846 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. I. 



to help educate poor little Tommy. I was sure 

 that if good people knew of Tommy's sad needs 

 they would wish to have his life made as bright 

 and helpful as possible: and it is very beautiful 

 to see how quickly and lovingly people every- 

 where took the little stranger into their hearts. 

 My friends in Boston write to me that his mind 

 is still in darkness but I am sure that God's 

 beautiful light will banish the darkness just as 

 night hastens away when the sun arppears. 



I certainly hope liiati shall have the pleasure 

 of seeing (for even little blind girls can see, in 

 some wonderful way that I call seeing, with 

 mv mind) Uncle Amos some time. Then he will 

 see what a wonderful, faithful servant the dear 

 God has made the hand. I can tell my friends 

 as soon as I touch them, and I'can do almost 

 every thing that girls who can see and hear do, 

 because I have the dearest teacher in all the 

 world, and the sharpest eyes imaginable in the 

 tips of my fingers, and sometimes teacher says 

 I ought to see more than others because I have 

 ten eyes, but that is only fun. Howl should 

 love to visit the Home of the Honey-bees! I 

 have learned a great deal about the busy little 

 workers, and once 1 wrote a little story for 

 teacher's birthday and told about the different 

 kinds of bees and their work. I am very fond 

 of animals and like to learn all I can about 

 them. I have a funny little donkey, a beauti- 

 ful pony, and a great dog and a little canary. 

 Besides these pets I have the loveliest golden- 

 haired little sister, and the softest, plumpest 

 babv brother you ever saw. They are named 

 Mildred and Phillips Brooks. Bishop Brooks 

 is one of my dear friends, and I named little 

 brother for him. I have been to Ohio several 

 times and I have dear friends in Cincinnati and 

 Columbus and Van Wert. But I do not know 

 whether Medina is near any of these places or 

 not. I hope when yon write to my dear friend 

 Mr. Goodhue you will give him my love, and 

 tell him I am' going to write him a long letter 

 soon. Now I must say good-bye. Give my 

 kind love to all my friends at the Home of the 

 Honey-bees. From your little friend. 



Helen A. Kkli.er. 



[Many thanks to you. dear little friend, for 

 the pains you have taken to write me such a 

 good long letter. Medina is very much nearer 

 to Cleveland than it is to Columbus or Cincin- 

 nati. It is on the crossing of two railroads, 

 and these roads touch our premises; so the 

 Home of the Honey-bees is right in the north- 

 west corner made by the crossing. One of the 

 roads, the one going north and south, is named 

 the Cleveland, Lorain & Wheeling, and this 

 one communicates directly with Cleveland, 

 which is only 30 miles away. The other road, 

 east and west, is the Pittsburg, Akron & West- 

 ern; but at the present time its eastern termi- 

 nus is Akron, 20 miles east of here. I mention 

 this that it may enable you or any of the other 

 friends to reach us easily. 



You speak of poor Tommy as being still in 

 darkness. I suppose that means that he can 

 not yet read and write so as to talk with his 

 friends, as it were, and learn all about this 

 beautiful world which God has given us. I 

 have faith as yon have, dear Helen; and let us 

 pray for him that God may brighten his intel- 

 lect, and help his teachers to reach out after 

 him in the same way they reached out for you. 



And now, dear Helen, there is one thing I 

 feel very anxious to have you tell us; and that 

 is. whatwei-e your feelings before your teachers 

 reached you? What did this world seem to you 

 like then? and in your thoughts did you have 

 any conception of the great (Jod who gave you 

 being, and who gave you a place here among 

 us? I do not ask this question from idle curi- 



osity, and very likely you may find it difficult 

 to answer it at all. But I have long had a sort 

 of faith or belief that God would make himself 

 known to his children in some way, even 

 though, perhaps, in a vei'y indistinct way. when 

 they, like you. vveie cut off from communication 

 with tluui' fellow-men. You see sucli cases are 

 very rare where one lives to be as old as you 

 did without being taught more or less of CJod. 

 From wiiat I know of you I should conclude 

 that, with your bright happy disposition, and 

 keen vigorous intellect, thei-e would have been 

 fnith that some time or other you were to come 

 out of this darkness; and this faith would ac- 

 count in a great measure for the readiness with 

 which you were I'eached and rescued. Did you 

 begin to recognize that you were not as other 

 people? I have not been able to learn just how- 

 old you were at the time of your emancipati(m; 

 but I believe you were old enough so you could 

 rememliei- and tell us something about it. Will 

 yon foi'give youi' good friend Uncle Amos for 

 being so inquisitive, and for calling up or re- 

 calling a poition of your life that may be pain- 

 ful to you? How wonderful and strange it is 

 that God has seen tit to intrust this great work 

 to ffs. of teaching his children! yes, the work 

 of teaching all mankind of Him who came to 

 eai'th to be a savior for us all! Good- by, dear 

 little friend: and accept our thanks again for 

 your excellent letter. 



1 may say to our i-eaders that we publish the 

 letter without any change whatever in the 

 general arrangement, spelling, or punctuation.] 



HOW WE PUNISHED THE ROBBERS. 



WETTING 'em down WITH THE FORCE-PUMP, 



The other day we asked one of our students 

 to feed a few late colonies of bees that had not 

 gathered quite enough to carry them through 

 the winter, and there was danger of robbing. 

 We thought we had better put the feeder on at 

 night, so that they might have it taken down 

 before morning. We think our instructions 

 were carried out fairly well with one exception. 

 When turning the syrup in the feeder, a little 

 was allowed to drip down the side of the hive. 

 This, of course, attracted the bees early in the 

 morning; and as three hives had been served 

 in this way, it was astonishing to see how 

 quickly the bees commenced robbing; in fact, 

 the center hive of the three was literally cover- 

 ed with bees, and we immediately set it in a 

 tent covered with mosquito-bar. The other two 

 had perhaps tliree or four quarts of robber bees 

 around each hive, and they had almost become 

 masters of the situation, in spite of the deter- 

 mination of the colony to prevent the robbers 

 from getting in. Tlie force-pump was then 

 brought into requisition, and the thousands 

 that were flying about the hive were soon 

 sprinkled, as "well as those that were trying to 

 get in. Aftei' allowing a tine spray to rain on 

 them a few minutes, the entrance became some- 

 what cleared of the robber bees on the two 

 hives that were not covered with the tent. We 

 then placed a little brush over the entrance of 

 each hive, and covered it quickly with wet 

 grass, and put long wet grass on top of the hive, 

 allowing it to hang down all around, laying a 

 weight in the center to hold the gi'ass from slip- 

 ping otf. A little cold water soon discouraged 

 them fi'om att(Mni)ting to rob these two hives 

 anv more. The rush, however, that was made 

 for the tent when they could not get through 

 the mosquito-bar was astonishing. They man- 

 aged to gain an entrance by alighting on the 

 ground and crawling under the netting. In 

 this way nearly a bushel of bees got around the 



