GLEAN INHS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



28B 



0aR JlBME?. 



And God called the di^ land Earth : and the gath- 

 ering- together of the waters called he Seas: and 

 (Jod saw that it was good.— Gen. 1: 10. 



[■- LL my life I have been deeply interested 

 in any thing pertaining to old Mother 

 Earth ; and jnst as soon as I was old 

 enongh I ))egan questioning as to i 

 what there was away down in the I 

 ground. I looked into tlie deepest wells I I 

 could lind. but saw nolliing very satisfactory j 

 down in their dark deptlis. Wherever I j 

 saw a bank that had caved off, or whenever ' 

 the road liad made a deep cut through a hill. 

 I was deeply interested in seeing what the 

 hill was made of. Once my father pointed 

 to me a large rock partly covered with ground, 

 while we were riding along through the 

 country. IIow I did use to enjoy those rides | 

 witli my father! \^ery likely il was just 

 about as Iluber now enjoys walks and rides , 

 with me. Dear old fatlu-r ! how it thrills 

 my heart when I think that lie loved me (yes. { 

 loves me now; am J not right?) in just "the [ 

 way Huber and I love eacii other. ^Vell. 

 when he told me tiiat this rock, of whi<-h we 

 just caught glimi)ses. was. perhajis. nules 

 and miles long, and miles and miles deep, 

 my little heart was stii-red to know more of 

 these great rocks. When excavating and tun- 

 neling for railroads, wheie a pass.ige has to 

 be made through these great masses, it 

 is a great tical to study their structure and 

 theii- inner coni])osition. 



When I got old enough to study geogra- 

 phy, one of the liist tilings that "took my 

 attention was Mammoth Cave. I was told 

 that there was a jilace in the world where 

 we couhl go away down into old Mother 

 Earth, and then I "read of tiie strange things 

 that were told al)out this woiidi^rful cave, 

 with its little lakes and livers, and lishes 

 without eves. In later life I many times 

 thought of that old Mammoth Ca've. and 

 sighed to think that may be this life should 

 be jtassed. and I should never even see that 

 fond dream realized, .\fter deciding to go 

 to JSew Orleans, however. .Mr. Holmes said 

 one day we could stop olf at Mammoth ("ave 

 if we ('hose. >('ow. I did not tell anybody, 

 but it was the truth, that L looked forward 

 with more i»leasiiie to this one feature of my 

 trip, than perhaps all else besides. Mr. 

 Holmes gave ine a little circulai- published 

 by tlie railroad company, and F studied this 

 a dood deal on the way. When we took the 

 sleeper at Cincinnati. aCou])le of young men 

 got on who told the conductor tliey wanted 

 to be called in the night, to get oif at Mam- 

 moth Cave. When 1 knew we were in the 

 region of the cave 1 could hardly sleep ; and 

 as soon as 1 caught a glimi)se "of the gray 

 dawn of morning, my nose was pressed 

 against the window-itiiue. trying to get a 

 glimpse of the wonderful country that fur- 

 nishes such a phenoinenon of nature. Before 

 I knew it 1 was abundantly rewarded. I 

 had calculated tliat. in this (■ ive region, the 

 water, instead of running along tlie top of 

 thegrouud.as it does in Ohio, would proba- 

 bly meet lissures in the rock^ landscape, and 

 go down into the caverns. ^^ ell. I saw a little 



rivulet rimning down the hillside, from the 

 melting snows of spring. Not a great dis- 

 tance from the railroad track it ran into a 

 sort of valley, and gurgled down into a hole, 

 and that was the last of it. I wondered if 

 my eyes had played me a trick in the dim 

 light "of morning. But pretty soon another 

 and then another, and Anally a pretty good- 

 sized river just came right out of the" side of 

 the bank, and traveled on its course, as if 

 that were the way rivers usually do. We 

 were in the cave region, truly. By the time 

 Ernest awoke, these strange" sights had dis- 

 appeared ; but on our return trip we came 

 througli by daylight, and watched eagerly 

 for them. " These ■' sink-holes.'' as they call 

 them in Kentucky, are quite frequent. 1 am 

 told, and in some" places they annoy farmers 

 exceedingly, because of the good ground that 

 washes down into the hole, and leaves them 

 nothing but the bare rocks. In a few eases 

 I saw where they had thrown in rails and 

 bushes in trying "to stoj) the water. What a 

 grand oi)porlunity our friends down in Ken- 

 tucky luive for iinderdraining I But, per- 

 haps", like ourselves, lliey do not half realize 

 the blessings that surroiind them. 



When we apitroaclied Cave City I was al- 

 most l)reath]ess with excitement. Ernest 

 and I sprang from the train, hurried u)) to a 

 hotel where a big sign-lioard announced, in 

 dilapidated letters, that stages ran twiceaday 

 to the cave. We were somewhat taken aback, 

 however, when the cleik told us they could 

 not send a team right away, uidess they 

 could have seven passengers. "and the cliarge 

 would be .S;?.<i<> each. Hi-fore we readied 

 Cave IbUel. however, nine miles away, we 

 tliought tlie trip was worth s^l.dO. for niucli 

 of the time the hubs of the hack-wheels rode 

 on the mud. and it took us three hours and 

 a half to make the nine miles. In answer to 

 my (piestion. the driver admitted that tlie> 

 had. during the p;ist winter, paid out enough 

 money for horses to have almost, if not 

 (piite." built a i>lank road over this space of 

 nine miles, ihit they are not Yankees, and 

 do not have Yankee "grit. Weary, cold, and 

 liungry. we linally i)ulle(l through the mud 

 \\\) to ihe landing" at Mammoth-Cave Hotel. 

 The young lady who olliciated as clerk said 

 we could not have supper for about an hour 

 and a half ; but when 1 asked her if there 

 was not something we could go and see, to 

 keei> us busy and out of mischief, she said 

 that we might go down and look in the mouth 

 of the cave, if we chose; and then, if we 

 were not too tired, we could go and see (Jreen 

 liiver. and this river communicates with the 

 rivers of the cave, you know. Ernest and I 

 scampered olT through the garden like a 

 c(m[)le of schoolboys. We went to a gate at 

 the back end. and followed a path down the 

 hill among the rocks. The rocks in the re- 

 gion of .Mammoth Cave are not like the 

 rocks here. Instead of being sharp and an- 

 gular, the most of them look like a piece of 

 ice that has been left standing on the side- 

 walk a great part of a summer day: that is. 

 the corners of the stones are rounded off, 

 and worn in channels and gutters by the 

 storms and rains. I judge from this" that 

 the rock is composed of some material that 

 is soluble in water, and the water had wash- 



