1891 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



899 



though this building was plain, it was a rather 

 pretty piece of architecture after all. and seemed 

 to have been built for some special purpose. 

 Let me explain. Mr. Johnson is building 

 tower-clocks. He owns a rather pretty machine- 

 shop: and when they did not have orders for 

 other machinery he amused himself by making 

 these. When he puts them up in a church or 

 court-house he is expected to regulate them 

 and warrant them; and although he is tolera- 

 bly well along in years, he began almost in his 

 old age, as it were, to study horology and the 

 matter of time. A sun-dial did not satisfy him. 

 He wanted something that would enable him 

 to set his clocks to a tenth of a second; and be- 

 cause he loved the work, he built this little 

 room I have mentioned, for an observatory. 

 The instrument in the center of the room, 

 in the first place, must be absolutely solid; 

 and one would smile at the piece of engineering 

 that held it firm and true and still. Then you 

 would smile again when you saw the expensive 

 apparatus he used to get it exactly level. Out 

 through a comparatively small window his tel- 

 escope pointed, and on the blackboard were the 

 names of fixed stars, and rows of figures to indi- 

 cate astronomical calculations. He told me 

 more about latitude and longitude during our 

 visit than I ever knew before. Then he told 

 me about the latitude and longitude of the 

 heavens as well as of the earth; and he turned 

 his books over and showed me the way in which 

 columns of logarithmic figures were used in their 

 computations. Then he discoursed about time 

 on our earth, and the recent arrangement the 

 railroads had been compelled to adopt, dividing 

 off this continent into hours as well as degrees. 

 When I suggested that his window should have 

 been larger so he could see the planets, and es- 

 pecially get a glimpse of the rings of Saturn, 

 which are now. as we are told, staggering like 

 a drunken man, so that astronomers are watch- 

 ing day by day to see them split to pieces and 

 turn into moons, or something of that sort — 

 when I told about this planet Saturn he at first 

 did not say any thing, but finally turned to me 

 with something like this: 



" Mr. Root. I have never seen Saturn through 

 that telescope, and I do not want to see it. I 

 haven't time to look at Saturn. More stars 

 pass before that little window of mine than I 

 can ever look at and get acquainted with dur- 

 ing all my life." 



Here was a home-made scientist and a home- 

 made astronomer who found joy and happiness 

 in studying, day after day and year after year, 

 one little side-show, or side-light, perhaps, of 

 astronomy — that part of astronomy which per- 

 tains to taking the latitude and longitude, and 

 getting correct time. If I do not myself quite 

 understand what I am talking about, perhaps 

 some of you do. Well, this man. in his investi- 

 gations, had visited many prominent scientific 

 men who were working right in his line. Yes, 

 more than that; as he climbed up into the stars 

 and looked about him, these great professors, 

 with their piles of books and long columns of 

 figures, recognized him as a comrade and reach- 

 ed down to him a helping hand. They helped 

 him to step up over the topmost round of the 

 ladder on which he had so painfully and slowly 

 climbed up. and gave him assistance; for, you 

 see, he was just prepared to grasp ideas, as a 

 hungry man grasps for food; and when he met 

 with somebody who. like your humble servant, 

 could ■• catch on " now and then to what he had 

 been working out about the stars, he felt re- 

 joiced. OhI didn't we have a pleasant visit for 

 an hour or two? My brother-in-law smiled 

 and looked happy too. when he saw with what 

 enthusiasm we two compared notes. 

 I very soon tried to interrupt him by asking 



him if he could go through all this and not 

 come out a Christian, full of love for, and faith 

 in. the gieat God above. At first I thought he 

 rather evaded the subject: but when he got to 

 the right point he satisfied me fully. He finds 

 great joy in treading the paths, 'as someone 

 has said, that the Almighty had trodden before 

 him, and finally ended in a speech something 

 like this: 



" Mr. Root, if Robert Ingersoll were to get a 

 telescope like mine, and study God's works as I 

 have done, for just one month, the next month 

 after that he would be going around starting 

 prayer-meetings." He may not be the author 

 of the above thought. In fact. I think he said 

 as much. He showed me a pile of books. Said 

 he. " Mr. Root, when it comes Christmas or 

 Fourth of July, the rest have some money to 

 spend, and that is all right: but here "—and he 

 took up several books in his hands— '• these 

 are my Christmas and my Fourth of July; and 

 when somebody talks about going on an excur- 

 sion to have a good time, I just take my excur- 

 sion here in this little room, with my telescope, 

 transit instruments, and books." 



My companion told me afterward that Mr. 

 Johnson's daughter was the one who kept the 

 room and apparatus looking so neat and tidy; 

 and he had also a son who took charge of the 

 machine-shop in order to enable his father to 

 pursue his beloved studies j)ertaining to terres- 

 ti-ial and celestial meridians and parallels. 



It just now strikes me that this part of my 

 visit does not belong to gardening; but I think 

 I will let it remain in this department, after 

 all, for it shows so well what one single human 

 being may do in the way of acquiring an edu- 

 cation in the line of the higher mathematics, 

 even after he is fifty years old. Yes. and he 

 too. like Eugene Davis, worked it all out at 

 home, in his o«n garden and dooryard, with 

 the assistance of his own family. How does it 

 strike you, my friend ? Are you too old to study 

 the works of God? His beautiful apparatus 

 and observatory cost quite a lot of money, of 

 course, and he told me had prayed for means 

 to go on with his studies in a way he had never 

 prayed for any thing before in his life, and God 

 had blessed him in his finances, and had blessed 

 him with a son and daughter who loved to help 

 him, and had blessed him, too, with a loving 

 wife vvho shared his enthusiasm, and listened 

 to his outbursts of joy when he had solved a 

 difficult problem; but. alas! his dear Mife is 

 entirely blind. Through his eyes she must see. 

 and know of these wonderful things above; and 

 before I left the city he called to me, saying he 

 was very anxious to have his wife see Mr. Root 

 —said seeing being accomplished by a shake of 

 the hand and the expression of a few words of 

 faith, hope, and thanksgiving. So you see, 

 dear fi'iends, that eyes <done do not always 

 make us happy: neither does the loss of sight 

 alii-ays make us unhappy. 



CONVENTION NOTICES. 



The Michigan State Bee-keepers' A.ssociation wiU meet in 

 Grand Rapids, Mich., on Thursday, Dec. 31st. 1891, and Friday 

 '»" '"" ^""^ G. E. Hilton. Sec, Fremont, Mich 



Jan. 1st, 1892. 



The Eastern Iowa Bee-keepers' Association will meet in De 

 Witt, la.. Dec. 8 and 3, 1891. Bring in your report. There will 

 be a tine place to exhibit every thing pertaining to the apiai-y. 

 Frank Coverdale. Sec, Welton, la. 



The ^orthwestern Bee-keepers' Society will hold its annual 

 convention at the Commercial Hotel, corner of Lake and Dear- 

 born Sts., Chicago, on Thursday and Friday, Nov. 19 and •'0 at 

 9 A.M. Arrangements have been made with the hotel lur back 

 room, one bed, two persons, 81.75 per day each; front room 

 82.0U per day for each person. This date occurs during the ex- 

 position, when excursion rates on the railroads will be one faie 

 tor the round trip. W. Z. Hutchinson, Sec, Flint, Mich 



