§ XII.] GENERAL REMARKS. 335 



Everything about the house wore the aspect of comfort 

 and plenty. The good bishop was amazed. " How is 

 this, my friend ? " said he ; " you are the first pastor I 

 have met with having a cheerful face and a plentiful 

 board ! Have you any income independent of your 

 cure?" "Yes, sire," said the pastor, "I have: my 

 family would starve on the pittance I receive from the 

 poor people that I instruct. If you will walk into the 

 garden, I will show you the stock that yields me such 

 excellent interest." On going into the garden he showed 

 the bishop a long range of beehives. " There," said he, 

 " is the bank from which I draw an annual dividend, and 

 it is one that never stops payment." His harvest of 

 honey enabled him almost to dispense with the use of 

 sugar, leaving him a considerable quantity for disposal 

 in the market ; of the coarser portions he made a toler- 

 able substitute for wine, and the sale of the wax nearly 

 paid his shoemaker's bill. Ever afterwards, when any of 

 the clergy complained to the bishop of poverty, he would 

 say to them, " Keep bees ! keep bees ! " In this suc- 

 cinct advice — extending it to laity as well as clergy in 

 rural districts — we heartily join, believing that in this 

 country a tenfold greater number of hives might be 

 successfully kept than are now established. 



In a very practical sense the oft-repeated lines of Gray 

 are strictly true : — 



' ' Full many a flower is bom to blush unseen, 

 And waste its sweetness on the desert air." 



