APRIL 1. 1915 



275 



stilling' ooiivoiitionalilics of modern life. He 

 was always the samo, always having a 

 liearty weleouie for his friends and a pleas- 

 ant word for every one. True to liis Quaker 

 education, he was an intense hater of shams, 

 esj)ooially of the human kind. 



He was honest — a characteristic that is 

 getting to be as scarce as it is valuable. 

 There is no principle in business better 

 established than that '' honesty is the best 

 polic\'." Mr. Quinby, unlike most men, was 

 honest from principle. 



The mental rather than the motive tem- 

 perament predominated in him; that is, 

 surplus vitality would more naturally de- 

 velop into extra mental work than into 

 intense muscular activity. He was a think- 

 er, an investigator; an originator rather 

 than an imitator. Ho was calm and delil)- 

 erate, not excitable; did not plan one min- 

 ute to execute the next and destroy the 

 following. As he viewed a subject from 

 luany standpoints he was not quick in form- 

 ing conclusions. In quickness he could not 

 keep i)ace with many who were of lighter 

 caliber than himself. Muskets sometimes 

 hang fire, but big cannon are not usually 

 handled with the rapidity of small arms. 



While not easily disturbed in temper, he 

 was not lame in spirit when he had just 

 cause for indignation. He had a very mod- 

 est opinion of himself, and in measuring 

 others did not set himself up as the stand- 

 ard of perfection. 



His last years were his best. His best 

 and most enduring' work was done after he 

 was sixty years old. His famous assertion 



then made, and so ably defended, that cold 

 usually kills the bees, has never been suc- 

 cessfully contradicted. He never wrote so 

 well as in the latter years of his life. He 

 continued to improve in both subject matter 

 and manner of expression. His bodily 

 powers were gradually failing him, but his 

 reasoning faculties were never so keen as 

 in the last five years of his life. 



With more of the elements of the poli- 

 tician about him he would have ranked 

 higher in life, but his reputation would 

 not have been so enduring. Now his merits 

 are just beginning to be appreciated. 



How fitting that a life so calm and pure 

 should have so peaceful an ending! On the 

 27th of May last he retired at his usual hour 

 in seeming good health and spirits. Before 

 the hour of midnight, without awaking from 

 his slumbers, he quietly passed from time 

 into eternit3\ Thus, at the age of sixty-five, 

 ended the life work of our counselor, friend, 

 and public benefactor. He was more for- 

 tunate than the most of men, for he was 

 able to take with him his most valued pos- 

 session, the hard-earned accumulation of a 

 lifetime — a noble character. 



So live that, when thy summons comes to join 

 The innumeialjle caravan that moves 

 To the pale realms of shade, where eacli shall take 

 His chamber in the silent halls of death, 

 Tliou go not, like the quarry-slave at night. 

 Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained and soothed 

 By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave 

 Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch 

 About him and lies down to pleasant dreams. 



StarkviUe, N. Y. 



MOSES QUINBY, THE FOUNDER OF COMMERCIAL BEEKEEPING IN 



AMERICA 



BY ARTHUR C. MILLER 



Moses Quinby was a pioneer beekeeper. 

 In 1828 he plunged into the wilderness of 

 bee-life with no other knowledge than how 

 to sulphur bees and a few directions about 

 hiving swarms. Without veil or smoker, 

 with black bees in box hives, he worked and 

 won. Not until he had kept bees some years 

 did he see any text-books, and these were 

 imported ones containing little or nothing 

 of value but what he had ahead}' found out. 

 Their errors and mistakes were to him an 

 incentive to further research and closer 

 observation. In the preface to his book he 

 says: 



It is folly to expect success in beekeepin? for any 

 length of time without a correct knowledge of their 

 nature and instincts; and this wo shall never obtain 

 bv the course hitherto pursued. .Vs much of their 

 labor is performed in the dark, and difficult to be 



observed, it has given rise to conjecture and false 

 reasonins, leading to false conclusions. 



When I say a thing is so or say it is not so, what 

 evidence has the reader that it is proved or demon- 

 strated? My mere assertions are not expected to be 

 taken in preference to another's. Of such proof 

 we have more than enough. Most people have not 

 the time, patience, nor ability to sit down quietly 

 with close observation and investigate the subject 

 thoroughly. Hence it has been found easier to re- 

 ceive error for truth than to make the exertion nec- 

 essary to confute it —the more so because there is 

 no guide to direct the investigation. I shall, there- 

 fore, pursue a different course; and for every asser- 

 tion endeavor to give a test that the reader may ap- 

 ply and satisfy himself, and trust to no one. As 

 for theories, I shall try to keep them separate from 

 fads, and offer such evidence as I have, either for 

 or a'.;ainst them. 



And he did. Every thing must be tested 

 and proved, no guesswork was allowed, and 

 his genius in devising ways to discover the 



