104 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 1. 



nish the money for this expensive work ? He 

 commenced at the beginning by forming a 

 " Law and Order League. " When he had a 

 case he sounded his witnesses thoroughly. If 

 it ■was a jury case he left no stone unturned to 

 secure an honest, fearless jury. Then he man- 

 aged to get officers of the law up to a pitch 

 where the}- did not shirk dut}-. In fact, he 

 surrounded them with earnest, honest men so 

 they could not very well evade duty. He suc- 

 ceeded in getting convictions. Afterward he 

 asked good and able men to help pay the ex- 

 penses, and they did so. To make a long 

 story short, he prosecuted 178 saloon-keepers, 

 gambling-dens, and houses of ill-fame in the 

 little State of Connecticut, and secured con- 

 victions in ever}' case but 14. His final mas- 

 terpiece was in attacking a gambling-den part- 

 ly in Connecticut and parll} in an adjoining 

 State. They were so well intrenched, and had 

 so much money, that the officers of the law 

 had been afraid of them. They were desper- 

 adoes, too, and the man who meddled with 

 them would be likt ly to lose his life. Friend 

 Thrasher visited the Governor of the State, 

 showed him his past record, and told him 

 what he wanted to do. May I say God in- 

 fluenced that Governor so that he caught some 

 of friend Thrasher's enthusiasm, and promised 

 him all the aid he could give? He worked 

 the case up with more time and pains than he 

 had ever done before. He went to New York 

 city, and secured detectives who were not 

 afraid to undertake the job. He managed to 

 have an officer for each gambler. The whole 

 gang (21 of them) wtre arrested at once. 

 When they recognized the situation, and dis- 

 covered they were outwitted, they gracefully 

 yielded, but managed to furnish bail. When 

 they saw how friend Thrasher had cornered 

 them they jumped their bail, and left !?17,000 

 in the State of Connecticut, and gambling in 

 that viciniiy received its death-blow, as a re- 

 ward for having cleaned out a thing that had 

 been a disgrace for many a long year. Friend 

 Thrasher has published a full account of this 

 transaction, in a little pamphlet which he has 

 had printed for the benefit of other States that 

 wish to go and do likewise.* For about half 

 an hour he answered questions in regard to 

 the enforcement of temperarce laws. Some- 

 body asked him how many more Thrashers 

 they had down in Connecticut. He said three 

 little ones were all that he knew of. They 

 were in his own home, and it was for their 

 sakes he had taken up this work. 



The next session of the Anti-saloon League 

 will be held in Cleveland, some time next De- 

 cember. I will see that you are informed of it 

 in time if you want to go. Meantime hunt 

 up the organization in your own State ; get 

 into the harness, and help pull, and may God 

 give you "Unity," •'Persistency," and, final- 

 ly, " Victory." 



♦The following is another extract from the little 

 book I have mentioned : 



Jii>t before the Williinantir fail- of last year, the Williniantic 

 Cliii tiaii Eiicieavor Union a|i|iointc I a jr.. oil i-itizenliii> com- 

 mittee, «itu in^tnR•tion> t.i.-..-i>i.f ale witli t.ie Laxv and OiiJer 

 Leatriie. w ith a vie.v ol' |iie\ enlin-j'. it )i.)sMlile all K'ainljling 

 Kaiue- and inuMO al shows in tlie fairerrouncl. Oiir ^e^.■letar.v 

 and a foi ce of detective- went to VVilliiiiaiitic lor tiie purpose 

 or making investifjations, and enterinj^ complaints against 



NOTES OF TRAVEL 



.< BY A. I -ROOT. 



Jg^^S^-J^ ^^^ 



After the session of the Anti-saloon League, 

 while waiting for a train I went over to the 

 State I'niversity. I first gravitated toward the 

 greenhouses for growing vegetables under 

 glass. As usual, the largest building was 

 filled with a beautiful crop of Grand Rapids 

 lettuce. The man in charge told nie the de- 

 mand was ahead of the supply all the time. 

 The plan of growing it is not much different 

 from what I have described heretofore. The 

 seed is started in little trays, or flats. The 

 sides of these trays are made of stuff about an 

 inch square. I suggested that such boxes are 

 heavier to handle than they need to be ; but 

 the attendant explained that the bottom was 

 made entirely of lath, with spaces between the 

 lath. The soil is, therefore, only an inch or so 

 deep. Whenever the plants need watering, 

 the tray (plants and all) is set in the water- 

 bench. When well soaked it is set out, and the 

 open bottoms made of lath give most perfect 

 drainage. The plants from these little trays 

 are set out in other trays about two inches 

 apart. These are treated and watered just like 

 the others until they begin to crowd ; then 

 they are set into large beds, where they make 

 their full growth, about seven inches high 

 from center to center. For spacing in the 

 boxes, at first transplanting they use a board 

 with pins set in at right distances. Each tray 

 holds about 70 plants, if I am correct. 



Some of the boys who have been in our em- 

 ploy are now students at the Universit}-, and I 

 was told iheir recitation would be over at just 

 ten o'clock. As the recitation closed I had 

 the pleasure of meeting them. It was in ihe 

 geological or museum building ; and our vet- 

 eran friend Prof. Orth, together with the boys, 

 proceeded to show me some of the recent 

 "finds" from our State of Ohio. First and 

 foremost, for it is the most conspicuous thing 

 in the whole great building, was the skeleton 

 of a " mastodon," found in one of our Ohio 

 swamps a year or two ago. While this is not 

 the Itrgest one in the world, it ranks fairly 

 with those in different collections. Prof. Orth 

 told me there was a singirlar circumstance con- 

 nected with the finding. When the mon- 

 ster's jawbones were discovered and pried out, 

 farmers and others in the neighborhood began 

 smashing them up with axes and crowbars to 

 get the huge teeth. When somebody notified 

 him, and he went in behalf of the State to get 

 the valuable find, he had great trouble in 

 hunting up all the teeth that had been carried 



law bieakeis, it' it became necesrary- In some way it was 

 kn.'wn. or least suspected, that the agents of| rise League weie 

 in Willi Miaiitic. ami between t^venty five and thirty iir..le.~: ion- 

 al iranibleiv- lelt tl-.e i-ity betoie the fair opene I. Nothing oli- 

 jc.-tionable occui red iri'the ganilding line until about m.oii of 

 the se.'ond tlay. when our a;;entsiepoi ted that live games were 

 in o|ie'ati.>ii Onr : eci etaw. in c.>inpan> with tlie jnesirtent 

 of the C.u istian Endeavor Union, vi it>-d the lairgroun.ls and 

 «ariie.l the propi ietors of the live stand, that they would te 

 ariested if they continued thei ■ tames. In tliirly minutes 

 they ha.l pulled up stakes and left the ground. 



Any who wish a copy of this pamphlet can have it 

 bv addressing ,S. P. Thrasher, 82 Church St., New Ha- 

 ven, Ct. 



