GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



October, 1919 



that first glimpse of him, with her baby 

 blue eyes.* A little later, when this same 

 father was engaged in starting mission 

 Sunday schools, especially in places where 

 strong drink was rampant and making 

 great havoc, she used to go with him and 

 stand up on the stage before the school, 

 and with babyish accents sing a little hymn 

 that started something like this: 



I am Jesus' little lamb; 

 Happy all day long I am. 



She was so very little that sometimes she 

 forgot and did not render the hymn cor- 

 rectly. On one such occasion, instead of 

 closing with the " I am " she got it " I 

 are;" and her roguish brother Ernest had 

 no end of fim in saying to her during the 

 week, " Happy all day long I are." Let 

 me now digress a little. 



Our county fair has just closed. Among 

 the other inducements to get the people to 

 come was a' flying-machine; and passengers 

 were to be carried up for about seven or 

 eight minutes for the sum of $15.00. In- 

 asmuch as I was with the Wright brothers 

 during their exjDeriments, and witnessed 

 their first successful flight in getting 

 around to the startingplaee, everybody 

 took it for granted that 1 would be the first 

 one to fly. I first refused, on the ground 

 that I was getting to be too old; and 

 finally, to my great astonishment, that 

 same blue-eyed baby (of almost 50 years 

 ago) came forward, bright and smiling, 

 and almost as handsome in my eyes as 

 when I first used to say "Away up high " 

 to her. This same blue-eyed matronly 

 woman, even tho she is the mother of a 

 cou*[5le of fair-sized men, announced that 

 she was going to fly, and, amid a crowd of 

 expectant and admiring citizens, oft' she 

 went up, if not into the clouds, she was 

 pretty near their neighborhood. Little did 

 I dream in the years gone by, and little 

 did she dream, that in the years to come 

 that same '' away up high, papa's baby," 

 would be repeated while she was away up 

 above the earth and all things earthly, f 

 Perhaps she will tell you about it herself. 

 But she came home so full of enthusiasm, 

 and the children and grandchildren and the 

 friends at the factory urged me so much, 

 that I finally consented. 



By the way, a few months ago, in order 

 to preserve my health I consented to an 



*Some years ago we used to hear a sood deal 

 about "What is home without a mother?" Just 

 now I would add also, " WTiat is home without a 

 baby ? " Is it not possible that a baby in the home 

 — yes, even a girl (?) baby — may "convert the 

 sinner from the error of his way," "save a soul from 

 death, and hide a multitude of sins " ? 



t " Up above the world so high, 

 Like a diamond in the sky." 



X ray examination of my teeth. Quite a 

 number of them were badly ulcerated at 

 the roots and had to come out. For the 

 first time in my life, I took an anesthetic; 

 but' I became so excited before doing so 

 that my heart beat so wildly (at the 

 thought of something so near death) I felt 

 as if I could hardly stand it. As conscious- 

 ness slowly gave way, I do not think it 

 was altogether the little prayer, " Lord, 

 help," but it was- a prayer that the dear 

 Savior should go with me side by side while 

 I went down into oblivion. Huber stood 

 by my side, and I remember asking to 

 have him where I could see him as I went 

 down to death, or at least it seemed to me 

 much like it. When I came to, it seemed 

 as if I had been gone somewhere for about 

 a couple of hours; but Huber announced 

 that it was only four minutes, and there 

 lay the heap of ulcerated teeth just as the 

 X ray showed them. 



Now, I did not intend to talk dentisti-y 

 right here; but so many of you want to 

 know whether my health has improved 

 since that " expensive " operation, I will 

 just say that for a time I was better, and 

 then I had my old troubles again. It has 

 been a sort of wg and down. But just now, 

 and for the past few weeks, I have been 

 feeling remarkably well — almost as well as 

 I ever did in my life. Now for the flying 

 trip : 



Just before starting my heart beat al- 

 most painfully from the excitement, just 

 as it did on this other occasion wliiph 1 

 have been mentioning; and when the ma- 

 chine bumped over the rough meadow lot, 

 uphill toward the north, I almost regretted 

 that I had undertaken it; but when all of 

 a sudden the beautiful machine slipped up 

 noiselessly into the air, a wonderful thrill 

 of thanksgiving and praise came into my 

 heart, that it was finally my privilege to 

 go up in a flying-machine. We have been 

 having recent rains, and crops were looking 

 fine. The sun was over in the west, just 

 right to illuminate the landscape to the 

 best advantage; and, altho I have all my 

 life been an ardent admirer of beautiful 

 fields and growing crops and happy homes, 

 I never saw anything like this before. Our 

 town of Medina seemed like a veritable 

 paradise. Beautiful homes, well-kept 

 lawns, abundant shade trees and shrubbery, 

 combined to make it something brighter 

 and more entrancing than perhaps any 

 other view I ever had before. But as we 

 went up higher and higher things dwindled 

 down until the Root factory and the vari- 

 ous offices and other buildings seemed like 

 a chicken-yard with nicely painted coops. 



