286 



JUVENILE GLEANINGS. 



May 



pened since? Why, I planted some pines. This is 

 the way it came about. There is a little girl at our 

 house whose name is May. Her mother is dead, and 

 her father she has not seen for years — he is away 

 off in New Mexico, disrg-lnj? for silver. He sends her 

 nuts of the pinyon pine. They have a pine-tree out 

 there that, strange to say, bears delicious nuts. 

 Well, May's onterprisin? auntie tried planting one 

 of the nut^, and it came up very nicely, and very 

 quiclsly. Guess it thought Ohio a heap better than 

 its bleak windy mountain home. Next thing May 

 and I went into partnership, and celebrated arbor- 

 day bj' planting some more of those nuts. 



And would I tell the children about the sand-ridges 

 of Lucas County? W<iuld a duck swim? I think I 

 could tell something of the sand-ridges that would 

 be wonderful — if truo; but first let us patiently dig 

 through with this Virgil business. A wise old king 

 named Solomon taught us not to make ourselves 

 "too plenty," lest our neighbors (little neighbors 

 this time) should be weary of us, and hate us. 



And you, friend Boot, did 8aj% " I wonder if I shall 

 ever get out to see you." I believe you have about 

 promised to come to the Tri-State fair and conven- 

 tion this fall. If you do, you will be so near that 

 one of my bees could go and alight on your nose 

 without tiring himself out very badly — and I de- 

 clare, I mean to go too, "just for once," notwith- 

 standing I hate conventions and fairs so. 



Richards, O., May 3, 18S3. E. E. Hasty. 



Friend Hasty, did you know that I was 

 passionately fond of gardening V Well, I 

 am ; and 1 tell you, I can appreciate every 

 word of that poem you hive given us. I 

 have just now been out showing the boys 

 how to hoe the peas, and it seemed to me as 

 if I could be real happy if I were permitted 

 to work in the dirt all the forenoon. Yet 

 the boys, I fear, considered it a sort of back- 

 breakins: drudgery. I wonder how many of 

 our children love gardens — nice, clean," or- 

 derly gardens. I almost envy that old man 

 with his garden, even if he tons a stranger in 

 a strange land. Have you got a garden, 

 friend Hasty V because if you have, I shall 

 be a little more reconciled to leaving busi- 

 ness here long enough to go to the conven- 

 tion. 



MY VISIT, AND WHAT I SAW AND ATE. 



HONEY AND MULBERRIES. 



SWILL tell you to-day of a visit, and the first 

 time I ever saw bees swarm (it was more like 

 hearing than seeing.) When a little girl, my 

 grandma went to visit a friend of hers in the coun- 

 try, and took me with her. The children were in 

 school when we arrived, so I had to sit and listen to 

 the old folks, and look at the old-fashioned ambro- 

 types. My entertainment was not very Interesting, 

 excepting the picture of a little dead boy --the first 

 of the kind I had ever seen. But ray reveries were 

 soon broken by the exclamation, "The bees are 

 swarming!" and then such a clatter and clash with 

 bell, dust-pan, and hammer, soon stilled that swarm, 

 while at least one pair of curious eyes watched the 

 table prepared with white cover and hive to receive 

 this new swarm of bees. 



But in the evening (the children coming home), 

 bees, ambrotypes, and conversation were all forgot- 

 ten as we started to play* Near the house was a 



large mulberry-tree ; and after placing a cloth be- 

 neath to catch the berries, we were soon in the 

 branches, eating and pulling and shaking ofC the 

 fruit. It seemed but a little while till we were called 

 in to tea; and while every thing here was nice, the 

 crowning effect in my estimation was the generous 

 supply of honey placed on my plate by the kind 

 mother. 



Young folks sometimes eat things that are not 

 good for them, and for this I'eason they grow up 

 thin and languid, have aches and pains through all 

 their lives, are a misery to themselves and their 

 friends. A good supply of brown bread and milk, 

 and a little tender beef with your bread and honey, 

 will give you health with which to gain your wealth. 

 You know, "As the twig Is bent, the tree's inclined." 

 Hoping you will all grow up straight and good, I am 

 your friend — E. M. 

 ^ I »■ 



A CAUTION IN REGARD TO THE DAN- 

 GER OF FIRE. 



ALSO SOMETHING ABOUT WHAT A CHILD MAY DO. 



mEADINGr Mrs. Harrison's talk to the children 

 , about fire, brought fresh to my mind the ac- 

 ^ cidents that occurred in our neighborhood. 

 Last spring a little girl 9 years old was playing In the 

 fire that her mother made to burn the trash in 

 the garden. Her clothes caught fire and burned 

 her so badly that she died In a few days. A 

 few months ago, another little girl caught fire from 

 playing with paper in the fire. All of her clothes 

 were burned from off her except the belt around 

 her waist. She died the next morning. About two 

 weeks after that, a little child sat on the stove- 

 hearth; while there its clothes took fire and burned 

 It so that it died in less than a day's time. I, with 

 Mrs. Harrison, warn you to be careful about flre. 

 Do not play in the flre outdoors, where, if your 

 clothes catch flre, a little breeze will soon fan it in- 

 to a blaze. Neither play with it in the house. Do 

 not sit on 1 he stove-hearth, as it is not a very pleas- 

 ant seat, and there is danger In sitting on such places. 

 I love the children, and care not about seeing them 

 burned to death through carelessness. Children, 

 you know not how much good you may do by being 

 careful, thoughtful, and earnest in all your work. 



A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of listening to 

 an old Englishman preach, who had been converted 

 by the earnest pleadings of a little girl. At the 

 death of his wife and daughter he became a disbe- 

 liever. He thought it could not be possible that a 

 true and just God would take those away that he 

 loved so much. He did not read the Bible, go to 

 church, or Sunday-school. He had lived this way 

 for twenty years, when this little girl came to him 

 and said, " Uncle Johnny, we want you to read the 

 Bible, go to church, and Sunday-school." At first 

 he resisted her; but at last he yielded to her child- 

 like voice. It has been two years and eight months 

 since he was brought from darkness into the glorious 

 light of the gospel. He is 74 years old; his nerves 

 seem to be all unstrung, and his steps are very tot- 

 tering, yf t he can stand up over an hour, and warn 

 men to flee from the wrath to come. My little 

 friends, think not because you are small there is 

 nothing for you to do in the heavenly kingdom that 

 Christ has set up on this earth. Think of the many 

 souls that have been blessed through the earnest 

 work of this little girl. Though she could not carry 



