1SS« 



(iLEANlNGS IN BEE CL'LTL KE. 



!»11 



Qu^ liBMES. 



Let nothing bo clone througrh strife or vainglory; 

 Init in lowliness of inirnl let each esteem other bet- 

 ter than theuisehes.— T'Hii,. :i: 3. 



fOR some time 1 have been considering 

 this matter ol' awards at onr fairs and 

 honey-sliows; and I liave been pained 

 repeatedly to hear of hard feelings be- 

 cause of the way in which awards have 

 been made. I have, "at different times. l)een 

 one of the judges at fairs, and also have 

 been several times exhibitor. I have been 

 awarded the lirst i)remium. and at different 

 times the second premium ; and I l)elieve I 

 have also made exhibits when I received no 

 premium at all. As oiu" fairs and exposi- 

 tions are, without (|uestion, a wondeifal 

 means of educating the people, it seems ex- 

 tremely desirable that we should try to get 

 over or do away with any thing that hinders 

 their usefulness. The Centennial Exposi- 

 tion tried to meet the matter by awarding 

 no tirst premitmis to anybody — simply giving 

 awards to every thing meritorious.' It did 

 not seem to answer the purpose, however, if 

 I am correct ; and I do not know of any bet- 

 ter way than to give tirst and second premi- 

 ums, lis most of our fairs now manage it. 

 How, then, shall we avoid hard feelings, and 

 the fierce jealousies that now and then spring 

 up and make those who have been good 

 friends estranged, sometimes, may be, 

 for life ? The following letter states the 

 case so thoroughly 1 give it here entire, 

 oiuitting names and addresses : 



A.I. Root, Midimi, O.: 



Dear Sir:— V wish 3'our decision as to the follow- 

 ing: Mr. A exhibits one wa.v-ex tractor, one bee- 

 veil, one bee-feeder, one queen-inirscry, one hook 

 to lift frames, and one honey-knife— fi articles, and 

 he is awarded the first iiremium, or Slo fld, for the 

 Innjfst and /jcx/ display of apiarian imjjlements. 

 Mr. R exhibits one swarming and transferring 

 liox; one queen and drone catcher (Alley's); T bee- 

 brushes; one bee-smoker; one hive-ventilator; one 

 bee-feeder; 80 bee-hives in fiat; fiO zinc honey- 

 boards; one tool to make wire liooks in frames; one 

 tool to put fdn. in frames; tweezers to catch queen 

 and bees for caging; one wire-nippers; hammers, 

 all sizes; tacks and nails: brace and bits for lioring 

 frames; screws and screw-driver; the A BC book, 

 (iLEANiNGS and .1. 7?. ./., ai:d yet he received the 

 second premium, or .'^'(.Oii. Mr. A told the examin- 

 ing committee jn-ivatcly that the tools put in by Mr- 

 |{ were not apiarian tools, as I learned from the su- 

 perintendent afterward, and the superintendent 

 told the committee he thought they were deciding 

 wrong. Mr. A first (after i)rotest was made) agreed 

 to leave it to you to decide, but later he backed out 

 as to that, and would do nothing biU hold all he had 

 got by the award. Is Mr. H warranted in letting Mr. 

 A severely alone in the future, f<n- his grasjnng self- 

 ishness in claiming what he is so unjustly entitled 

 to? At the examination of bees for award on best 

 colony, Mr. 15 told the committee he conceded the 

 first to Mr. A, and cxtpcced the same courtesy in 

 return on tools, as it was so apjmrent. J. I/. D. 



Probably many of our readers will recall 

 to mind having had experiences quite simi- 

 lar to the above, especially if they are the 



class of people who attend fairs, and make 

 exhibits. .V and B are both good men— at 

 least, so I take it. The judges and superin- 

 tendent are good men ; in fact, I think that 

 bad men seldom get into such places ; that 

 is, the judges are usually selected from 

 those whose general tenor of life indicates 

 that they wish to be fair and honest, and, 

 as a rule, free from prejudice or partiality. 

 When I say that A and B are good men,! 

 recognize that they are human, like you and 

 me, and are liable at any moment to be 

 tempted by the evil one, so that their ordi- 

 narily good judgment and keen perception 

 may be impaired. 1 think I told you, years 

 ago, that 1 decided, even before I "became a 

 Christian, it was wrong for nte to play check- 

 ers, because I was sure to become too much 

 excited by the game to feel charital)]e or 

 kind toward my opponent. It used to be 

 the same with rne w hen [ went to spelling- 

 school, when we were allowed to "go up" 

 in the class. Well, our county and State 

 fairs are very apt to encourage this feeling 

 of rivalry and jealousy — a good deal more so 

 than checkers and spelling-scltools, because 

 our money is involved, and frequently, also, 

 our opportunities for increasing our busi- 

 ness. Shall we. then, stay away V If there 

 were not enough good at our fairs to over- 

 balance the evil, I would say, stay away ; as 

 it is, I think it our duty to go. But when we 

 go, let us learn to be men and ""o/iieiuand 

 cultivate the spirit of the little text T have 

 placed at the head of our chapter. Xotice. 

 dear reader, the wonderful beauty of the 

 words of that kind-hearted vetenin, Paul. 

 One recognizes at a glance that Paul had his 

 conflicts, and knew how it was himself. 

 " I^et nothing be done through strife or 

 vain-glory."" One is almost tempted to 

 think that Paul had in his mind the matter 

 we have been discussing, when he uttered 

 the words. And, again, •"But in lowliness 

 of mind let each esteem other better tiian 

 themselves."" How completely these words 

 meet the case in question ! aiid did we but 

 heed them and obey them, how fully should 

 we be delivered from all strife and impleas- 

 antness I 



Our good friend A without a doubt felt a 

 little spiteful toward B because B had 

 brought out a larger and liner exhibit. Now 

 please have cliarity for friend A, deai' 

 friends, and don"t be too severe on others 

 like him, who are now and then tempted to 

 do things they would never think of unless 

 under the pressure of something ;i little un- 

 usual. I can imagine A lookijig over at his 

 neighbor, and catching a glimpse of those 

 tweezers to catch queens with ; also the 

 show of hammers of different sizes. Poor 

 A ! Satan suggests to him. ''Look here, old 

 fellow: If you had brought hammers and 

 nails, screw-drivevs, and idl the pincers and 

 nippers there were about the house, you 

 might have made a big display also. Now, 

 I think it is yoiu' duty to (piietly suggest to 

 the examining committee, that, although 

 these things are very line, they are not, all 

 of them, implements for bee culture."" Why, 

 don"t you see. deiir friends, the matter could 

 be put in such a way as to make it appear 

 that B had pretty good grotmds for his sug- 



