AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



109 



all successful bee-keepers are lovers of 

 flowers and poultry. Am I right ? 



I have a flock of fine Plymouth Rock 

 chickens, and a bunch of White Holland 

 turkeys, and, oh ! how I do enjoy a rest 

 sometimes among my pet chickens and 

 turkeys ! Jennie Atchley. 



Out With a Load, of Preacliers. 



As I have promised to tell Ttiore about 

 southwest Texas, I will proceed by say- 

 ing that Charlie has just returned (Dec. 

 28th) with a wagon load of preachers 

 that he carried out hunting two weeks 

 ago. I will relate their success. 



They killed 20 wild turkeys, 4 wild 

 geese, and a number of ducks, squirrels, 

 armadillo, and a lot of other small game, 

 and one deer. Charles says that of all 

 the lively crowds he ever saw, it is a 

 wagon load of preachers. They made 

 it a rule that the first man that enterec^ 

 camp with a loaded gun should cook a 

 day, and soon they had plenty of cooks. 



Charles says that he and one of the 

 preachers went out one day together, 

 and they espied a deer off 50 or 75 

 yards, and the preacher was to have 

 first shot, then if he missed his aim 

 Charles was to try it. The preacher's 

 gun snapped, and failed to fire, and then 

 Charles fired away and missed the deer. 

 The preacher told him that he had the 

 " buck ague," and so why he missed it. 

 But Charles says that he was laughing 

 at the hard Sunday-school words the 

 preacher was saying because his gun 

 failed to fire, so it turned out that 

 neither of them bagged that deer. 



All the preachers got lost, and lay out 

 one night about 15 miles from camp. 

 They had Ijilled a deer, but could not 

 carry it all. A large 12-spike buck 

 would have weighed 200 pounds. Well, 

 they took off the hams, and took turns 

 about carrying it, and they got be- 

 wildered, and night overtook them. But 

 about dusk they espied a log-cabin, and 

 went to it, but found no one at home, 

 and from the best they could make out, 

 it was the home of one of the "fence- 

 riders," or where one of the guards 

 lived that looked after the ranch to keep 

 fence cutters and hunters out. The 

 preachers were so nearly famished and 

 tired that they remained all night at the 

 cabin, and no owner came that night, 

 but the preachers found some dried beef 

 and some flour and black molasses, so 

 they were fixed, and soon filled their 

 empty " bread-baskets," as they called 

 them. 



They would not sleep on the bed, as 

 they found a six shooter under the pil- 

 low, but they laid on the floor, and one 

 kept watch while the others slept, up 

 until midnight, when all fell asleep. 

 The reason they kept watch was, that 

 they feared the owner would come home 

 and take them for robbers, and fire into 

 them without warning. But no owner 

 came, so in the morning they arose early 

 and ate breakfast, and Charles says the 

 preachers say they left some money and 

 a note on the table, to show the owner 

 that they were not robbers, but they 

 longed for a fence-rider to overtake 

 them, as they had gotten in on forbidden 

 ground, and did not know how to get 

 out. As there were 170,000 acres in 

 the pasture, you see they had a hard 

 time of it. 



But before night the following day 

 they reached camp O. K., but nearly 

 worn out, and they said they did not ex- 

 pect to find Charles there, as none of 

 them would have staid alone at that 

 camp among the wolves, panthers, wild 

 cats, cougars, bears, etc. But Charles 

 said he made it all right without any 

 trouble, but the coyote wolves kept him 

 plenty of company with their howling. 

 However, the preachers made up their 

 minds that if that 14:-year-old boy had 

 remained at the camp ten miles from 

 anybody all alone, they would each give 

 him a dollar, which they did, though 

 Charles says he thanked them and of- 

 fered the money back ; but no, they 

 said that a boy with all that courage 

 justly deserved the money, and they in- 

 sisted on his keeping it, which he did. 



They then went into conference, and 

 delegated two to go after the rest of that 

 big fat deer, when lo, and behold, they 

 got lost, and just barely made it into 

 camp by night, without finding the 

 treasure. They then called together 

 the "court" and discussed the matter 

 of adjournment, as most of them had to 

 get home in time to preach the Christ- 

 roast sermon at their several churches. 

 Well, they broke camp on the morning 

 of Dec. 22nd, and Charles started home 

 with his wagon load of Baptist ministers. 



You will remember that I have told 

 you of our bee-wagon being enclosed 

 with wire-cloth, and resembles a lion's 

 cage. Well, after they got started on 

 their way home, they concluded to play 

 lion awhile, and one of them was a little 

 fellow, and Charles says that the larger 

 preachers tore his clothes nearly all off 

 of him, and when they arrived at the 

 hotel at Beeville, he wrapped himself up 

 in his overcoat and went in, and they 

 had to go out and buy some clothes for 



