ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPEKS ASSOCIATION. 



25 



robber does not get past the guard and 

 steal, where the moth does not corrupt. 

 We ask Thee to teach us that we have in 

 this life those things that make it beautiful, 

 that make life worth living, but above all, 

 we have in heaven in store for us that 

 salvation, that peace and that happiness, 

 that rest that is sweeter than the honey in 

 the honey-comb. 



We ask Thee to be with us in our 

 deliberations, in our studies these day^. 

 Wilt Thou send unto us wisdom ; wilt Thou 

 give unto the speakers that blessing that 

 they may be enabled to teach us in such a 

 way that we will be able to understand 

 Thy work and carry out that which Thou 

 hast bidden us, that which Thou hast 

 entrusted to our care to-day. We ask 

 Thee to be with this Association, ■«ath 

 every member, with its officers. May we 

 ail be found doing our duty while we are 

 here upon the earth. We ask Thee to be 

 with us and bless us, for Jesus, our 

 Saviour's sake, Amen. 



President Baxter — The next number 

 will be the Welcome Address, b}^ Mr. 

 Barber. 



ADDRESS OF WELCOME. 



Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: 

 It is certainly an honor as well as pleasure 

 for me, on behalf of the cit}' of Springfield, 

 to welcome you to this city. I am not 

 much acquainted with bee^, but I am a 

 lawyer, and one of my friends facetiously 

 remarked that since I was accustomed to 

 stinging people, I would be all right to be 

 classed with the bees. But lawyers sting 

 people offensively, like the wasp, I am 

 afraid, and not defensively, like the bees, 

 so I believe the parallel falls short. But 

 we certainly honor the bee-keepers and 

 the man who understands bees. 



I have been looking the last few days 

 to see what I could find out about bees, 

 and I believe honey was one of the first 

 foods given to man. In the earliest 

 historj' of man we find records where man 

 for his desert used honey, and in Holy 

 Writ in numerous places — although the 

 Rev. Mr. Warber is more familiar with 

 that than I am — there always will be 

 found reference to the bee and to honey. 

 In fact, way early in the Bible we find 

 that the Amorites were driven as though 

 they were driven by bees, showing that in 

 those early days the old writers knew 

 something about robbing bees,and what it 

 means to be driven by the bees. And then 

 in King Solomon's parables, the wise man 

 advises the young man in these words, 

 "My son, eat honey, because it is good, 



and honey comb, which is sweet to the 

 taste." Showing in those days, like some 

 of us in these days, men preferred honey 

 in the honey comb to the extracted honey 

 and he advised the young man to eat not 

 only the honey, but the honey comb, which 

 is sweet to the taste. And then in Isaiah, 

 we find where Isaiah tells of the coming 

 forth of an Emanuel who will be the Savior 

 of the people. He used these words: 

 "Butter and honey shall he eat, that he 

 maj^ know to refuse the evil and choose 

 the good." Which is verj' interesting 

 when you think of the theory that a man 

 is developed by the food that he eats, and 

 that the coming Savior was to eat butter 

 and honej' in order that he might be taught 

 to refuse evil and choose the good. 



And so you see from the earliest times 

 honej^ was recognized as a safe diet for 

 mankind, and throughout all the ages it 

 has been a safe diet, and in these days of 

 stress and starvation, when we talk about 

 conserving food and adding to the store 

 of food in order to help other nations that 

 are in need, there is no more important 

 time in the history of the world when a 

 producer of something counts as much, and 

 along with all other producers, let me say, 

 the honey producer is entitled to as prom- 

 inent a place as any other man, for there 

 is a shortage of sweets, we are told on 

 every hand. But I am sure as long as 

 there is a large supply of honey produced 

 in our own country, we can manage to 

 get along all right, and send the sugar to 

 the boj's abroad. 



Not long ago a mother was telling me 

 that her son had written her from the 

 trenches in France, saying, "Oh, if I could 

 only get a big chunk of honey from that 

 jar in the cellar to eat with my bread in 

 the morning." But I guess there is no 

 waj' of sending honey to thern, because 

 there is no way of sending liquids, and that 

 is for the reason that it cannot be trans- 

 ported as easily in these times as solid 

 foods, and here at home, I am sure, as a 

 lawyer and a citizen I can say that there 

 is no better breakfast than wheat cakes 

 or buckwheat cakes and honey. Some say 

 they like syrup, but give me good old 

 honey, which takes me back to the days of 

 my youth, and the time when we used to 

 hunt bee trees, and the man who was able 

 to stand out on a sunny morning near the 

 iilover field and follow the flight of the 

 bees and take the direction back to where 

 the bee tree stood, and follow them right 

 along through the forest and was able to 

 find the bee was looked upon as a wonder 

 by us boys, and we thers had an exhibition 

 of just what it meant to attack a bee in 



