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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 1. 



Surely g-oodiiess and mercy shall follow me all the 

 days of my life, and 1 will dwell in the house of the 

 Lord for ever.— Psalm 33 : ti. 



Thursday, July 18, 189'), was anti-saloon day 

 at Lakeside; and although Mr. Calvert was iii 

 Boston atit-nding the annual meeting of the 

 Y. P. S. C. E., and Ernest has been of late 

 somewhat under the weather, I made arrange- 

 ments for an absence of two days. At 8 o'clock 

 I was on my wheel, and made the first twenty 

 miles quite easily: but a wind that had been 

 blowing all the time right in my face kept get- 

 ting stronger and stronger, until it not only 

 made whirlwinds of dust, but crowded back 

 against me so hard that, by the time I reached 

 friend Boardman's, I was pretty tired. I had 

 promised Mrs. Root and the children to get on 

 the cars, or hire somebody to carry me when- 

 ever I felt much fatigued. So I swung around 

 into friend Board n^n's dooryard. He and his 

 helpers were out a'mong his bees; and as he 

 got sight of me he commenced : 



"O Mr. Root! you are just the man we want 

 to see. and you came at just exactly the time 

 we want to see you." 



" Look here, old friend, when you know what 

 I want of you, may be you will not be so glad 

 after all. I am tired out pushing my way 

 against this steady wind, and I want you to get 

 up those ponies and take me and my wheel to 

 the electric-car line in time to catch the boat 

 at Sandusky for Lakeside." 



He said, "All right," and his boy started 

 right out after the team. His good wife com- 

 plained because I could not stay to have even 

 an early supper: but while they were hitching 

 up I was invited to look at bis new outside bee- 

 escape where he had just taken off the surplus 

 honey from 80 colonies in the middle of the day, 

 with the thermometer tip to 94. and no disturb- 

 ance of any sort. The escapes are fixed on the 

 outside of the hive, so you have no machinery 

 or fussing in order to provide a place for them 

 in the usual way. And I want to tell you that 

 friend Boardman has got a good crop of extra- 

 nice honey, notwithstanding the frost and the 

 drouth, and the latter has been severe in his 

 locality I came pretty near running my wheel 

 on to that fierce-looking chicken-hawk stand- 

 ing in the dooryard: and I was wondering why 

 the thing did not show fight, or fly, until I re- 

 membered it was a stuffed hawk and not a live 

 one. A rockinff-chair in a shady porch made 

 me think of Florida: but I began pretty soon 

 twisting around in the direction of the pump. 

 Oh what beautiful water! And there were 

 harvest apples, mellow and juicy, that had just 

 fallen from the trees: and I ate apples, drank 

 water from the well, cupful after cupful, rested 

 in the rocking-chair, and talked. Had I not 

 worked my passage twenty miles against that 

 wind I should not have dared to eat so many 

 apples and drink so much water. But I knew 

 bv long experience that it would be all right. 

 When we reached the electric car I was politely 

 informed: 



" No, sir, you can't bring that wheel on to 

 this car, on any conditions whatever." 



Of course. I had to submit — ^at least, the car- 

 man thought I submitted. I called to friend 

 Boardman to take care of my wheel till my 

 return; and then the conductor remembered 

 that I could put my wheel on the freight-car 

 just back of us. If he had said so at the outset 

 it might have saved some needless arguing. 



The conductor and I chatted very pleasantly, 

 notwithstanding. The line from Norwalk to 

 Sandusky passes through a very pretty coimtry, 

 and it is indeed a treat to ride over it. As the 

 fare is only 30 cents, I suppose there is not 

 much margin to allow them to bother with 

 wheels. But let me offer these car-lines a sug- 

 gestion: In going to Sundusky, we passed a 

 double-decker. Just as many passengers can 

 be carried in the upper deck as below; and, in 

 fact, they all went up, or nearly all, from 

 choice. Now, have a place on top of the ordi- 

 nary cars to store wheels and other similar 

 luggage. Make the passenger carry up his 

 wheel, and bring it down again. Why. I could 

 climb a ladder with my 18 lb. Rambler, without 

 a hit of trouble. 



When we reached Sandusky they said that 

 the freight- car would not be in for a couple of 

 hours, and there I was without my wheel. I 

 could not wait, for there was to be a committee 

 meeting that evening: and as one of the ex- 

 ecutive board it was quite desirable to have my 

 presence. Our confab about the wheel and 

 some other things had thrown them back, and 

 the last steamer had gone for Lakeside. The 

 car conductor and the steamboat agent both 

 said there was no possible way for me to get to 

 Lakeside that night. I asked if there were not 

 some private boat that would take me over in 

 time for the board meeting. But they said it 

 would cost me twice as much as my lodging 

 over night, and I could not get there then be- 

 fore ten o'clock. But I have not traveled all 

 these years without learning something. Those 

 fellows did not know how manv times I had 

 been told it was an impossibiltiy to reach a 

 certain point by a given time, nor how many 

 times I got there, notwithstanding. It was 16 

 miles by rail; but I should have to walk over a 

 dangerous long bridge and carry my wheel; 

 and, come to think of ii. 1 liachVt any wheel. 

 I should have to wait two hours for it. In a 

 few minutes, bv dint of questioning and cross- 

 questioning, I found a steamer going to John- 

 son's Island. The men on the steamer told me 

 that at Johnson's Island I could get a sail-boat 

 over to Peninsula, and then I should have to 

 walk over two miles and a half — to ivalk. mind 

 you, because I hadn't my wheel. I had decided 

 to invest a two-dollar bill, if necessary, to make 

 my destination that night. What do you sup- 

 pose it cost? Just 15 cents on the steamer, and 

 2.T cents more for a special sail-boat, or 40 cents 

 in all. 



My arrangements for the trip were just com- 

 pleted when I remembered that I should have 

 no chance for supper, and I should sorely need 

 some other refreshment than the harvest apples 

 and pump water I had had at friend Board- 

 man's. There were plenty of refreshment- 

 stands, but they were all devoted to drinks and 

 tobacco. They said they used to keep sand- 

 wiches, but they "didn't pay." The boat was 

 to start in a few minutes. I ascertained there 

 were sandwiches kept at a certain saloon near 

 the boat-landing, down in a cellar or basement. 

 I must take my long walk when both tired and 

 hungry, or else go down to that saloon for sand- 

 wiches. I went down. It was so full of drunk- 

 en rowdies, many of them young men and boys, 

 that I could hardly get through, much less get 

 the attention of a waiter. I thought I would 

 rather go hungry, and beat a retreat. The 

 boat was not quite ready to start, and I felt as 

 though I must have a sandwich. I noticed a 

 sisn reading. "Ladies' Entrance." Surely I 

 can find somebody down this way who will 

 wait on me. A girl in the dining-room said the 

 only place to get sandwiches was at the back 

 end of the saloon. I told her the rest were so 

 busy that I wished she would wait on me. She 



