GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



May 15. 



A little further down below this cienega a 

 river takes its soui-ce. The name of this river 

 is the Hassayampa. I presume this is an In- 

 dian name. Most of the mountains rivers, and 

 even towns in this locality, are called by Indian 

 names, and 1 am glad of it too— if for nothing 

 else, to keep in memory the existence of the red 

 man. Well, ihere is an ancient Indian tradi- 

 tion that whosoever drinks of the Hassayampa 

 River can never tell the truth again afterward. 

 Some of my friends cautioned me, and declared 

 that they had known people who had drank of 

 this water who could not tell the truth, even 

 when they tried to; and I am really afraid I 

 have seen a few people affected this way who 

 never even saw the beautiful Hassayampa. 

 Now, I pledge my word and honor, dear read- 

 ers, that I did not taste a drop of that magical 

 water. I stood on the car platform and watch- 

 ed the river in its windings; admired the gor- 

 geously painted cliffs and beautiful scenery all 

 along its tortuous course; but I did not drink 

 any, because 1 did not have a chance. 



In passing through these deserts and over 

 these mountains, for the most part so uninhab- 

 ited, one begins to wonder if people can really 

 live and be happy amid such wastes; but when 

 it comes dinner time, and the train slows up 

 beside some unpretentious building or dining- 

 station, you look about you in surprise to see a 

 well-spread table, with roast turkey, and veg- 

 etables and fruits to match, almost in keeping 

 with a city restaurant. Yes, there are neatly 

 dressed obliging women to wait on you besides, 

 and the price of the dinner is not extravagant 

 either. 



I was so much interested in the wonderful 

 things about Jerome a good many told me I 

 would have to visit Congress; but I decided 

 that one gold-mining town was enough for me. 

 I was considerably interested, however, in a 

 white-looking village otT from the railroad a 

 piece, up in a mountain canyon, which I was 

 told was called Fools Gulch. It puzzled me at 

 first to know whether it was really a village or 

 a cluster of wigwams made of cotton sheeting. 

 I am told they have there all sorts of dwellings 

 unless, may be, it is a three-story brick. The 

 houses are of all sorts and sizes, but they are 

 mostly made of cotton cloth. Even the " Grand 

 Hotel" has no cover, or walls either, thicker or 

 more expensive than sheeting. 



All around in this locality the one topic is 

 mining. A man got on the train at a little 

 station. As he was a resident of the vicinity I 

 asked him some questions, and the subject of 

 bees came up. He said his business was that 

 of recovering gold from the ores by what is 

 called the "cyanide" process. I believe he had 

 an invention along that line. He said when he 

 iirst built his vats in the open air, to hold the 

 cyanide solution, the wild bees came in great 

 numbers to the vats because the vats made 

 such a convenient place for drink. In the des- 

 ert, bees go miles for water. The cyanide, as 

 you know, is a deadly poison. Said he: r l rzzi 

 n'*Now, stranger, you may not believe it; but 

 when I saw I was going to poison all the bees 

 in the country I felt a good deal troubled. 

 Pretty soon, however, they seemed to 'catch 

 on 'to the fact that everyone of their com- 

 rades that drank at those vats soon turned up 

 his toes. In my work I have just one vat of 

 pure water, and the bees in a very few days 

 abandoned the cyanide-vats entirely, and now 

 they drink regularly, thousands of them, at 

 the vat containing pure water, and nowhere 

 else." 



Now, you need not suggest that this man 

 had been drinking of the waters of that en- 

 chanted stream. I think he told the truth, but 



I rather suspect his deductions were not exact- 

 ly correct. The bees probably discovered that 

 cyanide is not very palatable, and so settled 

 down finally to the vat of pure water, just as 

 they choose a drinking place where salt water 

 is furnished, rather than the other kind. 



At just about sundown the train drew uprat 

 the station of Phoi'nix. I pumped up my wheel, 

 and was soon flying over the limestone road 

 where I started out before daylight just two 

 weeks before that. My brother's folks were re- 

 joiced to see me, tanned up like an Indian. 

 The allotted time for my vacation was up, and 

 I very soon hustled back to old Medina, arriv- 

 ing exactly in the middle of January, and you 

 know how it turned out. 



Our Homes. 



Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of 

 these, ye did it not to me.— Matt. ^5:45. 



Dear friends, I suppose you have all read 

 more or less in the papers in regard to the 

 starving millions in India. Yes, it is millions 

 who will doubtless starve unless they have aid. 

 There are some people who will say, I presume, 

 " Well, what is that to us ? " " We have all we 

 can do to take care of our own people," etc. 

 But here lies the difference between Christian- 

 ity and no Christianity. The gospel of Christ 

 Jesus admonishes us to love our neighbor as 

 ourself ; and it further teaches us by that beau- 

 tiful parable that our neighbor is anybody who 

 is in want — starving, if you choose. Even 

 though he may be on the opposite side of the 

 globe, he is our neighbor still. It has been es- 

 timated, and generally published, that a dollar 

 of our money will, as a rule, carry one of those 

 starving people through the season so as to 

 save his life, in all probability. There are 

 something like three and a half millions who 

 will be likely to starve unless they have help. 

 Three and a half millions of dollars would save 

 them. That is an awful big sum to send away 

 to starving heathen, as some term it, I know; 

 but we have single individuals in this country 

 who alone are worth enough; at least they 

 have control of sufficient funds to do the work. 

 I can not refrain from adding, "More's the 

 pity." This expression may not be good gram- 

 mar, and it may be slangy, but it expresses the 

 matter. From my point of view it does not 

 seem as if one person ought to control such an 

 amount of money. Never mind; we are not 

 going to discuss political economy or social 

 economy just now. Let us give nourishment to 

 the starving millions, and settle the other ques- 

 tions afterward. Of course, we are not called 

 upon to perform impossibilities. We are x\oz 

 expected to starve or neglect our own children 

 in the effort to feed those in that far-off coun- 

 try; but it does seem to me that God calls on 

 each and every one of us to be careful about 

 extravagance and luxury.* In our town it is 

 quite fashionable to have various kinds of 

 socials and clubs and gatherings in the eve- 

 ning, and they have expensive suppers and 

 banquets. I have never attended more than 

 one or two of these. In Rootville we all have 

 a good supper at home, every night the year 

 round, and I always thank God for my part of 

 it, not only iq words when I ask a blessing at 



* Since the above was in tj'pe I have fmind Mie 

 fdllowinp ill a recent number of the Chicagro Ad- 

 vanre: "In viow of the woes and adversities of the 

 poor, no condemnation can be too severe for those 

 rich men who make needless ostentation of their 

 wealth, no matter how honestly gained." 



