1910 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



569 



went to bed; and when it was light enough 

 to see to go out and feed the chickens, they 

 both got up. Instead of reading several 

 hours by lamplight, and then getting up 

 after the sun was up high in the sky, they 

 just used daylight instead of lamplight. 

 Now for the greater part of my life I have 

 been reading piles of books and papers by 

 lamplight. Of course, it has occurred to me 

 many times, that, if one can get into the 

 habit of getting up as soon as daylight ap- 

 pears, especially in the summer time, he 

 could do his reading by God's sunlight in- 

 stead of man-made illumination. When 

 you come to think of it. what a ridiculous 

 idea it is to have all of this machinery for 

 artificial light when there is no need of it ! 

 Now, then, even at the present time, dur- 

 ing the middle of August we can see nicely 

 by daylight at four in the morning. In 

 cloudy weather it might be a little later. 

 But we do not have many clouds in August. 



Well, one reason why I could not pull off 

 my starched shirt, and collar and necktie, 

 before retiring, was because I read my books 

 and papers until I was "clean used up," 

 just ready to drop on my pillow, as it were. 

 By the way, my good friend, especially if 

 you are approaching or have gone beyond 

 threescore and ten, let me suggest that it is 

 poor policy for you to get "clean used up," 

 especially with brain work. If you are per- 

 forming physical exercise, I do not think it 

 matters so much. The way I am doing 

 now when it becomes too dark to read is to 

 take my cold-water bath. After that, I put 

 on my nightdress and sit around and visit, 

 but liot undertaking to read or do any 

 thing that requires mental labor. About 

 eight o'clock I drop to sleep easily ; and by 

 four o'clock in the morning I am fullv 

 refreshed, and ready to do much more prof- 

 itable work than the night before in the 

 way of reviewing books and papers. 



Lately I have had a revelation. During 

 my past life, when I awoke at night I could 

 not get to sleep again; but with my sponge 

 bath, massage, and no suppers, if I some- 

 times lie awake half an hour or more I just 

 lie still and feel happy because I am so well. 



Father Kneippe, over in Germany, has a 

 celebrated water cure ; and among other 

 things he has a fashion of having his pa- 

 tients go out and walk in the wet grass. 

 Well, I have spoiled more shoes by walking 

 in wet grass than in almost any other way. 

 Mrs. Root has often told me that if I would 

 put on rubbers before going out to feed the 

 chickens, etc., my shoes would last very 

 much longer ; but I can not stand rubbers, 

 as they make my feet sore. Well, this is 

 what I do now. I jump out of bed when it 

 is daylight, and run downstairs in my 

 nightgown. Then I can go out in the wet 

 grass or anywhere I choose, bareheaded and 

 barefooted. You need not be afraid of 

 shocking the neighbors, for you will not be 

 likely to see anybody out much before six 

 o'clock in any neighborhood — at least that 

 is my experience. And, oh what fun it is 

 to feed the chickens, see the posies, pull the 



weeds, and tie up the \'ines, prune the 

 young trees, etc., with nothing but a night- 

 dress on ! You do not need any sort of cov- 

 ering for your head until the sun makes it 

 hot; and, by the way, we have been recently 

 told by able teachers that the reason why 

 so many men are bald is because they do 

 not go bareheaded as the women do. 



Now just look here : For years and years 

 I have worn a flannel pad across my chest 

 all summer long. Every time I took it off I 

 had a sore throat, etc. Yes, when I started 

 for Florida on the 18th of .July, early in the 

 morning, I had on my fur cap and overcoat. 

 Of course, I took them ofT when the sun 

 was up ; but I did not have any use for 

 them at all while in Florida. By the way, 

 in order to get the full benefit of a cold- 

 water bath you ought to have some exercise 

 that will get you into a free perspiration 

 every day of your life — say walking two 

 miles ; and if you can take your bath right 

 during the perspiration, I think it is very 

 much better. The machinery inside seems 

 to catch on to what the water is doing out- 

 side, and you get a more thorough cleans- 

 ing. Let me digress a little once more. 



I told you about that little pump in the 

 middle of our lawn down in our Florida 

 home. It cost only six or seven dollars all 

 complete, and the water is almost as soft as 

 rainwater. Well, in order to water our 

 seven yards of chickens I bought some 

 second-hand iron pipe at two cents a foot 

 and arranged some little wooden troughs so 

 that each trough ran through three yards. 

 There are three troughs in all. Under the 

 spout of the pump in the dooryard is a 

 large-sized oil-barrel with about a foot of 

 the top sawed off. The iron pipes that 

 water the poultry run into this barrel, and 

 the pipe over the three troughs is adjusted 

 so the water will drop about thirty times a 

 minute. This does not take a very large 

 amount of water in the course of 21 hours. 

 It might drop slower, but in that case it 

 would be apt to clog up. There is no objec- 

 tion to dropping faster except the waste of 

 water. Well, we recently put up a cypress 

 tank or cistern to catch water from the 

 house. In the summer time, when it rains 

 every day, this cistern is running over a 

 great part of the time. Now, to save the 

 labor of pumping daily, we recently con- 

 nected this cistern with the water-pipes. 

 As the cistern is very much higher than 

 the pump on the lawn, unless the outlet to 

 the barrel were closed the water would all 

 run out of the cistern. Well, this barrel I 

 have described is just large enough for me 

 to sit down in so the water just comes up 

 under my chin; so when I prefer a bath by 

 immersion I just go out after dark, throw 

 my nightgown over my head, and have a 

 massage under water as well as out in the 

 open air. 



Do you say you can not stand a cold- 

 water bath? Well, after that tub of water 

 has stood out in the sun all day it is a little 

 warmer, if any thing, than I care for. In 

 fact, when I feel as if I should like the 



