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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 1 



Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, 

 and be wise.— Pbov. 6: 6. 



I think we might learn many valuable les- 

 sons from the lower forms of animal life if 

 we would take the pains to study them and 

 get intimately acquainted with their habits 

 and ways. The text I have chosen is not ex- 

 actly what 1 wanted; but it comes so near it 

 I think it will do very well. If we should 

 take out the word "ant" and substitute 

 "chickens" then it would fit exactly. 



One of the valuable lessons I have learned 

 is contentment and thankfulness — yes, en- 

 thusiasm — with just such an environment as 

 God has seen tit to give us. A chicken when 

 only two days old begins to be happy and 

 enjoy himself. He is delighted with any sort 

 of surroundings; and when he gets up in the 

 morning he says by his actions, as he Hops 

 his little wings, "Hurrah, boys I now for 

 some more fun! We are going to have anoth- 

 er whole day to run about and find things, 

 and grow.'' I told you about one of them 

 that was determined to have me for a moth- 

 ei', and would always be between my feet, 

 etc. Well, he pestered me so much when I 

 was busy that I used to "dump " him into a 

 little pen hardly a yard square that held 

 young chicks just from the incubator. This, 

 of course, didn't suit; but when he found 

 "what couldn't be cured must be endured " 

 he "got busy" teaching the new chicks how 

 to drink, scratch, etc. He had run with the 

 hen just long enough to get an idea of how 

 she managed; and when he found he could 

 not have a mother himself he decided, ap- 

 parently, to be "little mother" to the Vjaby 

 chicks, and straightway began making be- 

 lieve he was their "natural born mother." 

 I laughed and laughed at his antics. When 

 it came night he tried to cover some of them 

 with his diminutive wings, and mimicked 

 very well the mother's quieting "cr-r-r-r," 

 which means, "Now be quiet, all of you, and 

 go to sleep like good chil — chickens." 



When they were all old enough to go out 

 I almost laughed until I cried to witness his 

 assumed dignity as he led and instructed 

 his flock. 1 almost cried from different emo- 

 tions when his flock, all but one, died in the 

 coal-oil "epidemic." He is alone now, and 

 a sight of him I'ejoices my heart while I 

 write; but if you should get a glimpse of him 

 (only half feathered out) you might conclude, 

 aaMrs. Root often says, that it doesn't take 

 very much to make me rejoice. Now for our 

 lesson No. 1. 



Is there any reason, friends, why we should 

 not rejoice when we get up every morning 

 at the life God has set before us? Is there 



any reason why ive should not move with 

 alacrity and take up with joy and enthusiasm 

 — yes, and thanks to God, doing over again 

 the very same things we did yesterday? 



Yes, I know something about it, for in Mrs. 

 Root's absence this winter I have been car- 

 ing for our cottage here on the island. Aft- 

 er I had been here a week or two I wrote our 

 youngest daughter (recently married) that I 

 was getting tired of so much sweeping the 

 house, dusting, making the bed, etc. But 

 afterwai'd, in thinking it over, I remembered 

 I had been very happy about my "house- 

 work," after all. We don't have any mud 

 here; but the sand and broken shells have a 

 fashion of clinging to one's feet, so that, un- 

 less you ai"e careful, there will be an un- 

 pleasant crunching as you set your feet down 

 on the floor; and to avoid this we have bur- 

 lap sacks tacked on all the doorsteps. If you 

 wipe off your feet well on these door-mats 

 you will carry very little "grit" into the 

 house; but these door-mats need to be swept 

 off several times a day. To keep a broom 

 in good order it should never be set with the 

 broom end on the floor. Our way is to 

 flatten the top of the broom-handle, then 

 with a sharp bit bore a f hole so the broom 

 can easily be hung on a nail. 



Well, with everything convenient and han- 

 dy 1 have learned to love my household tasks. 

 Not only every morning but several times a 

 day I get the broom and make the house 

 look neat, just as Mrs. Root would have it; 

 and when 1 sweep I always whistle. Why, 

 I have done more whistling this winter than 

 in all the time since fifty years ago, when I 

 was a boy. Yes, I do get homesick some- 

 times—not so much for that other home, but 

 for a sight of Mrs. Root. Well, when I get 

 homesick, I breathe that little prayer, "Cre- 

 ate in me a clean heart, O God," etc., and 

 then I get the broom, move the bed, all the 

 chairs, and (home-made) furniture, and do a 

 good job of housecleaning; and before I get 

 through I get to whistling "Listen to the 

 Mocking-bird," with impromptu variations. 

 Why, two or three times I have been so 

 astonished at my progress in learning to 

 whistle that I actually wished I had a phono- 

 graph to catch the notes. I can't reproduce 

 it when I get home. I might find some 

 sweeping to do, but 1 never could whistle as 

 I have been whistling here this winter, un- 

 less I was homesick. Dear brothers (of 

 course, 1 don't know to whom I am talking), 

 did you ever find consolation by whistling 

 when off alone, and thinking of ' ' the girl I 

 left behind me "? I am getting a little away 

 from my text, but there is something more 

 to be said just here. It does take a good 

 deal of time to keep a house looking tidy, 

 and I told Carrie I was looking forward to 

 the time when I should have some one to do 

 it for me; but wait a bit; is it really certain 

 I shall be ha23iner or as happy when I am 

 relieved ? Shall I be able to keep on whis- 

 tling with that boyish abandon ? May God 

 help us all to recognize that the very things 

 we are, in our shortsightedness, consider- 

 ing drudgery, may be the very essentials to 



