1888 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



87 



Now, friend Root, 1 am talking to the farmers al- 

 most t daily at the institutes on this subject of the 

 wife's just share. Some men can not stand all I 

 say, and some say it is sound. Down in Jefferson 

 County a g-ood old clerj^yman said he liked my po- 

 tato culture better than he did my theology. 

 Again, that broad-minded Christian gentleman, Dr. 

 Scott, of our State University, said that he and his 

 wife had always lived on my platform, and that I 

 was safe any way, as I would have all the ladies on 

 my side, and all the hcxt of the men. 



Will every married man who reads Gleanings 

 think of this matter long and carefully? Hasn't 

 woman been punished long enough for her great 

 sin? Isn't it about time we acknowledged her as 

 our full e(iual? Would you like to have to ask your 

 wife for every dollar you get, even if she always 

 gave it to you graciously? Can you not manage 

 in some way so she will feel more like a free wom- 

 an, your partner, and less like a slave? Do not 

 .iustice and righteousness demand this? It certain- 

 ly does, friends. Many a poor woman in this coun 

 try comes very close to being a slave. She has no 

 money to do as she i)leases with, e-vcept the little 

 that she begs, although she works hard the year 

 round, and her husband (?) carries a comfortably 

 filled pocket-book. T. B. Terry. 



Hudson, O.. Jan. 3, 1888. 



Friend Terry, I am sure you are in the 

 right of it ; and I tliank you for the good 

 your article has done vie. After reading it 

 I went right over home to see what my wife 

 was at work at. It was between seven and 

 eight o'clock in the evening, and the tirst 

 indication I had of her whereabouts was 

 hearing the pump. As I came into the 

 kitchen I found her filling the reservoir. I 

 marched in and told her that, when I was at 

 home, we were going to do up the work to- 

 gether and then we would sit down together 

 to read, as friend Terry had exhorted us. 

 You ought to have heard her merry laugh ; 

 and then when site got the idea that all the 

 men-folks who read Gleanings were going 

 to adopt the same plan (we are, are we not, 

 husbands and fatliersV) she laughed again. 

 Of course, she thanked me for my good in- 

 tentions, but said tliere was not any thing 

 I could do. But I liad made up my mind, 

 and I am going to show her what I can do ; 

 and I wonder how many otlier husbands 

 tliere are who will undertake the same 

 task. 



Now, in regard to that institute at Lodi : 

 I urged and plead with my wife to go with 

 me ; but she said it was so long since she 

 had attended any thing of the kind that she 

 would be afraid of everybody, and would be 

 miserable during the wliole time. We 

 argued and talked, and talked and argued; 

 but she said she was getting too far along 

 in life to think of going out in public, and 

 sadly and sorrowfully I gave up the task as 

 a liopeless one. I knew, or thought I knew, 

 tliat if 1 could once get her into one of our 

 conventions or institutes, she would catch 

 the spirit of the work, and could not lielp 

 falling in with it ; but she declared it was 

 out of the question, and an impossibility. 

 Now, what do you think happened V Why, 

 wlien it came time for our Ohio State Bee- 

 keepers' Convention I ventured to suggest 



that she go there ; Init. of course, that was 

 worse than the farmers' institute. Finally I 

 proposed that Ernest should take his wife 

 also, and that they two should labor with 

 mother. Well, imagine my joy and suriJiise 

 when Ernest announced that mother had 

 consented. Why, it seemed to me almost 

 like a miracle. The secret of it is, that 

 Ernest's wife is used to going about in cities, 

 and has a natural tact for going among peo- 

 ple, or anywhere she wants to go, and she 

 always feels perfectly at home too. Well, 

 the convention turned out just as I expected 

 it would. My wife enjoyed it as she has 

 not enjoyed two or three days for many 

 a long year ; and when we got home 

 she said that, if it were not for the expense, 

 she would just like the fun of going with me 

 to every convention I attended. Why, my 

 friends, it is worth evei-y thing to achieve 

 such a victory. These hard-working women 

 who have stayed at home so long, scarcely 

 dream of what God has in store for them if 

 they would go out into the world and take 

 hold and help in the great affairs of our na- 

 tion and our different industrial institutes. 



Friend T., just tell your good wife, please, 

 that she and 1 are going to be friends from 

 this time forward. I am sorry if she over- 

 tasks her strength ; but I am glad to know 

 that she enjoys even hard work, wlien in- 

 spired by the thought that the pay is a dollar 

 an hour, or even more. Sometimes, when 

 we hear of great doctors or great statesmen 

 receiving a dollar an hour for their services, 

 we are tempted to think such chances will 

 never fall in our path ; but I tell you, if we 

 have our thoughts about us there are oppor- 

 tunities coming up every little while where 

 we can save in just the way you have indi- 

 cated, to the extent of even a dollar an hour ; 

 and a penny saved is a penny earned. I too 

 felt like criticising our good friend Dr. 

 Miller for using the word '" riled," even in 

 pleasantry. But I have not a particle of ob- 

 jection to the word when the men-folks ap- 

 ply it to themselves in the way you put it. 

 We ought to feel riled a good deal when we 

 are not willing to make as much exertion to 

 keep the pocket-book well filled as our com- 

 paratively weak, patient, and hard-working 

 wives do every day of their lives. Mrs. 

 Root is going out in the world with me more 

 during this new year of 1S88 than she ever 

 did before (a kind Father permitting); and 

 my heart bounds now at the very thought of 

 having the companion of my earlier years 

 side by side with me as in those early days. 

 We two have raised a family of children, 

 and they now have grown up so as.to take 

 care of themselves pretty well. Why 

 shouldn't we enjoy going about together, as 

 we used to do — yes, even before we were 

 married ? and \ shouldn't wonder, friend 

 Terry, if she and I should make you a call, 

 say when the potatoes are looking best. A 

 year ago she felt afraid to meet even Mr. and 

 Mrs. Terry, because she was not acquainted 

 with them ; but since the experience of that 

 Ohio $itate Convention she is quite ready 

 and willing to go anywhere that I want to 

 go. It seems just wonderful even now , to 

 think of the change that was wrought in just 

 three short days. 



