1907 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



853 



correct his first work was done sitting on the 

 ground. He was hardly able to stand up, 

 much less to stand up and work. At first he 

 worked only a little while — perhaps only a 

 few minutes at a time; then he stretched 

 himself out and rested in the sunshine; then 

 he worked a little more, and so on. He not 

 only got well, but lived to a good old age; 

 and it was my fortune to meet him and talk 

 with him later on, after the strawberry-book 

 had been published. 



Our older readers will recall the case of 

 Mrs. Sarah J. Axtell, of Roseville, 111., who, 

 while she was a hopeless invalid confined to 

 her bed, got hold of a copy of Gleanings 

 and became so taken up with bees that her 

 friends wheeled her chair up to a window 

 where she could watch a hive of bees at work. 

 To make a long story short, she soon got her 

 lounge on the porch, sat up a little, then 

 learned to open and close a hive. Later still 

 she got up on her feet, and, after a year or 

 two of this kind of gradual progress, accom- 

 panied with constant prayer and jaith in God, 

 she received strength to do an amount of 

 work in the apiary that grew up around her 

 that might appall a strong man. Then she 

 and her husband together secured a crop of 

 honey that astonished the world; and as a 

 fitting token of her gratitude to the loving 

 Father who gave her the strength and enthu-' 

 siasm, she decided that the greater part of the 

 money which she received f I'om this immense 

 crop of honey should be donated to foreign 

 missions. The record of all this appeai'ed in 

 Gleanings for 1882, and it was also pub- 

 lished in the form of a missionary tract. 



Once more, at a recent poultry-keepers' 

 convention down in Florida there were so 

 many calls for a talk from a man who had 

 recently met with wonderful success that he 

 finally yielded, and he started out something 

 like this: 



"Friends, I am hardly fit to talk to, much 

 less teach, veterans like those I see before and 

 around me. The greater part of my life has 

 been passed without qven caring for or no- 

 ticing chickens at all. Three or four years 

 ago the doctors up north told me my lungs 

 were gone with consumption so far that med- 

 ical aid was out of the question. They sug- 

 gested that I might live a little longer in the 

 mild climate of Florida, especially if I would 

 get into something that would keep me con- 

 stantly out of doors. I commenced playing 

 with chickens, and became interested. My 

 interest increased, of course, when I found 

 that I was making it a pecuniary success, 

 and that is how it all started." 



As this friend was not much of a speaker 

 he was going to sit down here and stop; but 

 a dozen voices called called out, " How about 

 the consumption, Brother Blank? Did the 

 chicken business cure it?" 



He got up and laughingly replied, "Oh! I 

 forgot to tell you that I got so busy with 

 chickens I forgot all about consumption, and, 

 as nearly as i can determine, the consump- 

 tion forgot all about me. I am now, thanks 

 to your beautiful climate and the chickens, a 

 comparatively well man." 



1 suppose instances like the above could be 

 multiplied indefinitely. On my recent visit 

 to Northern Michigan I was told of a lady 

 who was advised by her doctor that there 

 was no hope for her if she kept on in the way 

 she was going, and this doctor told her to 

 try sleeping outdoors. One of the neighbors 

 said he also insisted on her taking a buggy- 

 ride of twelve miles every day in the year, 

 winter and summer. She is now well and 

 strong. I am told that a lady in our town 

 has been for the last two years sleeping out 

 on an upper veranda, winter and summer. 

 When storms come from a particular dii'ec- 

 tion with such force they might blow in upon 

 her bedding, she has rubber blankets ar- 

 ranged to pull down as a protection from 

 that one direction. Although her lungs were 

 badly aiTected when she commenced the 

 treatment she looks now as if she were strong 

 and well; and I have been told that the af- 

 fected lung has been almost completely heal- 

 ed. Of course, a faith in God and a faith in 

 prayer should always accompany all such ef- 

 fort to regain health; but as nearly as I can 

 determine many have found a new lease of 

 life by simply complying with the directions 

 I have tried to emphasize so strongly, out in 

 the open air, and some outdoor employment 

 that arouses interest and enthusiasm. 



In the fore part of our article 1 have some- 

 thing to say in regard to people who delib- 

 erately throw away >or destroy this precious 

 gift of human life. Our good friend Emer- 

 son T. Abbott, editor of the Modern Fanner 

 and. Busy Bee, has a quaint way of putting 

 things that is most remarkable, and at the 

 same time he uses this quaint gift in a most 

 forcible way for upholding righteousness,' 

 temperance, and purity. See what you think 

 of this, which I clip from his paper for May: 



There is a great deal said in Lhese times about " race 

 suicide," but there are worse things than a failure to 

 be born. The most suicidal thing- we know any thing 

 about so far as the life of a child is concerned is neg- 

 lect. A child having come into the world is entitled, 

 from those who have been instrumental in bringing it 

 in, to something more than clothes to wear, a place to 

 sleep, and something to eat. If a child is to be neg- 

 lected as to the development of the higher elements 

 of its nature, "it were better that it had not been 

 born." A father said in our presence not long ago 

 that he enjoyed a cigar, and at one time smoked, but 

 he had not done so for a long time, and he presumed 

 he never would again; and then after a mpment's si- 

 lence he continued: " I have two boys growing up, and 

 I feel that I owe it to them to set them a proper ex- 

 ample, so I (luit." This father knew T,hat life means, 

 and "race suicide" in his home would be a misfor- 

 tune, but not in all homes. 



Amen, brother Abbott. If our people are 

 brought up in the fear of the Loi'd, they will 

 be lifely, like the little ducks, to regard life 

 as a wondrous and most precious gift; and I 

 think they should be taught daily, as soon as 

 they are able to comprehend it, to give thanks 

 to God- for giving them a life to live; and al- 

 so to the dear Savior who left his home in 

 heaven and came down here to earth that we 

 jiiight have that greater and more important 

 spiritual life, and that we might have it 

 more abundantly for his coming. The ex- 

 presion, ' ' a failure to be born, ' while it is 

 a huge .ioke in one sense, in another it ought^ 

 to awaken sacred and solemn thoughts. 



