1884 



GLEANINGS IN J5EE CULTURE. 



485 



to love his business— to be an enthusiast, as 

 it were ; I should want him to work as hard 

 for me and mv boys and girls as if it were 

 all his own. 'I mislit want this latter, but 

 I do not believe I should expect to lind it 

 here in this world. I should want to have 

 him have a faculty of making all the opera- 

 tions of gardening and seed-growing so fas- 

 cinating that every boy and girl would be 

 found as anxious to worlc for him as they 

 are for me. 



Now, dear friends, I have no expectation 

 of finding such a man anywhere in this world 

 —no, not any thing near to it ; but I do ex- 

 pect nearly all the above qualities could be 

 found in perhaps half a dozen, and I expect 

 God will help me to find them. May be I 

 shall be able to find them all here. I have 

 already found a good many who rejoice my 

 heart "by showing great "promise, and by 

 taking important positions in different 

 departments now in our work. But the great 

 need, after all, is for a wise and kind and 

 God-fearing leader. So you see, when we 

 get right down to it, the one great pressing 

 want is for a better man in my place, or, if 

 you choose, a developing and growing and 

 enlarging of my own heart and soul. I feel 

 encouraged to work and pray ; for have we 

 not the promise, dear friends,— 



Ask, and it shall be p-iven you; seek, and ye shall 

 find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you?— 

 Matt. T : 7. 



MRS. HARRISON TELLS US ABOUT 

 THE BEES IN PEORIA. 



SOIIE OP THE ANTICS THE SWARMS HAVE BEEN 

 CUTTING UP. 



tHILDREN, you have all heard of the robber- 

 bees, haven't you? But did you ever know of 

 their stealing any thing: but honey? I have; 

 they stole a bird's house that is up in a tree, 

 and are filling it with honey as fast as they 

 can. Kather romantic dwelling-place, up in the top 

 of a high tree, in a miniature cottage, with make- 

 believe windows and chimneys, and doors, with a 

 real portico. The owner of the bird-house says I 

 had better " look a leetle out, since he has gone into 

 the bee-business." 



Bees ai-e cutting up all sorts of antics in our city, 

 and the police are arresting them for disorderly 

 conduct almost every day. They arrayed the Sol- 

 diers' Monument in mourning, and made the eagle 

 on top of the shaft look quite natural. A number 

 of swarms have clustered in the trees of the court- 

 house square, and paid not a bit of attention to the 

 placards, "Do not step on the grass." Some have 

 been bold enough to cluster near the City Hall, and 

 the calaboose is under it. 



I'm sorry to tell this on the bees, for I'm afraid 

 they are not just right on the temperance question. 

 As the band was niarching up the street this 

 Fourth-of-July morning, playing national airs, a 

 large swarm clustered on a green tree that was 

 fastened in front of a saloon, for a decoration. 

 Now, boys and girls, here is a chance for you to use 

 your musical powers for a practical purpose. In- 

 stead of rattling on the frying-pan with a key, to 

 settle a swarm, get out your violins, accordeons, 

 jews-harps, etc., and play Yankee Doodle Dandy. 

 Peoria, 111. Mrs. L. Harrison. 



THE FAULKNER CHILDREN AND 

 THEIR BEES. 



HONEY FROM THVME. 



tHEN my brother Shirley robs his bees I gO 

 out and help him. He has five hives. The 

 first hive that he rolibed had some very 

 fine honey in it. Does thyme make bitter 

 honey? Here is the flower of a sensitive 

 plant. E. K. Faulkner, age 11. 



Bayou Current, La., June 13, 1884. 

 I did not know that the honey from the 

 thvme was bitter. The celebrated honey 

 of "Mt. Ilymettus is said to have been gath- 

 ered from a species of mountain thyme, so 

 it ought to be good. 



HOW THEY GOT THE SWARM DOWN FROM THE 

 TREE. 



I am a farmer's daughter. I have five brothers, 

 and my oldest brother is trying to raise bees. He 

 started with one hive, and now has five; he has two 

 or three trees in the woods to cut, and 1 think he 

 will try to save the bees. His first hive never 

 swarmed till the first Sunday in .June. They were 

 just leaving the hive, and he stopped them, and 

 then they went back to the hive, and the next day 

 they swarmed on a tree close to the little yai-d that 

 he has his bees in. He could not get any one to. 

 help him, so papa helped him. The next morning 

 they tied one end of a pole to the tree, and the other 

 to the limb that they were on, and then sawed the 

 limb off, and let them down slowly, and did not kill 

 many. Mary C. Faulkner, age 13. 



Bayou Current, La., June 13, 1884. 



THE RUNAWAY SWARMS. 



I am not afraid of bees if they do sting me some- 

 times. Brother Shirley has five hives of bees. He 

 has robbed two this spring; he did not get much 

 honey out of one of them, and thinks there were 

 moths in it. A great many swarms have passed 

 over, but we caught only one of them. This is my 

 first letter. I am afraid you will not think it worth 

 a book; but if you think it is, please send me one. 

 L. Faulkner, age 8. 



Bayou Current, La., June 10, 1884. 



A TRIP TO THE SEASIDE. 



MRS. HILTON'S TALK TO THE CHILDREN. 



EAPv CHILDREN:— As it is the season of pic- 

 nics, I must tell you of our trip to the ocean 

 at Point Sal (or Salt Point). The big four- 

 horse wagon was rigged up, and, after put- 

 ting in provisions and bedding, we bundled 

 in the babies and other live stock, and wended our 

 way singing merry songs, and making quaint re- 

 marks about the scenery. Some saw battlemented 

 terraces on the hill-tops, where the rains and sheep 

 had worn the earth away from the chalky hills; 

 others saw jack-rabbits, cayotes, and quails, and one 

 thought he saw a deer, but it was only a lone cow. 

 After an eight-hours' ride, liroken only by a short 

 stop for lunch, we arrived at the grand old sea. The 

 sea, the sea, the dashing old ehai> that I like to see, 

 sang some. 



How differently the first sight of the sea affects 

 some people, some feeling only fear, others admira- 

 tion, others almost a feeling of irritation at the 

 never-ceasing dash and roar. But all such feelings 

 are moderated after an hour or two. When we had 

 got camped for the night, some in a friend's house. 



