1902 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



25 



come in and sit down. He told me he was 

 sorry, but it would not do. The room 

 would be tilled up in no time, and I found 

 out afterward that it takes all the ability 

 and sometimes prett_v much all of the mus- 

 cular streng-th of a dozen or more teachers 

 to keep those " street Arabs " in any kind 

 of decorum. 



Almost all of these people are Italians. 

 Now, there has been some p;-ejudice ag-ainst 

 Italian emigrants. I fuund it especially so 

 in New Orleans; but my mind has changed 

 a good deal since the experience of that 

 Sabbath, reg"ardLng the inhabitants of sun- 

 ny Italy.* 



There were different rooms for children 

 of different ages. But the room where I 

 was asked to take a class I should think 

 contained between two and three hundred, 

 and the upi'oar was like "the sound of 

 many waters." The class assigned me 

 wiis near the door. I made up my inind 

 almost at once that it was not much use to 

 talk about the international lesson. They 

 had not studied any lesson, and did not 

 propose to. I told them I was a stranger 

 froin Ohio, and asked questions about Miss 

 Remington and the school, and finally 

 asked the boys what they worked at week 

 days. The largest boj' in the class said 

 they were mostly newsboys. I asked some 

 questions about Buffiilo, then told them of 

 the "carnival of crime" we are lighting to 

 keep down in Cleveland, near my home. I 

 asked them if Buffalo was having the same 

 sieg-e. Now, I hardly need tell you there 

 has been for years piist a sort of rivalry 

 between Cleveland and Buffalo. These 

 boys pretty soon beg"an to mention the ad- 

 vantages of their own city; and as they fis- 

 sured me that Buffiilo was a better place, 

 from a moral point of view, each newspaper 

 boy straightened himself up and put on a 

 more gentlemanly demeanor. He was go- 

 ing to deiTionstrate to an Ohio man that 

 Buffalo was at least a respectable city, and 

 that that school was a respectable and well- 

 behaved one. In fact, they discussed with 

 animation this problem of crimes as if they 

 might be one of the "city fathers." Only 

 God knows whether or not they may not 

 some time help hold up righteousness and 

 put down iniquity in the city of Buffalo. 



After the school was out, Mr. Wadg-e 



* By the way. shall we not all remember that Mar- 

 coni is an Italian ? I know America has been in the 

 habit of claiming that we art- head and shoulders in 

 advance, especiallj- in science and great mechanical 

 developments, of the rest of the world but just now 

 that young atlilete in electrical science (and I rather 

 suspect in ahnost all other sciences as welli is talking 

 across the oce.in, and that uilhmil a wire ; and just as 

 the news came flashing through our daily pre-s, a 

 most disgrat eful and humiliating report followed it, 

 to the effect tha the proprietors of the Atlanlic cable 

 (I hope they are not Americans) weie trying to serve 

 an injunction on him because thej' claim they had a 

 '■ patent right " on using ehctriciiy across the ocean. 

 TJunk God there is no patent on the water we drink 

 nor on the air we breathe ; and the idea that any per- 

 son or corporation has a monopoly of the s ace above, 

 in the waters or under the waters, or Ihmiigh the sulid 

 fii' th. to prevent this young scientist from sending his 

 vibrations unbind red, seems to me the biggest piece 

 of ab.urditv the world ever saw. 



congratulated me on having held the at- 

 tention of the worst class in school better 

 than their teachers usually succeeded in 

 doing; and Miss Remington informed me 

 later that the large boy (the worst one in 

 the lot) wanted to know if the Ohio man 

 would be there in the evening. Of course, 

 I v^-as only too happy to say I would be at 

 their service. Somebody wanted to hear 

 me talk about bees. I gave the boys soine 

 of my early hi.story — how I felt that God 

 called me, even when I was very small, to 

 the study of insects. Then I spoke of the 

 stories in the newspapers about manufac- 

 tured comb honey. Said I, "Boys, the 

 world is now making- great progress in the 

 way of invention and discovery; but do any 

 of you believe that mankind will ever suc- 

 ceed in manufacturing strawberries just as 

 good as those that grow on the vines?" 



They came out very promptly, declaring 

 that strawberries could not be manufac- 

 tured. Then I explained to them that, in 

 a like manner, the art of man would never 

 succeed in manufacturing comb honey that 

 would pass at all for the genuine made by 

 the bees. 



"By the way, boys, do you know any 

 thing about strawberries? Do you ever 

 pick them in the fields?" 



At this so manj-^ hands went up that I 

 thought they were telling me fibs; but Miss 

 Remington assured me afterward that it 

 was all true. She said that, in winter, 

 they live in the citj^, and rent rooms in her 

 building and other buildings; but when it 

 comes time for working in gardens in the 

 suburbs, they move out into the fields, 

 whole families coming and camping- out, 

 while they pick strawberries, weed onions, 

 and do any thing- else the farmers want 

 them to do. Sothej'told me the truth when 

 they said they knew jiU about strawberries. 



During my talk there was a constant 

 running fire of comments and questions. 

 Miss Remington and the teachers tried in 

 vain to restrain the boys; but I told the 

 teachers to let them talk — in fact, I rather 

 enjoyed having an audience that showed by 

 its responses that they caught on to not 

 only every word and idea but their buoy- 

 ant imaginations supplied a good many 

 things that / had not thought of, and should 

 have never thought of. At the close of my 

 talk I assured them that God had a special 

 place, or a call for every single boy or girl 

 in that crowd, and the great thing in this 

 life is to find just what God has fitted us to 

 do best. I pointed to Miss Remington, and 

 said, "This good woman rig'ht here has 

 had a. peculiar c'aW. God called her in a 

 dift'erent direction from what he has called 

 any of the rest of us. Btij's, can you sug- 

 gest to me what he called her to do? ' 



Almost instantly the reply came from 

 different parts of the room, "He called her 

 to look after us boys;" and I honestly be- 

 lieve that all try to show by their lives that 

 they believe what they said. 



Just as I was leaving the speaker's 

 stand, some boy wanted to ask another 



