4(t8 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUllE. 



Aug. 



because the table looked very inviting where 

 it was placed almost in the open air. The 

 table was set on a platform of boards covered 

 with branches of trees, and as we partook of 

 the food I wondered several times to see such 

 a structure in such a backwoods place. No 

 blessing was asked before partaking, but I 

 have found this is no unusual thing, even 

 among professors of religion. I soon found, 

 however, that my friend and his wife used 

 to be members of a church, both of them ; 

 l)ut since they had moved into their new 

 home here in the woods, they had not united 

 with, nor, if I am correct," attended, very 

 much any church. The reason was, that 

 there was none of their own people near. 



*■' But is there no other church near here V" 



" Yes, sir : there is one within about two 

 miles." 



" How long have you lived here V *' 



" Thirteen years." 



"And you have brought up this family of 

 boys andgirls without attending God's house 

 on the Sabbath, just because there are none 

 of the sect you prefer near you V " 



As they bowed assent, it just then occurred 

 to me that God had stopped that train, and 

 sent me off here in the woods, perhaps just 

 on purpose to speak a word for his Avork and 

 his " tabernacles." Oh how I did wish that 

 my powers of persuasion were greater ! I 

 did the best I could, and assured tliem that 1 

 would at once unite myself with any church 

 that happened to be nearest and handiest, 

 where they would let me make myself use- 

 ful, if the one I preferred were out of the 

 (luestion ; and as I felt the time for me to go 

 had come, I could plainly feel God's approv- 

 ing voice for having tried to fulfill the com- 

 mission he had given me for that afternoon. 

 I was pleased to hear my friend tell his wife 

 that no man in the world, not even the Pres- 

 ident, would have been a more Avelcome vis- 

 itor. As I neared the door, somebody whis- 

 pered, " There comes the minister ! " 



As I met him at the door I said, "My 

 friend, I take the liberty of introducing my- 

 self to any one who is a minister of the gos- 

 pel 1 love." 



" 1 know you, Mr. Root, already," said he, 

 with a ]ileasant smile. 



" And how do you know me V '' 



" By th'? Home Papers." 



I told him what I had been saying to these 

 friends, and that I hoped God had sent him 

 thus opportunely to second my efforts in the 

 cause. As I rode down to the station J 

 learned from my friend that thebootli under 

 which we took supper was built by his boys 

 for a dance on the Fourih of Jidy. May God's 

 blessing rest on that pretty little home and 

 apiary, and may he lead those boys and girls 

 to accept the call, — 



Come, souls that are long-iiig' for pleasure. 

 Our Savior has pleasures lo give; 



Come tincl iu his love the rare treasure 

 That makes every true pleasure live. 



I reached Manistee the next morning, and 

 a warm welcome I received, I assure you. 

 Maud was homesick, sure enough, and very 

 glad indeed was she to see the face of her 

 papa so unexpectedly. I asked her if she 

 would like to go home with me, and she re- 

 plied in the negative ; but while she did so a 



tear started and ran down one cheek, and 

 before it could be wiped away, another had 

 started down the other. Reader, were you 

 ever homesick V I very much wanted to stay 

 a whole day ; but 1 feared some of you 

 might, in my absence, say I was not living 

 up to my preaching, if your orders were neg- 

 lected, and so I started home again on the 

 afternoon boat. It was not much of a visit 

 I had with my sister, but still I had ^ood 

 reason to feel that God sent me nevertheless. 

 1 asked Maud, in starting, what I could do 

 to make itpleasanterforher, or what I could 

 tell them at home. She tried to answer in 

 an even voice ; but in spite of all she could 

 do her answer was, — 



" Tell ma— I want to see her— and the chil- 

 dren— («(;A(Z bad." 



I waved my hat to her until the steamer 

 took us out of sight ; but her sad and sor- 

 rowful face followed me long after. This 

 was the trouble that had come, almost the 

 (irst she had ever known ; but I felt sure 

 God had sent it, and that it would, as I had 

 told her, do her good eventually. She will 

 love her home now as she never loved it be- 

 fore. 



At Pentwater I stopi)ed over night with a 

 relative, and asked if Maud had been home- 

 sick when she was there. 



"why, no; not thatl know of; and still, 

 since you mention it, I guess slie was." 



" What did she do SundayV" 



" Why. she said she wanted to go to all the 

 churches and Sunday-schools and prayer- 

 meetings she could, 'as she thought that 

 would please her papa ni* st if he knew what 

 she was doing."' 



God bless thee, my daughter Maud, for 

 thinking so much of what your poor old papa 

 would wish to have you do, even though he 

 has hardly stopped his busy cares long enough 

 to get acquainted willi Jiis own daughter, at 

 an age when slie is just changing from a 

 child to a woman I May God forgive me if 

 1 have forgotten the home I should daily 

 thank God for, as well as yourself. 



On the boat I was extremely pained by the 

 awful swearing of tlie pilot. As he came 

 near me once I ventured a slight remon- 

 strance. Either he did not hear me, or it 

 made him angry, for he seemed to swear 

 worse. It finally became so bad tliat I de- 

 cided 1 would make the best protest I was 

 capable of, whatever the consequences 

 might be. To prevent being .sea sick, I 

 was standing in the forward part of the little 

 boat. As there was quite a breeze ahead of 

 us, the waves were higher than I luul ever 

 seen before; and as the boat rose and fell, 

 sliding down the great waves lilic a boy's 

 sled in coasting down hill on llie snow, and 

 then suddenly climbing up anolher wave 

 right before it, the motion would have made 

 me sick, surely, were it not for the great 

 draughts of the cool lake bieeze that I drew 

 in at every breath. 1 held myself upright, 

 by the cai)stan, and I very soon began not 

 only to feel proudof my victory over sickness, 

 but a feeling of exhilaration "took its place, 

 and I soon began to enjoy ithugely. In fact, 

 as the waves weie on the rise, I soon began 

 to wish we might have a bigger one than 

 ever before, even if it did seem as if we were 



