AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



521 



i^oiiventioii Ki^Iioe*!!. 



To tell of all the good things on the gen- 

 erous " bill of fare " at the St. Joseph con- 

 vention, week before last, would require a 

 great deal of time and space. Thinking 

 that a few paragraphs might be acceptable, 

 we undertake the pleasant task, though we 

 hardly know where to commence. 



Beginning at Chicago, we may say first, 

 that Dr. Miller, W. Z. Hutchinson, Dr. 

 Peiro and " ye editor " formed a quartet 

 that thoroughly enjoyed the meeting from 

 start to finish. To us, one of the best parts 

 of the whole convention was the conversa- 

 tional discussions " on board the train " to 

 and from Saint Joseph. 



Arriving in the " Saint-ed " city about 

 10:30 a.m., the first day of the convention, 

 Oct. 10th, we were met at the station by E. 

 F. Quigley, of Unionville, and F. H. Rich- 

 ardson, of Laclede — two typical Missouri- 

 ans. They kindly escorted us four tired 

 travelers to the beautiful Commercial Club 

 room, where the convention was to be held. 

 Soon after having met the genial Pres. 

 Abbott, and others who had arrived, the 

 meeting was called to order. Much good 

 work, we believe, during the sessions, was 

 done. Among the important things was 

 the revising and condensing of the con- 

 stitution and by-laws. 



We think the new President, R. F. Hol- 

 termann, has mistaken his calling. He 

 should have been a lawyer, judging by the 

 way he plead for Toronto as the next place 

 of meeting. He was successful, too, against 

 a whole " special car " of those determined 

 Nebraskans. Oh, but didn't they make a 

 strong pull for Lincoln ? And how grace- 

 fully they "gave up " in favor of Toronto ! 

 But we'll expect to "pack our grip" for 

 Lincoln in 1896. We heard some wonder- 

 fully nice things about that place, and now 

 we are very anxious to see it. 



Only a very few ladies were in attend- 

 ance ; but let us tell you that what they 

 lacked in quantity they fully made up in 

 quality! Now. there was Mrs. J. M. Null, 

 of Miami, Mo. Why, she's a whole conven- 

 tion herself, though she is awfully quiet 

 about it. Probably the next Froc/re.mw 

 J3ee- Keeper will be her " mouth-piece." We 

 noticed she kept her pencil going very 

 faithfully nearly all the time. 



Then Mrs. Whitcomb, of Friend, Nebr., 

 was there. It's queer, but Sister W. "talks 



through her fingers," and does it very em- 

 phatically, too. You should have seen the 

 exquisite piece of beeswax-work she had 

 made and brought with her. It was a 

 "Musical Lyre," surrounded at the base 

 with beautiful flowers — the whole thing 

 made out of beeswax. It won a $10 prize 

 at a certain fair this fall. It certainly was 

 the slickest Lyre (not "liar ") we ever saw. 

 (Some other time we wiU tell what became 

 of Mrs. W.'s " Musical Lyre.") 



Mrs. Strawbridge, the pleasant President 

 of a Kansas bee-keepers' association, was 

 there. Also Mrs. Leighton, of Lincoln. 

 Her son " took down " the proceedings in 

 shorthand for Secretary Benton, so we 

 may expect to have an excellent report. 

 Mr. Leighton is a court reporter as well as 

 a bee-keeper. 



There were some other ladies present, 

 among them Mrs. Abbott, the good wife of 

 the President. You can tell her, if you 

 wish, that we said she is the best cook in 

 Missouri— surely, so far as we know. " The 

 proof of the pudding is in the eathtg "—and 

 that's how we can speak so positively about 

 Mrs. Abbott's culinary accomplishments. 

 If Missouri has any young ladies who will 

 likely ever approach Mrs. Abbott in effi- 

 ciency and capability in the housekeeping 

 line, we'd advise our young gentlemen 

 friends to seek their life partners in that 

 portion of Uncle Sam's domain. 



Besides being a practical farmer, teacher, 

 preacher and bee-keeper, Pres. Abbott is a 

 most able presiding oflScer. He keeps 

 things moving, too. No danger of any one 

 going to sleep in hi.x audience! And what 

 a worker he is ! Why, he had St. Joseph 

 plastered with big card-board notices of the 

 meeting ; he wrote several hundred letters 

 to various agricultural papers about the 

 convention, and was for a whole year plan- 

 ning and working for a good meeting. And 

 best of all, he succeeded. 



Dr. Miller, of course, made everybody 

 happy with his songs and comic readings. 

 But we believe he was happiest when in the 

 midst of a general convention bee-talk — the 

 result of an attack upon the question-box. 



Dr. Peiro's occasional humorous sugges- 

 tions in the midst of a heavy discussion were 

 enjoyed by all. He knows how to make 

 things lively and pleasant. He thoroughly 

 enjoyed his first bee-convention. We hope 

 it won't be his last. 



Mr. Richardson, to whom we referred be- 



