ly one such old gentleman who was a bee- 

 keeper. This beekeeping- friend had a love- 

 ly daughter. A bright-looking chap, an 

 entire stranger, got his eye on the girl and 

 made love to her. Her father remonstrated; 

 but as he was a non-resistant he did not 

 make any great fuss over the matter. This 

 slick young chap deliberately ruined the 

 girl and left her. The father would do 

 nothing, because he did not believe in going 

 to law. Her own brother told me that his 

 father, on account of his foolish religiou.s 

 principles, let this young reprobate go oil' 

 " scot free," to ruin some other girl in the 

 same way. 



My young friend, you cannot remember, 

 but I can, when John Morgan's band of 

 guerillas invaded Ohio. They crossed the 

 Ohio River, ransacked the stores, and rob- 

 bed the banks; and they would have kept 

 on going all over Ohio had there not been 

 some men (and boys) who knew how to 

 shoot. Had you and your good neighbor 

 whom 3'ou have quoted been j^resent in such 

 an event, would you have permitted those 

 guerillas to go on with their work simply 

 because the Bible says, " Thou shalt not 

 kill "? Suppose all of our great cities were 

 to be suddenly deprived of policemen, or, 

 let us say, the policemen to be deprived of 

 their revolvers and other implements of 

 warfare, what would be the result? In the 

 city of Cleveland, murders, holdups, etc., 

 are so common that petitions are being cir- 

 culated to double the number of police. 

 Occasionally a pickpocket, burglar, or high- 

 way robber overmasters a policeman. Every 

 little while we read of one who loses his 

 life in a righteous attempt to preserve 

 peace. We hope and pray that rebellion 

 will never break out again in the Unitetl 

 States. But suppose it does; and suppose 

 some foreign nation should discover some 

 vulnerable point in our borders in some 

 poorly jirotected point, and a call for sol- 

 diers were made to protect " our native 

 land," what would you do? Washington has 

 been reverenced and held up as the father 

 of this country, and as a model man ever 

 since ho died, and yet he was a fighting 

 man. 



Kow a word about our military scliools. 

 A young friend of mine — yes, cjuite a near 

 relative — lost both father and mother away 

 off in California. I feel sure he will excuse 

 me, under the circumstances, if I mention 

 that he had contracted some bad habits. He 

 was inclined to be unruly; and as he did not 

 seem to get along very well he took a sud- 

 den notion that he would enlist. He got a 

 situation on a battle-ship. Now, it was one 

 of my happy surprises to see that the boy 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



has been straightened out and literally 

 "■ made over " in the course of two or three 

 years. He had good sense enough, thank 

 God, to realize the importance of obeying 

 orders wlien those orders came from Uncle 

 Sam. In a short time he was jiromoted for 

 good behavior. Just a few days ago he 

 wrote me that he would give almost any 

 thiiig in the world to have me hear a good 

 minister, with whom he was acquainted, 

 preach. I might give an extract from that 

 letter that caused me to thank God, but I 

 sent it to the good pastor to encourage him 

 in his faithful ministry. Among other 

 things, this relative wrote me that, when the 

 men on board his ship touched the shore, 

 they seemed to think that they were for the 

 time being free from restraint, and a good 

 many of them returned under the influence 

 of drink. At the time of his promotion he 

 was particularly commended because, no 

 matter how long a leave of absence he had. 

 he always returned clean and sober. With 

 such a man as Daniels at the head of the 

 navy we have a ditferent state of affairs 

 from what there was in former times. 



Now, my good friend, here is another 

 l^hase of the matter: You and your neighbor 

 seem to think that you are ''handicapped." 

 What you are compelled to pass through is 

 not pai'ticularly different from what thou- 

 sands of other boys, and especially young 

 boys, have passed through, who have in the 

 end " made good." Our great men in all 

 walks of life started out under straitened 

 circumstances, as a rule — if any thing, much 

 worse than yours. But they did not sit 

 down nor give up and lament over their 

 " misfortune." That you may know that 

 there aj'e good people who are considering 

 this very c-fuestion of a military education, 

 I give below a letter from a good woman in 

 mucli the same line. 



Mr. Hoot: — Will you kindly give in your paper 

 a reply to a question which has troubled me, and 

 no doubt others, for a long time ? But before I put 

 the question I want to say that your highly valued 

 paper has been in my mother's home for a number 

 of years, and is considered to be the best periodical 

 which enters the home because of its Christian char- 

 acter and sterling woi-th. Being a frequent visitor 

 at home I have derived much good from the perusal 

 of your articles, and so in a way I feel myself a 

 memliei- of your great family of readers, and believe 

 you will consider me so. 



Now as to the question. We read your article 

 about toys, guns, firearms, etc., and we should like 

 to ask why it is thai, if America is such a peacelov 

 ing nation, it i)enuits and encourages its young men 

 to become so familiar with military practices and 

 guns as it does in the A. and M. Colleges all 

 over our land? Why will it not allow a young man 

 to study agriculture without also forcing him to take 

 a military training for five years, as is the custom 

 here in Oklahoma, any way? This means much to 

 me. I have an only son who has attended the A. 

 and M. College at Stillwater for three years ; 



