THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



97 



to offer mj' tribute of respect, to a uoble 

 man who spent the best years of his life 

 in the advancement of the science in which 

 we are all enthusiasts. I refer to Moses 

 Quinby, of St. Johnsville, in this State, 

 the organizer and tirst President of this 

 association, who served in that capacity 

 for five years, bringing to our meetings 

 the greatest knowledge, the wisest coun- 

 sels, the richest experiences, and who has 

 now passed from us. 



We can no longer enjoy his genial 

 presence at our meetings. We shall never 

 again listen to his words of timely coun- 

 sel. His example remains to us, and may 

 the great services he rendered the bee- 

 keeping fraternity never be forgotten. 



It was probably my privilege to know 

 him as intimately, as an}^ beekeeper out- 

 side of his own family, and from him at 

 the age of fifteen, I received my first 

 enthusiasm on the subject, and to him in 

 common with thousands of beekeepers in 

 the land, I am indebted, more than to any 

 other, for practical instruction on the 

 subject. 



It is needless to mention the great 

 amount of literar}- work performed by 

 him, or remind you of the many valuable 

 contributions to the subject, emanating 

 from his pen, with these j^ou are acquainted, 

 to those who are not, I refer to his work, 

 "Mysteries of Bee-keeping Explained," 

 the files of the Bee Journals, the Americnii 

 Agriculturist, Country (Jentlemcm and other 

 agricultural papers, lo which he regularly 

 contributed for years, with occasionally 

 an article to our best dailies. But this is 

 only a portion of his work, the number of 

 letters received and answered by him, 

 would seem almost incredible to any of us. 

 It was his practice to answer them all, if 

 not too impertinent, often paying postage 

 when the questions seemed important. 



Of the great amount of gratuitous labor 

 performed by him, to advance the science 

 of bee-culture, the fraternity as a whole, 

 will never know, nor can they realize, the 

 information imparted to the numbers who 

 flocked to see him personally, especially 

 in the busy season. 



Twice I was at his house in June, when 

 I found there three from a distance to 

 whom he was imparting instruction, in 

 fact, his house was quite a hotel most of 

 the time, with this difference, you could 

 get no grog, neither could you pay a bill, 

 except by imparting to, and helping others 

 in the same generous spirit. 



In thus imparting to others he found 

 the highest enjoyment, without a thought 

 that the time thus spent was putting his 

 own business to a disadvantage. 



He so fully realized the millions of 

 pounds of delicious food annually going 

 to waste, that a kind Creator had placed 

 within our reach, simply for the taking, 

 that he regarded any amount of labor on 



his part, to bring this knowledge to the 

 world, no more than Christian duty. 



It is to be regretted that he was not 

 spared to complete the work on Advanced 

 Bee Culture he had in contemplation. It 

 is also to be hoped that some member of 

 his family may give to the public, in some 

 enduring form, a Biography, and some of 

 his best articles on the subject. 



It is often asked, " why did not Mr. 

 Quinby accumulate a fortune keeping 

 bees?" as he best answers the question, in 

 an address to this association, I quote the 

 paragraph — 



" Two years ago, it was stated, in the 

 North American convention of Bee- Keep- 

 ers at Cleveland, Ohio, that Mr. Quinby 

 had accumulated a fortune keeping bees, 

 this was promptly denied, as far as dollars 

 and cents were concerned. 



"The term fortune is very indefinite as 

 to the amount of money constituting one, 

 one person would have it, with one hun- 

 dredth part as much as another, and then 

 again, a fortune may C(msist in the accu- 

 mulation of knowledge, wherewith the 

 dollars may be gained in the future. In 

 yet another view, a fortune may be consid- 

 ered in the light of treasures laid up in 

 heaven, in the satisfaction of having done 

 something for the benefit of man, a per- 

 petual reward, I hope I may have done, 

 or shall do, something that way. 



"The fact that a fortune was not secured 

 pecuniarily, by me, is, I think, owing 

 to distribution as fast as accumulated. 

 Whenever a fact was obtained that would 

 benefit others as well as myself, it was 

 forthwith given to all who would receive 

 it." 



His life has been in every sense a life 

 of usefulness, and not wholly devoted to 

 the interests of bee-culture, for he took 

 a living interest in any movement he 

 thought would benefit society, and as an 

 advocate, and helper in the temperance 

 work, did no mean service. 



He possessed true kindness of heart, 

 and regarded it a religious duty to make 

 all better and happier with whom he 

 came in contact, and regarded that life a 

 failure that did not leave the world the 

 better for having lived. The following 

 little incident tells its owm story. On 

 the day of the funeral some bare-footed 

 boys had followed down the street to the 

 front of the house, where one of them 

 turned up a sorrowful looking face and 

 remarked to the ofliciaiing clergyman : 

 " I am sorry Mr. Quinby is dead. " 

 On being asked why, he replied : " He 

 gave us apples and pears, and sometimes" 

 grapes." They then asked if they might 

 see him. 



Generally, sickness as a warning for 

 preparation, precedes dissolution, but in 

 the case of our friend, at the small hours 

 of night when reposing in quiet slumber 

 the message came, as though fully prepared 



