1903 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURR 



253 



remember that we belong onl}' to the Lord 

 Jesus Christ. Some time in April there is 

 to be a conference of all the mission work- 

 ers from all the difierent denominations that 

 are laboring;- in mission work in Cuba. Oh 

 how g'lad I should be to be present at such 

 a conference! As this does not now seem to 

 be possible, it certainly' is my privile.^^e to 

 pra}' that the spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ 

 maj' be so poured out at that meeting that 

 all the denominations shall clasp hands as 

 thej' report progress, and unite together in 

 the bonds of Christian fellowship. 



At 5 p. M. the train brought Dr. J. Mil- 

 ton Green, of Havana, Superintendent of 

 the Presbyterian missions of Cuba, who 

 gave an address at the mission in the eve- 

 ning. It was a great privile(^e to meet all 

 these. As I closed my ej'cs in sleep in the 

 minister's home (he would not hear of vay 

 going elsewhere — Presbyterian too — do you 

 hear. Dr. Miller?) it seemed to mejustze/o«- 

 derful how my praj'er of the morning had 

 been answered. Instead of being off alone 

 among strangers, deaf and dumb, as it 

 were, I have found friends I am sure I shall 

 treasure in memor}' as long as I live; and 

 instead of being dumb, why, I don't know 

 that I ever did much more talking in one 

 day in my life. If Mrs. Root had been 

 along I feel prett}' sure she would have cau- 

 tioned me about talking /oc mjich. 



Bro. Stevenson did not recall what I said 

 about being hungry in the middle of the 

 afternoon until we were around his well- 

 filled table a little after 5 o'clock. Then 

 he began all at once an humble apology for 

 having forgotten to take me to his home and 

 give me some refreshment, as he promised 

 to do when I spoke about going to a restau- 

 rant. I assured him that he need not apol- 

 ogize at all, and told him that m}^ joy in 

 finding a young convert hungering and 

 thirsting for knowledge, not only of bees, 

 but of his newly found Savior, made me 

 entirely forget weariness or hunger, as I 

 have mentioned above. And then I remem- 

 bered one of those verses which I have been 

 reading over and over in Spanish as well as 

 in English, in the fourth chapter of John, 

 which shone out just then with wonderful 

 beaut}' : 



Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of 

 him that sent me, and to finish his work. 



Twice during that one brief day I had 

 caught glimpses of the wonderful truth 

 that, when we were engaged in the Mas- 

 ter's work, as we may be and should be, 

 even fatigue and hunger vanish out of 

 sight. 



The next day it was arranged that Mr. 

 Senti and myself were to visit Mr. Fred 

 Somerford at Catalina, 10 miles away. 

 The road is such we had to make it on 

 horseback; and for the first time in 30 years 

 I road that distance in the saddle. Dear 

 Bro. S. had provided himself with a lot of 

 tracts (in Spanish). I think he got them of 

 Dr. Green, who is agent for the American 

 Tract Society (128 Manrique St.), and he 

 left tracts at most of the houses on the way, 



giving some words of encouragement with 

 them. It made me feel ashamed of myself. 

 Mr. Somerford was absent, and it was rain- 

 ing, so we sat down together on the porch 

 and studied his Spanish testament and bee 

 culture alternately. How could we two vis- 

 it when neither knew the language of the 

 other? Well, the memory of that day re- 

 minds me of a story I heard long years 

 ago. 



An Irishman had a habit of bragging 

 abotit what a great fighter a one-armed 

 brother of his was. At one time when he 

 got a going on his favorite theme he said, 

 '* Why, Jemmy once killed two of the inemy 

 entoirely, b}' just knocking of their heads 

 together." When some one asked how that 

 could be, when "Jemmy" had only one 

 arm, he answered, " Och! but Jemmy, when 

 he got really a going, afightmg, forgot all 

 about the one arm, and kept on fighting 

 just the same." 



Well, Antonio and I, when we got " really 

 a going," forgot all about our ignorance of 

 the other's tongue. 



I grasped more Spanish in a little while, 

 and he more English, than I would have 

 supposed possible. When I found it impos- 

 sible to get an answer to him on some mor- 

 al or religious question, I would take his 

 Spanish testament and find some appropriate 

 passage for him to read. A man who was 

 cutting sugar-cane was driven in by the 

 rain. Antonio engaged in conversation 

 with him. Pretty soon I was appealed to; 

 my answer was given by pointing out a 

 passage in the Spanish testament, and it 

 took all my Spanish, I assure you, to find 

 the passage I wanted in a testament all 

 Spanish. 



Mr. Somerford finally returned, and we 

 had a brief but very pleasant visit that I 

 shall mention elsewhere. As it continued 

 to rain, I discovered another very pleasant 

 surprise in regard to Cuba. We went home 

 on the train and took our horses with us. 

 The ticket for a horse costs only double 

 that for a man. 



I wondered, as I closed my eyes that 

 second night, if it were possible still anoth- 

 er day could afford such opportunities as 

 the one just passed \iy had brought me. 



Kind Words from our Customers. 



OUR GARDEN SEEDS. 



I purchased the best garden seeds from you last 

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Cooperstown, Pa., Mar. 1. Clyde Yates. 



THE STRAWBERRY TRANSPLANTER. 



I planted lO.OX) plants last spring which have grown 

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 price for it. Wm. I^ittle. 



Marissa, 111. 



