1898 



GIvEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



483 



pikes. There was not very much travel over 

 it, and so it was free from dust; but the road 

 was made of broken stone, just the same. I 

 had strapped my coat on the handle-bars; and 

 after I got to going down one hill and up an- 

 other on that smooth stone track I began to 

 gather life and enthusiasm. As it was a lone- 

 ly road with but few buildings in sight I un- 

 buttoned my vest, took off my cap, and laugh- 

 ed aloud to think of my deliverance from 

 overcoat, fur cap, and neuralgic pains. I 

 thanked God, and sang praises to him because 

 he had heard my prayer and given me such 

 complete emancipation from my troubles. In 

 that wonderful book I have before alluded to, 

 " A Singular Life," the hero, at one point in 

 his life, gives voice to a prayer something like 

 this: 



"Lord, I have groped after thee, and to 

 know thy will, and to do it if I could. I nev- 

 er expected to be happy. Dost thou mean 

 this draught of human joy for tiic / " 



Well, in spite of me my feeling was some- 

 thing like what is expressed in that prayer. 

 I opened my mouth wide, and drew in long 

 breaths of delicious cool air that expanded my 

 lungs to their utmost extent. I uid it again 

 and again as I flew up and down the hills 

 with the gentle breeze in my face. I could 

 actually feel strength and energy pouring in 

 at every nerve, and filling me with health and 

 happiness; and I knew from former experi- 

 ence that this is wholesome and lasting ener- 

 gy. I knew that the oxygen that I was tak- 

 ing in by the " bucketful " that afternoon was 

 going to last me several days at least. Let me 

 digress a minute. 



The exhilaration I have been describing was 

 due, without question, to large doses of oxy- 

 gen. Every physician, physiologist, and 

 teacher will tell you so. There was not any 

 humbug about it. Now, please pardon me if 

 I touch on a particular hobby of mine. The 

 men who advertise Electropoise and Oxydonor 

 will tell you their humbug toy takes oxygen 

 from the air and conveys il to the system; and 

 people accept the falsehood and pay out their 

 hard-earned money for the silly trap. Some 

 of you may tell me that ihe venders of these 

 things are sincere. Thty are iiol sincere. 

 When they invented the foolish story about 

 oxygen crawling along a single wire,* they 

 knew it was a falsehood; and you can no more 

 excuse them by saying they were honest, 

 though mistaken, than by pleading that the 

 man who makes counterfeit money is honest 

 though mistaken. Did the counterfeiter ever 

 believe that the money he made was genuine ? 

 Surely not. He deliberately planned to de- 

 fraud his fellow-man, and you can not make 

 any thing else out of it. Now, friends, when 

 you see in any advertisement that the trap or 

 medicine takes oxygen from the air and sends 

 it into the system, you may know it is a de- 

 liberate fraud. Oxygen can get into the body 

 through the lungs and into the blood only in 



* This oxygen story is just as sensible as the claim 

 that, by means of a wire, one could convey corn out of 

 a crib uito a pigpen so as to fatten swine; and yet re- 

 ligious papers give place to such ridiculous claims, 

 and ministers of the gospel lend their names by way 

 of indorsement. 



the way God planned it in the beginning. In- 

 deed, its presence in the system through any 

 other avenue would doubtless be very undesir- 

 able; and in the case of cuts it must be rigid- 

 ly excluded. 



Right in the middle of the town of Yellow 

 Springs there is indeed a wonderful spring. 

 It contains sufficient iron to give the rocks 

 from which the water flows a yellowish or 

 reddish tint, and this gives the spring the 

 name it bears. The water is cool and re- 

 freshing, and it comes in sufficient quantity 

 to fill a little pond and make a very pretty 

 waterfall. A large hotel, with bathing rooms, 

 etc., is near by. After enjoying the refresh- 

 ing water of this spring by sipping it leisurely 

 for some little time, I went into a restaurant, 

 and told them I wanted to lie down some- 

 where and rest for an hour; and when I 

 should wake up I wanted them to have ready 

 the nicest beefsteak they could find in town. 

 A pleasant-looking woman assured me I could 

 have both the rest and the steak, with such a 

 pleasant smile that I thanked God again for 

 this beautiful world of ours with all its com- 

 forts, and for the wonderful way in which 

 each and all minister to the wants of others. 

 1 had a refreshing nap, as I always do— that 

 is, when I do not ride too hard; but when I 

 was looking for my beefsteak my hostess in- 

 formed me that she guessed I would have to 

 take something else, for the man who gener- 

 ally brought her the meat could not be found 

 anywhere. But I was feeling too well then to 

 be cross about any thing, and so I told her to 

 bring me any thing she had, as I wanted to be 

 off. She said she could give me eggs and 

 toast and strawberries — the first berries of the 

 season. And then I felt thankful to remem- 

 ber that, while off on wheelrides away from 

 business, I could eat almost what I pleased, 

 or what other people did. I made the re- 

 maining ten miles of my trip over that beau- 

 tiful pike so quickly that I reached Xenia just 

 as my relatives were at tea. So I sat down 

 with them and had some inore strawberries 

 while we talked over matters in general. 



The progressive people of Greene Co. hold 

 horticultural and apicultural meetings cnce a 

 month the year round. The meetings are 

 held at different places so as to accommodate 

 the people from different parts of the county; 

 and in the summer time they generally hold 

 them at the residence of some bee-keeper or 

 fruit-grower, or both together. This one was 

 held in a beautiful schoolhouse at Alpha Cor- 

 ners. Refreshment was spread on tables in a 

 beautiful grove in front of the schoolhouse. 

 They proposed to have me talk a good part of 

 the afternoon. I said, "All right, friends; I 

 will talk just as long as you wish to have me 

 — that is, if you will ask questions, and tell 

 me on what line I can give most assistance. 

 But before going to the hall, let me lie down 

 somewhere and sleep about half an hour." 



One of the fruit growers furnished me a 

 dainty sleeping-place. In fact, every thing 

 was so comfortable and pleasant that I forgot 

 to wake up till a delegation was sent to in- 

 form me that dinner was ready. Well, to 

 make a short cut, and to get to the dining- 



