142 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[Dec. 



under wliicli he professes to have acted, he is 

 mightily mistakeu. No; manlvind may as 

 Barnum affirms, lilie to be humbugged, but the 

 imposition must be decently and cleverly done. 

 There must be some degree of artistic disguise 

 about it. Mr. King's "announcement" lacks 

 this. " It's too thin." As a stroke of piety, it 

 is not a success. It's too Pecksniffian. An 

 air of pious cant pervades the whole thing. It's 

 a burlesque and caricature, not a genuine 

 religious experience. If it were a true thing 

 there would be some talk of restitution, or, at 

 least, some expression of regret for having 

 swindled the public so long. A true penitent 

 is ready to surrender his ill-gotten gains. Mr. 

 King isn't. Not a word of amends, reparation, 

 or even sorrow, can be found in the entire 

 article. 



Every beekeeper, possessed of the least pene- 

 tration, will see in tlie "higher power," to 

 which this " new departure " is ascribed, 

 either stern necessity or selfish policy. Does 

 Mr. King really suppose he can make j^eo- 

 ple believe such statements as the following: — 

 " We have lost much more in this business 

 than we ever made out of it, but we should 

 seek to regain from the same source what we 

 have lost, did we not believe it wrong for us to 

 continue the sale of patents." Why, any shrewd 

 boy would pronounce this, " fooling." It 

 would have be;'n far better to have left con- 

 science, religion, duty, higher power, " grace 

 and strength," out of the case altogether, for 

 it only exposes sacred things to ridicule to 

 bring them in. A simple business notice would 

 have been the m;iuly, straightforward thing. 

 This canting, snivelling way of dealing brings 

 religion into contempt, and makes too many 

 seriously doubt whether there is any reality 

 at all in it. 



We say nothing here as to the principle of 

 hive patents or the worthlessness of the par- 

 ticular ones now generously given to the jjublic. 

 We may touch these and other connected 

 topics at some future time. If we don't, it is 

 pretty certain that others will. 



Ohromo Premiums. 



years ago, chromos were something of a novelty, 

 and a really good one did cost from five to 

 twenty dollars. Now chromos are more com- 

 mon than the cheapest lithographs used to be, 

 and very fair ones can be bought at low prices, 

 while the cheap ones— such as are regularly 

 used by newspaper publishers — cost little, and 

 are too often worthless. * * * -yye have 

 had numerous offers to supply us with the 

 regulation newspaper chromos for this fall's 

 campaign, at from ten to thirty cents each (the 

 same to be priced by us at from five to ten. 

 dollars each), all of which we have respectfully 

 declined." 



Newspaper Decisions. * 



1. Any person who takes a paper regularly 

 from the post-office — whether directed to his 

 name or another's, or whether he has subscribed 

 or not — is responsible for the payment. 



2. If any person orders his paper discontinued, 

 he mu.st pay all arrearages, or the publisher may 

 continue to send it, until payment is made, and 

 collect the whole amount — whether the paper 

 is taken from the office or not. 



3. The courts have decided that refusing to 

 take newspapers and periodicals from the post- 

 office, or removing and leaving them uncalled 

 for, is prima facie evidence of intentional 

 fraud. 



[For the American Bee Journal.'] 



Cheap Hives. 



We find the folio wing remai'ks in the American 

 Rural Home: 



" The picture dodge is getting stale. Five 



Dear Journal : We notice in the November 

 Journal that Novice accuses us of advertising 

 our fifty-cent hive in its pages — did you ever! 

 — j ust as though any one would write to the 

 unknown scientific for a hive. 



We would inform Mr. Novice that not a line 

 has reached us furthermore we have no neat 

 circulars to bait the hook with when the line 

 is droped. We will however describe the hive 

 and let your readers j udge who has advertised 

 it the most on the pages of the Journal. 



Well then, if you want a hive for fifty cents, 

 make a simplicity hive of rough hemlock boards, 

 the hive with top and bottom won't cost over 

 thirty cents, if hemlock lumber is as cheap as 

 it is with us. Now instead of spending your 

 money for tin corner frames, at six cents each, 

 make your frames as follows, and they will 

 cost less than two cents each, and we will 

 guarantee you can handle them easier than \r^ 

 Novice can his, and you will secure straight - 



