1886 



(ILEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



071 



0ai^ JiepE^. 



T will bo their God, and they shall be my people. 

 — Jeu. 31: ;>;}. 



AM invited to meet a body of bee-men 

 to see the Chapman honey-plant in full 

 bloom in York State ; and as it is some- 

 wliere near father Cole's '' Home on the 

 Hillside" I propose to see the ''New 

 A.Q;ricnltnre " also, and so oil' I start this 

 Mondiiy niornino;. July 2(5. My lirst move is 

 to call iit the Town-Ilall and be one of the 

 lirst to east a vote foi' the closings of the sa- 

 loons in Medina. Tliank (toil that I have at 

 length that privilege, as one of his people, 

 as in our text.* Then Maud takes me in 

 the buggy to a station 12 miles away. Maud 

 is getting to be a horse-woman, and handles 

 Meg nicely, even if the men-folks have let 

 her run away so many times we feared she 

 was spoiled. Meg went up to a watering- 

 trough ; and before I knew it Maud hopped 

 out and let down tl)e check, instead of let- 

 ting me do it. She explained that Meg 

 would put back her ears and bite at me if 

 I went near her, and so I stayed in the bug- 

 gy. Meg even (/ocs better when Maud has 

 the lines, and I begin to suspect there is a 

 sort of freemason understanding between 

 tiiem. Perhaps Meg means to say by actions, 

 " I have iuid too many masters ; that is why 

 I ran away s;i many times. 1 like Maud, 

 and she likes me (slie gives me my clover 

 and tlungs). and I want her to handle me." 

 All right ! I am (piite willing, if you only 

 make tlie train between yoti. 



We pass through a small town ; the stoi'e- 

 keepers, grocers, etc., are sitting out Oii the 

 walk in ensy-chairs, waiting for customers. 

 They might "be doing worse; but ought any 

 of (^od's people, in these days of such great 

 possibilities, to be sitting and waiting for 

 ((»// tJiiiu// Why can't they jump up and 

 push something ! Farmers along the road, 

 many of them, seem content to raise the 

 same crops (no better) tluit they have done 

 year after year. Why, I couldn't live if I 

 were not pushing on to something new, as 

 each season comes around. In regard to 

 waiting for customers — how can great strong 

 men sit and wait V I would a hundred 

 times rather follow a plow or a cultivator 

 than to sit before a store waiting for some 

 one to come to be waited on. 



Out of town we find great fields of tobac- 

 co. Wliile I admire tlie soil, and the won- 

 derful vegetable growtli tiiese plants are 

 making with their broad green leaves as 

 high as the fence. I can not see how any who 

 call themselves (Jod's people can give their 

 best land, and their rcri/ best nifAnuir in rais- 

 ing a narcotic with which to poison their 

 fellow-men. I know it sometimes brings 

 money; l)ut is <j(1lln{i rntnici/ ever to come 

 before (hn'iKj ri(/hl 1 



Maud reinarks. that the tobacco-raisers 

 never seem to have nice houses and barns, 

 even if the business v.s profitable. 



I bid good-by to Maud (and Meg) just ten 



*On my return T learned that our people cast .%."> 

 vote.s 1'or jio saloons, and only ;Jti /or saloons. IMy 

 friends, have jou done as well as that in your 

 county-seat .•' 



minutes before train time, so Meg has held 

 her reputation. It costs ^X.'-l-'i per day extra 

 to ride in a drawing-room car; tnit if I doift 

 ride in such car I could not have the nice 

 little table on which I am now writing to 

 you. The roads are full of muddy water, 

 and it is running down in muddy streams, 

 all through Ohio and Pennsylvania, al- 

 though I have not seen a drop "of rain fall. 

 Innumefable gardens Hit by us, but nothing 

 in any of them is ahead of our own at Me- 

 dina, unless it is rutabaga turnips in I'enn- 

 sylvania. Next year / will try raising some 

 so early they may be a yard aei-oss in July. 

 Buckwheat "is looking finely with the recent 

 rains. Some of it is already in bloom, but 

 not a tobacco-plant is to "be seen in the 

 whole country. 



Olean, N. r., is an astonishment and a 

 wonder. Huge oil-tanks, big enough to con- 

 tain large buildings, cover the summits and 

 sides of the hills, and dot the valley by the 

 hundreds, and may be thousands. Surely 

 this must contain oil enough to light the 

 world; in fact, Olean takes its name from 

 oleum, meaning oil. 



This oil is one of God's latest and bright- 

 est gifts to light up "• Our Homes " so beau- 

 tifully and at -so little expense. Does this 

 also mean, "I will be their God and they 

 shall be my people " V 



Now the ti'ain clatters along part way up 

 the range of hills, and a beautiful valley is 

 spread out before us. Villages, with their 

 clean white churches ; shops and stores, and 

 many pretty houses, witli well-kept gardens, 

 say again the thought expressed in our lit- 

 tle text. 



It has been raining, and so the white 

 clothes are, many of them, still on the line, 

 telling of patient, hard-working mothers, 

 and of many little ones to l)e cared for. God 

 grant the Ihought in all these homes may 

 be. " They sliall be my people.'' 



I am much impressed with the looks of the 

 country and people in the vicinity of Chau- 

 tauqua; an atmosphere seems to pervade 

 the whole country roiuul about; i. r.,"I will 

 be their God, and they shall be my people." 

 Is this the effect of the Sabbath-school gath- 

 erings there ? The fields are covered with 

 l)eautifid grain and garden-stuff of all kinds. 



The sight of Wellsville, Allegany Co., 

 N. Y., with its beautiful residences and 

 thriving business places, reminds me again 

 of our text ; and when I go into the house 

 to sit down at the •' Home on the Hillside " 

 (after having explored said hillsiile pretty 

 well) [ discover a clean bright fire burning 

 in the grate. As the air is "a little bit chilly 

 after the rain, and my feet are somewliat 

 damp from my explorations over the soft 

 soil along the" hillside, tlie warmth seems 

 quite comfortable; and then 1 discover that 

 it is from natural gas. 



'• Why, dear friends, is it possible that 

 this is natural gas, and nothing more?" And 

 then I inquired, '• And does it really give 

 sufiicient heat for the most severe winter 

 temperaturesV" 



In answer to the (piestion. the good lady 

 of the house simi)ly touches a lever with her 

 foot, near the lireitlace, and in a second 

 every thing rounrl al)out the grate is full of 



