780 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 15. 



reminiscences, whicli Lad to be cut off owing to 

 that distressing head trouble that has afflicted 

 him for years; and only a few days before, a 

 letter had come from Mr. L. stating that he 

 was just about to begin on them. It was with 

 much surprise aijd sorrow that we learned, on 

 the 7lh, that father Langstroth had died sud- 

 denly in the Wayne Ave. Presbyterian Church, 

 about 11 o'clock on the lith, while assisting the 

 pastor. Rev. Amos O. Raber. The newspapers 

 next morning contained quite extended ac- 

 counts, and clippings from a couple of them 

 were forwaided on to us at once; but knowing 

 such accounts were not always quite leliable I 

 wrote to Mrs. Cowan (Mr. Langstioth's daugh- 

 ter), saying that I hoped her heart would not be 

 too full to give us further particulars. Below 

 is her reply, giving the touching details of her 

 father's death: 



Mr. E. R. Riiot— Dear friend :— I can hardly tell you 

 whether my heart is fuller to-day of .sorrow for the 

 loss of my dear father or of joy as I thiiit of his 

 blessed entrance into the land where " there shall 

 be no more dt-ath, neither sorrow nor crying, neii her 

 shall lliere be any more pain, for the former things 

 are passed awiiy." 



I can give you only a brief account of my father's 

 last days. When asked, ilie Sabbath previous to liis 

 release, by our pastor whether lie felt able to make 

 the address at our communion service, he replied, 

 "I shall be most happy to do so," adding, in re- 

 ponse to the assurance that, if he did not feel able 

 for it when the time came, he could be relieved, 

 "Oh! I shall be able -it will be a jou to me, Mr. 

 Raber. I am so glad you asked me!" He had been 

 very bright and happy ever since his return from 

 Toronto; but last week lie took a heavy cold, and 

 was much oppressed witli it; and during the last 

 few days he lost strength so rapidly, and seemed so 

 feeble, that I wished him to noiify our pastor not to 

 depend upon his assisiance on Sabbath. He was, 

 however, confident that he Could carry out his part 

 in the services, and was so anxious to do so that I 

 could not insist. 



On Sabbath morning he was unusually bright, and 

 overflowing with happiness and gratitude to the 

 Lord for his blessings. My eldest son, with his 

 wife and baby, had been spending a week with us, 

 and he was much pleased with, and proud of, his 

 little great-granddaughter. He asked her mother 

 that morning to wlieel her little carriage into his 

 warm room, and I shall not soon forget how happy 

 he looked as he sat beside it, talking to and ca- 

 ressing the httle one. They were at the church. 



After dressing, father seemed much fatigued, 

 and I again asked him whether he thought it were 

 best for him to try to preach. He replied, " Oh, 

 yes! I will say a few words, and tlien 1 will come 

 home and rest, rest, rest." He is most certainly " at 

 rest with the Lord." 



Before preaching. Rev. AmosO. Raber moved tlie 

 pulpit to one side ;ind placed a chair on the front of 

 the platform. Father began to address the audience, 

 sitting, with some explanatoiy remarks as to his 

 weakness. After a few introductory sentences re- 

 questing the prayers t)f the congregation for him- 

 self and the service, he said: "I am a firm believer 

 in prayer. It is of the love of God that I wish to 

 speak to you this morning— what it has been, what 



it is, what it means to us, and what we ought " 



As he finished the last word he hesitated; his form 

 straiglitened out convulsively; his liead fell back- 

 ward, and in about three minutes he was "absent 

 from the body, at home with the Lord." 



There was no scene of confusion in the church. 

 Tears were running down every cheek, but there 

 were no screams, no loud sobbing. As one person 

 remarked, " Heaven never seemed so near before; 

 it seemed but a step." 



" Then, with no tiery throbbing pain. 

 No slow gradations of decay, 

 Deatli broke at once the vital chain 

 And freed his soul the nearest way." 

 Sincerely vours. 



Dayton, O., Oct. 8. Anna L. Cowan. 



A. I. root's personal* recollections of the 



REV. L. L. langstroth. 



In the Introduction to our ABC book you 

 ■wiU find some mention of the incidents of my 

 first acquaintance with the honey-bee. During 

 the whole of my busy life, perhaps no other 

 hobby has been pursued with the zeal and keen 

 enjoyment that my acquaintance with the hon- 

 ey-bees has. It seemed for a time as if a new 

 world were opening before, me. After I had 

 questioned again and again everybody who 

 kept bees, or knew any thing about them in our 

 neighborhood, I began impatiently ransacking 

 books and periodicals. The more I found, the 

 more I thirsted for deeper knowledge. I took a 

 trip to Cleveland, principally to overhaul the 

 bookstores -for works on bees; but I did not 

 dare to tell even the members of my own fam- 

 ily that I was taking such a trip by stage-coach 

 (for it was away back in thedays of stage-coach- 

 es, before our railway was built), just to satisfy 

 my thirst and curiosity in this direction. I re- 

 member well how the book-keeper pulled down 

 his volumes one after another, rapped the dust 

 off, and began extolling their special merits. It 

 did not take me many minutes to decide that 

 Langstroth's book was the book. I was obliged 

 to stay over night at the hotel, for the stage 

 made only one trip daily. I read and read, 

 away into the night; and it was during that 

 night I commenced my acquaintance with the 

 Rev. L. L. Langstroth. He told me just what 

 I wanted to know. My craze was not (certain- 

 ly not at that time) to make money, but rather 

 to know more about God's wonderful gifts— 

 these strange and curiously wonderful gifts 

 which he has provided for the children of men. 

 I did not look at it then just as I do now; that 

 is, I am sorry that, In those earlier days, I did 

 not recognize the Almighty as a loving father. 

 But Langstroth's book helped me a great deal, 

 right in the line where I sorely needed help. 

 His wonderfully genial, friendly, and sociable 

 way of telling things enlisted my sympathies 

 at once. 



I told you I was not studying then for the 

 money there was in it. Langstroth never wrote 

 about bees or did any thing else because of the 

 money there was in it. Through all his busy 

 life, he, at least at times, seemed strangely 

 oblivious of Ihe financial part. More of this 

 anon. 



After I arrived home it did not take me long 

 to find out whether Langstroth was still living. 

 I made the acquaintance, by letter, of Samuel 

 Wagner; got hold of Vol. I. of the American 

 Bee Journal. By the way, I wonder whether 

 there is anybody living now who will enjoy 

 reading the first edition of Langstroth and the 

 first volume of the American Bee Journal as I 

 enjoyed it then. Why, the very thought of 



* We hope to have personal recollections and his- 

 torical incidents from a number of other writers, on 

 Langstroth, in o>ir issue for Dec. 1st or 15th. An- 

 nouncements will be made later.— Ed. 



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