796 



(J LEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Ni>v. 1. 



in Pennsylvania, where honey was frozen all 

 winter in an attic without injury. But it had 

 been roasted in that attic through the summer. 

 At least some honey, if rich enough and thick 

 enough, is not hurt by freezing. 



•'Savarms WITHOUT QUEENS wiU not double 

 up by going to a strange hive."' says friend 

 Dibbern, p. 765. If he means swarms that have 

 clipped queens, so that the queens can not go 

 with them, I'm sure the rule does not hold good 

 with my bees. I can't see how It would make 

 any difference whether the queen were fastened 

 in the hive or tumbling around on the ground: 

 still, facts can not be disputed; and if it proves 

 true In the case of self-hivers. it's a big item in 

 favor of hi vers. 



LANGSTROTH'S REMINISCENCES. 



HIS EARLY CAREER ; THE BRE kT> AND BUTTER 

 REBELLION AT YALE COLLEGE. 



My father, wishing to give me the advan- 

 tages of a college education, placed me in the 

 preparatory school of the University of Penn- 

 sylvania, then under the charge of Rev. James 

 Wil banks, who was a good classical scholar, and 

 had the faculty of inspiring his pupils with a 

 genuine love for the verses of Ovid, Vergil, and 

 Horace. We committed hundreds of lines to 

 memory, many of which I have never forgotten. 

 It was a lesson never to be forgotten, to hear 

 him, all alive with intense satisfaction, repeat 

 those noble lines of Horace: 



Justum et tenacem propositi vii'um, 

 Nou civium ardor prava jubentium, etc. 



Mr. Wilbanks was a disciplinarian after the 

 very straightest sect of the Old School. If I 

 was late, and had no excuse, I always stepped 

 up to his desk, and held out my hand and took 

 my punishment with as much grace as I could. 

 The rod! the rod! this was the universal arbi- 

 ter, from which there was no appeal. I once 

 pronounced the word "a-»)ii-cus" as though it 

 were "am-i-cus." In a thin voice, so shrill as 

 almost to resemble a squeal (lean almost im- 

 agine that I still hear it ringing in my ears) he 

 cried out to me. "^7*^i-i-cus, Lorenzo! I'll arn- 

 i-cusyou! That word is a-mf-cus!" and down 

 came his rod with such an effective emphasis 

 that I never forgot to say a-mi-cus. 



But although he used the rod so freely, it was 

 only in tlie way of what he thought his duty, 

 and I never associated his name with any 

 thought of cruelty. He made me a good Latin 

 scholai'. and his memory will ever be a pleasant 

 recollection. 



I entered the freshman class of Yale College 

 In the fall of 1837. Strange to say, notwith- 

 standing my early passion for investigating 

 insect life, I can not remember, with the ex- 

 ception of a few trifling observations upon the 

 habits of glow-worms, that I took the slightest 

 interest in my old pursuits. My attention was 

 mainly given to mathematics and Jtelle-lcttrcs 

 studies, and I was always among the successful 

 competitors for excelling in English composi- 

 tion. I roomed, in my freshman year, at the 

 house of my college guardian. Prof. Denison 

 Olmstead. who had charge of the college 

 meteorological observations, and who inspired 

 me with a great fondness for his favorite pur- 

 suits. 



In the summer of 1838 occurred what will 

 ever be famous in the history of Yale College 

 as the great "Bread and Butter Rebellion." 

 The students were all required to board in 

 commons, unless they could prociu'e a physi- 

 cian's certificate that their health required a 

 different diet. The summer was unusually hot. 



The bread was not always sweet nor the butter 

 fresh, and loud were the complaints made 

 against the regular fare. At a meeting of the 

 different classes, a resolution was unanimously 

 passed that the students should show their 

 dissatisfaction by absenting themselves one 

 Monday morning from the dining-hall. Word 

 had come to our venerable president, Jeremiah 

 Day, of what the students purposed. So after 

 morning prayers, which he usually conducted, 

 he addressed them, in his wonted kind and 

 courteous manner, telling them that, if they 

 had causes of complaint about their fare, they 

 ought In a respectful way to make them known 

 to the faculty, whose interest it certainly was 

 to have them remedied. He closed his appeal 

 by affectionately warning us against any hasty 

 and improper proceedings, which could only 

 result in evil. But our passions were too much 

 inflamed, and we were too much under the in- 

 fluence of those who had planned the original 

 demonstration, to listen to any thing our good 

 president could say. So when the bell rang out 

 the summons for breakfast, crowds gathered 

 around the dining-hall. None entered: but all. 

 with loud shouts of defiance, expressed what 

 they thought to be a proper sense of their 

 v/rongs. 



Before dinner the classes met again for con- 

 sultation, and their leaders now advised that 

 they should decline to take any meals in com- 

 mons until they had sufficiently expressed their 

 indignation for the kind of food which had 

 been served to them, and had obtained assur- 

 ances from the faculty that their grievances 

 should be redressed. Thus was inaugurated an 

 absolute rebellion against the constituted au- 

 thorities. I narrate these events more at length 

 because of the important influence which they 

 had upon the formation of my character. Be- 

 fore entering college I had promised my parents 

 to obey its laws, and to give them no occasion 

 to regret the sacrifices which they were mak- 

 ing in my behalf. I saw that the course which 

 we were now pursuing was a direct violation of 

 that pledge; and, without consultation with 

 any one, 1 determined to retrace ray steps, and 

 to go into the dining-room at the next meal, 

 even if I went alone. At a meeting of our class 

 I announced this determination, saying that we 

 all knew that we were violating our matricu- 

 lation pledges, and that, while I did not pro- 

 fess to be governed by a higher sense of right 

 than others, I did intend to redeem as far as I 

 could the promise which 1 had made to my 

 parents. 



I left the meeting after these remarks, and a 

 committee was appointed to remonstrate with 

 me. and to assure me that, if I persisted in my 

 intentions, I should be treated by the whole 

 class with merited contempt. The hour for 

 dinner arrived, and the students were assem- 

 bled in unusual numbers, as the report of what 

 I meant to do had become generally known. 

 Yells of execration greeted my appearance, as 

 alone I ascended the steps leading to the din- 

 ing-hall: stones were thrown at me: and one 

 student, more daring than the rest, drew a 

 pistol and threatened to shoot me. Nothing, 

 however, could movi' me. for I was nerved to 

 such a pitch of determination that I would 

 have submitted to instant death rather than 

 change my purpose. 



In the afternoon of that day. my guardian. 

 Prof. Olmstead, who knew nothing of my in- 

 tentions until all was over, informed me. that, 

 by vote of the faculty. I had been excused from 

 entering the hall again, and that my safety. 

 and his duty to my parents, demanded that he 

 should prevent it. I told him that they might 

 kill me, but that I would never yield to them: 

 and when I entered again, quite a number. 



