1881 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



ofil 



brushed up. I do not know but that the fa- 

 ther, as well as John, was a little impatient 

 to commence work. In the evening they all 

 attended a temperance meeting at their lit- 

 tle church. r/(t7/' little church. The thought 

 came up to the father, that, so far in his 

 life, he had never given one solitary copper 

 to the support of it. The children had taken 

 some pennies to the Sabbath-school, but no 

 one in the world had ever seen him take a 

 coin out of his pocket for the support of a 

 church or minister. Just now he had not 

 one copper in his pocket : but before another 

 Sunday came, something seemed to promise 

 there would be some. Several of their own 

 people spoke at the temperance meeting ; 

 but our friend had a sort of feeling that he 

 would prefer to try at least one week before 

 saying any thing in public about what he 

 was going to do. The old pipe lay on the 

 mantel-piece still, and it had not been touch- 

 ed for OHf- ichole day. 



■• John, who can get up flrst in the morn- 

 ing— you or I ?"' 



•• Why. father, what are we going to do V" 



•■ We are going to put our corn-field in the 

 nicest trim of anyone's in the neighborhood, 

 and then we are going to do something to 

 pay for old Jack, and get.tlie mortgage from 

 oft' our little liome.'' 



•• Shall I call you as soOn as I am up, fa- 

 ther V '' said John, with a slight twinkle in 

 his eye. 



John was up by sunrise, or a little before, 

 but he did not call his father. The horse 

 was up and hitched to the cultivator, and 

 John came in just the nick of time to go on 

 with the work. J-5efore night the field was 

 cultivated twice in a row both ways, and 

 hoed so nicely that scarcely a weed could be 

 found. To be sure, no weeds in between the 

 stalks were skipped, the old dry hard earth 

 was pulled aw^ay. and fresh mello\v soil put 

 around in its place. More than one of the 

 neighbors stopped and looked at the field, 

 remarking, •• Well. Mr. Jones has done a 

 nice job on that corn-field, after all."' Seve- 

 ral times during the day there were oppor- 

 tunities to stop and talk', but he resisted the 

 temptation ; and, while he was courteous, 

 gave them to understand he was busy. 



At one side of his lot, near the house, Avas 

 a wet, swampy place. As it was too miry to 

 be of any use, it had become a sort of 

 "•catch-all" place for old rubbish. Old 

 boots and shoes ; rusty, worn-out tea-kettles, 

 oyster-cans, feathers.broken crockery, emp- 

 ty boxes, etc., had been thrown into this 

 place promiscuously, and, as it was a handy 

 place, slops and soapsuds had also been 

 thrown there. The ducks and chickens, 

 finding the rank foul weeds a sort of shady 

 place, had also passed a great deal of their 

 time there, until the stench of the place had 

 somehow led everybody to avoid it. As it 

 was next to the street, it added very much 

 to the untidiness and uninviting appearance 

 of the place. John's mother had often asked 

 if a ditch could not be dug so as to let off the 

 wetness, but it had never been done. Right 

 near the spot was a low place in the road, 

 and a small bridge had been built over it to 

 take the water that seemed, winter and sum- 

 mer, to be oozing out of this miry place. It 



was the middle of the afternoon when the 

 corn was finished, and he felt a terrible long- 

 ing to sit down with his pipe ; but with a 

 prayer to God for help, he told John, after 

 he had rested awhile, he might help him 

 down by the bridge. 



'• Why. father, what are you going to do 

 down by the bridge V " 



•' When you come down I will tell you." 



" Why, I'm not much tired ; I guess I will 

 go now." 



A small pool of Avater lay under the bridge, 

 but Mr. Jones found it was mostly owing to 

 a great growth of peppermint, just below, 

 on which the Lees were just then busily at 

 work. With hoe and shovel and spade he 

 soon let this water ofC, without interfering 

 with much of the peppermint either. Then 

 he went above the bridge and cleaned out 

 the channel clear up to his own fence. Aft- 

 er getting out the gravel and mud, he found 

 a soft rock that he could cut pretty easily 

 with his pick and spade. John brought his 

 kite-string, and it was stretched from the 

 spot at the fence, right up through the wet- 

 test part of that unsightly slop-hole. After 

 the rock was laid bare, a channel the width 

 of the spade was cut into it, deep enough to 

 take all the water, and over this were placed 

 short pine boards, made by cutting up old 

 dry-goods boxes found about the premises. 

 The boards were laid crosswise on the rock. 

 so as to support the dirt more elfectually. 

 Mary and Freddie were here by the time the 

 work was well started, and Freddie suggest- 

 ed they should hunt fiat stones, so as to 

 make the covering as durable as the sides. 



'' Yes," said John, •• and we can take that 

 tinware and pound it down flat, and use 

 that." 



•' Why," said Freddie. '• my pa has a pair 

 of shears to cut tin, and I know he will let us 

 have them so we can cut the tin up and 

 make it go a great deal further." 



Mary here chimed in, '• And I can hunt up 

 all the old tin pails and basins and wash- 

 boilers, and get them out of sight and make 

 tliem do good." 



The shears were brought, and some other 

 children, hearing that old tinware was want- 

 ed, brought such a lot that there was a fair 

 prospect of having a whole metal covering 

 for the whole. John soon found he could cut 

 tin quite expertly, and began to think a 

 great deal of the tinner's shears. So inter- 

 ested did they become in the work, that Mr. 

 Jones, almost for the first time in years, felt 

 sorry that it was too dark to work longer. 

 He felt tired, and his muscles were some- 

 what sore after his severe day's work, but he 

 was happy. His text had been with him all 

 day long, and there was a sort of feeling in 

 his heart that a great, great friend, some- 

 where in the universe, was saying well done. 

 Before going to his rest he went out by the 

 bee-hives again and thanked God for the 

 great new happiness that was coming into 

 his life. He was asleep almost as soon as 

 he touched the pillow. His wife retired a 

 little later, and noted that even on his face 

 when asleep, there was a hopefulness and 

 peace she had never seen before, it was be- 

 cause God was leading and he was follow- 

 ing. Before night of the next day they had 



