1895 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



109 



reflection is almost equal to the reality.* Tak-j 

 ing it all in all, I am sure you would give your| 

 verdict in your most emphatic way, that Dixie! 

 Land is "./itsf; slick." Constance says the lux-1 

 uriant tropical foliage is beautiful with all the 

 shades of the rainbow; bat you see I am a trifle 

 color-blind, and don't see much except the 

 brilliant shades of green. It is not only the 

 vegetation that is radiant with brilliant colors; 

 but even the (/rouiif? Wse// here in Dixie Land 

 shines out with many tints, running all the 

 way from white and gray and yellow sand to 

 the brighest orange and vermilion. You see. it 

 is this funny, sandy soil. In some places the 

 roads look as if they were sprinkled with salt. 

 It Is only the patches of white sand sprinkled 

 in with the rest. Wherever we see this white 

 sand, especially where it is trodden down hard 

 by the bare feet of the little colored boys and 

 girls, I tell you the wheeling would be "just 

 !-lick " too if I could get out to try it. And, by 

 the way, these little colored people, with their 

 white, frocks contrasting with their shining 

 black faces, furnish another bright element in 

 the picture. There are free schools for these 

 little colored people, and I rather think that is 

 one reason why their faces look so bright and 

 happy. It is summer time down here, even if 

 it is the middle of January, and these children 

 are not only barefooted, but, for the most part, 

 barelegged. As we go past on the cars every- 

 body is either standing in the door or outside 

 the door. 



While passing through Kentucky a sick man 

 •came on board the train with his "family. His 

 wife informed me that he was a broken down 

 •clergyman, suffering from nervous prostration, 

 ■on his way to Florida. I did not talk with him 

 until we were near Jacksonville, as I feared it 

 might aggravate his trouble to see strangers. 

 An accident, however, opened the way; and 

 when I introduced myself he replied something 

 as follows: 



"My dear sir. I am delighted to make your 

 ^acquaintance; for. to tell the truth, I have got- 

 ten acquainted with you already from overhear- 

 ing you dictate to the young lady. I could not 

 well help listening; and the more I listened, the 

 better I felt satisfied that it was intended for 

 the great public ear. I heard you tell about 

 the smell in the waiting-room that was some- 

 thing worse than coal-gas, and I was very much 

 interested in the Sunday-school thermometer." 



We exchanged experiences, and I believe I 

 gave him faith and hope, besides some ideas of 

 my own in regard to '"doctoring without medi- 

 cine." His wife's aunt accompanied them, and 

 I was greatly interested in her because she was 

 born blind. After hearing something of her 

 from Constance I introduced myself, and she 

 invited me to sit down by her side. She can 

 not tell the difl'erence between the broadest 

 daylight and the darkest midnight; has no per- 

 ception at all of shade and shadow. Of course, 

 she can feel the heat of the sun. and is un- 

 usually sensitive to all those influences. She 

 has no idea of color or brightness excepting 

 what is told her. Said I, " My good friend, if 

 you succeed in being happy and thankful while 

 you are for ever shut out from sight and light, 

 how ill it becomes us to complain of our lot. es- 

 pecially when this great affliction is no fault, 

 in any sense, of your own. Some in your con- 

 dition might complain, and with quite a show 

 of reason, that the great Father above is un- 

 fair. You remember, of course, the disciples 

 asking the Savior. ' Whose fault is it, this man's 

 or his parents', that he was born blind?'" 



♦Cousin Louise has told me since that it is ttie 

 roots of tlie palmetto tliat dye the clear waterblaclt, 

 or dark colored, so that it reflects tlie landscape al- 

 most like a polished steel mirror. 



I She caught hold of the idea quickly, and re- 



Jplied, " Oh, yes! and I have often thought of 



! his answer, that ' it was through no fault of the 



man or his parents, but that the will of God 



might be made manifest.'" 



Then I suggested that the great lesson to her 

 was to have faith to believe that God had some 

 plan or purpose, even in her case, to manifest 

 to the children of men his wondrous provi- 

 dences. I shall always remember how that ex- 

 pressive face, even despite the sightless eyes, 

 brightened up as it seemed to look up and 

 grasp for faith. As I dictate, the words come 

 into my mind: 



My faith looks up to thee, 



Tlioii liUml) of Calvary, Savior divine. 



I suggested that her darkness was not to be 

 compared with that of those who, "having 

 eyes, see not; and having ears, hear not," and 

 she at once replied that she by far preferred 

 her lot in life to the darkness of sin and a guil- 

 ty conscience, and without the light of the gos- 

 pel. 



She had heard of Helen Keller, and I promis- 

 ed to send her the book telling all about Helen's 

 wonderful experience. She said her niece's 

 children were quite ready and willing to read 

 to her. If any of you wish to address her, send 

 in care of G. W. Yancey. Ocoee, Orange Co., 

 Fla. Perhaps I may mention that her mother 

 was exposed to the measles, and took it 

 shortly before her birth, and thus a human life 

 of darkness. 



As I sit out on the veranda which opens out 

 from my pretty little bedroom in Jacksonville, 

 Fla., the bees are humming in the soft-maple 

 blossoms that spread out almost within my . 

 reach. I sat here in my shirtsleeves, and pen- 

 ciled a card to my old mother before 10 o'clock 

 in the morning. When I left Medina a good 

 many urged me to leave my wheel at home, as I 

 could never make a bit of use of it in Florida. 

 Even Ernest (and I am surprised at him) sug- 

 gested that it would be more ti'ouble than it 

 would be worth, from all the reports he could 

 gather. But as soon as my wheel was uncrated 

 I took it to carry my postal to the letter-box, 

 and found out by somebody that there was a 

 brick pavement a little way oflf. I reached 

 there by means of the sidewalks. Then Iran 

 up past the waterworks, where three artesian 

 wells were pouring forth beautiful water, look- 

 insr much like those wells I described on my 

 Mis>:ouri trip. 



About this time T struck a shell road, and, un- 

 der the inspiration of this beautiful track, the 

 exhilaration of the springlike air, and encour- 

 aged by the chirping of the tree-toads, I de- 

 clared to myself that I would follow that shell 

 road wherever it wended, even if it took me 

 twenty miles or more. Why, I never saw a 

 finer wheel-track in my life. The graveled 

 pikes in Western Ohio are in no respect better — 

 hardly equal — because they are not on such a 

 dead level. One can ride miles without touch- 

 ing the handle-bar at all. 



After a. trip of about five miles, curving 

 around through beautiful piny woods, palmet- 

 toes, magnolias, and various glossy-colored un- 

 derbrush, I came to the Jacksonville cemetery. 

 As it was near the dinner-hour, after a hasty 

 trip through the grounds I sped me home again, 

 and made the trip of five miles in just 17J^ 

 minutes, besides getting lost; and I might have 

 been considerably longer had not Constance 

 called to me from the aforesaid balcony above, 

 asking me why I was spinning right past the 

 house where I lived. Now, others may say 

 what they please; but I for one think it pays to 

 take a wheel along on a Florida tri[). just for 

 the beautiful rides around Jacksonville, even if 

 there shouldn't be any thing like it in any of 



