1898 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



811 



any exertion. Then I thought of my prayer 

 for strength. I told the driver I thought I 

 could ride the wheel so as to get into camp 

 before dark, anyway. I sprang from the 

 coach, found my wheel all right, and as I got 

 hold of my faithful old friend my spirits and 

 enthusiasm began to revive. Just ahead of us 

 was quite a hill, and it was sandy and dusty 

 besides. I supposed, of course, that I should 

 have to walk up that hill ; but as soon as I 

 was mounted, the wheel actually seemed as if 

 the inanimate thing was tired of standing 

 still, and wanted to go. I reached the foot of 

 the hill, and then had one of my " happy sur- 

 prises " as I rode up without a bit of trouble. 

 I was soon out of sight of the stage, and in a 

 very little time a strong healthy second wind 

 took possession of my whole being. I laughed 

 outright, and sang hymns of praise as I climb- 

 ed every hill along that beautiful road. I kept 

 thinking of the words of scripture, describing 

 the horse : " He paweth in the valley, and re- 

 joiceth in his strength." I came up to Obsid- 

 ian Cliff just as the sun was in the rig-ht posi- 

 tion to make it sparkle. See page 738 of our 

 issue for Oct 1 . 



OBSIDI.\N CLIFF. 



Down in a corner at the left hand you will 

 see one of the white mile-posts that the gov- 

 ■ernment has placed all along the roadway. 

 This mile-post tells all the distances, and also 

 records the altitude. Near the roadway, in 

 the middle of the cut, is one of the telegraph- 

 poles supporting the wire put up by the trans- 

 portation company. No wonder the road is as 

 good as it looks to be in the picture—a beauti- 

 ful smooth path — for it is made mostly of 

 pounded glass. You will notice some pine- 

 trees on the top, growing right out of this 

 flinty rock, apparently, and it is indeed won- 

 derful to see trees wedging their roots into 

 crevices, and growing thriftily where there 

 does not seem to be any thing for them to 

 live on. 



A little before sundown I wheeled into Wil- 

 low Park. In fact, I ran right up before one 

 of the young ladies just as she had opened her 

 mouth to announce that supper was ready. 

 After the exercise that I had had, this an- 

 nouncement was of itself refreshing. Not 

 only did the young lady look good and beau- 

 tiful, but I seemed to have fallen in love with 



all the people and the surroundings. My ap- 

 petite had come back, and I was well and 

 strong. Oh what a boon is physical strength, 

 and a consciousness that we are possessors of 

 muscular poiver ! When under the influence 

 of second wind it is always a delight to me to 

 climb hills, but I think I never enjoyed climb- 

 ing hills more than I did that afternoon ; and 

 I did not forget to give thanks that my prayer 

 had been answered. Oh how differently I 

 felt ! and how ashamed I was of the ungrate- 

 ful and silly thoughts of the former part of 

 that day! Some of you may ask, "Why, 

 Bro. Root, why didn't you think to pray for 

 strength before giving up your wheel and rid- 

 ing in the coach ? " 



Well, to tell the truth I either did not think 

 of my little prayer or else I asked God for help 

 with such a lack of faith that no wonder 

 strength was not given me. I have felt many 

 times since that I might have ridden my 

 wheel clear through the park, despite the 

 great altitude and mountains to climb ; and, 

 Providence permitting, I am going to try some 

 time again going clear ilirougli Yellowstone 

 Park on my u'heel. 



From what you know of me, and from what 

 I have written here in these Home Papers, 

 you m ly be surprised to hear me admit that I 

 ever forget that God is our refuge and strength, 

 and a very present help in trouble. I am 

 ashamed of myself when I think of it. But I 

 presume I am human. How often I think of 

 that old favorite hymn of my father's — 



Prone to wander ; Lord, I feel it — 

 Prone to leave the God I love. 



During the evening I felt so well and strong 

 that I overhauled my wheel, looked into the 

 oiling, adjustments, and put every thing in 

 perfect trim. Next morning, before our party 

 was up, I was off again, seeing and enjoying 

 many sights that 1 did not notice on my for- 

 mer trip when I was feeling poorly. I reach- 

 ed Mammoth Hot Springs in excellent time, 

 and went over once more the wonderful ter- 

 races. In crossing the bridge at Golden Gate 

 I received my first admonition from the gov- 

 ernment soldiers. It was very kind and gen- 

 tlemanly. One of them said : " Look here, 

 my friend. Either walk, or ride very slowly 

 when you are going down these roads cut in 

 the side of the mountain. You might frighten 

 horses, and have people thrown over the cliff." 



I thanked him, and really enjoyed obeying 

 to the very letter his sensible suggestions. If 

 you look at Golden Gate on page 700 of our 

 issue for Sept. 15 you will realize the justice of 

 his admonition to wheelmen. In brief, I went 

 clear down the mountain, and when I reached 

 Gardiner I had ample time for a very pleasant 

 visit at the residence of J. G. McKay. Some 

 of the ladies there informed me that I ought 

 to visit the Montana Experiment Station at 

 Bozeman before going back to Ohio. She 

 said it was 2o miles over the beautiful moun- 

 tain pass, or " divide,'' as it is called, and that 

 some of the hoys had made the whole trip on 

 the wheel, but she thought it was pretty diffi- 

 cult, especially climbing up for the first ten 

 miles. I shall describe this trip later on ; but 



