56 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 



any other. To make it convenient for carrying, a strap 

 of leather or cloth may be nailed to two diagonally oppo- 

 site corners on the bottom. Or the cover may be nailed 

 on the box with a hand-hole in the middle. The box 

 being of three different dimensions, one has a choice as 

 to height of seat. It is a little curious to know what a 

 difference there is in this respect as to the preferences 

 of different persons. My assistant never uses the 

 highest seat the box affords, while I never use the lowest. 

 Fig. 18 shows a hive-seat with a strap-handle, the 

 kind I prefer; Fig. 19 shows one with hand-hole, which 

 my assistant prefers. 



A DIGRESSION. 



Perhaps I ought to digress a little, and tell you about 

 my help. Years ago, my wife, her sister Emma, and 

 sometimes my boy Charlie (I have no other children), all 

 worked with me at the bees. Those were delightful days. 

 I think Charlie would have made a very bright bee- 

 keeper, but somehow he did not take kindly to the busi- 

 ness, and has spent his later years in the army and gov- 

 ernment service. My wife is one of the sort who is 

 never happy unless she is doing something for someone 

 else, so for years she has been confined to the house so 

 as to help make a pleasant home for others, sometimes 

 of my relatives, sometimes of hers. Ever since the year 

 of our Lord eighteen hundred and ninety-eight there has 

 dwelt with us my wife's mother, Mrs. Margaret Wilson, 

 a blessed old Scotch saint, whose presence in the home 

 I feel to be much like the presence of the ark in the 

 house of Obed-Edom, when "it was told king David, say- 

 ing. The Lord hath blessed the house of Obed-Edom, and 

 all that pertaineth unto him, because of the ark of God." 

 She is a great consumer of honey, and her temper is cor- 

 respondingly sweet. 



ASSISTANT BEE-KEEPER. 



So for a number of years Miss Emma AL Wilson has 

 given me the only assistance I have had in the apiary. 



