65i 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 1 



roundings that would have made any woman 

 look lovely under similar circumstances ? Per- 

 haps they looked lovely becaute they were 

 good people. " Handsome is that handsome 

 does," you know. 



Every little while the motor cars and the 

 ferry-boats were loading and unloading their 

 cargoes of people who were in summer attire 

 enjo>ing their vacation. Of course, electric 

 launches, costing all the way from a few hun- 

 dred to a few thousand dollars, were flitting 

 in and out everywhere. For 15 cents you can 

 take short trips and back again ; and those 

 dainty launches, upholstered like a Pullman 

 car, easily gathered a crowd of passengers al- 

 most everywhere they stopped. 



I have told you before that I am in love 

 with "babbling brooks." Well, Roaring 

 Brook is a " babbling brook " indeed, and on 

 a considerable scale, for there are waterfalls 

 every few rods. Now, there are other resorts 

 all along the northern part of the east shore 

 of Lake Michigan. Perhaps, however, the 

 center of all this work is more in and about 

 Little Traverse Bay than anywhere else. 



Some of you may say, " Oh, yes ! that is all 

 well enough for rich people." But, wait a 

 little, my friend. I had this matter especially 

 in view when I made the trip. The railroads 

 are making exceedingly low rates all the while 

 up to this vacation region, and return. While 

 there are hotels that charge several dollars a 

 day for board and lodging, there are great 

 numbers of private residences advertising fur- 

 nished rooms. You will see there little shin- 

 gles hanging out from almost every cottage 

 in some streets. At Traverse City I had a let- 

 ter of introduction to Mr. Frank A. Risley 

 (a college student), who is employed during 

 his vacation by the American Sunday-school 

 Union to look after the Sunday-schools of 

 Northern Michigan. Well, he has his head- 

 quarters in Traverse City in one of the very 

 pretty little cottages on West Seventh Street. 

 While talking with him about his work, his 

 salary, and his expenses, he gave me the fol- 

 lowing information : The little sleeping-room 

 where he and I were talking cost him 75 cts. 

 a week. He was at liberty to occupy the 

 room every day and every night if he chose ; 

 but in his mission work he was, of course, ab- 

 sent a great deal of the time. Well, now, 

 mind you, this nice pretty little room with 

 dainty bed, washstand, towels, etc., cost him 

 only 75 cents a week. Then at the same house 

 he purchased 21 meal tickets for $2 50— only 

 about 12 cts. a meal, you will notice. Now, 

 he could use these meal-tickets just when he 

 chose. He was going and coming every day. 

 The room was, of course, to be paid for any 

 way ; but no meals, only when he was present. 

 When I suggested that it must be rather plain 

 fare for so small a price he invited me in to 

 supper, and it was just as good a meal as I 

 would ask for. In fact, I think I would enjoy 

 better health with such fare, and, as a conse- 

 quence, more happiness, than if I could be at 

 a hotel where meals cost 50 cts. each, and a 

 bed the same. I am told that similar prices 

 can be obtained in almost all of these towns 

 and cities. Of course, you will have to choose 



a cottage somewhat away from the center of 

 the town, where rents for that kind of proper- 

 ty are low, to get these low rates. 



At every stopping-place I easily found nice 

 clean restaurants where a good meal could be 

 had for from 15 to 25 cts. In this respect 

 Northern Michigan is certainly away ahead of 

 some other parts of our country. The people 

 are also pleasant, civil, and accommodating. 

 Their bread and butter largely depends on se- 

 curing boarders and lodgers, and in treating 

 them so well that they will want to come to 

 the same place again next year ; and hundreds 

 and thousands of people are making trips reg- 

 ularly every summer to these northern resorts. 



I have told you elsewhere something about 

 my trip further north. Mackinac Island is 

 much like Harbor Springs, but not quite as 

 retired among the cedar-trees and thickets ; 

 but just about sundown you can perhaps see 

 more women, girls, and children, in fantastic 

 holiday attire, on the side hill on Mackinac 

 Island than in any other spot on the face of 

 the earth. It made me think of collections 

 of gaudily painted butterflies we often see in 

 entomological collections. You gaze at one, 

 and think she is about the most attractive 

 woman you ever saw. Then you look at an- 

 other, and finally conclude she is rather ahead 

 of her sister, although in a different way. 

 Then a third eclipses both, and so on until 

 you are utterly bewildered. Now, such scenes 

 do not give me unalloyed pleasure. I often 

 fall to wondering if these lovely women have 

 the love of Christ Jesus in their hearts ; and 

 then I begin wondering, again, if such is the 

 case how can they consistently spend so much 

 money in dre&s and so much of their time in 

 display ? Now, I try not to be too critical in 

 this direction, for I believe God intended that 

 women — yes, and men too — should use quite 

 a little time and money in making themselves 

 look neat and well, in the eyes of their fellow- 

 men. I have sometimes wondered just where 

 the line should be drawn, especially when I 

 pay ten cents to have my shoes nicely shined, 

 and then have some adventure a few minutes 

 later that takes the shine all off again. 



The Soo canal is the most wonderful spot in 

 Northern Michigan, in my opinion. While it 

 has some of the attractive features I have 

 been speaking about, the Soo and its sur- 

 roundings remind us more of the great prog- 

 ress that has been made and is being made in 

 transporting the merchandise of the world. 

 All the way up through that canal cut in the 

 solid rock of the St. Mary's River, we pass 

 great boats laden to their utmost with iron 

 and copper ore, wood pulp from the Canadian 

 forests, and other articles of merchandise. I 

 never knew before that there were hundreds 

 of great steamers, made almost entirely of 

 steel, pretty well toward a quarter of a mile 

 long, engaged in this great trafiic. These 

 steamers, when laden, are mostly under water 

 except the little turret that the pilot and the 

 officers of the boat occupy. They call them 

 whalebacks ; and, in fact, the waves are ex- 

 pected to pass right over them without hin- 

 drance. These boats are going and coming 

 at such a rate that the great double Soo canal 



