60 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 



You are right, Mrs. C; children should 

 not be tasked, even during examination 

 time, to such an extent that thev get worn 

 out, and talk in their sleep, etc. 1 have just 

 interviewed Blue Eyes in regard to the mat- 

 ter, and she says iii our schools they posi- 

 tively forbid their going without dinner 

 during examination time, and that they also 

 forbid such continued application as yon 

 mention. I think your teacher and the 

 principal of your school ought to be inter- 

 viewed. There may be two sides to the 

 question, and it is well to be thoroughly 

 posted before setting down one's foot, after 

 the manner of the Medes and Persians. I 

 should be inclined to think that Minnie was 

 rather an exception, for the average school- 

 girl is sometimes apt to be dilatory, and in- 

 clined to procrastinate. Now, may be even 

 our good friend Minnie neglected her stud- 

 ies in the fore part of the time, thus throw- 

 ing a great amount of work into a few 

 hours' time. Minnie will forgive me for 

 this suggestion, will she not? 



SANTA BARBARA AND THE FAIR. 



BV AUNT KATIK. 



fOl' will remember we had got to Goleta, on 

 our trip to Santa Barbara. We stopped at a 

 farmhouse to get some hay for our horses, 

 and got permission to put our beds on the 

 hay in the big barn; the hay had been baled— 

 that is, pressed into large square bundles, of from 

 one to two hundred pounds, and firmly tied with 

 rope. We got our beds made on those nice smooth 

 bundles, and then got our supper. AVe spent the 

 evening in the house. The next day we went on to 

 Santa Barbara. As we had not been there for three 

 years we found that it had grown considerably. 

 As we were going into the town we met a covered 

 wagon with some "Catholic sisters" in it. They 

 were knitting as they rode along. When one sees 

 them the first thought is, " God bless them for their 

 goodness I" Many and many a one has been helped 

 by those kind women who have given themselves to 

 such work. The ones we met were going out to a 

 farm they have just out of town, where things are 

 laised by them to use in the St. Vincent school for 

 girls that is kept in the town. Oh such lovely roses, 

 and such green grass and strange trees and shrubs! 

 Lovely cottages, yards fenced neatly, and such a 

 wilderness of green meets the eyes, as we passed 

 one pretty place after another, thinking, well, that 

 is the prettiest we have seen yet; but the ne.\t one 

 may be would make us say, " No, I guess this is the 

 prettiest," and so on through one street after anoth- 

 <>r, all through the town. One of the loveliest was 

 ahouse made of the native redwood, oiled instead of 

 I)aintcd, making a rich red-brown color. ]t was 

 two storied, and had a handsome porch above and 

 below on three sides of the building. The front was 

 almost covered with a white-rose bush, and it was a 

 mass of white roses. They gleamed out pure and 

 white against the dark background. 



In the yard was a magnificent rubber-tree, 20 feet 

 high, and fan palms 10 and 12 feet high, with mon- 

 strous fans 3 and 4 feet across, and graceful pepper- 

 trees were dotted about, making a pretty home 



picture. We camped in a friend's yard, and then 

 j started out for the fair. It was held in the theater 

 j building and adjoining j'ard. The very thought of 

 ; the two long wide tables filled with the delicious 

 ! fruit that was in that building sets me longing to 

 ' see them again, with the privilege of tasting as well 

 I as seeing. Our little tnree-year-old orchard was rep- 

 [ resented by a plate of large yellow bellflowers; but 

 Lompoc, the temperance colony I have told you 

 j about, beat even Santa Barbara in the line of 

 j apples. There were apples, pears, quinces, grapes, 

 I pomegranates, flgs, guavas, persimmons, oranges, 

 I lemons, citrons, limes, plums, blackberries, straw- 

 I berries, raspberries, a bunch of dates, and all kinds 

 ' of nuts in profusion on those tables. Don't you 

 ; think we could have a grand feast out of that va- 

 riety';' 

 Then there was honey in big jars, and comb hon- 

 I ey in glass cases, extractors, honey-knives, and last, 

 , but not least, a swarm of Holy-Land bees. They, 

 too, were in a glass and wire ease, and seemed as 

 contented as could be. 

 I can not tell you of all the wonderful and useful 

 ; things I saw, but I must tell you of the dear little 

 babies that were put upon the stage to be looked at, 

 so that the judges might see which was the pretti- 

 est and brightest. There were IT, all under two 

 years old. I wondered, while looking at them, 

 what each one's life would be. May be some of 

 those boys and girls will be writing letters to 

 I Gleanings before long, about bees, and how they 

 I help their fathers work; and as Mr. Koot tells us in 

 I the last number, may be one of them will be pres- 

 ' ident some day. Who knows':* 



hould be a poor judge about babies, for I think 

 them all pretty, some with one kind of prettiness, 

 and some with another; but I said in my heart, 

 " Please God, bless those little ones, and make them 

 good temperance men and women." 

 We took our noonday lunches at the W. C. T. Un- 

 I ion rooms, and found them doing a good work for 

 j those who have no homes wherein to sit and read or 

 j talk, or have a good social time. One morning we 

 went up to see the " Old Mission." It is a large 

 stone building, and was built by the Catholic fa- 

 thers 100 years ago. We were not permitted to enter 

 its walls, as only the priests live there; but we were 

 told that we could see the church, so we went 

 j through that, and examined the pictures upi.n the 

 ; walls. Some were of Christ, and others of the vir- 

 I gin Mary. They were well preserved, and the 

 church looked very nice. The towers above, where 

 the bells were, were being fi.ved up; the rest of the 

 building was in a good state of preservation. A 

 [ large fountain, with fish circulating about in the 

 tank, took the children's eyes. It was fed from a 

 large stream of pure spring water which waters 

 the whole town. Those old " padres " had an eye 

 for beauty when they picked out the site for the 

 mission building. It stands on an eminence two 

 \ miles from the sea, with a background of grand 

 I rugged mountains, and takes in the front, the full 

 sweep of the valley wherein rests the town named 

 for one of their loveliest saints; and though she has 

 been dead for many years, yet her beauty seems to 

 have been left to bless the little cit}', for beautiful 

 it is with a nameless charm. I tried to see wherein 

 the beauty lies, but could not; but there it is, 

 and all felt the charm, and each and all assent, 

 when asked if they think Santa Barbai-a beautiful. 

 Besides the view of the valley there lies the chan- 



