1896 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



761 



ever get so I could use it very much. Well. I 

 have had half a dozen experiences since he told 

 me that, with about the same result as above. 

 He said if I used milk at all I would have to go 

 out to the stable or into the pasture where the 

 cows were being milked, and drink it just as 

 soon as drawn from the cow. He did not say 

 any tiling about microbes and fermentation; 

 but, dear friends, I am afraid it is a fact that 

 fermentation commences in a very few hours — 

 sometimes inside of an hour — with many things 

 of this kind. During hot weather a change can 

 be detected in sweet cider within an hour after 

 it has been left exposed to the open air. I have 

 not tried milk right from the cow of late, but I 

 know of other people who have. They can 

 take it so when it can be taken in no other way. 

 You see, this is like going to the apple-tree and 

 taking a perfectly ripe apple right off from the 

 limbs. An apple that is very carefully picked 

 and laid away without bruising may be as 

 wholesome weeks or months afterward; but I 

 doubt it. I think I can eat apples picked right 

 from the trees with more safety than one that 

 has been gathered several days, I have satis- 

 fied myself that an apple that has been lying 

 on the ground for some time is not as whole- 

 some for me, especially if it be bruised or has 

 commenced to decay. 



I suppose you know, of course, how much has 

 been said in regard to sterilized milk and steril- 

 ized honey and other articles of food. And this 

 brings us to the matter of making things more 

 wholesome by cooking. When jelly or pre- 

 serves begin to spoil, the good housewife scalds 

 them, and then they are good for quite a long 

 time, especially if the weather is cold. By the 

 agency of heat we may destroy the germs of 

 fermentation, and make food wholesome. 

 Chicago is just now suffering from a terrible 

 epidemic of typhoid fever. By some means the 

 sewage from the city has got into the lake, so 

 as to contaminate the water; and physicians 

 are urging people to boil all their drinking- 

 water. The reason that the fever still rages is 

 because people absolutely refuse to obey the 

 physicians. This thing has been enacted again 

 and again in our great cities. It seems to be 

 impossible to get everybody to obey when the 

 matter is explained to them, or else they forget 

 about it. and then they "go dead " as a conse- 

 quence of their stupidity or forgetfulness. 



You know how much has been said about 

 drinking hot water; and, by the way, one of 

 the best remedies for the green cabbage-worm 

 is to scald them with water hot enough to kill 

 the worms but not hot enough to injure the 

 plants. The plants will stand a great many 

 degrees higher temperature than the soft 

 worms. Now, when your stomach gets into a 

 state of fermentation you can kill the microbes 

 — that is, if you choose to call them microbes — 

 by the use oif hot water. You may say that wa- 

 ter hot enough to neutralize fermentation would 

 scald the stomach. Not so. With a little prac- 

 tice you can learn to drink water safely that 

 would scald your hands or even your lips if you 

 let it touch them. Sip it slowly just as hot as 

 you can bear it. Keep doing this until you 

 have taken a pint, more or less, or until the 

 contents of the stomach are so hot that the 

 beer-brewery down there has quit business. I 

 once asked Dr. Salisbury if beer was not a good 

 thing as a tonic <'or some people in poor health. 

 He replied something like this: "Why, Mr. 

 Root, when one has a beer-brewery on a small 

 scale already in his stomach and intestines, 

 how are we going to help the matter by pouring 

 down more beer? The alcohol that is contain- 

 ed in the be^r is by no means the only harmful 

 part of it. Where one has sour stomach, and 



his food is rotting in the intestines, instead of 

 nourishing the body, the very worst thing in 

 the world he can take into such a digestive 

 apparatus is beer. In fact, beer often starts 

 this form of dyspepsia." In place of the beer, 

 take hot water, as I have described, at the 

 proper time between your meals, and you wash 

 and scald out the whole apparatus as a skillful 

 housewife vs^ould scald out utensils that had 

 contained milk. I suppose you know there 

 have been terrible troubles in the milk business 

 just because certain venders negleet to scald 

 properly and cleanse their milk-cans. And, by 

 the way, this hot water that has been such a 

 benefit to my health has now become the most 

 delicious drink to me of any to be found in the 

 world. I like it better than any tea or coffee or 

 any similar concoction; better than cider, wine, 

 beer, or ale; and I have during my lifetime— at 

 least years ago— known about as well as most 

 of you what it is to have a craving for beer. 

 Thank God, I now prefer pure hot water; or 

 when I feel that I need something in the way of 

 acids, fruits, and the like, I like a nice ripe ap- 

 ple, right off from the tree, as well as any other 

 fruit in the world. My friends, if your diges- 

 tion is poor, be careful to eat fresh fruits right 

 from the trees or bushes. Do not take any 

 chances on any thing that has the least bit of a 

 start in the way of fermentation. Go out into 

 the orchard and help yourself when you are 

 very hungry for fruit. 



But above all things make use of ail of these 

 precious gifts in ?)iO(/eration. The greatest en- 

 joyment that can be secured from any of these 

 wonderful blessings from a kind and loving Fa- 

 ther is found in using them in nioderation. Be- 

 cause a thing is good, and because the animal 

 part of your organization calls for more, act the 

 part of a wise man and stop on the safe side. 

 The Bible is full of the most precious promises; 

 but none of them are for the glutton or the self- 

 ish man. It is right and proper for us to enjoy 

 these things; but it is a terrible thing to let ap- 

 petite and our fleshly cravings run away from 

 good sense. A locomotive needs a wise and 

 skillful engineer. Without him it is good for 

 nothing except as an instrument of destruction. 

 So with the human make-up. We are created 

 in God's own image, if we let sense and reason 

 and moderation reign ; but when we fail, and 

 let self reign, then we are not in God's image at 

 all. On the contrary, we are an image of the 

 Devil himself; and his entire work is all along 

 in the line of selfishness and selfish gratifica- 

 tion. Why, just think of it. When Satan gets 

 hold of a man this man will sometimes volun- 

 tarily barter home, reputation, and every thing 

 he has in this world, for the privilege of grati- 

 fying a low passion for just one single minute. 

 It seems astounding, and it seems as if it could 

 not be; but yet these things come up every lit- 

 tle while to startle whole communities. 



In the neighboring city of Akron a young 

 man lies in jail awaiting his removal to Colum- 

 bus for execution; for in this State all execu- 

 tions take place in the Ohio Penitentiary. By 

 his own confession he planned murdering an en- 

 tire family simply that he might succeed in 

 gratifying a passion that he had been nourish- 

 ing and meditating upon for weeks and months. 

 He did not even consider how he was to evade 

 justice, unless he planned a suicide after he had 

 accomplished the thing his imagination so long 

 dwelt on. But for an accident he might have 

 succeeded in his plan. As it was, he murdered 

 an old farmer and his wife, and their hired 

 man, and came very near killing two daughters 

 of the murdered parents. I dislike to mention 

 such awful crimes ; but there may be a whole- 

 some lesson in it if it reminds us of what Satan 



