T46 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



No. 72 —Mr. Samel Cornell. 



As promised a few weeks ago, we this 

 week are permitted to give something 

 more about Mr. S. Cornell, the promi- 

 nent Canadian bee-keeper who died so 

 suddenly on April 7, 1894. He had 

 reached the age of 58 years on the very 

 day of his death. After dinner he went 

 to the garden and apiary, and was found 

 a few hours later with life extinct. 

 Heart failure was supposed to be the 

 cause. He left a wife and family to 

 mourn his sudden departure. 



The Canadian Bee Journal for May 

 contained the following sketch in con- 

 nection with the portrait herewith pre- 

 sented : 



Mr. Corneil was born in the township 

 of Ops, Ontario county, on April 7, 

 1836. His childhood and youth were 

 spent on the farm. Having obtained a 

 good education, he taught for some 

 years at various places, and was after- 

 wards local superintendent of schools 

 for the county. For the last 25 years 

 his residence has been in Lindsay, and 

 he was chiefly engaged as an insurance 

 agent. He was twice Elected a member 

 ojf the Board of Education in Lindsay, 

 and assisted much in getting the old 

 High School changed to its present rank 

 of a Collegiate Institute. 



Mr. Corneil was chiefly noted for tak- 

 ing some problem in bee-keeping, and 

 with careful and painstaking efi'ort seek- 

 ing to bring upon it all the scientific 

 light which could be found in various 

 works, and which appeared to bear upon 

 the question. Although bee-keepers did 

 not always agree with the conclusions 

 arrived at, there is no doubt Mr. Cor- 

 nell's writings were interesting and of 

 value, aside from what may have been 

 correct, in that it tended to make Cana- 

 dian — yes, American — bee-keepers pay 

 greater attention to the scientific side of 



bee-keeping. Practically, the bee-keep- 

 ers of the ATuerican continent lead the 

 world. From the scientific standpoint 

 we have much to learn from such men 

 as Cowan, Cheshire, Dzierzon and others 

 — men who are original and careful 

 students of scientific bee-keeping. 



The sudden call of one so well known 

 to the bee-keeping fraternity is not with- 

 out its solemn lessons. Let each of us 

 take the lesson home to ourselves. 



In the Bee-Keepers'' Review Mr. Allen 

 Pringle — an intimate friend of Mr. Cor- 

 neil — wrote thus concerning him : 



'• Steal thou away— give little warning, 

 Say not ' good night,' 

 But In some clime more bright, 



Bid me * good morning.' " 



The bee-keepers of Canada, in the 

 death of Samuel Corneil, of Lindsay, 

 have lost one of their ablest and best 

 men. Mr. Corneil died suddenly, and 

 alone in his bee-yard on the afternoon 

 of April 7th, presumably of heart fail- 

 ure. He had taken his dinner with his 

 family in his usual health, and in good 

 spirits, but it proved to be the last. But 

 Mr. Cornell's health appears to have 

 been failing him during the spring. The 

 last letter I have from him bears date 

 March 3, 1894, and in it he says : 



" The Doctor advises me to do as little 

 mental work as possible. I have had 

 several slight attacks of vertigo within 

 the past few weeks ; but on this day two 

 weeks, I was brought home, for the first 

 time in my life, in a bus, as limp as a 

 rag. The Doctor says it is caused by 

 the failure of the stomach to do its work, 

 which, in turn, is caused by nervous- 

 ness, the result of mental overwork and 

 worry. Hence his advice to ease off so 

 as to allow the stomach and nervous 

 system to regain their tone." 



I make this extract from a private 

 letter, knowing it will be read with in- 

 terest, and, I trust, also with profit to 

 the living — profit to those who need and 

 can take an admonition of that kind, 

 and I count myself among the number. 



Personally, I had great respect for 

 Mr. Corneil, and enjoyed his intellectual 

 companionship whenever opportunity 

 for personal intercourse or correspond- 

 ence presented itself. Although on some 

 subjects outside of apiculture wedifl-ered 

 in opinion, and measured swords, Mr. 

 Corneil was built on too broad a plan to 

 allow that to interfere with the cordial 

 relations of personal friendship. 



Mr. Corneil was a fair scholar, an 

 able and accurate writer on apicultural 

 subjects in which it may be fairly said 



