TOO 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 1. 



of him. and thanked him. Then he quietly re- 

 marked he guessed he hart belter give me a 

 check. T told him that, as It would not stand 

 there more than fifteen or twenty minute's. 1 

 did not think he need to take the trouble. 

 However, he put on his paper check; and then 

 as he extended to me a bit of pasteboard, with 

 the usual insinuating smile, he said, "Ten 

 cents, please." I qu<>stion right here whether 

 a hotel -keeper has a right to charge you for 

 checking your wheel any more than he has for 

 checking your overcoat. Never mind. Ten 

 cents is only a small matter, after all. But I 

 paid .50 cents for a 2.'5-cent dinner: and I could 

 not get even the 3.T-cent dinner witliout repeat- 

 edly urging the waiters to bring me this. that, 

 and the other. At first they did not see me at 

 all. Then they had a habit of forgetting what 

 they went for. There, there! I think I have 

 found fault enough. I feel a little ashamed of 

 myself after saving what I have said. But I 

 wish you to notice the great contrast between 

 the way they do things at Lakeside and the 

 way they do them where the only inspiring 

 motive is to get as much money as possible 

 with the least expense and exertion possible. 

 There, I have put my foot in it again in ihat 

 last sentence. I fear. The si)ench is not Chi'i<- 

 tianlike. and it is somewhat of an exaffgeration. 

 Well. I think I have got through, at least for 

 the present, finding fault with such accommo- 

 dations as we find in traveling. 



At Lakeside they have a great hotel also. It 

 is an immense building, and it has all the con- 

 veniences of hotels that charge three or four 

 dollars a day. I say a?7 the "conveniences." 

 I mean, so far as I am concerned. There was 

 not any bar for liquors attached. There was 

 not any case of cigars close to the desk. There 

 were no nasty spittoon*, and there ^yere no 

 loafers chewing and spitting, and puffing to- 

 bacco smoke in your face. The office was a 

 clean and tidy place, with lots of pure air. and 

 a general atmosphere of purity that to me was 

 indeed refreshing. Not only was there no to- 

 bacco smoke, but I did not hear a single vile or 

 uncourteous word during my stay. When we 

 approached the dining-room, even though there 

 were large crowds, a pleasant woman directed 

 each one to a place at the table: and she did it 

 with an air of refinement and cheerful hospi- 

 tality siich as you might find if you were to go 

 and visit your own sister whom you had not 

 seen for year?. Then another young woman, 

 of equal refinement and gentility, either waited 

 on you at once or informed you she would be at 

 leisure pretty soon. Every thing on the bill of 

 fare was exactly what 1t purported to be: and 

 the cooking was like home cookinsr. I do not 

 know whether all the waiters and clerks at 

 Lakeside Hotel are professing Christians or 

 not: but to my mind they came very near being 

 Christians in" their behavior, even if it should 

 transpire that they do not belong to any 

 church. 



One thing that pleased me at Lakeside ^\■as, 

 the little cards told you beforehand what every 

 thing cost; and nowhere did we find any ex- 

 cuses made for charging more than the price 

 agreed on. There was also a pleasant socia- 

 bility that I greatly enjoyed. People bantered 

 each other pleasantly, who were perfect stran- 

 gers, even though there were three thousand or 

 more on the grounds at the time I was there. 

 There were old gray-headed people sitting in 

 their arm-chairs, and enjoying the lake breezes, 

 while they talked over old times, etc. There 

 were great numbers of children paddling like 

 ducks on the «andy beach, playing all over the 

 grounds, and I did not hear any quarreling or 

 hard words. It seemed to be the fashion at 

 fjakeside to be pleasant and good-natured. 



There was lots of fun and merriment — in fact, 

 all kinds of games and pastimes were going on 

 — tliat is, all soMs of innocent games. A good 

 many of the small boys were dressed so that 

 they could live like the frogs— in the water or 

 out of it as the spirit moved; and a favorite 

 joke down on the pier was, to pretend that one 

 ofiheboys had been pushed overboard, espe- 

 cially when one of the large steamboats was 

 unloading passengers. After a chill had gone 

 through the crowd to think somebody had fall- 

 en oflf into the deep water, a mischievous ur- 

 chin's face would emerge from the depths be- 

 side the pier. You could see the grin on his 

 face before he came to the surface. One boy 

 liapppiied to go down head first; and when he 

 strui'k the water his head pushed out the 

 crow n of his hat. This forced the brim dow n 

 on his shoulders, so when became up his eyes 

 were just twinkling above his hat where the 

 crown used to be fastened on. 



I now wish to explain that my mission to 

 Lakt'side was to meet with the Ohio Anti- 

 saloon League. We had stirring addresses 

 from the representative speakers of all the 

 temperance societies in our land; and these 

 addresses, characterized by the same courteous 

 bearing toward all. made me feel that Lake- 

 side was quite different from the rest of the 

 world. I have not space here to give even a 

 summary of those talks. But I wish to give a 

 few sentences from an address by the Rev. 

 James Brand, of Oberlin. For many years of 

 his life he has been an active, stirring exponent 

 of temperance: but he belonged to the Repub- 

 lican party. He said, during the years when 

 he was a Republican he was greatly pained by 

 the harsh and unkind speeches that were madf 

 because of his politics. Those belonging tc 

 other parties told him that he did not vote as 

 he prayed: and some went so far as to intimate 

 that he could not be a Christian and vote a Re 

 publican ticket. Afterstudying and praying 

 over the matter for si^veral long years, and aft 

 er being for quite a length of time "on th( 

 fence." as politicians term it, he finally decide( 

 to support the Prohibition party. He said h( 

 thought he had been unkinJly treated before 

 because he did not see things exactly as other 

 did; but when it first came out that he hac 

 united with the Prohibition party, one of th( 

 nearest and dearest friends he had on eartl 

 said to him. " Mr. Brand, you are a pig-headed 

 consummate fool." The point he made wa 

 this: There seems to be no escnping thesi 

 harsh, uncharitable flings. No matter n^ha 

 party a man belongs to. he must meet them 

 Isth'isriffht? Is it brotherly ? Is it Christian 

 like? With the progress that is being madi 

 everywhere else, ought we not to rise abovi 

 such' foolish, narrow-minded, harsh judgments 

 The whole tenor of the addresses seemed final 

 ly to run in this line. People from all politica 

 parties, and great leaders from all temperanc' 

 societies, united in a determination to worl 

 against the saloon without questioning a man' 

 individual convictions, or asking what politica 

 party he supports. It seemed to me as if Lake 

 side "was just the place to encourage such sen 

 timents. 



Before closing I wish to mention a little con 

 versation I had with one of our former pastor 

 who was spending his vacation, and recruiting 

 at Lakeside. I happened to remark that th 

 fence surrounding the eround was in man; 

 places in very poor condition. Pickets wer 

 off, and one could, if he chose, get in withou 

 going to the gate and paying 3,5 cts. Rev. Mi 

 Plass, my companion, suggested something lik 

 this: " lirother Root, does not this point out ilji 

 significant fact? If somebody should succeent 

 in getting in here by crawling through th w, 



