1906 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



755 



gent. But they were getting along so well 

 I decided to go down for the wheelbarrow 

 and the wire, for they were almost ready to 

 put it up. As I went into the house I de- 

 cided to change my fur cap for a lighter one, 

 and get rid of some of my heavy clothing. 

 The bed where I had my accustomed nap 

 was right before me, and I began to feel as 

 if it would be a very great help if I could 

 sleep just ten minutes. I did not think the 

 men would get over to the corner anyhow 

 for twenty minutes or more. Pretty soon I 

 awoke with a start. I had slept something 

 like an hour. By the time I wheeled my 

 wire over where they were at work it was 

 ready to be drawn up taut right on the line. 

 My neighbor and I were going to put it up. 

 Right close to the line were about half a 

 dozen beautiful large maple-trees. When I 

 was running my sugar-bush, I could not 

 really decide which trees were his and which 

 were mine. My neighbor told me, however, 

 to go ahead and tap the whole lot, it did not 

 matter whom they belonged to. The wire 

 was fastened to a stout old gaspipe driven 

 in deep where the surveyor had located the 

 corner. Then we went to stretching the 

 wire, and I began to think of those big ma- 

 ples. Dear friends, I hate to acknowledge 

 it, but I can not make my point verv well 

 unless I do. Almost unconsciously I oegan 

 hoping the wire would leave the trees on my 

 side. May God forgive me for allowing that 

 greedy spirit to find a lodging-place in my 

 heart. My good neighbor who had been so 

 kind and obliging ever since I knew him was 

 a young man. comparatively, just starting 

 in life. He has a wife and a baby boy to 

 look after, and yet here was I, hoping those 

 trees would come on my side of the line. 

 God knows I have more maple-trees already 

 than I can, in all probability, ever make use 

 of. I felt disgusted and ashamed of myself. 

 If I did not say mentally, " Get thee behind 

 me, Satan," it was something pretty near 

 it. As we started off with the wire I utter- 

 ed a mental prayer in the words of that 

 hymn I have quoted: "Lord, Hft me up;" 

 and right away after I said aloud, "Friend 

 Wilson, I do not know just where this wire 

 is going to run; but I shall be just as happy 

 to find those nice trees on your side of the 

 line as if they were on my own," and I told 

 the truth. God helped me to make it the 

 truth just as soon as I decided to utter the 

 words. Jesus said to that lawyer, "Thou 

 shalt love thy neighbor as thyself;" but I 

 tell you. friends, it is sometimes harder to do 

 than climbing hills through the woods over 

 brush-heaps, tree-tops— yes, and hlackberry- 

 bushes thrown in. Let me digress. 



Years ago some men were drawing heavy 

 flagging for sidewalks and road- crossings. 

 They unloaded the great flat stones; and to 

 make them easier to handle they propped 

 them up at an angle with a piece of wood 

 two or three feet long. Some of these sticks 

 of wood were set at such an angle that al- 

 most a touch might cause them to slide along 

 the smooth stone and so let it fall. One day 

 in coming home, and when quite a piece 



away from these stones, I noticed some 

 children making mud pies, or amusing them- 

 selves in a similar way in the shade of one 

 of those heavy pieces of flagging. The back 

 of one of the children was close to one of 

 those pieces of wood. He might have easily 

 loosened the stick and let the flagging down, 

 making a terrible deadfall for the thought- 

 less prattlers. I thought at first it was our 

 own children; and as 1 started on a run, the 

 blood almost froze in my veins to think what 

 might happen. As I came near, however, I 

 discovered they were not our children at all. 

 I stopped running, and came pretty near 

 saying, " Thank God." Had I said so it 

 would have meant I thanked God it was my 

 neighbor's children and not my own that 

 were in such danger. Was that loving my 

 neighbor as myself? Not much. This in- 

 cident often occurs to me, reminding me of 

 how hard a matter it is to fulfill that com- 

 mand— "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as 

 thyself. ' ' 



An hour before train time the surveyors 

 had finished, and Mr. Wilson and I put up 

 the wire. At the close of the day's work, 

 all my old strength and springiness seemed 

 to have returned. My prayer was answer- 

 ed. But the perspiration from my body 

 pouring out so profusely actually had an un- 

 pleasant smell. I hope you will excuse me 

 for speaking thus plainly; but I know that 

 many grievous pains might often be saved 

 by taking a tremendous sweat from hard 

 exercise in the open air. The pains and 

 aches and feverish feelings I had were caus- 

 ed, I think, by impurities. These impurities, 

 perhaps, retarded the circulation; and it 

 seemed as if there was no way to get 

 rid of them speedily, except through the 

 pores of the skin. As soon as I could I had 

 a delicious cleansing bath, and I have felt 

 perfectly well ever since. This, dear friends, 

 is "God's medicine," and it is one that 

 produces no reaction. I had taken a bah 

 not more than three days before, and I 

 thought a very thorough one; but for all 

 that, the pores of the skin seemed to have 

 been stopped up, and the circulation clogged, 

 and nothing but this profuse perspiration 

 caused by brisk and almost painful exercise 

 would bring about such an immediate cure. 

 ~ While climbing that hill in the morning so 

 painfully by the aid of the saplings, I pray- 

 ed that God would help me to use the strength, 

 should it be given, in a way that would be 

 pleasing in his s ght. After we had finished 

 our work my neighbor and I sat down on the 

 wheelbarrow and had a little talk. I knew 

 he had been attending the meetings quite 

 regularly that had been kept up since the 

 revival about a year ago. I had talked with 

 him somewhat on the subject before; and as 

 we sat there I tried to tell him how much 

 encouragement it would give a lot of the 

 boys in that neighborhood if he would get 

 right into the harness with them and help 

 pull, for Christ Jesus. He said he did not 

 know that there was any thing particular to 

 hinder, except that he had not as much feel- 

 ing in regard to the matter as he thought 



