1895 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



803 



hour ihis tender farewell trembled wierdly 

 upon the uight air. The agony of farewell was 

 enoiifzh to sever two loving souls a thousand 

 miles apart and for years; but Jose lived only 

 three miles down the canyon, and expected to 

 see his boon companion the next morning. The 

 agony of parting ended at last, and Jose rattled 

 off dow^n the canyon with his horse and cart, 

 and we were left again in quietness. In the 

 morning our poet host was not so lively, and 

 perhaps he was a little sham(! faced befoie us. 

 We learned from him that he was a voluntary 

 exile from his wife and children, and had nut 

 seen tbi'tn for three years, and they lived in a 

 moderate city less than a hundred miles from 

 his lonely retreat. His abilities were such that 

 he had held county trusts, and liis poetical 

 gems had assumed book form winch had met 

 with favorable sales. His family were bright 

 and well educated, and ni<;)ved in good society; 

 "and." said he in a tone of sadness, "you saw 

 last night why 1 live this lonely life. ' His 

 convivial habits when at home wt-re citntinual- 

 ly bringing disgrace upon his family. I relate 

 the incident as the best kind of a temperance 

 lecture; and we are again admonished by it to 

 "laste not, touch not, handle not."' Our poet 

 could handle bees, and had tried bee keeping; 

 but his habits and the business did not agrue. 

 The bees, it seems, had a certain love for him; 

 for in the morning he showed us some of tiie 

 oak-trees that were around his cabin, the hol- 

 lows of which were occupied by bees. Seven 

 trees bore burdens of sweetness, and he said 

 there were several more in the canyon, but no 

 near bee-keepers. 



Our farewell was not so tedious or musical as 

 the one of the previous evening. After our 

 brief parting compliments we continued up the 

 canyon and were soon upon the summit of the 

 Tehachapai range of mountains, about 4000 

 feet above sea-level. 



Uur route was now down grade, and our 

 ponies made good time into Antelope Valley, so 

 named from the immense herds of antelope 

 that only a few years ago roamed the plains. 

 Now the bands are few and scattering. 



At Neenach we found one store, a school- 

 house, and one residence. They had something 

 of a trade from the surrounding country. We 

 had an excellent opportunity to observe, for 

 we sat around the stove all day. A rain had 

 taken possession of the country, and we were 

 thus delayed. We diligently inquired of the 

 ranchers and hunters in relation to the honey 

 resources of the valley, and found varying opin- 

 ions in relation thereto. The valley is very 

 broad, and the bee- men seemed to be located in 

 the distant foot-hills, where some of our in- 

 formants said large yields of honey were pro- 

 duced. 



The next morning, though the skies were 

 threatening, we pushed on again toward Elisa- 



beth Lake. We passed through a new experi- 

 ence on the way. The shepherds were tending 

 their flocks upon the hillsides, and they were 

 in trouble. As we traveled up a long grade 

 we saw here and there the carcass of a dead 

 sheep; and as we neared the main herd the 

 dead sheep became more plentiful. The cold 

 storm saturated their woolly coat, and the 

 weaker ones soon became chilled, and dropped 

 by the way. As soon as a sheep would drop, its 

 throat was cut and its hide stripped off and 

 packed upon a burro. Several burros were 

 thus laden. The sheep-men said they had a 

 flock of 4U00 sheep, and would think themselves 

 lucky if they could get out of the hills with 

 3000. So sheep-men have their losses as well as 

 the bee-men. 



When we came through the narrow pass 

 above Elisabeth Lake we were met by a tierce 

 wind and rain. It seemed as though the ele- 

 ments Were opposed to our further progress. 

 We were soon drenched to the skin. The little 

 lake was lashed by the fury of the storm, and 

 we were greatly pleased to find shelter from 

 the storm at the stage station. We here found 

 again a generous Missourian, who had lived 

 upon the shores of the lake for many years. 

 He had joined himself to the country in a truly 

 heroic spirit, and had not only grown up with 

 it but had added largely to its population by 

 marrying a Spanish woman; and the result 

 was a houseful of mongrels. The rain had 

 diiven them all into the house, with a few of 

 the neighbors thrown in, and it was a motley 

 crowd that gathered around the ample fire- 

 place and its generous heat. Bro. Wilder and 

 I were so thoroughly wet we were given a 

 warm corner where we proceeded to dry out our 

 garmeuts. It was of interest to note that two 

 lull-grown sehoritas flashed glances from their 

 dark eyes toward my partner. I was pleased 

 to observe that he was not especially taken 

 with the style of half-breed beauty. 



After getting used to the situation I noticed 

 two young American ladies in a far corner 

 They were very quiet, and did not seem to 

 mingle much with the rest of the occupants of 

 the room. I noticed some of those tell-tale 

 lines running from the corners of the eyes, and 

 others running down somewhat slanting from 

 the corners of the mouth. The hair was train- 

 ed down to a smooth habit; the dresses were 

 plain striped calico, about eight-cent goods, 

 and possessed a little narrow white collar, 

 starched. In the lap was a checkered gingham 

 apron with white pockets on the right and left, 

 duly puckered. The tendency of the arms was 

 toward an akimbo habit, and there was a 

 severe cast to the countenance, a frigid dignity 

 to the general figure. I could almost see hick- 

 ory rods in their hands, and with some solici- 

 tude 1 edged my chair up to the side of our 

 host, and, pointing my thumb over toward the 



