May 1. 
COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION. 
75 
is the little kitchen-maid, to whom I paid a visit when I 
was here last ? ’ * Why, sir,’ was the answer, ‘ to tell you the 
truth, she has been in a very poor way since you were here last. 
She has fretted herself quite ill. We don’t know what to 
do with the girl at all.’ The minister asked to see her, and 
found the poor little maid on a bed of straw, in a little nook 
under the stairs. She was, indeed, pale and thin,—he 
would scarcely have known her again. When he asked what 
was the matter, she broke out afresli into tears,—‘ Oh! sir, 
1 have scarcely known an easy moment since you were here 
lash I did pray God to show me myself, but I am ready 
to wish I never had. He has shown me the wickedness of 
my own heart, until I am a misery to myself. I think I 
am the worst sinner that ever lived ; and where must I be 
going to when I die ? To the bad place, I know and feel.’ 
The minister tried to comfort her. He told her she had 
deserved to die, but Jesus, the Son of God, had died instead 
of her, and that if she looked to Jesus, she should be saved. 
The poor girl did not seem able to believe it. ‘ I don’t 
think He can love me,’ she said. The good minister was 
not able to remain very long, but he said he would teach 
her another little prayer, which she must use also every day. 
It was this, ‘ Lord, show me Thyself!' 
“ Many years passed on, and the good minister had never 
been able to go again to the inn of-, on his little grey 
pony. He had become too old for journeys, and remained 
chiefly at home. One day, his servant knocked at his door, 
and told him a stranger wished to see him. ‘ Let her come 
in,’ he said; and a respectable young woman came in, and 
dropped a curtsey. ‘ You do not know me, sir!’ ‘ No, my 
friend, I do not; have I ever seen you befoi'e?’ She 
replied by asking, ‘ Do you remember, sir, being so kind as 
to teach two little prayers to the kitchen-maid, in the country 
inn of-?’ The minister passed his hand over his fore¬ 
head. ‘ I remember,—oh yes, I remember all about it now ; I 
was much interested in that child. Can you tell me anything 
about her?’ ‘Sir,’ said the young woman modestly, with 
tears in her eyes, 4 1 am that little maid; I was in great 
trouble about my sins, when you saw me last, and you taught 
me to pray, ‘Lord, show me Thyself!’ I did, and the Lord 
heard me. Oh ! sir, He showed me what a friend I have in 
Jesus, and how much He must have loved me to die upon the 
cross for me ; and now I feel that I can never praise Him, 
and thank Him, and serve Him enough. The Lord has 
blessed me, too, in my place, and my work, so that I seem 
to have all I want; and I determined, if possible, to find 
you out, and thank you, for I feel I owe everything to you.’ ” 
Readers ! need I say how much this simple tale struck me? i 
Are there not many among us needing to be shown our- j 
selves, and our God, fully as much as this poor, ignorant, 
dirty little maid? We need to be “sought out,” in our 
dirt and ignorance, our sins and deadness of heart, fully as ! 
much as she did; and I pray that some one, whose eye 
may fall upon this page, may be disturbed and troubled in 
mind as she was. We may be following our lawful callings ; ( 
we may be doing “ that which it is our duty to do;” but it j 
we have never thought about our souls’ concerns, or seen j 
what we are by nature ; we are quite as unfit, yea, far more 
abundantly unfit, for the kingdom of Heaven, as she was 
for the company that met together in the inn. 
Another thing. How important it is to be always busy 
iu the Lord’s service; to leave nothing undone, or unsaid, 
that comes in our path; for who can tell the amount of 
blessing conveyed by a few simple words ? 
Readers! you are divided into two classes. You are all 
either sitting in darkness, or partakers of Divine light. If 
you are yet in darkness, busy only with earthly things, let 
this good Scotch minister’s visit to the little maid be his 
visit also to you. Learn “ the two prayers,” and do not say 
them, but offer them up continually to Him who hearetli and 
seeth in secret, and be well assured He will do the rest. 
If you are partakers of Divine light, At your liyht shine. 
Speak boldly for God wherever you are —“Blessed is he that 
soweth beside all waters.” I know, by bitter experience, how 
injurious in its results half-heartedness and timidity are in 
spiritual things, and yet how difficult to overcome ! Let us 
all offer up those “ two prayers ; ” for the need to see more 
of ourselves, and more of God, increases with spiritual 
growth; so, whether we are yet in darkness or in light, let us 
remember the little Scottish maid. 
THE APIARIAN'S CALENDAR —May. 
By J. H. Payne, Esq., Author of “ The Bee-Keeper's 
Guide," Ac. 
Feeding. —Attention to feeding must still be given, for j 
although the weather is now lovely (the middle of April), 
and the bees are bringing in an abundance of pollen, both 
from the Crowfoots, the Sallows, and the Elms, but most 
abundantly from the former, cold days may yet be expected, 
when no addition to their store can be made, and with an 
increasing population, unless food is supplied, famine must I 
follow. 
Swarms. —Should we have, as Mr. Beaton has ventured 
to predict, a dry May, swarms may be expected at the end 
of the month, therefore, it will be good policy to have every 
arrangement for their reception made in good time; but 
June must be the month for honey. “ None in June, none : 
afterwards, depend on it." The honey harvest comes on all 
at once, and very seldom lasts longer than a fortnight, so 
that additional room should be iu readiness if required. 
Enemies. — Queen Wasps are now showing themselves, and 
should be sought after and destroyed, both by gardeners 
and apiarians. If I mistake not, they will be very abundant 
this year, and very strong, for the unusual coldness of the 
spring has prevented their leaving their hiding-places until 
now. A few mild days in February usually tempts them 
out, when the cold which follows kills them, or renders 
them so feeble as to be easily captured, but now they come 
at once from their hiding-places to a temperature of sixty. 
The House Sparrow may also be ranked amongst the 
enemies of bees, for I have observed, for the last four or 
five years, the female birds flying from the ground up to the 
mouth of the hive, and catching the bees just before, or as 
they take wing, and away with them to their young ones, 
when their nest is nigh the apiary. I have seen as many 
as six or eight journeys made in a quarter-of-an-hour by the 
female bird only. The male appears to take no part in it. 
I have never witnessed the like at any other time but when 
the birds have young to provide for, therefore, it would be 
well to have all the nests in the immediate neighbourhood 
of the apiary destroyed. 
Cottager's Apiary. — I have just visited the apiary of a 
cottager, and I was pleased to find that he had lost only 
seven stocks during the late trying season, and not one of 
them from neglect. He now numbers twenty-five, all in my 
improved cottage hives. It was quite delightful to see the 
vigour with which they were all carrying in pollen, and it 
was equally delightful, and even more so, to see the comfort, 
the cleanliness, and the good order which pervaded the 
cottage itself—A family loving their home, and striving to 
promote each other’s comfort. 
Supers. —By the middle of the month some hives that 
are forward will require a super; be careful not to give it 
until it is really required by the bees, which may be known 
by their crowded appearance, and the loud hum they keep 
up during the night. If put on too soon it retards the 
hatching of brood, by allowing a current of cold air to pass 
through the hive. It is better, if it can be so timed, that the 
super is given so that the bees will enter it immediately 
upon its being put on. Be it of wood, glass, or straw, a 
small piece of guide-comb is a great inducement to the 
bees to begin working in it at once. 
CONIFERS, OR CONE-BEARING TREES. 
During the last twenty or thirty years, a certain tribe of I 
ornamental plants has attracted much more attention than 
was formerly bestowed upon it. 1 allude to that which 
is known to Botanists under the general name of Coniferas, 
and popularly by the various names of Pines, Firs, Cedars, 
Cypresses, <fcc., including also Tews. But I think that this 
tribe, though generally admired and appreciated, suffers a 
good deal from want of some plain guide to a knowledge of 
the various species. So many new kinds have lately been 
poured in upon us (and more may probably be expected) 
that people have not had time to learn them. With a view, I 
therefore, to help on the knowledge and cultivation of them, 
I offer, under your approval, a few remarks on some of this 
