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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 1. 



Our Homes. 



And the Lord God said. It is not good that the 

 man should be alone. I will make him a helpmeet 

 for him.— Gen. 2:18. 



A month or two ago, when there was much 

 discussion in our household in regard to meat 

 diet, etc., among the different members of our 

 family, Mrs. Root made a remark something 

 like this: 



" Look here, all of you. I eat what I choose 

 —take no medicine at all, no dieting, yet I am 

 the healthiest and strongest one in the whole 

 family." 



Now, this was partly true, yet it needs a little 

 modification. Mrs. Root has for years worked 

 more hours a day, probably, than any one of us. 

 She goes outdoors bareheaded and barehanded, 

 in almost all sorts of weather. She keeps warm 

 and comfortable when everybody else is chilly; 

 and we have attributed it a good deal to the 

 fresh, vigorous strain of blood that she brought 

 with her from "Merrie England," years ago, 

 when she was only seven or eight years old. 

 Some little time before the holidays, however, 

 she complained of being very tired. We urged 

 her to take a rest, and proposed to her to take 

 our meals in the dining-room over at the fac- 

 tory, so as to relieve her from the monotony of 

 grinding and cooking the lean un'iit three times 

 a day, which she had been doing for four or 

 five months before that. There was plenty of 

 willing help all around her, it is true; but others 

 were not so careful to cutout every little bit of 

 fat and gristle; and when she got all ready to do 

 the grinding, it was cheaper to do it herself, 

 many times, than to hunt up some one else, 

 especially when they were oft' at school or over 

 at the factory at work. Thus it passed on. 

 She has never been sick in her life— at least, 

 not enough to call it sickness; notwithstanding, 

 she has for many years been subject to sudden 

 and acute attacks of pleurisy. She has always, 

 however, so persistently objected to calling in 

 a doctor, or even taking medicine, that she has 

 so far recovered of her own accord, without any 

 assistance. 



About a week before Christmas she was taken 

 with one of these usual attacks of pleurisy. 

 She thought she had caught cold, but it did not 

 act exactly like a cold either. She had slight 

 chills and some fever; but when we talked 

 about a doctor she declared she always had 

 such chills and fevers with her attacks of 

 pleurisy, but that, if she was careful about tak- 

 ing more cold, they always went away of them- 

 selves sooner or later. Her statement, that she 

 ate what she pleased, is true. It is also true 

 that, after cooking so much meat month after 

 month for the rest of us who were dieting, she 

 seemed to get a dislike for meat herself, and 

 ate very little of it. Ernest and I had been 

 •urging her for some time to have Dr. Lewis, of 

 Cleveland, make an examination, especially on 

 account of the tired feeling she had complained 

 of, and the difficulty of breathing when she lay 

 on a particular side at night. Perhaps I might 

 say right here that one great trouble of her life 

 has been that she has not been able to sleep 

 nights as I do; and she rarely if ever makes up 

 for it by sleeping daytimes. During this at- 

 tack of pleurisy, the difficulty of taking a good 

 . long breath had kept her awake much nights, 

 and she was suffering from want of sleep. 

 Finally the whole family protested, and said 

 that she must have a doctor. 



On one Monday morning, she had slept but 

 little; but she so strongly insisted on getting 

 up and starting the fire, etc., for washing, be- 

 fore the others got around, that she was per- 



mitted to do so. She had slept so little that, 

 she longed for the morning to come. When I 

 got back to breakfast, however, she was lying 

 on the lounge, and I declared at once I was 

 going for a doctor. She urged, however, that I 

 should simply state the case to him, and tell 

 him not to come down until further orders. He 

 indorsed the treatment I had advised — quinine 

 internally, and painkiller externally where 

 she felt the pleurisy most, and thought she 

 would get along. As she did not get any better 

 we decided the doctor would have to be called. 

 Then she declared she could not take the med- 

 icine the doctor would surely prescribe. It had 

 been a great task for her to take even quinine 

 put up in capsules. Some one suggested that 

 we should call a certain homeopathic doctor (a 

 distant relative by marriage), for she could 

 stand his " little pills " or comparatively harm- 

 less doses. As soon as he came he said some- 

 thing like this: 



" Mr. Root, why did you not send for me a 

 iveek ago, or, better still, ten days or two weeks 

 ago? This woman has 'malarial fever,' and 

 has been having it for a week or so past. She 

 must remove her clothing, and go to bed at 

 once, and not get up again without my orders. 

 We will do what we can, but she is a very sick 

 woman." 



He afterward told me that we should have to 

 procure the very best nurse that could be found, 

 and take every precaution, for a siege was 

 before us. Perhaps a knowledge of the real 

 state of affairs had something to do with it, for 

 she seemed to give way and break down, as it 

 were, all at once. Her determined resolution, 

 that she was going to get well without any doc- 

 tor, had probably kept her up. Every thing was 

 done that could be done; but the doctor's predic- 

 tions proved correct. The pleurisy was really a 

 secondary affair, or a side issue, in the matter. 

 The doctor said that I was quite excusable for 

 being misled by it; but the minute he told me, 

 then I recognized the well known symptoms of 

 my own case, a little over four years ago. One 

 of the worst difficulties in the way of her recov- 

 ery met us almost at the outset. She has al- 

 ways had trouble, as I have mentioned, about 

 getting sufficient sleep when comparatively 

 well. The trouble now wa-* aggravated. Our 

 readers of a few years ago will remember what 

 I said about bromide of potassium. I suggested 

 it; bat the doctor said he would have to exer- 

 cise great care in the use of all such remedies, 

 with the dangerous symptoms that were con- 

 fronting us. There was a tendency toward 

 typhoid fever a little further along; and the 

 pleurisy had already affected one of her lungs 

 so that pneumonia might set in at any moment. 

 Malarial fever and typhoid pneumonia was not 

 a pleasant combination to contemplate. The 

 wished-for sleep did not come — at least, it did 

 not come very much with the bromide. Be- 

 sides, the drug did not work as nicely with her 

 as with myself and many others. Other rem- 

 edies for inducing sleep were tried, and finally 

 chloral; but none of them were sufficient to 

 cope with the terrible nervousness and delir- 

 ium that were setting in. All her thoughts 

 seemed to be running continually on having 

 plenty of moat in readiness for her loved ones. 

 Her imagination was filled with broilers, meat- 

 grinders, pans, and kettles, and the various 

 paraphernalia of the last work she had been 

 doing. Just one illustration: 



At about this time the women-folks at the 

 factory sent to a florist for a beautiful bouquet 

 of flowers, which was sent into the sick-room 

 as a reminder of their sympathy and regard. 

 When the flowers were shown to her, and she 

 was told where they catne from, they brought 



