1903 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



251 



ens zvould get up in the trees, ,and the 

 ducks preferred the open air on iop of their 

 coops instead of beiuj,-- shut up. After all 

 were in she asked her father to g^o with her 

 up the mountain-side for a missing- hen- 

 turkey. It made me think of the " ninet3' 

 and nine." The truant was found on a nest 

 of egg-s which she and her father brought 

 down, and "hived" in a barrel with 18 

 eggs. I will tell you the rest in next issue. 



TWO DAYS IN CUBA. 



Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the 

 days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the 

 Lord for ever. — Psalm 23:0. 



I was up before daylight, because I had 

 a 35-mile wheelride before me, and I want- 

 ed to take as much as I could, of it before 

 the sun became so very hot. I was going 

 out alone among strange people, and people 

 who did not understand my speech. As I 

 knelt by vcvy bed on first getting up, I said: 



" O Lord, thou knowest what this new 

 day ma}' bring forth, but / do not; bless 

 and guide my footsteps." 



I told my good friend, Mr. de Beche, I 

 could manage verj' well to get food and 

 drink, but I should be very glad if he would 

 write something in Spanish that I could 

 give to the people when I felt the need of 

 one of mj' little naps, and he smilingly 

 gave me a note that he said would provide 

 me what I wanted. The calzada to Giiines 

 (pronounced G"«/«-ess) is over hills for sev- 

 eral miles out of Havana, and I found the 

 road quite dusty near the city, so it was 

 not so pleasant at first; but further on it is 

 more level, and as clean and smooth as one 

 could ask; in fact, it is one of the finest 

 roads for wheeling I ever saw. To add to 

 its beautv', there are great shade-trees for 

 miles, some of them a j'ard in diameter, 

 whose great masses of foliage cut off every 

 bit of the sun's raj's. Again and again I 

 thanked God for life, health, and strength. 



About half way I reached one of the api- 

 aries belonging to Messrs. de Beche and 

 Cra3-craft; and, feeling a little tired, I gave 

 mv note to the young Cuban in charge. He 

 took me to a house near by, where the fam- 

 ily had just taken their ten-o'clock break- 

 fast. Of course they urged me to sit down 

 and have breakfast too; but I had taken a 

 lunch a mile or two back. I asked if an}' 

 of the little crowd present spoke any Eng- 

 lish, but all shook their heads, and for a 

 while I felt like a deaf and dumb man 

 among a crowd of lively children. While 

 the mother prepared a room for me I began 

 using my wits to get acquainted. For a 

 time it seemed as if every Spanish word I 

 knew played truant to my memory when I 

 wanted it most. I soon, however, got the 

 children to laughing, and then we began to 

 get acquainted. One volunteered to show 

 me he could count "one, two, three," in 

 English; then another, with m}' assistance, 

 counted six; and to encourage him I clap- 

 ped my hands in approval. Seeing some 

 schoolbooks on the table I asked one after 

 the other to read to me in Spanish. This 



they were proud to do, especially after I 

 had praised the smaller ones by loving pats 

 onthe head aftereach reading. Then /volun- 

 teered to read the easy lessons in their first 

 reader, and when the smallest reader cor- 

 rected my awkward attempts at pronounc- 

 ing the Spanish words their delight w;is 

 complete. I thought of the Scripture words. 

 " and a little child shall lead them." Tru- 

 ly a little child was leading me; and al- 

 though I did not know it just then, the de.>r 

 Savior was just in the backgroun ' leading 

 both, or, better still, leading all. I h;id 

 won the children; but how should I, with- 

 out speech, tell them of the " Son of God who 

 taketh away the sins of the world"? My 

 prayer was very unexpectedly answered. 

 A little blackboard stood up against the 

 wall. I have been singing Gospel hymns 

 in Spanish at the mission meetings for sev- 

 eral weeks past. I have partly learned the 

 words without learning their meaning. I 

 motioned for the chalk, and tri. d to write 

 the first verse of " What a Friend we have 

 in Jesus." I should have failed had not 

 one of the women who had heard it some- 

 where come to my help. With much eras- 

 ing and correcting, and with some help 

 from the schoolmaster, who came in a little 

 later, we had on the board: 



O que amigo nos e.« Cristo ! 



El llevrt nuestro dolor ; 

 Y nos manda que llevemos 



Todo a Uios en oracion. 



What a friend we have in Jesus, 

 All our sins and griefs to bear! 



What a privilege to carry 

 Every thing to God in prayer I 



Of course, we had only the Spanish. I 

 have given both for the convenience of our 

 readers. Now, please notice that, although 

 1 knew not the meaning of the words I had 

 written (of course, I knew what the ivhole 

 meant), even the smallest one knew, for it 

 was his mother tongue. When I commenced 

 to sing in Spanish, then they clapped their 

 hands; and when their childish voices join- 

 ed in with mine, correcting vay faulty pro- 

 nunciation, such a flood of joy and thanks- 

 giving filled my heart it seemed for a time 

 as if I could not bear it all. The "deaf 

 and dumb" stranger of half an hour before 

 was, by a miracle ( it almost seemed so to 

 me), actually leading them in singing 

 praises to God in their own mother tongue. 

 I almost forgot about my nap; I forgot that 

 I was tired; but when I had taken it, and 

 was ready to go, thej' all wanted me to 

 stay longer. One of them explained bv 

 motions that, as it was downhill toward 

 Giiines, I could make my wheel go very 

 fast. This she illustrated by making her 

 hands revolve one around the other. I won- 

 dered greatly at their readiness to read or 

 sing at the invitation of a stranger. Think 

 of the contrast between these and the Sun- 

 day-school children I told you about at 

 Bingham, Mich., last summer. Some of our 

 missionaries here have since informed me it 

 is characteristic of the Cubans to answer 

 and take hold, without embarrassment. 



As I sped swiftl}' on the beautiful road I 

 felt very happy. When I got to the point 

 where the road turns down from the high 

 land into the valley around Giiines, I 

 thought I never beheld a more lovely view — 



