1897. 



THE AMERICAN BEE KEEPER. 



189 



T£j« Bells. 



JSells were well known to the Egyp- 

 tians before the time of the Jewish exo- 

 dus, lu the description of Aaron's sa- 

 cerdotal robe mention is made of the fad 

 that upon the hem of tlie garment then 

 were bells of gold, alternating with 

 pomegranates of blue, of purple and of 

 scarlet: "A golden bell and a pome- 

 granate, a golden bell and a pomegra- 

 nate, upon the hem of the robe round 

 about. And it shall be upon Aaron to 

 minister, and his sound shall be heard 

 when he goeth in unto the holy place 

 before the Lord, and when he cometh 

 out, that he die not. " Hand bells were 

 in common use all over the ancient 

 world. The earliest use of bells in 

 churches was for the purpose of fright- 

 ening away the evil spirits which were 

 believed to infest earth and air, and 

 the earliest curfew was rung at night- 

 fall to rid the neighborhood of the vil 

 lage or town and church of demons. 



Most old churches of Europe have a 

 small door on the north side, and at 

 certain points in the service this door 

 was opened, and a bell was rung to give 

 notice to the devil, if be chanced to be 

 present, that he might make his exit 

 before the elevation. By the command 

 of Pope John IX church bells were rung 

 as a protection against thunder and 

 lightning. The monument of Porsena, 

 the Etrurian king, was decorated with 

 pinnacles, each surmounted with a bell, 

 which tinkled in the breeze. The army 

 of Clothaire rai::ed the siege of Sens on 

 account of a panic occasioned among 

 the men by a sudden chime from the 

 bells of St. Stephen's church. The lar- 

 gest bell in the world is in the Kremlin 

 at Moscow. Its weight is 250 tons, and 

 the value of the bell metal alone, not 

 counting the gold and silver ornaments 

 which were thrown into the pots as 

 votive offerings, is estimated at £66,- 

 565, or about $332,825. 



A Novel Device. 



"When people are suffering from 

 thirst, they will resort to all kinds of 

 means to get water," remarked a gen- 

 tleman who was at one time a member 

 of the United States geological and sur- 

 veying expedition in the Indian Terri- 

 tory. "For some time we had been 

 without water and were suffering great- 



ly. Among our number was an oia trap- 

 per who was as keen on the scent for 

 water as is a hound on the trail of a 

 deer. Finally he paused at a place and 

 stopped. 



" 'I think there's water here, if we 

 could dig a well, ' he observed. 



*' 'But we can't,' I replied. 



'* 'No, but we can do something else, ' 

 he said. 



"With that he cut a reed, tying some 

 moss on the end of it. Then he dug into 

 the earth, placed his reed in the hole 

 and packed the earth around the reed. 

 He waited for a few moments. 



" 'Do you mean to say you can suck 

 water out of that thing?' I asked. 



" 'Yes, if, as I think, there's water 

 near the surface. ' 



"He drew strongly at it with much 

 satisfaction. 



" 'Good, 'he remarked. 'Would yon 

 like to try it?' 



"With little confidence in the result, 

 I sucked at the reed with the surprising 

 result of getting plenty of clear, pure 

 water. To my parched tongue it seemed 

 the very nectar of the gods. 



" 'It's as clear as the water of a 

 spring, ' I said. 



" 'Yes, the moss is our filter,' he re- 

 plied. 



"We pursued our journey much re- 

 freshed, and I never forgot the old trap- 

 per's advice. " — Detroit Free Press. 



Shoes. 



Shoes are in every part machine made. 

 It is said by scientific authority that 

 there is no department of human indus- 

 try in which machinery and the subdi- 

 vision of labor have been brought to 

 greater perfection than in the manilfac- 

 ture of shoes. In the great shoe facto- 

 ries there are women employed whose 

 business the year round is to sew one 

 seam and one only. Even the metal eye- 

 lets are placed in position and clamped 

 by a mechanical device. 



Careful. 



"My dear," said Mrs. Darley, "could 

 you leave me about $25 this morning?" 



"My sweetne.ss, " replied Darley, "a 

 bank cashier has just died from the ef- 

 fect of handling paper money, and I'm 

 afraid to expose you to the danger. Can 

 you wait until I can procure gold for 

 vou?" — Harper's Bazar. 



