G-2i.E.A.isriisra-s iisr bee cxjlt-ojre esit^i^. 



Ill' that is faithful in that»\vhic)i is least, is faithful also in much. —Luke 10 Ifi. 



JB BIT A. I. 



JDIMA^ ©Mil 



Vol. 1. 



FEB., 1883. 



No. 11. 



IttYSELF AND MY NEIGHBORS. 



With what measure ye mete, it shell be measured 

 to you again.— Matt. T:~. 



Ij? AM not going to talk about bees to-day, 

 M children ; 1 am going to talk about 

 crickets. Do you know what a cricket 

 is? I guess almost all of you have seen 

 crickets, haven't you ? They are long black 

 bugs— are they bugs? Well, I don't know 

 what else to call them, but may be Profes- 

 sor Cook will tell us some time, whether 

 they are bugs or not. They have wings, I 

 know, but 1 don't think they often use 

 them. They have long feelers, too, that 

 they wiggle about in a funny way when they 

 Avalk, as if they couldn't see very well, and 

 so were trying to "■ feel " the way, as it Avere. 

 Did you ever hear a cricket chirp V I have, 

 and that is why I remember them so well ; 

 for a great many years ago, when I used to 

 go down to grandfather's, I always used to 

 get homesick every night; and when T was 

 homesick it seemed juit as if the crickets 

 were all looking right at me, and piping and 

 chirping at me just because I was homesick, 

 and they wanted to make me more so. 

 Their chirping is always dismal to me ever 

 since, and I always want to chase them 

 whenever they crawl out of their holes after 

 a hot summer day, and commence their sort 

 of grating chirp. Come to think of it, I 

 don't believe it is so very dismal lately, aft- 

 er all; for I know now that it is a kind of 



song of theirs, and they only do it when 

 they feel happy, just as the birds and frogs 

 and tree-toads, and all of tlie insect tribes, 

 tune up tlieir songs : and while J Ihink of it, 

 I am rather inclined to think it is the way 

 tliey have of praising God. If tliis is so, 

 surely their little songs ought not to be dis- 

 mal or distasteful to us. When [ used to be 

 in the "hen business" I used to sit for 

 hours and hear my old hens sing. Did you 

 everhearahensingv Well, if yon didn't, just 

 ask your mother to tell you when one of 

 your hens is singing, and see if you can't 

 discover a melody in it. When a hen sings, 

 she almost always lays an egg every day, 

 and so ]iays for her food and lodging. 

 Folks that sing about their woik ai'e usual- 

 ly the ones avIio are doing their duty, and 

 paying their way, and the consciousness of 

 this makes them happy, and, therefore, they 

 sing. 



There is a deal of singing in tliis world 

 we never hear, just because we dont under- 

 stand it. We get cross at the frogs because 

 they croak and keep us awake nights ; and 

 yet the wliole truth of it is, 1 suppose, they 

 are only holding a frog concert, or some- 

 thing of that sort, and we in our selfishness 

 dont understand it. Now just you look 

 around you, and see how many of God's 

 creatures are singing praises to him because 

 they are happy, and yet we never thought of 

 it. 



Well, I declare 1 I told you I was going to 



