=Bro. Chas H. Thies=, of Steelville, Ills., has been greatly bereaved
in the death of his mother on Dec. 19th. In a kindly letter written to
us on Christmas Day, he speaks thus tenderly of his blessed mother:
FRIEND YORK:--While I have never met you, and you have never met me
or any of us knowingly, yet I feel as though I could divide my sorrow
by writing you a few lines. In the past years, when I felt troubled
or sad, I could tell my mother, which seemed to unload just half of
my trouble, and she was always very glad to share in our troubles and
sorrows, as well as in our joys. But since Tuesday, Dec. 19th, she has
not been with us, for God saw fit to take her Home, where sickness,
pain or death will never more reach her.
She told us before going, that she would like to stay with us longer,
but that if God wanted her she was ready to go.
We are all grown up, and do not need a mother to supply us with our
daily bread, etc., but yet we should have been glad to have had her
with us a few more years. We are trying in this case, as in many
others, to say, “Thy will be done,” yet it seems a little harder now
than in many cases, particularly for my aged father, who is now 70
years old.
But one thing we are glad of, mother did not suffer long. If each of
us only can truly say, when our time comes, “I have fought a good
fight,” we have the assurance of meeting her again.
Yours very truly,
CHARLES H. THIES.
[Yes, Bro. Thies, one by one our loved ones are passing to the other
side of the river, and we all will soon be called to follow. Then “what
a meeting and a greeting” there will be!
Although we are personally acquainted with but few of our readers,
yet in their sorrows as well as joys, we feel deeply interested, and
wish to assure them that especially in the sad hours of bereavement
they have our sincerest sympathy. Surely, we are only a large family,
and of all folks bee-keepers, it seems to us, are more interested in
each other’s welfare than are any other class of people on this earth.
Please remember, then, that the BEE JOURNAL is always ready to hear
from its large family of readers, and, whenever possible, will be only
too glad to help them.--ED.]
[Illustration: QUERIES AND REPLIES]
Queenless and Broodless Bees.
=Query 905.=--If the queen and all the brood of a colony were removed,
1st. Would the bees thus suddenly deprived, stay in the hive, or
scatter around? 2. Would they (after the first two or three days of
mourning for the queen) go to work and store honey?--Tenn.