394 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



June 20, 1901. 



I ^ The Home Circle. ^ I 



Condocted Iju Prof. fl. J. Gook, Glaremont, Calif. 



The Treasures of Nature. 



• From the drift of a star to the drift of a soul. 

 The world is all miracle under control ; 

 The buttertlj's wing and man's reverent awe. 

 Alike wear the chain of inscrutable law ; 

 A law that allures us, but ever eludes. 

 That baffles our groping, but never deludes ; 

 We never can hold it; it holds us secure: 

 And the wisest in reading shall longest endure ; 

 A Faith-bow of promise, a promise replete — 

 Forever fulfilling, but never complete ; 

 We chase where it beckons, and gather the gold. 

 And lo, on before us, new treasures unfold !" 



THE STUDY OF NATURE. 



In my teaching in college, I find in some of the students 

 an almost insurmountable disrelish of handling insects, and 

 they come veith no alacrity to the work of dissecting, Others, 

 no whit less refined and sensitive, in a general way, show no 

 such squeamishness. We dissect cats at first, and then other 

 animals. I regard this knowledge secured, not from books 

 but from handling the real things, as of great value. The 

 same is true in regard to the study of caterpillars, beetles, 

 and bugs. The distaste is often erratic in the extreme. Thus 

 nearly every girl will take into her hand, even at first, the 

 beautiful, little lady-bird beetles, while she will shrink away 

 appalled at a ground-beetle or caterpillar— will shudder if a 

 myriapod is handed to her, and actually turn pal.e at the very 

 thought of touching a spider. I think all this unreasoning, 

 and unreasonable disgust, is unfortunate. The possessor, 

 unless cured of it — and it is a malady difficult of cure — will 

 lose much of the beauty that she would otherwise get. 

 Every girl may be required, as a duty, to dress a chicken or a 

 rabbit; to dissect carefully a cat will teach her to do the 

 other more intelligently, and will give her an insight into her 

 own structure and physiology that will be of great value, and 

 which can be gotten in no other way. 



The insect world touches us in many ways. They annoy 

 us and our domesticated animals. They prey upon our crops 

 to the annual tune of millions of dollars. The best success 

 in life demands that every home circle shall know — and so 

 study— these myriads of friends and foes— for all are not ene- 

 mies—that they may prepare to wage battle in case the 

 intruder comes with intent to injure. Insects are ubiquitous 

 —that is, everywhere. We run against them at every turn. 

 Not to know them is surely most unwise neglect. Indeed, 

 that man is best equipped who knows most about the things 

 that he runs against in all his daily walk. The little malarial 

 animal is very small, but it can destroy the red blood cor- 

 puscle. To know of it and its work enriches the world. To 

 know that a mosquito inoculates us with this often fatal pro- 

 tozoan, by its bite, is even more valuable, for it shows us how 

 we may fence off disease and even death. 



Thus this knowledge of these hosts that everywhere 

 encompass us about is vastly practical, and stupid indeed is 

 he or she who does not grasp every opportunity to gain such 

 knowledge. 



Again, no study does more to quicken and develop obser- 

 vatfon than this. The person who sees everything, and sees 

 it well, is mightily strengthened for life's big fight. As stu- 

 dents work in geometry, they often say that they can almost 

 feel their brains grow- So students of entomology often 

 remark, on their increased facility to find insects, and to find 

 and see correctly minute and obscure parts, as the study goes 

 on. 



Just here is suggested a duty for every home circle. I 

 have shown before the value of the walk in the woods, the 

 Sunday stroll with the children by wayside and meadow. 

 These are very golden days to foster this love of nature. 

 They are often times when it is hopelessly crushed. The 

 mother, mayhaps, is takihg her first walk with the little boy 

 or girl. They come upon a lovely caterpillar or beautiful 

 beetle. The mother shrieks and jumps back. The little one 



has a lesson and an impression that it will take long school- 

 ing to correct. It has then and there gained an abhorrence 

 that will rob it of great pleasure, and will very likely prove 

 a handicap in life's work. I have always rejoiced that my 

 mother was not appalled at the sight of grub or spider, and 

 that she early taught me to see the beauty in both. I shall 

 never outlive the pleasant memories which came with teach- 

 ing my own little ones to admire and love these gems, sown so 

 thickly about us by God's own loving hands. I rejoice the 

 more as I know that my dear ones are much better equipped 

 for life's journey, and are much better prepared to get more of 

 pleasure and profit from it. 



I urge all in our home circles to be interested in every- 

 thing about them, to study and observe, and I am free to say 

 that nothing offers so rare an opportunity as these myriads of 

 wonderful insect forms, of which our honey-bees stand at the 

 head. I question if we can bequeath a more blessed legacy 

 than to awaken In the minds of our children a love for and 

 interest in these gems of the landscape. No father or mother 

 is foolishly employed who spends generous hours in encour- 

 aging the little ones to just such observation and study. 



In a future article I will give some hints as to methods of 

 procedure. I will explain how valuable collections may be 

 made, and how such work begets a love of nature, order, and 

 beauty. 



THRIFT. 



Thrift, I take it, is earning more than we spend, and 

 never purchasing until we can pay. That is what my father 

 taught me. He urged it as a most important rule of life. 

 Does not our friend, Mr. Doolittle, recognize this as a certain 

 basis of happiness ? The thrifty — honestly thrifty — man holds 

 his head higher, walks more erect, feels more self-respecting, 

 is more a man. While thrift may not be, is not, the best gift 

 to covet, it is a worthy one. So of our nation. Shp for 

 the past few years is purchasing far less than she sells. That 

 is, her income is far in excess of her outlay. In other words, 

 her exports of bread-stuffs, manufactured articles, and raw 

 materials, are far in excess of her imports — of tea, coffee, 

 sugar, and such other articles as she needs. She is thrifty. 

 And Mr. Doolittle and I are both rejoiced. We are happier 

 than though she were buying more of value than she were 

 selling. 



I believe Mr. Doolittle is exporting in excess of his 

 imports. That is, his honey-sales, etc., are greater in amount 

 than his purchases of clothing, supplies, etc. Thus he, like 

 our goodly country, is thrifty. I rejoice that it is so. 



I hope this explains my logic. I regret that I did not 

 make my meaning plain to all before. I thought as I com- 

 menced reading Mr. Doolittle's criticism that he was going to 

 say : Why rejoice, for our thrift means unthrif t for our 

 neighbors across the water? I do regret that. The entire 

 world looks enviously at our commercial progress. They are 

 alarmed at our increased thrift. They watch our continued 

 and rapidly increasing prosperity with almost consternation. 

 That should make us no less energetic, or frugal. It should 

 make //lem hasten to study our methods, and to adopt our 

 practice. 



QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS. 



Mr. Doolittle's kindly paragraph causes me to urge others 

 to ask questions and make suggestions as to these "Home 

 Circle" papers. I wish to make them helpful to all the read- 

 ers of the " Old Reliable." One reader kindly urged me to 

 read Henry George's " Progress and Poverty." This friend 

 actually sent me the book. I am studying it carefully, and 

 when it is digested I shall bring it into "The Home Circle." 

 It has valuable suggestions. 



Will not all contribute ? Send me valuable recipes, hints 

 as to living and economies, gems cut from newspapers — any 

 and every thing that will help to make our homes more bright 

 and happy. Send to me thus : A. J. Cook, Claremont, Los 

 Angeles Co., California. 



Why Not Help a Little— both your neighbor bee-keep- 

 ers and the old American Bee Journal — by sending to us the 

 names and addresses of such as you may know do not now 

 get this journal ? We will be glad to send them sample 

 copies, so that they may become acquainted with the paper, 

 and subscribe for it, thus putting themselves in the line of 

 success with bees. Perhaps you can get them to subscribe, 

 send in their dollars, and secure for your trouble some of 

 the premiums we are constantly ofl'ering as rewards for 

 such effort. 



