FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 329 



my office may be on the back porch seen in Fig. 1, or it 

 may be in any one of nine different rooms inside. A look 

 at the furnishings in Fig. Ill will show that it is no 

 serious undertaking to move my "office" whenever de- 

 sired. I never like to be far from the rest of the family, 

 and when at work I' enjoy the sound of their voices, even 

 though I may pay no attention to what they are saying. 

 They are generally cjuite considerate in refraining from 

 interrupting my work by remarks directed personally to 

 me, but sometimes they forget. 



I count myself singularly blessed in having a home 

 •Ahere all the members of the family are so united in their 

 tastes and enjoyments. One of our chief earthly pleas- 

 ures is the love of flowers. At our quiet country home we 

 have room unlimited for prcdn-cing summer roses by the 

 bushel, and the bay window of the sitting-room brightens 

 the days of winter with its bright colors and luxuriant 

 green. If you were here, I am sure you would enjoy a 

 sight of that window, and then I would take pride in dis- 

 pla}'ing to you my set of china honey-dishes shown in the 

 last picture in the book. They were painted by my sister, 

 each dish showing a separate honey-plant, one-half the 

 dish being covered by a honey-comb. 



I desire to record my deep gratitude to a loving 

 Heavenly Father for giving me so busy and happy a life ; 

 and for you, dear reader, I can dardly express a better 

 wish than that your life may be as happy, if not as busy, 

 as mine. 



Some years ago, at the instigation of Editor E. R. Root, I wrote a 

 honey-leaflet which has been circulated by hundreds of thousands. It has 

 been thought well that it should be reproduced in more permanent form 

 by liaving a "!are in the present work, and here follows: 



H )N':;v AG A W.TOLESOME Food 



About 80 pounds of sugar on the average is annually consumed by 

 every man, woman and child in the United States. Of course, many use 

 less than the average, but to make up for it some consume several times 

 as much. It is only within the last few centuries that sugar has become 

 known, and only within the last generation that refined sugars have be- 



