1881 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



305 



little time both the victory and the " white 

 raiment" of purity and a clean heart shall 

 be yours. 



I saw 1q :i number of Gleanings that you would 

 send a smoker to aiij' one who was a tobacco-smok- 

 er, providing- he would give it up. Send on your 

 smoker, and here goes pipe, tobacco, and cigars, in 

 the fire. My wife saw it and showed it to me, and 

 she says if I begin again she will write to you and 

 let you know. 1 have been on a balance whether to 

 quit or not; but that announcement of yours puts 

 the balance in the right direction. D. W. Mooke. 



Tintern, Lincoln Co., Out., Can., Apr. 18, 1881. 



Let US thank God, friend ^NI., if so slight a 

 thing as a bee-smoker turned the balance in 

 the right direction, in a matter that at least 

 closely pertains to the welfare of a human 

 soul. Tell your good wife that I shall not 

 only depend on her, but on the good women 

 all over our land, to see that their husbands 

 are faithful in these promises. Remember, 

 it is Satan we are to battle with, and we 

 must not expect him to give up without a 

 '' tussle." 



Thanks, kind friend, for the smoker, but more for 

 the faithful prayers in my behalf, that I might over- 

 come tolnieco. By the united stix-ngth of you and 

 kind friends at hume, to say nothing of my poor 

 weak self, strength has been given me to overcome 

 tobacco, and I feel that, in the spirit of the Master, 

 I shall never be forced to take up the abominable 

 weed again. I have lost one tooth since I gave up 

 the habit, and began to think 1 would be forced to 

 commence its use again, to save all my teeth, but, 

 thanks to an all-wise Preserver, four months have 

 almost wound up my taste for it, and I now sing,— 



As thy days may (k'liiand. sliall thy stvtngth evtr be. 



Please remember me in your devotions to our Fa- 

 ther in heaven, and present my name at the noon- 

 day prayer-meetings as a subject for prayer, that I 

 maybe faithful to the end; and when the bell is 

 heard that calls me to the noonday prayer-meeting 

 on high, that then my chair may not l)f' vacant, nor 

 my voice silent. W. F. K. 



Clinton, La., April 23, 1881. 



I am very glad, friend K., that you did not 

 listen to the suggestion from Satan, that you 

 would lose your teeth, etc. It is wonderful, 

 the number of lies he puts into people's 

 heads when they try to break off a bad lialj- 

 it. To one he says, " You will have the 

 toothache, you know, if you don"t chew ; " 

 and. to another, '' You will get too fat, you 

 know," and so on without end. Just tell 

 him to get behind you, and then reach up 

 and implore God for help. We will remem- 

 ber you, friend K. 



inERKYBANKS AND HIS NEIGHBOR. 



HE THAT OVERC03IET1I AXD KEEPETlI 31Y 



WORKS UNTO THE END, TO UIM WILL 



I GIVE POWER OVER THE 



NATIONS.— REV. 2 : 20. 



eF course, there was no peace for any- 

 body until John's pail bee-hive was 

 '"' properly lixed in the window u^) stairs, 

 near the bed where he slept. As the lights 

 in the window were rather small, it was 

 thought best to remo\'e the lower sash en- 



tirely, substituting a sash of John's own con- 

 struction, covered with thin boards, through 

 which a hole was cut, to let the pail go in 

 about half way. The bottom of the pail pro- 

 jected outward, and in this was the entrance. 

 As John was supposed to be joint inventor 

 in the pail hive, Mr. Merrybanks gave him a 

 good strong working colony ; and as they 

 were started just during locust bloom, they 

 very soon had their hve combs pretty nearly 

 hlled. Pretty soon "pollen-laden btes" be- 

 gan to come round on the side of the comb 

 next the glass, and the children thought 

 there never was any thing, in the way of 

 pets, so handsome. Every bee that came in 

 with a nice load of bright yellow or orange- 

 colored pollen, would shake himself, and 

 wiggle in such a way that Mary and Freddie 

 would have it he was doing it for pure joy, 

 just in the way John jumped up and down 

 when he made the barrel hive roll off the 

 table. After they had got through the wig- 

 gling, and had sobered down a little, they 

 would thrust their little legs, with the 

 "loaves" on them, into a cell, and kick 

 them off very much in the way the baby 

 sometimes kicks off his shoes and stockings, 

 and then off they went for another load. 

 After Mr. Bee had gone, the children could 

 plainly see the two little loaves lying in the 

 cell right where he left them, until some 

 other bee would poke his head in and stay 

 for some time, deeply intent on some im- 

 portant operation, as they thought, by the 

 way in which the only visible tip of his body 

 wiggled, and after he came out, the pollen 

 loaves were nicely patted down, and made 

 smooth. Mr. Merrybanks told them that the 

 bee patted and smoothed it down by rubbing 

 his head against it ; or, at least, he had read 

 so in the British Bee Journal. Mr. Merry- 

 banks often quotes that journal, you know. 

 Well, John was so taken up with his bee- 

 hive that he hardly slept or ate, and, al- 

 though it was the last thing he looked at at 

 night before he went to bed, it was the tirst 

 thing- he hastened to when he opened his 

 eyes' in the morning. To tell the truth, his 

 mother, on going into his room one night, 

 after he had long been asleep, found he had 

 moved his bed up near the window, and was 

 sleeping, with a smile on his face, close up 

 by that simple little pane of glass. The bees 

 had just been building some new white 

 comb, to fill a vacant place left accidentally, 

 and as they did the greater part of the comb- 

 building in the night, John had folded his 

 pillows so as to raise his head close up to 

 them. There they were, scampering about, 

 and, as it seemed, fairly trembling in their 

 eagerness as the snowy-white combs grew 

 into those wondrous forms. Tn the stillness 

 of the night, interrupted only by the breath- 

 ing of her boy, she thought she heard a faint 

 clicking noise, like the tramp in miniature, 

 of a thousand horsemen. She turned her 

 ear nearer to the bees ; it was indeed their 

 busy work, and the sound of their tiny man- 

 dibles against the glass ; for they were now 

 fastening bits of new comb to it, in many 

 places, as they wished to have their habitat- 

 lion substantial and secure. How innocent 

 and pure her boy looked as he lay there, un- 

 conscious that any one was near, sleeping as 



