The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1898-01-27

- W 0As al
N~ nadse to the
Nl sweetness OF the
~9 golden honey.
The text 10 I
Samuel xiv. -. II did but taste lit
tie honey with the end Of the rod that
was In my hand. and 10. I must die"
The honeybss 10 . most ingenious
architect, q Christopher Wren among
Insects, geometer drawing hexagons
and pentagons, freebooter robbing
the fields Of pollen and aroma. won
drous creature of God whose biogra-
ply. written by Huber and Swammer-
dam, Is an enchantment for any lover
OF nature. Virgil celebrated the bee
In his fable of Aristaeus, and Moses
and Samuel and David and Solomon
and jeremiah and Ezekiel and st.
John used the delicacies Of bee manu-
facture as q Bible symbol. A miracle
Of formation is the bee. Five eyes.
two tongues, the outer having q
sheath Of protection, hairs on all sides
of Its tiny body to brush up the par
ticles Of flowers. Its flight SO straight
that all the world knows of the bee
line. The honeycomb Is q palace
such as no one but God could plan
and the honeybee construct; Its cells
sometimes a dormitory and sometimes
a storehouse and sometimes a ceme-
terry. These winged toilers first make
eight strips of wax and by their an
tennae. which are to them hammer
and chisel and square and plumb line.
fashion them for use. Two and two
these workers shape the wall. II an
accident happens. they put up but
tresses Of extra beams to remedy the
damage.
Do you know that the swarming Of
the bees Is divinely directed? The
mother bee starts for q new home,
and because Of this the other bees of
the hive get into an excitement which
raises the heat Of the hive some four
degrees. and they must die unless they
leave their heated apartments. and
they follow the mother bee and alight
on the branch Of Q tree. and cling to
each other and hold on until q COM
mittee of two or three bees has ex-
plored the region and found the hol-
low Of tree or rock not far on from
. stream Of water. and they here set
up new, colony and ply their aromat-
ic Industries and give themselves to
the manufacture Of the sacchsrine cd
ible. But who can tell the chemistry
Of that mixture OF sweetness. part OF
It the very life Of the bee and part of
1t the life Of the fields!
Plenty OF this luscious product was
hanging in the woods Of Bethaven
during the time Of Saul and Jonathan.
Their army was In pursuit of an one
my that BY Gods command must be
exterminated. The soldiery were pos
itively forbidden to stop to eat any
thing until the work was done. II
they disobeyed they were accursed.
Coming through the woods they found
place where the bees had been busy
a great honey mandatory. Honey
gathered in the hollow Of the trees
until 1t had over6owed upon the
ground In great profusion Of sweet
ness. All the army obeyed orders
and touched 1t not save Jonathan,
and he. not knowing the military Or
der about abstinence. dipped the end
Of stick he had in his hand into the
candied liquid, and as yellow and
tempting 1t glowed on the end of the
stick he put 1t to his mouth and ate
the honey. Judgment fell upon him
and but for special Intervention he
would have been slain. In my text
Jonathan announces his awful mis-
take. II did but taste a little honey
with the end Of the rod that was in
my hand, and, 10, I must die." Alas,
what multitudes Of people in all ages
have been damaged by forbidden hon
ey, by which I mean temptation, de-
licious and attractive, but damaging
and destructive!
Corrupt literature. fascinating but
deathful, comes in this category.
Where one good honest, healthful book
is read now there is a hundred
made up of rhetorical trash consumed
with avidity. When the boys on the
cars come through with pile Of pub
lications, look over the titles and no.
tice that nine out of ten Of the books
are injurious. All the way from here
to Chicago or New Orleans notice that
Objectionable books dominate. Taste
for pure literature is poisoned by this
scum Of the publishing house. Every
book In which sin triumphs over vir-
tue, or in which glamor Is thrown
over dissipation, or which leaves you
at its last line with less respect for
the marriage insulation and less alb
horence for the paramour Is a de.
preston Of your own moral charac-
ter. The bookblndery may be attrac-
tive, and the plot dramatic and start
ling. and the style OF writing sweet as
the honpv that Jonathan tooL IN with