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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 



80 modified the crest as to make it compact and 

 symmetrical, falling right, left, and backward, from 

 a parting behind the comb. This breeding did not 

 change them from non - sitters to sitters. It 

 did not affect the fifth toe. It did not, that I am 

 aware, decrease the size of the egg, diminish the 

 proliflcness of the hen, nor injure the quality of the 

 flesh. Nature has done far more, and left us less to 

 do with the Italian bee than was the case with the 

 houdan fowl. She has brought it to us in a high 

 state of advancement, having developed in common 

 hardy, industrious, and prolific character, gentle 

 disposition, and golden bands. Let us carry on the 

 work as she has carried it, and breed, not for any 

 one, but for all three. A. Norton. 



Gonzales, Cal., Sept. 24, 1883. 



Thank you, friend N., for the valuable 

 facts you have furnished us, and also for the 

 happy wav in which you have presented the 

 whole matter. As you put it, so far as I can 

 see, your position is correct. 



^ I — ^ 



HIVING BKES ON SUNDAY. 



HOW CAN WE BEST REMEMBER THE SABBATH-DAY, 

 TO KEEP IT HOLY? 



WAS much interested in your article on hunger- 

 ing and thirsting after righteousness, and am 

 much interested in your efforts for the spiritual 

 welfare of those under your care. The Lord bless 

 and prosper you in this, more and more. The chil- 

 dren were highly entertained with the Juvenile, 

 and I came very near thinking that your papers 

 were both a necessity on the place. Now, I am not 

 writing for the press; so let me ask you a few ques- 

 tions. I want to know how you can prove from the 

 Bible that it is right to hive bees on the Lord's day. 

 I never had one thought that it is right, and I was 

 both surprised and sad when I saw that you advocate 

 it. Are you right, sure, Bro. Root, that you are not 

 wrong? We think that putting a swarm of bees in- 

 to a hive is work; and the Bible, in speaking of the 

 Sabbath-day, says, "In it thou shalt not do any 

 work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man- 

 servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor 

 thy stranger that is within thygates." We are com- 

 manded to " remember the Sabbath-day to keep it 

 holy," and I can not see any thing holy in saving 

 swarms of bees on Sunday. "Ye shall hallow my 

 Sabbaths," seems to exclude the idea of saving bees. 

 I know you are a busy man, and perhaps feel as if 

 you have not time to read this; but with all your 

 subscribers and patrons you must have a great in- 

 fluence; and what if you should lead them wrong? 

 " Blessed is the man that keepeth the Sabbath from 

 polluting it." " If thou turn away thy foot from 

 the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy 

 day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the 

 Lord honorable, and shalt honor him, not doing 

 thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor 

 speaking thine own words, then shalt thou delight 

 thyself in the Lord, and I will cause thee to ride up- 

 on the high places of the earth." Perhaps in the 

 loss of Sunday swarms you might have the feeling 

 of Amaziah when he said, "But what shall we do 

 for the hundred talents?" Do you remember the 

 answer? " The Lord Is able to give thee much more 

 than this." "Them that honor me I will honor." 

 " The Sabbath was made for man." God saw that 

 we would need rest, its holy iqfluences, and the 



great blessings that would arise from giving to him, 

 In obedience to his command, that time he required. 

 It is a trial to a farmer to have his hay and fodder 

 destroyed by rain on Sunday when he could save it 

 by work; but it is doubtless his duty to rest, and let 

 that which he has earned by hard labor go to loss 

 rather than work on the Lord's day. I once lived 

 near a foundry, and the owner thought, or acted as 

 if he thought, that it was necessary to keep the 

 work going on, en the Sabbath. He thought that it 

 never would do to let the fire get low on Sunday, it 

 would take so long to get the furnace heated up 

 again. He had some unconverted young people in 

 his employment, and at one time they attended 

 church, and seemed much interested. One young 

 man in particular seemed anxious for the salvation 

 of his soul, but the work must go on day and night 

 on the Sabbath. Whether this young man or his 

 comrades who were so anxious to attend church ever 

 became Christians or not, I know not; but the busy 

 owner of the foundry has long since been laid in the 

 grave; and unless he was much changed from what 

 he was, his soul never attained to the rest above. 

 The foundry has stopped, and the roar and din is no 

 longer heard; but .who can tell it some of those 

 youths whom he compelled to work on the Lord's 

 day are not now in turn compelling other youths to 

 violate tire Sabbath, or, at least, using such an in- 

 fluence that they do it? The Lord showed by his 

 laws for the Jews that he loved kindness to the poor. 

 You remember that gleanings were left for them. 

 Now, why could not the swarms which fly away on 

 Sunday be counted as gleanings for the poor who 

 might find them? and, indeed, if a wealthy man 

 would take the trouble to get them out of a tree 

 afterward, and we knew they were ours, we might 

 cheerfully resign them, and feel that we had God's 

 approval. 



The idea, Bro. Root, that work must be done on 

 Sunday is doing much harm in the world. While 

 we are sitting in the sanctuary on the Sabbath-day, 

 enjoying the prospect of heavenly rest, how many 

 of our fellow - creatures are hard at work — and 

 many with aching hearts, too, just on account of 

 mistaken notions about the necessity of work be- 

 ing done on the Sabbath 1 Now, if all the Christians 

 would plant their feet on the ground that God's 

 blessed day shall be kept holy, and would do all in 

 their power to prevent its desecration, it would do 

 a vast amount of good. 



If once all the lamps that are light 



W'ould steadily blaze in a line 

 Wide over the land and the ocean. 



What a girdle of glory would shine! 



So, lift your lamp higher, my brother. Your 

 words of Christian encouragement have done me 

 good. They have doubtless done good to many 

 others. I thank you for them. God bless you in 

 every effort to do good. Allow me to aid but one 

 more verfe from our precious guide-book: "Abstain 

 from all appearance of evil." 



I hope the tickets you gave me will do much good. 

 t could send many of them to the colored Sabbath- 

 schools around where they would be highly ap- 

 preciated. Remember our work here among the 

 colored people in your prayers. 



Mrs. M. A. Taplky. 



Columbus, Miss., Sept. 18, 1883. 



I thank you, my good friend, for your kind 

 words on this question that has seemed to 

 lie near the hearts of so many of our bee' 



