IS'J 



GMvANINC.S IN HICK CULTURK 



H25 



slilT and cold in the water- barrel. Oh! but 

 wasn't there sobbinjj aid lainentiiijj? As I 

 looked them over and tried to make them 

 stand on their feet as they did in life, it seem- 

 ed to me I could not have it so; and I remem- 

 ber of tellini,' mother that I should have to 

 stav out of school to keeji watch of thinjis. 

 Father sutjijested that some bijjj heavy stones 

 ^aid on the cover of the barrel would prevent 

 a similar mishap; and he saiil I had better 

 have some water somewhere els^^ s ) the chick- 

 ens would not be absolutely dependent on my 

 new watering-apparatus. 



Now look here, boys and girls. This pullet 

 was the mother of eight cliickens when she 

 was 174 davs old; and, by the way, is it not a 

 little funny that a White Leghorn should want 

 to sit so ea'rly in life when the Leghorns are 

 considered as non-sitters? Well, I suppose 

 we could easily breed a strain of precocious 

 pullets. Now, suppose you start a "hen 

 fann " and see how many chickens you can 

 get from one mother, say in just a couple of 

 years. It will be soniething like my potato 

 experiment where I am trying to determine 

 how many potatoes can be grown from one 

 single tuber in twelve I'nonths. 



.^nd, by the way, there is a sequel to the 

 above story. The feed that was given these 

 chickens is a new "balanced ration" manu- 

 factured expressly for the purpose. The 

 chickens are given all they can eat up clean 

 three times a day. It contains every thing 

 necessary for their health and comfort, and is 

 manufactured by Houston Bros., Middletown, 

 N. Y., so it can be sold at about !?20 a ton, if 

 I am correct. 



Just as I am closing, my eye glances again 

 at the ]iicture of the youthful mother; and I 

 want to say once more to you all, " Isn't she a 

 beauty?" Why, I would give more for that 

 picture made life size, and hung up in my 

 room, than for one of the valuable paintings 

 by the old masters. 



Speci I Notices by A. I. Root. 



MEDICINES FREE OF CHARGE. 



With the advent of better time.s. especially better 

 times for the farnier.s, swindles of all kinds seem to 

 to have revived wonderfully — especially medicines 

 furnished free of charge, to cure certain diseases. Just 

 open your family papers, anv of them, and look at the 

 ofTer.s— a big case of medicine by mail, i^ostage paid. 

 just for the a.sking. The editor frequently helps, or at 

 least allows himself to be appealed to. Well. I have 

 quite a lot of these free medicines. Some of them I 

 have taken, and some of them I have not got around 

 to yet. This thing I have discovered, however: As .soon 

 as you send for a free bottle of medicine, especially 

 if you tell what ails you, you are flooded with circu- 

 lar's. For in.stance, I .sent" for a "sure cure" for as- 

 thma. In a few days letters came from different quar- 

 ters .saying thev had been informed I was a sufferer 

 from that dread disease: and I must confess that their 

 pleas for a little money were.so touching I felt almo.st 

 sorry for the time being that I did not have the as- 

 thma so I could help these me lical missionaries in 

 their praiseworthy work of benefiting mankind. 

 Now, look here, my friend; These rascals have dis- 

 covered that the man or woman who reads the adver- 

 ti.sements, and sends for a bottle of medicine free of 

 charge, is one of those who t ike medicine and are 

 likely to be attracted by ever\- new thing. They .send 

 their remedy free of charge, in order to get the ii.Tmes 

 of medicine-buyers, and are certainly reaping a rich 



harvest or they would not pay hundreds of dollars for 

 the insertion of their advertl.sement in expensive jieri- 

 odicals. Why, you will see a whole-page advertise- 

 ment with a picture of the wonderful Smith or Green, 

 who made the discovery, almost as big as life. Judg- 

 ing from my own experience, 1 do not believe it is 

 healthy Inisiiiess even to »•<•<«</ medical atK-ertisemeuts 

 and testimonials. It is the Electropoi.se right over 

 again. No matter what medicine the patient takes, 

 he is restored as if by miracle In fact, a lot of the 

 advertisements do read, " Almost a miracle." 



mTMlU-<;s AND SWINDLES BESIDES ELECTROI'OISi: 

 AND OXYDONOR. 



A new fad has come up in the same line, called 

 " P'lectrikure." It is the same thing, only cheaper 

 and more ridiculous than any of the others. The 

 silly twaddle about taking oxvgen out of the air and 

 introducing it into the body is all gone over. Then 

 follows the usual list of startling testimonials. Circu- 

 lars have coine to us from Florida. California, and 

 other remote places, indicating that they are trying to 

 introduce it where people have not vet been posted. 

 Of cour.se, the thing cures every thing— cancer, con- 

 sumption, and all other slight ailments of the flesh. 

 One of our correspondents humorously tells us about 

 the reception he gave it, as follows : 



Ed. Gleanittf^s. — Not long ago one of those Electri- 

 kure frauds niade me a vi.sit and left his circular. I 

 gave him a full dose of A. I. R.'s medicine found in 

 Aug. 1st Gleanings. It didn't seem to set very well 

 on his stomach, but I have faith to think it w\\\ do him 

 good. Inclo.sed find circular. J. H. H.\rt. 



Hanford, Kings Co., Cal., Oct. 29. 



And here is another letter on this same subject, 

 which illustrates most vividly how much harm a min- 

 ister of the gospel mav' do m letting his imagination 

 run away with his fietter judgment in regard to such 

 things : 



Dear Sir and Fit>»d:—n has been my pleasure to 

 read manv interesting letters from y'lu, and I have 

 for a longtime wanted to write and thank you for the 

 .stand you take with the frauds. 



I believe every word you .say about Electro poise. 

 Can't yon tell " us something" about Electrikure ? 

 There is a minister here preadting •'Electrikure." I 

 believe him :tnd his machine to be a fake. 



Since reading your letters my mind has changed 

 consideiaViIv in looking to Christ Jesus for strength 

 and happiness; and before vou hear from me again I 

 think I will be a member of the Church. I would have 

 done so before this but for such people as the Electri- 

 kure preacher. J. M. Lassiter. 



St. Petersburg, Fla., Sept. 24. 



ACETYLENE GAS. 



In the November Cnsinnfinh'tan are some facts given 

 about acetylene that conflict with statements ni.ide by 

 vou in a recent number of Gleanings. Prof. Jacobus 

 finds that calcium carbide will have to be furnished 

 for ?!!•.. ")0 per ton to compete with ordinary gas. You 

 say it is as cheap as kerosene at 10 cts. "per gallon. 

 I see that calcium carbide is over SSO.tX) per ton. Now. 

 as you were the first to draw our attention to the new 

 light, we rely on vou to see that we are not humbug- 

 ged. ' ' John Major. 



Cokeville. Pa.. Nov. 1. 



Friend M . I .saw the article you allude to. hut I do 

 not believe Prof. Jacobus is pos'ted on all points. The 

 price I gave. 4 cts. per lb., was, if I am correct, the re- 

 tail price. Carbide will come dnwn in price as the de- 

 mand increases. One day last week, in passing a 

 hardware st^re in Shelbv', O., I happened to glance 

 through a window, and the beautiful light reminded 

 me of soniething familiar. I ejaculated to my com- 

 panion, "Acetylene gaslight, as sure as you live." A 

 crowd was already standing anmnd the apparatus. 

 Four burners lighted up the front part of the store 

 beautifully. Said I: 



" Friends, how long has this apparatus been run 

 ning here ?" 



A gentleman near me replied "Ju.st one hour and 

 twenty minutes." 



It was the introducer of the apparatus. When I 

 warned the crowd thev had better stand back or they 

 would all get blown up, the proprietor of the machine 

 was going to "blow me up" until he saw I was just 

 joking. Said he, " How can the gas blow anybody up 

 when it is manufactured only as fast as it is con.sumed 

 by the burners?" 



