-)10 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 



He knew its teaclungs were right, and what 

 he needed ; but he had little faith that he 

 could ever live up to any of them. Could 

 God have any patience or care for one so 

 Aveakly wicked as himself? lie went and 

 sat out by the door. For once in the world, 

 the thought of his pipe was distasteful. In 

 fact, it galled him to think of ii. JJefore 

 bedtime, .John came up to his mother's side, 

 as w'as his custom, and as lie remembered 

 the events of the day, he said,— 



'' Don't feel bad about the honey, mother; 

 I wiW try awful hard to get some work, and 

 I will work so hard that they will ail want ' 

 me ; and you see if I don't pay it all back to 

 you." 



The innocent, childish remark, cut him to 

 the quick again. It seemed to occur to him 

 all at once, tliat God had put into the mouth 

 of his little boy the very words he wanted 

 spoken to him. He moved out among the ; 

 bee-hives and sat down there. Even the ! 

 hum of the insects toiling inside their hives 

 seemed a reproof to him. It seemed plain 

 to him now why he had not been sought af- 

 ter when hands were wanted. He was not 

 a profitable hand. His whole end and pur- 

 pose had not been to serve his employer and 

 get the work along, but rather to have the 

 hours pass until (juittiug time. His own 

 work, even, was neglected and undone. I 

 Some thing seeined to say to him that peo- 

 l)le could hardlv exi)ect him to work faith- 

 fully for them when lie was too lazy to do 

 his own work. His whole past life seemed 

 stretching out before him. The thought of 

 it and the sight of it galled him until he 

 could bear it no longer. Down on his knees 

 he knelt, alone in the night. It was not 

 mucli of a prayer; but the words, ''God 

 have mercy on pie a sinner, and help me to 

 be a lietter man," were carried above, and 

 recorded in the book of life. 



The minute he ix)se to his feet, a fear seized , 

 him that this wn)nld pass away, like other 

 resolutions, and this caused a desire to spring 

 up that he might have some thing given him 

 to do at once, right there in the night. God 

 heard the thought.* and as quick as a Hash 

 liis scanty woodpile rose up before him. , 

 Straight to it he went at once, and before 10 

 o'clock that Saturday night every stick was 

 (■utup into nice stove lengths, even includ- 

 ing the hard sticks that John had cht)pped 

 at in vain, and tried to split for a year back, 

 .ifter that the yard was raked clean and 

 smooth, a great "portion of the wood carried 

 in, and the rest piled up nicely for the Sab- 

 bath. His wife supposed it was done be- 

 cause he felt so much ashamed at the loss of 

 the half-dollar, and of course she felt happy 

 to see him show his penitence in such a 

 practical way. I need hardly tell you he 

 was happy, as well as tired ; but he said 

 very little, for the new guiding spirit seemed 

 to say, " Let actions speak, rather than 

 words.'' 



Sunday morning he was uv before sunrise, 

 and, instead of the morning i)ipe, he pro- 

 ceeded at once to make himself as clean as 

 possible. As he did not forget to include 



*And It shall come to pass, that before they call. T 

 will answer: and while they are yet speakiug, I will 

 hear.— Is.v. 05:*„'4. 



his tobacco-stained mouth in the general 

 scrubbing, it took the best part of an hour. 

 Such clothes as he had were scrupulously 

 clean, and after he had them on, ready for 

 church, he really looked fit to be kissed, not 

 only by little Mary, but by his wife too, even 

 though the recollection of yesterday was 

 still rresh in the mind of both. I tell you, a 

 nice clean papa, clean both in body, soul, 

 mind, and spirit, is seldom unai)preciatedby 

 any child. Well, our friend, while resolv- 

 ing that the Sabbath was to be a day of rest 

 from the labors of the week, felt that God 

 did not intend that it should be a day of 

 idleness for him, at any rate. He began 

 looking about the house for some lesson- 

 helps for the coming Sabbath-school; but 

 as all they had in the house were for juve- 

 niles, his wife suggested that he might go 

 over to friend Merrybanks for some thing 

 that would prepare him better for the Bible- 

 class. She seemed instinctively to feel his 

 present longing for some thing to do was the 

 promptings of the voice of God. As he made 

 known his request with a happy, good- 

 natured smile on his face, friend M. could 

 not help thinking, '' Except ye become as 

 little children, ye can not enter the kingdom 

 of heaven." With his wife's little Bible, and 

 the paper that had been loaned him, he was 

 so busily engaged he hardly thought of 

 breakfast at all until summoned by a hand 

 laid lovingly on his head. Fresh eggs, with 

 mealy potatoes, soft light bread, and, ts sure 

 as you live, a plate of nice yellow butter. 

 Did God send that too V Across the table, 

 up on the mantle, in plain sight, lay that 

 old pipe. 



And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the 

 ground, and breathed iutn his nostrils the breath of 

 fife; and man became a living soul.— Genesis 2:T. 



Truly was he made " of the dust of the 

 ground;" but since the moment he had 

 knelt out in the darkness the night before, 

 God had been breathing into his soul " the 

 breath of life." 



OR HONZY PLANTS TO BE NAMED. 



NCLOSED flndparts of ahoney-plant thati would 

 like to know the name of, and how to raise it 

 by cultivation. The plant grows to the height 

 of 3 feet, and is found growing wild in the timber, 

 and blossoms from middle of July till last of August, 

 and bees work on it all daj', and more than they do 

 on the Simpson honey-plant (that also grows wild 

 here). 1 tried to grow it from the seed, but it did 

 not come up for me. Jacob Sills. 



Cedarville, 111., Aug. 5, 1S8I. 



Answer by Prof. Beal. 



This is Veronica T'i'r!/uiic((, Culver's root. Culver's 

 physic; common on bottom land, and in rich woods. 

 It belongs to the large order t<cr( phulariarca:, tig- 

 worts, which also contains mulleins, linaria, or toad 

 flax, snap-dragon, figwort (scrophidaria nodosa), 

 which some bee men have recently called Simpson 

 bee-plant; also pentstemon,mimulus, speedwell, ger- 

 ardia, lousewort, and others. Prof. W. J. Beal. 



Agricultural College, Lansing, Mich,, Aug. 11, 1881. 



