and to constantly fall back on our- 

 selves for the things that are lacking. IIoav 

 can one have a happy, thankful spirit, if he 

 constantly dwells on wrongs he thinks he has 

 suffered. Let us school ourselves to expect 

 moderately of the world, and then, if Ave get 

 more than Ave expected, Ave shall of course 

 feel thankful. One Avho is working for a 

 dollar a day. and has laid out his life so as 

 to live within that income for the next year, 

 is very agreeably surprised to find that he is 



