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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 1 



God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with 

 the oil of gladness above thy fellows." 



We are not told that Joseph received any 

 such comforting words from Jehovah; but 

 these very words might have been applied 

 at this time. Now comes another trial. His 

 faithfulness and his unswerving integrity 

 sent him down to prison again, but that 

 made no difference to him, or but little. He 

 commenced at the bottom of the ladder once 

 more. In fact, he was in some sense used to 

 it, by this time. He "got busy," even there 

 in pi'ison, and followed it up year after year. 

 He soon became the manager and trusted 

 man of the prison. Why, that is just the 

 way it was with him every time. No matter 

 where he was put, up he went to the top in 

 a comparatively brief period. He was a 

 ruler among men, and a natural- born general. 

 The very things that would have discourag- 

 ed and defeated the majority of people serv- 

 ed only to lift him up. 



Now, friends, was Joseph an exception to 

 humanity ? Did God give him a better chance 

 than the rest of us? or is it true that we shall 

 be promoted and raised up, even above our 

 fellows, if we are actuated by the same im- 

 pulse and same spirit of faith in God that 

 Joseph had ? I think so. The boy I talked 

 to this morning could not believe me when 

 I assured him that a disposition to tackle 

 jobs a little harder than usual would bring 

 him promotion. There is only once in a 

 while a boy or a grown-up man who gets a 

 glimpse of this thing that came so naturally, 

 it would almost seem, to Joseph, from child- 

 hood. 



When the news of the earthquake that de- 

 stroyed San Francisco went over our land a 

 little over a year ago, while I admitted it 

 was a terrible calamity I stoutly maintained 

 that it was a part of God's plan to teach us 

 all some useful lessons. Of course I could 

 not, right away, declare what lesson it was 

 that the earthquake was to teach us; but I 

 believe you are now all aware that it did 

 teach us several useful lessons. One espe- 

 cially is that a great city like San Francisco 

 could get along under prohibition, and be a 

 thousand times better than with wide-open 

 saloons. 



Every little while, some unprecedented 

 and unexpected event is taking place. The 

 present season for bee-keepers and farmers, 

 and almost everybody else, is a break in the 

 record of the weather. We are planting our 

 corn this 19th day of June — later than 1 ever 

 planted field corn before; but we actually 

 could not do it with our ground in suitable 

 condition at any earlier period. This unu- 

 sual season is going to teach us some valuable 

 lessons. I mentioned in our last issue the 

 sudden and unexpected death of one of our 

 office force, Mrs. Root's sister. I said again 

 that this blow that had saddened all our 

 hearts was sent by the hand of the kind 

 Father, and that it should teach us lessons 

 that we probably could not or would not 

 learn without some such sad and startling 

 trial. I do not like the word, exactly, but it 

 gave our whole neighborhood a sudden ' ' jolt ' ' 



and jar, different from any thing else that 

 has happened. What is the lesson we are to 

 learn when a loved one is suddenly called 

 away? As I have prayed over it, some things 

 begin to be made plain. We have been busy 

 planning for the future. We have been mak- 

 ing arrangements, taking it for granted, it 

 would seem, that we are going to have a 

 score of years or more to live. That is all 

 right in one sense of the word; but in anrth- 

 er it strikes on that text I have been talking 

 about so much of late, that some of you may 

 positively get wearied of it. I mean the one 

 about "moth and rust." We are planning 

 buildings and new homes. Just now Mrs. 

 Root and I are talking about a little better 

 home down in Florida; but are we at the 

 same time laying up treasures in heaven? I 

 hope so. God knows we are praying day by 

 day that he will show us how to plan for 

 something where moth and rust do not cor- 

 rupt, and where thieves do not break through 

 and steal. Then there is that other passage 

 in the 55th chapter of Isaiah — "Ho, every 

 one that thirsteth;" and then it goes on, 

 "Come ye to the waters." Yes. the invita- 

 tion reads, "He that hath no money, come." 

 And then further along, ' ' Wherefore do ye 

 spend money for that which is not bread?" 

 Of late I have been spending a good deal of 

 money —I am obliged to spend it. I am con- 

 sulted almost continually ^bout the way in 

 which money shall be used. God knows I 

 am trying to use it in a way that will be a 

 benefit to my fellow-men. I want to see it 

 invested in that which is real bread, in the 

 best sense of the word. Further along in 

 that same verse we read again, "and your 

 laiwr for that which satisfieth not?" A great 

 lot of us are working hard during these long 

 June days for something we wish to accom- 

 plish. Well, after we have worked and suc- 

 ceeded in getting that which we long for, can 

 we look back and say, " Well, I am well sat- 

 isfied with the results of my labor"? The 

 women-folks work to get up big dinners; and 

 I fear that sometimes the dinner on Sunday 

 afternoon is bigger than on any other day in 

 the week; and I admit that there is one sort 

 of satisfaction in sitting down to a good din- 

 ner. 1 do not know whether the women- 

 folks feel as if they might be put to less 

 trouble or not; yet I hope they do )iot feel 

 satisfied, and that we may all of us insist on 

 something simpler, especially for a Sunday 

 dinner. 



When we come to face death, and look 

 back over our lives, we shall probably find 

 much to regret. In fact, I have talked with 

 quite a number, when they neared death, on 

 this very subject. Whenever some friend is 

 suddenly taken away, I think of the chances 

 I had to give him a pleasant word or a 

 helping hand, and yet it was put off or neg- 

 lected — perhaps crowded out because I 

 thought I hadn't time, 



A few days after my father's death I thought 

 I would give almost all I was worth to have 

 a chance to go and help him in some of the 

 duties on the farm, just as I might have done 

 a few days before. I remembered vividly 



