February, 1919 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



111 



le of incidents of years uiio. Below is the 

 clipping: 



ALCOHOrj NOT GOOD FOR AVIATORS. 



When the Wright brothers visited Friince with 

 their perfeicted flying marhine a number of years 

 ago, they surprised those who sought to do them 

 lionors witli their total abstinouco liabits. An 

 opinion against the use of alcohol in flying expressed 

 by one of tlie brothers was widi'ly circulated. But 

 since then there have been flyers who have thought 

 they could combine alcohol with the dangers in the 

 air. 



If you want to know Iioav it turned oit 

 with the young' man who thought a drink 

 might help him handle flying machines, you 

 had better get that number of the Times 

 and read the whole of it. When I first had 

 an intimation tliat the Wright brothers 

 were experimenting with a flying machine, 

 I told our people here that I felt as if J 

 could not rest unless I went down to Day- 

 ton to see the bi-others work. I had just 

 succeeded in getting one of the first au- 

 tomobiles, and with this I started on my 

 ti'ip. I found them on the very same avia- 

 tion grounds that are now occupied, a few 

 miles east of the city of Dayton. In order 

 to be on hand, I obtained board and lodg- 

 ing at a fannhouse near by. At first I 

 was somewhat worried for fear the broth- 

 ers w^ould not care to have a speftator 

 hanging around, and maybe meddling while 

 tliey experimented with an apparatus that 

 might mean death instead of success in 

 navigating the air like a bird. As the 

 neighbors seemed to take no particular in- 

 terest in the experiments, we three were, 

 most of the time, a good deal alone, and 

 we soon became fairly well acquainted 

 with each other; and it was one of the 

 happiest of my " happy surprises " when 

 the brothers insisted that I should go home 

 with them and get acquainted with the'r 

 bright sister, Katharine, who was at the 

 time the housekeeper for the two voung 

 men. Perhaps I might mention incidental- 

 Iv that this good sister, who was at thc^ 

 time a school-teacher, had helped more or 

 less in financing the boys in their novel 

 undertaking. Next morning at breakfast 

 Katharine passed me a cup of very frag- 

 rant coffee. I took it as a matter of course; 

 but when both of the young men shook their 

 heads, declining the coffee, I ventured the 

 question, " Why, look here, friends, I won- 

 der if you have been making coffee just for 

 myself when I never drink either tea or 

 coffee unless it is on an occasion like this, 

 to be like other folks." 



Now, friends, listen to the reply. I can 

 not remember now whether it was Wilbur 

 or Orville who spoke ; but it was something 

 like this: 



" We do use coffee to some, extent ordi- 

 narily; but today we expect to make one 



or more fiights; and when we are going to 

 handle that fiying machine we want every 

 bit of strength of. mind and body to en- 

 able us to do just the right thing at just 

 the right time; and we have learned by 

 experience that a cup of coffee is a detri- 

 ment and a hindrance; therefore no coffee 

 in the morning when we expect to make 

 fiights during the day." 



Well, here is the moral to rising young 

 men, especially those who are doing their 

 best to rise. Cut out or cut off, whichever 

 you choose to put it, everything in the way 

 of stimulants. Use milk as a beverage, not 

 only in the place of booze, but in place of 

 tea and coffee. 



SALOONS AND THE " CHICKEN BUSINESS." 



Just one more incident tliat occurred 

 during that eventful sunniier. The farm- 

 house where I had board and lodging was 

 kept by a renter by the name of Beard. 

 Mrs. Beard was an invalid suffering from 

 lung trouble. The doctors declared that 

 her only hope was to get outdoors and 

 keep outdoors. They recommended garden- 

 ing or raising poultry, or something that 

 would keep her in the open air. Nights 

 and mornings, before the Wright brothers 

 got around, I became quite well acquaint- 

 ed with Mrs. Beard. I tliink she had girls 

 who did most of the housework, and she 

 spent a great part of her time outdoors 

 in raising chickens. Of course I could 

 sympathize with her, as I had been more or 

 less of a " chicken man " all my life, and 

 was able to give her some advice. She suc- 

 ceeded in growing a beautiful flock of 

 chickens — I think something like a hun- 

 dred, and she got to be quite enthusiastic 

 in the work and was evidently fast getting 

 the better of her lung trouble. What do 

 you suppose happened? When the chick- 

 ens were of the very best size to be sold as 

 bi'oilers in the big city of Dayton, some 

 chicken-thieves came in the night and took 

 every last one — not a chick was left. Mrs. 

 Beard was heart-broken. As the family 

 was short in finances the blow seemed all 

 the harder. Her hard work for weeks and 

 months was all swept away in a single 

 night; and before the winter's snow came 

 on, Orville Wriglit wrote me that my good 

 friend Mrs. Beard had died of "quick con- 

 sumption." The loss of her chickens and 

 the discouragement had spoiled her en- 

 thusiasm, and so her old trouble came back. 

 The loss of that beautiful lot of chickens, 

 the outcome of a sunniier's hard work, had 

 cei'tainly much to do with hastening her 

 death, even if not the real cause of it. 



Where does temperance come in in this 

 part of my story? you may ask. It comes 



