1892 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



317 



tlicrc (111 11 faiiu until lie aiiaincd liis niajoi'ity. 

 in ISCC he went to Iowa. cMtciin^j ("onicll Vo\- 

 Icjic at Mt. N't'inon. .A lirotlu'r. who was coiiiily 

 trt'iisiiriT ami rcoonicr. as well as postiiiastiT. 

 onlistcil to hold up his I'ountiy's tlan. and 

 P^ngtMH' at)aiult)ni'(l his collciic i-oiirsc to tal<t' 

 charfifof his brotlior's hiisincss. thus ofciiiiyiiifj 

 two yoafs. Mad his health been moi'c rohiist. 

 he probably would liavc l)orne his brother com- 

 pany in the army. 



Asked w hat his business is. aside from bee- 

 keeiiinp:. Mr. Secor replies. "When the bees are 

 not swarming, and no piiblio duty calls me, I 

 •recreate" by running a real-(^state and abstract 

 office in tin daytime, aiul w liting for the papers 

 at night." Let me scln'diile the public (it'tices 

 which he lias tilled for the past •.•.') years, and it 

 will not be hard to see that hardly more time 

 could be allowed for the real-estate and abstract 

 business than to make it a " recreation." 



In IStW lie was elected clerk of the District 

 Court. Winnebago. la., and was twice re-elected. 

 serving six years, having been deputy a year 

 previous. In IST.i, elected county auditor: re- 

 elected in 1877, making four years" service. In 

 1S78. elected mayor of Forest City, where hi; 

 still lives: and at the expiration of four terms 

 as mayor he was elected a member of the city 

 council, which position he still holds. 



At the age of eighteen he became a member 

 of the M. E. Church, where his services have 

 been in demand. He has officiated as leader of 

 the choir, is one of the church trustees, is also 

 steward, and was elected by the "conference "' 

 of the church one of the board of trustees of 

 Cornell college, to which position he has been 

 re-elected to serve a second term of three years. 

 He is a member of the executive committee of 

 that board. He has reached the highest posi- 

 tion to which a layman can attain in the M. E. 

 Church, being elected a lay delegate to the Gen- 

 eral Conference. Nor are his religious works 

 strictly confined to his own church, for he is 

 president of the County Bible Society. 



He has borne his share of the burden of edu- 

 cational matters in his own city, by acting as a 

 member of the school board aud being president 

 thereof. 



In spite of his special interest in apiculture 

 he has a leading hand in agricultural matters. 

 having organized the agricultural society of his 

 county (Winnebago), of which society he was 

 president for two years, and in 1888 he was 

 elected by the State legislature one of the board 

 of trustees of the State Agricultural College, to 

 serve a term of six years. He is chairman of 

 the executive and finance committee in said 

 board. 



The State Horticultural Society has shown 

 its appreciation of his services by re-electing 

 him as president of that society and giving liitn 

 charge of one of its experimetit stations. The 

 State Bee-keeyx'rs' Society elected him presi- 

 dent in 18SI1 and 1892. 



However busy he may be at other things, he 

 will have to find time in June to go to Minne- 

 apolis as one of the two delegates from the 10th 

 District to the National Republican Conven- 

 tion, to help nominate a candidate for president 

 of the United States. 



Bee-keepers are more or less familiar with 

 his business-like style in apicultural writing. 

 and he has been a somewhat irregular contrib- 

 utor of prose and poetry to the faiid Hnmestedd, 

 Housekeeper. T'. S. Ddinjindu. to all the bee- 

 journals, to horticultural papi-rs. local papers, 

 etc. He was apicultural editor of the Ioumi 

 Homestead, and now he holds the same position 

 on the Farmer (I ml Breeder. 



As a writer of verse, it is to be regretted that 

 he sometimes shows a reckless disregard for the 

 laws of grammar and versification; but the 



true spiritof poetry is in him, and bee-keepers 

 may well lie proud of him as theii- poet-laureate, 

 liuirrd wipe out of cxisli'hCe the l)ee- keepers' 

 S(iii;,'s wilticn liy lOiigciic .Sei-oi-. and there is lit- 

 tle left worth their singing. The gi'cat trouble 

 is. that he writes only as the spirit moves him, 

 and the "moving ■" seldom counts. A year or so 

 ago he sent me a single stanza of a be.(!-keepers' 

 song (urged to the writing. I think, by I)r. Ma- 

 son), asking me if I thought it would do. Of 

 course it would do. and I advised its comi)letion. 

 That"s th(( last I evei- heard of it. It may never 

 get further than the first stanza, and it may be 

 compl(>ted. If it is, it will be a good song. 



Most of the readers of these pages an^ more 

 or less familiar with the poetic writings of Mr. 

 Secor. and he has been especially happv in his 

 dialect songs. Take that one in which the 

 good-natured Crerman has been hearing the big 



KUGENE SECOR. 



Stories of what bees will do with little or no 

 care. He gets a colony of bees, and then sings, 

 care- free,— 



Oil, 1 isli voti of dose happy bee mans, 



I don't {rot to vork any more; 

 I loafs all day on der apple-tree shade, 



Or shniokes mine pipe on der door. 



More or less of this vein of humor seems ready 

 to bubble up at all times in his writings. Even 

 the tortures of la grippe have for him a funny 

 side, and he writes, — 



T don't feel well. I can not sleep. 

 The chills aloiiK my backlioiie creep. 

 I'm tired and nervous. I go liorae 

 And call the doctor, wlio, when come. 

 Says, " Grippe." 



Then afl<'r describing how himself and all the 

 neighbors are affected in all parts of their in- 

 ternal economy by microbes or bacteria, he thus 

 earnestly apostrophizes: 



