GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



939 



0a^ pejiEg. 



OR, RATHER, NOTES ON MY WAY TO CAL- 

 IFORNIA. 



He looketh on the earth, and it trembleth; he 

 toucheth the hills, and they smoke.— Ps. 104 : 33. 



To my Sunday-school class : 

 T HOPE, dear boys, you are all in attend- 

 M ance. Well, ere many years you will 

 W all, I trust, be in business of some kind ; 

 -*- taking some part in trade, traffic, or 

 commerce, or doing something useful in 

 this busy world. One of the great problems 

 in business is, how most eflectively to adver- 

 tise one's business ; and in this great city of 

 Cincinnati, thousands of dollars are expend- 

 ed in various forms of advertising-signs. 

 Electricity, plate glass, and gold-leaf, aston- 

 ish and almost startle one with the magnifi- 

 cence and splendor with which great busi- 

 ness houses attract the crowds. Well, I am 

 going to tell you of a novel advertisement. 

 If you were deaf, dumb, and blind, this ad- 

 vertisement would catch your attention. 

 We were on our way to the depot. I got a 

 glimpse of flowers through a show-window, 

 but concluded we couldn't stop, until, in 

 passing the door, which was left ajar, a per- 

 fume came on the breeze that seemed so 

 wondrous and ethereal that I stopped, spell- 

 bound. I told Mr. Holmes that 1 ^yiust sto]) 

 just one minute, and that minute will be 

 long remembered. The room was filled with 

 chrysanthemums, almost as tall as my bead, 

 and covered with such masses of bloom of 

 all sizes, shapes, and shades of color that I 

 stood entranced as I bent over one and then 

 another. I discovered there were almost as 

 many shades of variation in perfume as in 

 color. There were little starlike flowers, 

 and great white blossoms with drooping 

 petals, like plumes from tropical birds. I 

 thought of the cherry-trees in bloom in the 

 spring, and almost listened for the hum of 

 bees, and then came across me the lines of 

 the hymn— 



A sweet perfume upon the breeze 

 Is borne from ever-vernal trees. 

 And flowers that, never-fading-, grow 

 Where streams of life for ever How. 



During that brief minute, the flowers 

 spoke a sermon to me ; and in response 

 came the prayer, " Lord, help tne, that my 

 life may be pure and innocent, like these 

 flowers. Wash me, and cleanse me from 

 sin." I do believe the influence of flowers 

 is ennobling, and I praise God that the 

 whole world has gone on a sort of craze, as 

 it were, for these chrysanthemums. Blessed 

 are the purc^ in heart, for they shall see God. () 

 boys ! let me tell you tliat it mill pay you to 

 resist evil, and live pure clean lives. 



To Huber. — Nov. K^. It is a nice, beauti- 

 ful morning, and papa is happy. He has 

 just been made sad, however, l»v the sight 

 of the soldiers' graves near Nashville, Tenn. 

 There are over IdU acres of white grave- 

 stones where our st)ldiers are buried. They 

 are buried as close together as they can be 

 laid, side by side. When papa was almost a 

 boy, our people had a great big war. The 

 North and the South were not acquainted as 

 they are now, and they didn't understand 



each other. A good many people were bad 

 and naughty, I fear, and thousands of our 

 young men and boys were killed in the fight 

 before it could be stopped. If our boys all 

 love God, and try to be good, there will nev- 

 er be any more such wars. 



Hurrah ! here is a cotton-field. It looks 

 like bits of very white wool stuck on small 

 currant - bushes. The colored people are 

 picking the cotton off the bushes. It looks 

 funny to see the people so very black and 

 the cotton so very white. The mammas anfl 

 all the girls and boys pick cotton. I dim't 

 think the mammas have .very much house- 

 work to do, for the houses don't have any 

 windows, and there can't anybody see if the 

 floor ain't clean. Of course, the good houses 

 have windows ; but where the negroes live 

 they don't. They don't liave any mud here, 

 like our mud, for the ground in Tennessee is 

 all red, like bricks pounded up. Where a 

 bank is washed away, the red ground looks 

 very funny. And here are wagon-loads of 

 cotton. I wish the people would keep on 

 picking, so I could see how they do it ; but 

 they will stop to look at the cars (just as 

 some of our boys and girls do at the factory), 

 so I can't see them do it. On good, ground, 

 like ours at home, the cotton-balls are large; 

 but on poor land they are small, and some- 

 times not worth picking. I haven't seen 

 anybody drawing manure on the ground at 

 all; but I think it would pay. Almost eve- 

 rybody rides horseback here. We just pass- 

 ed a colored woman hard at work at her 

 washtub, outdoors, smoking her pipe mean- 

 while. 



Here they have little steam-engines to 

 stomp the cotton into square bundles, so 

 they can load it on the cars. 



Athens, Ala.— (ireat stacks of cotton-l)ales 

 on the platforms, and a long procession of 

 teams loaded with cotton — cotton every- 

 where. Much of the soil here is about as 

 red as red paint would paint it. 



Decatur. ^?rt.— As the train stopped we 

 were greeted with loud hurrahs, and I am 

 told the reason is, that to-day is the first 

 time the train has been alhjwed to stop for 

 two months, on account of the yellow fever. 

 The houses, stores, and shops, are still shut 

 up ; but as we had a frost last night, people 

 are coming back. One man, just getting 

 over the fever, came down the steps oil 

 crutclies, and there was(iuite a hand-shaking 

 among them. 



Si)uth of IJirmingliam we passed quite a 

 little village of neatly whitewashed liouses, 

 but not a windotr in a single house in the 

 whole village. They open one of the doors 

 to get light and air, during the whole win- 

 ter. This region is celelirated for \i?, freedom 

 from consumption. My traveling companion 

 suggests that this abundance of air is possi- 

 bly one explanation of it. Reader, ponder 

 aiid be wise. The wild mountainous re- 

 gions of Alabama, through which we have 

 just been jiassing, afford a hai'bor. and have 

 for years past, to illicit distillers, ajid the 

 State has long had ti"oul)]e in suppressing 

 them. Many lives have been lost in arrest- 

 ing them and bringing them to justice. 



To Huber. — Good-morningI Here papa is, 

 awny 4own in Louisiana. On one side of 



