4(50 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept, 



I want to thank you for sending me a copy of your 

 excellent GLE\MKf;s. Four numbers ha^■e reached 

 me, and have been read with increasinj^ interest. 



There are no domesticated bee:? in North China. 

 There is a dark kind of strained honey, so there 

 must be bees of some kind. I have not been able to 

 find any honey-comb. They say that it 1=1 always 

 <lirly. When I obtain some accounts and useful in- 

 formation I shall be very f l-.id to c: mmunicatc with 

 you. 



I also desire to assure you of my Christian appre- 

 ciation and sympathy in your wisely directed etforts 

 to honor ( 'brist, and proclaim his salvation in every 

 business relation, and in all editorial work. I verily 

 believe that you have been taught a secret which 

 gray-haired ministers have failed to acquire: that 

 men need to be talked with ratherthan preached to. 

 May God bless you in your business with prosperity, 

 but more abundantly bless your words and work 

 for the advancement of his kingdom 1 



O. W. WlLI-lTP. 



Pekin, China. June 27, 18S1. 



I have tried, my friends, in my own hum- 

 ble Avay, to point to '' the Lamb of God.wlio 

 taketli away the sin of the world:'' and after 

 I have seen any brother or sister jio to God 

 in prayer, and to the Bible, in the time of 

 trouble. I feel much safer about them than 

 if they were constantly coming' to me for ad- 

 vice. I have no fears but that God will 

 guide them safely, and take care of them, 

 even in points of doctrine, if they make it 

 their rule in life to come to him. tf you are 

 striving", day by day. to be •' pure in heart,'' 

 you have the promise that you siiall ''see 

 God." and seeing him, you shall certainly 

 be told, if you are making any great mistake 

 or blunder. You are plainly told again, 

 •' Whoso Cometh to me, I will in no wise 

 cast out;"' therefore we need not be troubled, 

 nor be afraid, even if all the world shall as- 

 sail our Christianity, and say we " have not 

 yet found it." _^______J 



In Gle.\xings I see that you kindly answer ques- 

 tions from in<iuiring friends. I will ask a few. Do 

 you think that it is a sin to ask God to take one out 

 of this world of trials and troubles? Is it a sin to want 

 to go to that heaven abo\e. where all ispcace and joy 

 and love, to receive thoee great blessings which the 

 Lord has promised to them that lo\e and serve him, 

 when you arc so tired? I am \ery desirous to live a 

 Christian life, but find it \ cry hard to under my 

 present circumstances. First, my husband has no 

 such desire -Rhatcver. He will rot talk on the sub- 

 ject; does not go to church, nor care to have me; 

 says it is all nonsense; and as we live in the country, 

 a good way from church, it makes it hard for me to 

 get there, and then I get discouraged, and think 

 if it would please the Lord to take me, how gladly I 

 would go. 



Again, my husband has been trying to pay lor a 

 farm for 20 years, and we are obliged to live very 

 economically, denying ourselvfs almost every lux- 

 ury of life. Our home is very inconvenient, having 

 but two rooms and no fence around the yard, and 

 all things in like order. My husband being one of 

 those indifferent kind of men in regard to how he 

 lives, thinking it expedient not to spend any money 

 on repairs until he is out of debt, which 1 think 

 sometimes will never be, that I wish I could go to a 

 world where money is not needed. 1 see you have 

 great faith in prayer; now, if you had prayed for 



the Lord to help you financially, and things seemed 

 to be getting worse, would not that weaken your 

 faith just a little? or if, on a certain Sabbath, you 

 had asked to have a way to go to church, still, when 

 the day came you had to stay at homt? Now, we are 

 told to ask, and we shnll receive. How are we to 

 ask, and what for? 1 ask an interest in your prayers. 

 Hoping to hear from you, and that you will excuse 

 my long letter, 1 remain,— X . V. Z. 



July 22, 1881. 



It certainly is wrong, ray friend, to wisli 

 to leave the world, one moment sooner than 

 God's own appointed time. He. and he only, 

 has therightto limityourspan of life. These 

 thoughts come from Satan, .and they will 

 only make you miserable and wicked by 

 harboring them. Are they not sellish 

 thoughts, to say tlieleast':' Arc you not think- 

 ing of pleasing only yourself, 'when you get 

 in these moods? Jesus, yon know, pleased 

 not himself. Have you really tried making 

 others happyV and "has it occurred to you 

 that God wishes you to till your appointed 

 ]>lace in this world in doing good to others? 

 A Christian especially, should live for the 

 good of his fellow-men. I'aidon the liberty 

 1 take, my friend ; but if your life were one 

 of real nearness to God, I can not but think 

 that your husband would feel differently. 

 You won him once, and I feel pretty sure 

 that yon can win him again, not only to 

 yourself, but, what is a thousand times 

 more important, to the Lamb of Cod who 

 taketh away the sin of the world. If you do 

 your duty, your husband ought to be con- 

 verted. I shouldnot bn writing these Home 

 Papers now, and exhortiig men to cease to 

 do evil, were it not for a woman's love and 

 patience, when it would seem that patience 

 had long, long ceased to be a virtue. Do 

 you wonder 1 am hopeful -and thankful? 

 Suppose your farm is not jiaid for. and that 

 you are obliged to economize. For a few 

 weeks past I have been thinking (you do not 

 know how longingly i of a little log house 

 back in the woods ; and I do not believe 1 

 would mind being in debt for it too, if I 

 could only have freedom from care, and re- 

 lief from so many responsibilities. I. too, 

 am tiled. I want t(j make garden and keep 

 bees, as the rest of you do, with my time all 

 my own ; but God says to me plainly,— 



Not now, my ■■hil<l,— a little iimrc Ku^h to^sini^, 



A little loiifrcf on the billows' fnaiii: 

 A lew more .ibuineyiiiffs in the desert dai kness. 



Ami then the sunshine of thy Father's Home I 



Not now: lor I have wamlerers in the distance. 



And thou mnst call Iheni in with patient love; 

 Not now. for I have sheeji upon the mountains. 



And th< 11 must follow them where'er they rove 



Not now; lor I have loved ones sad :iiid wearv; 



Wilt thon not cheer them with a kinilly smile; 

 Sick ones, who nied thee in their lonelv sorrow; 



Wilt thou not lend them yet a little while? 



"Will it not be better for both you and I to— 



(e. with the name (d' .lesus, to the dyin^^. 



And speak that N.Tme in all its liviiifr ]rwer; 

 Whv shrink! thy faintinjr heart prrow ehill and wearj ; 



Canst thon not watch with Me one little hi urf 



--(io^pel It^nnns, No. 47. 



My friend, when God dt)es not see lit to 

 give me what I ask for, I try to see his lov- 

 ing hand in the very act of withholding it 

 from me. To illustrate : 1 loaned one of 

 our reformed boys some money a few 

 months ago. I did it a good deal against 

 my better judgment, but as the case seemed 

 very urgent, I yielded. It did him great 



