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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 15 



OUR 

 HOMES, 



BY A.I. ROOT. 



Woe unto him that giveth his neighbor drink, that 

 puttest thy bottle to him, and niaketh him drunken 

 also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness. — 

 Hab. 2;1.5. 



r Within half a mile of our cabin in the 

 woods they are building a railroad. The 

 laborers are mostly Italians. They work 

 in g-angs, and are quite clannish. Three 

 or four weeks ago, one Saturday night aft- 

 er they had got their pay they went to a 

 saloon in Sutton's Bay, eight miles from 

 our home, and purchased five kegs of beer. 

 When the beer was brought amongthe crowd 

 the men were all on friendly terms; in fact, 

 they are so exceedingly friendly that it is 

 said one of the crowd will never testify 

 against any of the others, no matter what 

 happens. Well, when the sun rose Sunday 

 morning it fell on the corpses of two of the 

 gang, stone dead; and a third one was so 

 nearly dead it was doubtful whether he 

 could live. This was the direct fruit of the 

 live kegs of beer. Friends who had no 

 grudge or spite against each other before 

 the}' got the beer became at once bitter ene- 

 mies. One man killed another in the fight; 

 and a brother of the dead man, after the 

 fashion of heathen nations, proceeded to 

 avenge his brother's death, and was nearlj' 

 killed himself. People saw them carr} iug 

 the kegs down to their camp, in broad day- 

 light. I asked a neighbor of mine if there 

 was no coimty or State law to forbid selling 

 beer to such a class of people in that way. 

 He said he did not think the saloon-keepers 

 had violated any law; and somebody said 

 that, as the Italians were not citizens of the 

 United States, nothing would be done 

 about it. They would bury their dead 

 when they got around to it, and that was 

 all there was of it. I have learned since, 

 however, that the surviving murderer was 

 tried, and sent to the penitentiary for five 

 years. Nothing was said about the saloon- 

 keeper, and no objection was raised or even 

 suggested that he ought not to go right on 

 furnishing more beer to anybody who had 

 the money to pay for it. In fact, just one 

 week later, if I am correctly informed, an- 

 other murder was reported. 



There are not only Italians in that vicin- 

 ity, but there are quite a few Indians. Un- 

 til within a few years it was against the 

 law to sell intoxicating liquors to Indians; 

 but the saloon-keepers and brewers thought 

 their liberty was curtailed; and by urging 

 that, as the Indians were tax-payers, they 

 ought to have the privilege of making pur- 

 chases like other people, the law against 

 selling to Indians was repealed. Now they 

 buy just the same as anybody else. An 

 Indian came into Sutton's Bay riding a 

 wheel. As the roads were rather bad, or 

 for some other reason, he decided to send 

 the wheel home on a neighbor's wagon. 



This was done, and the neighbor started 

 off. Several persons were standing around 

 who witnessed the occurrence. Then the 

 Indian went in to get some beer. When he 

 came out, dazed and crazed with the poi.son, 

 he had evidently forgotten about sending 

 his wheel home; and, looking about for it, 

 and not finding it, he accused a bystander 

 of taking it. This young man who was, by 

 the way, a person of education and intelli- 

 gence, and a valuable citizen, informed the 

 Indian in a gentlemanly way that he had 

 not touched his wheel, and reminded him 

 of putting it on the wagon, adding that he 

 saw him do it. The drunken Indian in- 

 stantly called him a liar, drew a revolver, 

 and shot him. It was supposed that he was 

 dead; but it is now thought he will live. 

 The Indian was tried, and sentenced to 

 three years in the penitentiary. The saloon- 

 keeper who robbed him of his reason, and 

 prompted him to that crazy action, did noth- 

 ing out of the way — at least so the laws of 

 Michigan seem to have decided. 



Last Sunday, Nov. 9, while on our way 

 to the Bingham Sunday-school, ashort little 

 Italian passed us, going with rapid strides 

 toward the town of Bingham. Half an hour 

 later this same fellow passed the Sundaj'- 

 school, sweating and puffing under a keg 

 of beer that he had on his shoulder. At the 

 hour of Sunday-school, between half-past 

 ten and eleven, Sunday morning, he went 

 down to Bingham, in broad daylight, mind 

 you, bought a keg of beer, and carried it up 

 to their camp, a mile or more away. Dur- 

 ing the past month I have had considerable 

 experience in carrying heavy loads; in fact, 

 I have handled one or more times almost 

 every bushel of a thousand bushels of po- 

 tatoes, and know how fatiguing it is to car- 

 ry a bushel of them just a few rods. This 

 man, not as tall as I am, carried a keg of 

 beer, weighing probably more than a bushe 1 

 of potatoes, a plump mile, during a warm 

 autumn day. Some powerful stimulus to 

 both mind and body must have operated on 

 him to induce him to undertake a task like 

 that. Now, this gang of laborers knew all 

 about how a few kegs of beer killed two of 

 their companions and sent another to the 

 penitentiary; and there they were, going to 

 keep up the same program, probably, Sun- 

 day after Sunday. These fellows have no 

 money to spare. Their camp is made up of 

 a lot of huts formed of rails, and covered 

 with sods. It looks like the old-style Indian 

 wigwams ; but instead of furs thej'^ used 

 only thick sods of June grass. When the 

 storms and frosts of a northern winter come 

 in their localit}% they will certainly sufter 

 in such quarters, and they have no money 

 to spare; and yet the laws of Michigan per- 

 mit them to waste their monej' in the way I 

 have indicated. The saloon-keepers and 

 brewers, j^ou see, are interested parties. 

 They are the ones who do not want any- 

 thing done about it. A few days ago, when 

 the Russian Dukhobors got crazy on religion 

 the officers of the law took them by main 

 stretigth and moved them intoquarters where 



