230 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



August 



DON'T LEAN our 



PLUMB. 



Did yon ever observe in yonr I'ambles aboiat 



The political scenes of the day 

 How often reforniers engender a doubt 



By their overpunctilious way? 

 Their censorship always reminds me of those 



Who beneath, my inspection have come, 

 Attempting to strike a magnificent pose, 



Have o'erdone it to lean out of plumb. 



They lean too far back, and, in fact, become 

 bent- 

 Most fool'sh the posture they take— 

 And instead of ej^prtssing their upright intent 



They lead you to fear they may break. 

 They wish you to feel that they're honest and 

 wise • 



And not at all crooked or dumb, 

 STet there they will stand with their eyes tc 

 the skies 

 And unconsciously lean out of plumb. 



In trade or religion, in politics, too. 



If our rectitude we would disclose, 

 Stand modestiy forth to the popular view 



And don't trj' to strut or to pose. 

 For ofttimes our eagerness may be too great— 



At least it has happened to some — 

 And our efforts to tower in matters of state 



Dwarf all chance as we lean out of plumb 

 —Harry O. Dowd in New York Sun 



A FLOOD REMINISCENCE. 



How a Young English Engineer Saved 

 Lowell From Destruction. 



The city cf Lowell was saved, from 

 destruction iu 1852 by the foresight of 

 one young man. About 1835 a Lowell 

 antiquarian named Uriah A. Boyden 

 devoted much attention to investigating 

 a tradition of a great flood in the Men-i- 

 mac in 1785 and found an old man who 

 remembered that his father marked the 

 height of the water by driving a spike 

 in an apple tree. Mr. Bcydeu persevered 

 in his search until he found the tree in 

 Tyngsboro, several miles above Lowell. 

 Its trunk was hollow, and entering it 

 from below he discovered the spike, its 

 head wholly concealed by the bark, at a 

 considerable distance above the ground. 

 It showed that in 1785 the water had 

 risen to a point l^% feet higher than 

 the top of the dam at the mouth of the 

 canal, which furnished the Lowell wa- 

 ter power in 1835. 



The engineer in charge of this power 

 was James B. Francis, a young English- 

 man, who urged the directors of the 

 coriDoration to provide against the recur- 

 rence of such a rise cf water. His argu- 

 ments prevailed, and he was allowed to 

 construct trwo immense wing walls of 

 masonry, diverging from the canal lock 



ana inclosing the entn'c country between 

 the canal and the river. Over the water- 

 way he hung an immensely strong gate, 

 weighing 20 tons, which was suspended 

 by a wrought iron chain. A sledge and 

 a cold chisel were placed in the care of 

 the watchman f cr use when needed. The 

 woi'k was finished in 1850, and for two 

 years was laughed at as "Francis' 

 folly." 



On the morning cf April 22, 1852, the 

 waters rose so high that the city of 

 Lowell was tln-eatened with destruction, 

 and the young engineer was sent for. 

 He rode to the dam without a saddle 

 and huiTiedly cut the chain, releasing 

 the great gate. His work stood bravely, 

 and the Boston Advertiser, five days 

 later, said that if it had not been con- 

 structed "every vestige of the old guard 

 gates would have been carried away and 

 a mighty and uncontrollable river would 

 have swept through the heart of Low- 

 ell, destroying everything in its course. ' ' 

 A service cf plate was presented to Mr. 

 Francis, and during the remainder of 

 his life, v\'hich ended only recently, he 

 was one of Lowell's most honored citi- 

 zens. For mere than 40 years he was 

 agent of the corporation controlling the 

 water power. — Chicago Inter Ocean. 



Chrysantliemum Salad. 

 In Jajjan the flowers of the chrysan- 

 themum constitute a popular dish. 

 Dui-icg the months of November and 

 December bunches of them, washed and 

 carefully displayed, may be seen in the 

 stores of all the dealers in vegetables. 

 Almost all the varieties are edible, 

 strictly spfuiking, but those to w^hich 

 preference is usually given have deep 

 yellow flower heads. 



On Another Lay Now. 



"I remember," said Mrs. Wickwire 

 impressively, "you once said that if you 

 had the world you would gladly lay it 

 at my feet. " 



"Oh, did I?" asked Mr. Wickwire. 



"Yes, Jim did. And now I have to 

 nag at you for three days to get you to 

 lay a carpet." — Washington Star. 



The nemertes, a marine animal, is 

 an augler and a net combined. This sin- 

 gular creature has a ribbonlike structure, 

 only an eighth of an inch thick, but from 

 20 to 90 feet in length. 



