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in a big brick house, had some yellow hens which 

 she greatly prized. Two of them had a habit of 

 getting into the cellar kitchen and laying their eggs 

 in the old brick oven. Of course they had to lay 

 them outside when baking day came around. Well, 

 I walked two miles and a half down to grand- 

 father's, and found nobody but him at home. He 

 sat in his chair in this old "cellar kitchen." Now, 

 grandfather Hart and I were good friends be- 

 cause he was at work on a perpetual-motion ma- 

 chine, and I was greatly taken up with "seeing the 

 wheels go round." I was so full of my particular 

 enterprise that I walked up to grandpa and showed 

 my spelling prize. I think there was a hole through 

 it, and a red or blue ribbon was tied to the coin. 

 I told him I wanted to swap my prize money for 

 two laying hens. The two hens were standing 

 in that brick-floored kitchen at the very time we 

 were talking. He approved of my speculation, and 

 told me if I wanted hens that would be sure to 

 lay I had better take those two cream-colored "bid- 

 dies." They were so tame I had no difficulty in 

 getting one under each arm, and then off I started 

 on my trip of two and a half miles. But by the 

 time I displayed my two treasures to my good 

 mother I was pretty tired and dusty, for the hens 

 became heavier and heavier as I hurried along, 

 barefooted and barelegged.* 



Did the hens lay after being transferred to a 

 new home? To be sure, they did. All the hens 

 I have ever kept always laid. "When I got down 

 to my Florida home a year ago my flock of 50 or 

 60 laid only about half a dozen eggs a day; but 

 they commenced laying, one after another (as 

 sooL as I got around), right along, until I had 

 upward of 40 eggs from 60 hens. It was because 

 I loved them and made friends of them. 



Well, just here I am ready to introduce another 

 friend who lent me a helping hand. He was 

 the village schoolmaster; and let me say right here 

 that, after my two hens got to laying nicely, a 

 neighboring woman said she had a Black Poland 

 hen with a brood of chicks, and they were making 

 such a mess with her garden and flowerbed that 

 she would sell me "the whole shooting-match" for 

 another "two shillings." By this time I had sold 

 eggs enough to be able to purchase the hen and 

 brood; and, oh what a delight and joy was that 

 mother-hen with her brood of white top-knotted 

 Polands! From that day to this the sight of a 

 real top-knot Poland makes my heart bound. 



Well, the schoolmaster suggested I should "keep 

 books" to see whether my poultry paid expenses 

 instead of "eating their heads off," and hence he 

 suggested that the latest up-to-date manner of keep- 



* My ! but did not grandma make a fuss when 

 she found her two favorite biddies were gone? 

 She said Amos must bring those two hens right 

 straight back ; but when she came to Mogadore 

 and found what a nice house and yard I had for 

 them she changed her mind, especially when she 

 considered it was her favorite grandchild who had 

 appropriated the two cream-colored hens. 



Even at that early age I had caught on to 

 the secret of making the hens lay in winter; and 

 one time in January when there were no eggs 

 in the market, a rich man by the name of Moore 

 sent word that he would give me 25 cents for a 

 dozen eggs. I think the regular market price was 

 8 or 10 cents in those days. Well, I hurried off, 

 fu' of animation and delight, with my eggs. But 

 I .id not cover them up properly, even though it 

 V s zero weather ; and when I reached his home 

 t o or three of the eggs had frozen and cracked 

 open. I thought, of course, I would not get my 25 

 cents, and began to cry — perhaps partly on ac- 

 count of the cold; but he said, "Do not cry, bub, 

 here is your money. The eggs will be exactly as 

 good for us, for we will keep them frozen until 

 we want to use them." Then I wiped away the 

 tears and rushed back home to give the hens 

 credit, in my double-entry book-keeping. 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



ing accounts was double entry. By the way, this 

 good friend also taught me penmanship, and dur- 

 ing the winter, when eggs got up to a big price, 

 my double-entry book-keeping was all over on one 

 side of the ledger. It was all profit and no loss. 



I might mention, as a sort of side issue, that 

 I had an older sister who was not only bright but 

 fairly good-looking. In fact, she taught school 

 when she was only 15 years old, and a country 

 school at that. Well, one day the schoolmaster, in 

 talking to me about my chemical experiments, said 

 he thought he would come over after school and 

 see my "apparatus." I remember I was a good 

 deal disappointed. I told my mother that I did 

 not believe the schoolmaster cared very much about 

 chemistry after all. He did not seem to notice 

 any thing very much except that older sister I 

 liave been speaking of. After a while they were 

 married, and, of course, all the family were ex- 

 pected to be present at the ceremony in the even- 

 ing. But that night there was to be an "elec- 

 tricity show" at the Methodist church. I had al- 

 ready become acquainted with the professor; and 

 the idea of my missing the show simply on account 

 of so trifling an event (?) as the marriage of my 

 sister was preposterous. I had always been a very 

 obedient child; but I then and there decided 

 "things had reached their limit." There was really 

 a prospect of a thunderstorm right there, besides 

 the one over at the church, unless I could be let 

 loose at "early candle-lighting;" and so the mar- 

 riage was performed before the candles were lighted 

 instead of after. 



Now, all the above looks as though I was a 

 model boy, does it not ? and I know of one little 

 woman who may make a fuss if I do all this brag- 

 ging of what a precocious youngster I was, instead 

 of telling a little something on the other side ; so, 

 before closing let me show you that I was not much 

 different from other "kids" of 10 years, after all. 

 The good miller who loaned me those old copies 

 of the Scientific American gave me the sweepings 

 of the mill to feed my chickens to pay for sweep- 

 ing up the mill. Well, there was sometimes a 

 little wheat scattered on the floor ; and notwith- 

 standing all his kindness to me I was not always 

 very conscientious about letting some good grain 

 get mixed in with the mill dust. 



Once more, the good preacher who gave me ac- 

 cess to his library had a couple of hives of bees, 

 and these hives had "glass drawers" on top. Some 

 wicked boys went in after dark and pulled out 

 one of those drawers ; and as I passed by they 

 told me what they had done, and asked me to 

 "have some honey." Even if I was not a "thief" 

 I was at least a"partaker," to a small extent. I 

 am glad to tell you that my conscience troubled 

 me about it, but not enough so as to cause me to 

 go to the good man and confess. 



Once more, the good doctor who was such a 

 good friend of mine had a fine tree of Red As- 

 trakhan apples near the fence. With some other 

 boys I went there after dark and helped to pilfer 

 his apples when he had only that one tree. It is 

 true at this very time I was attending Sunday- 

 school regularly, and learning "verses;" but some- 

 how they did not seem to take hold of me at that 

 age in a way that one of older years might sup- 

 pose they ought to have done. A. I. Root. 



NATIONAL " RACE SUICIDE." 

 And God said unto them, Be fruitful and multiply, 

 and replenish the earth and subdue it. — Gen. 2 :28. 



What is the use of being patriotic, what 

 is the use of being progTessive, what is the 

 use of lighting for one's country and na- 

 tion, if there are to be no children to take 



