1883 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



43 



i«t#' 



For dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou re- 

 turn. —Gen. 3:19. 



BID I never tell you that wg have baeu, 

 for almost a year past, plauning and 

 building a new home V Well, we have, 

 though ; and now if you were to look over a 

 little beyond the apiary, right about where 

 the artist has tritd to picture the sunflowers, 

 you would see a brick edifice that we are 

 just beginning to call our home. We didn't 

 mean to build so expensive a house, but it 

 "sort o' grew," you know, as such things 

 often do. After we sold our old home last 

 spring, Sue and t talked it over, and agreed 

 that we wanted just a modest little home; 

 but at the same time, as there were now six 

 of us all together in our family, we thought 

 it better to have it large enough so we should 

 not be cramped and crowded, even if some 

 of our real particular bee - friends should 

 make one of our family circle now and then. 

 So we sent for an architect, and began plan- 

 ning. There should be a room for each one 

 of the children, to care for and keep clean 

 and tidy, and free from "dust;" and then 

 we wanted a woodhouse, a kitchen, a pan- 

 try, a dining-room, a sitting-room, a parlor, 

 and a parlor bedroom, and then we should 

 be just comfortable. As it was to be the 

 only house we should probably build in our 

 lifetime, we wanted it good and strong. We 

 wanted it made so it would not have to be 

 tinkered and fixed up every spring, and so it 

 would not very soon decay, and need to be 

 renewed ; for you know it is often cheaper 

 In the end to have a good thing, even if it 

 does cost a little more. I very soon decided 

 that it wanted to be of stone and brick, with 

 a slate roof; but Sue consented only reluc- 

 tantly to the force of my logic. We had to 

 decide during the busiest part of the season, 

 on many points ; and as we did not want 

 you, my friends, to suffer for want of sup- 

 plies because I was having a house built, 

 many important matters were settled with 

 very little thought and consideration. I 

 picked out a picture of a house in the archi- 

 tect's book, and told him to make it like 

 that, only have it brick. 



I presume many of the friends to whom I 

 am talking have much nicer homes than 

 ours will ever be, and perhaps some have 

 those not quite as good ; but altogether, I 

 think I occupy about a middle place in the 

 great sea of humanity. In many respects I 

 know I am comparatively a country boy, and 

 perhaps behind the times in many of the 

 modern appliances and comforts of civiliza- 

 tion. I used to feel embarrassed and trou- 

 bled when I went out anywhere and exposed 

 my ignorance; but I don't so much now; 

 for wTien I am working hard, and trying to 

 do right, I know I have my Savior's love ; 

 and why need any one feel troubled and be 

 afraid, with the consciousness of the pres- 

 ence and nearness of such a mighty friend 

 as he ? Still, I want to be able to do as oth- 

 er people do, and I do not want to pain any 

 of my many friends by a lack of proper pains 

 in my dress, or the appurtenances of my 



home when they come to see me. I feel 

 pretty sure, as I think of it to-night, that 

 many times I have not dressed quite as well 

 as I should have done, for one in my sta- 

 tion ; and 1 fear, too, that I have given pain 

 to dear kind Sue by objecting to little im- 

 provements she wanted to have made about 

 our own home, where we two have passed so 

 many pleasant hours together. I know she 

 will forgive me, for she always does ; but I 

 was going to add, that I have almost all my 

 life been guilty of a little fondness for being 

 considered eccentric. I am sorry for it now, 

 and I want to get over it. When I was a 

 small boy I refused to wear a stand-up col- 

 lar (as everybody else did), even at a sister's 

 wedding ; and no doubt I gave this same sis- 

 ter much pain by wanting to be excused 

 from being present at the ceremony, because 

 there was a " 'lectricity show " in town that 

 same night. Well, I fear it was a remnant 

 of the same detiance of custom that has 

 prompted me to refuse to wear a necktie for 

 several years past. 



While at the convention in Michigan the 

 matter came into my mind, and I took the 

 trouble to look, and "every brother present 

 wore a necktie, except myself. I went out 

 straight and got one, and for a few days back 

 T have been quite in the habit of taking a 

 look in the glass, when opportunity offered, 

 to see if I presented an appearance that ray 

 grown-up son and daughter, and even other 

 friends, would not feel ashamed of. I tell 

 you, my friends, there is quite a number of 

 us who can be better Christians by looking 

 in the glass a little oftener than we do. God 

 meant us to make ourselves pleasing in the 

 eyes of others, so far as we can consistently. 

 In just the same way, he wishes us to have 

 pleasant and attractive homes. 



The new brick house had a splendid cellar 

 and an excellent foundation ; and ere long I 

 saw brother Munger, the boss of the mason- 

 work, down in one side of tlie cellar laying a 

 piece of nice smooth sawed flagging. 



" Friend Munger, what is that forV" said I. 



" This is for the ash-pit." 



" What is an ash-pit V " said I. 



I don't remember what reply he made, and 

 very likely somebody wanted me over at the 

 factory, so I didn't find out ; but the next 

 time I came around I found a small brick 

 room, with a partition through the center, 

 built on that nice smooth flat stone, and this 

 was carried up to the room above. Over it 

 was put a fireplace, or a place for a grate, 

 and then a passage-way was also made into 

 the room above, for a similar grate was to be 

 placed there. The lower room was for the 

 parlor, and the one above for the parlor bed- 

 room. You see, the ashes would all fall 

 from the fire into this nice fire-proof ash-pit 

 in the cellar below ; and instead of carrying 

 ashes down stairs to be hoisted out into the 

 streets to blow into people's eyes, and every- 

 where else, they just tuck themselves away 

 down cellar into the pit, that will hold a 

 wagon-load or more, from whence they can 

 be carted out on to the land, or wherever 

 wanted, once or twice a year, as need be. 

 Not only does this avoid all dust or litter 

 from taking up ashes, but the thrifty house- 

 wife, when sweeping the floor either in win- 



