GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



887 



Every boy or girl, under 16 years of age, who writes a let- 

 ter for this department, containing some valuable fact, not 



OKNKRALLY KNOWN, ON BEES OR OTHER MATTERS, will receive 



one of David Cook's excellent flve-cent Sunday-school books. 

 Many of these booLs contain the same matter that you find in 

 Sunday-school hooks costing from $1.00 to S1.50. If you have 

 had one or more books, cive us the names that we may not 

 send the same twice. We have now in stock six different 

 books, as follows; viz.: Sheer Off, Silver Keys, The Giant-Kill- 

 er; or. The Roby Family, Rescued from Egypt, Pilgrim's 

 Progress, and Ten Nights in aBar-Room. We have also Oftr 

 Homes, Part I., and Our Homes, Part II. Besides the above 

 books, you may have a photograph of our old house apiary, 

 and a photograph of our own apiary, both taken a great many 

 years ago. In the former is a picture of Novice, Blue Eyes, 

 and Caddy, and a glimpse of Ernest. We have also some pret- 

 ty little colored pictures of birds, fruits, flowers, etc., suitable 

 for framing. You can have your choice of any one of the 

 above pictures or books for every letter that gives us some 

 valuable piece of information. 



MONDAY MORNING, NOV. 12, AN HOUR BE- 

 FORE TRAIN TIME. 



ELL, little folks, and old ones too, the 

 time has come for me to start for 

 California. Yesterday afternoon, 

 at dinner time, Huberts place at the 

 family board was vacant. When 

 I inquired about him, his mother said he 

 was out in the woodshed weeping bitterly. 

 Further inquiry revealed the fact that it was 

 because his papa was going away for so long 

 a time. Of course, I tried to quiet his grief, 

 but it all seemed to be of no avail. The 

 more we talked, the harder he cried, until all 

 of a sudden a plan occurred to me. Said I : 



'' Huber, if you will stop crying, and be a 

 brave boy, I will tell you what 1 will do. I 

 will try very hard to send you a little letter 

 every day.'' 



A minute more, and another idea opened 

 up ; namely, these little letters to Huber 

 shall be published for the benefit of the 

 juveniles. And now, little friends, and old 

 ones too, you see Uncle Amos is committed 

 to the task of writing notes of travel during 

 his long trip, adapted to the comprehension 

 of a boy between five and six years old. 

 May God help me to stand side by side with 

 these little boys and girls, and tell them of 

 tlie great wide world, wherever I shall go. 



When I told the boys in my Sunday-school 

 class yesterday that I was going to be absent 

 for five 01' six weeks, but that I hoped they 

 would be regular in attendance, even though 

 they had some other teacher, one of them 

 suggested that he guessed they would take 

 a vacation too. And it occurred to me tliat I 

 might insure their attendance by promising 

 them some notes of travel. With such a 

 promise they all Hgieed to be on hand 

 promptly. Now. isn't there a providence in 

 this ? I am under bonds to furnish facts of 

 interest for a class of boys between five and 

 six, and anotlier class between twelve and 

 fifteen. Yes, and may the Lord be praised, 

 I am under bonds, also, to collect and give 

 items of interest to those older boys and girls 

 — those ranging from fifteen to fifty — yes, 



perhaps even 75 or even more ; for I know of 

 one dear friend who will watch more anx- 

 iously, perhaps, than any other, unless it is 

 Huber, for words from her boy; and she is, 

 if I remember correctly, within a year or 

 two of being 80 years old. Now^, may God 

 help me in this my longest absence from 

 home of any in 2-5 or 80 years ; and may he 

 help me to go, not for selfish purposes or 

 selfish interests, but for the sake of those 

 mentioned above; and may I have grace to 

 work for Jesus' sake. 



NOTES BY THK WAY. 



Dayton. O.. Nov. 7£^ S:20 P. M. The farm- 

 ing country between Springfield and Dayton 

 is beautiful, and the view of the bright- 

 green fields of wheat, as it meets the eye 

 under the rays of the declining sun, is to 

 me a beautiful sight. No city lawn ever 

 gave back a brighter and purer reflection ; 

 and yet I fear that even now, while I write, 

 men are gambling in wheat. It seems as 

 if this beautiful sight should be a rebuke to 

 them. 



The Miami River and the Miami Valley 

 form a most beautiful scene to the west- 

 ward. The recent heavy rains make the 

 landscape look more like May than Novem- 

 ber. I can not remember that I have ever 

 seen any farming land atmvhere that equals 

 in apparent fertility the valley of Southern 

 Ohio. I am told this land is worth from 

 $160 to $175 per acre. 



Cincinnati, O., 6:o0 P. M. 

 To Huber:— F-d])R is in a great city. It is 

 blazing with electric lights, and the houses 

 are away up high. The cable cars are chas- 

 ing each other like every thing, without 

 any horses at all to draw them. In the mid- 

 dle of a great lot of beautiful stores is a 

 pretty fountain. The water just pours 

 and splashes all over it, and spatters into a 

 great big basin. A man sits on a big tur- 

 tle's back, and squeezes the turtle's head, 

 and that makes the water run out of the 

 turtle's head all the time. The turtle and 

 man are all made of stone, and so lots of 

 })eople come and drink the water. There is 

 also a beautiful woman, made of stone, and 

 she holds her little boy's hand wiiile he 

 reaches out and puts his hand in the water. 

 The boy makes papa think of his own dear 

 boy at home, and he wonders if Huber is 

 not now remembering papa in his little 

 prayer, for it is almost Huber's bedtime 

 now, pretty near time for the train to start 

 again. Papa thinks, ''God bless my boy, and 

 all the other little boys and girls who read 

 this.'" 



Continued in Dec. 1st issue. 



BRINGING DOWN A SWARM BY SHOWEKINO THEM 

 WITH SAND. 



This is the first time T have wi-ltten to you. My 

 papa has six swarms of bees. I will try to tell you 

 ho«- he sj-ot them. One day when he was working- 

 in the field he thought he heard something buzzing-. 

 He looked around and saw a swarm of bees flying 

 around a little oak-tree. He threw some sand 

 among them. They then commenced settling on 

 his hat. He stooped down in the grass, and the 

 bees settled on a willow bush. We bad i:iO pounds 



