692 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 15. 



one to thank God for the precious gift every 

 time he came in sight of it. 



In order to shorten the distance to the other 

 and larger well I crossed two farms, riding 

 down one lane, opening the gates, of course, 

 and then getting out by another lane on an- 

 other road. While away back in the lots I 

 met a very pretty young girl driving her 

 father's lumber- wagon. She naturally felt 

 somewhat embarrassed at being obliged to 

 talk to a strange man away off in the field. 

 It was growing dark, and I was very anxious 

 to be directed by the shortest cut to the cele- 

 brated well. Although she flushed a little 

 with embarrassment, she finally gave me very 

 full directions in a very pretty and ladylike 

 way. Now, I have been telling you of a very 

 simple, commonplace event ; but as I hurried 

 past on my wheel so I could follow her direc- 

 tions before it was too dark to see, I fell to 

 meditating, and my thoughts ran in this way : 

 Is there a man in our whole wide land who 

 would not give the last drop of his life's blood 

 to protect our young women ? Just now there 

 is great activity everywhere. Farmers, on 

 account of their lack of help, are having not 

 only their young boys but young girls drive 

 teams and do other work that they can do. 

 There has been considerable sport at the ex- 

 pense of the old-time knight-errant because 

 he was expected to give his life, if need be, to 

 protect womankind. We need some of the 

 spirit of chivalry now ; and the poor man's 

 wife or daughter should be held as sacred and 

 as much entitled to protection as the finest 

 lady that the land affords. Not only should 

 womankind be protected from men who have 

 their senses, but the drunken man should be 

 taught that whisky in no way excuses him for 

 brutality of any sort. 



I reached the celebrated Amstutz artesian 

 well just as it was getting to be a little dark. 

 The men-folks were doing the chores, and so 

 the farmer's daughters very kindly volunteer- 

 ed to show the stranger around in the twilight. 

 The water was turned off from the great well, 

 because I afterward learned that about every 

 seven years, if left running, it cuts or corrodes 

 the pipe, and thus ruins the well, and then a 

 new one has to be drilled. Galvanized iron is 

 not only no better, but it actually cuts out 

 quicker than black iron pipe, so Mr. Amstutz 

 told me. One of the girls went inside of the 

 building and opened the valve in the four- 

 inch pipe while I stood outside. Such a vol- 

 ume of water came pouring out into the race- 

 way that I almost became alarmed. Why, it 

 seemed as if there was enough to run a " saw- 

 mill," in very truth. Mr. A. has made an 

 overshot water-wheel inside of the building. 

 The wheel is 12)4 feet in diameter, and the 

 buckets take all the water so as to get pretty 

 much all the power. The actual product is 

 six barrels of water a minute. Imagine a 

 stream that would fill up a barrel six times in 

 one minute, and you have it. When first 

 drilled, the water came out with such force as 

 to throw out stones two or three inches in 

 diameter. This water-wheel grinds feed for 

 the stock on Mr. A.'s farm, turns the churn, 

 w r ashing - machine, and works a series of 



brushes for ventilating, and keeping the flies 

 away from the dinner-table. The well is only 

 99 feet deep. Mr. A. has drilled three differ- 

 ent wells in all. The well by the schoolhouse 

 I first visited I should say was three-fourths 

 of a mile distant. Many attempts have been 

 made by neighboring farmers to get similar 

 wells ; but although Mr. A. strikes the same 

 vein of water every time in his own locality, 

 the other wells in the neighborhood are most- 

 ly failures. The stream has been running 

 about twenty years. The location is six miles 

 southwest of the town of Orrville, Wayne Co., 

 O. When the well was first drilled the water 

 rose to a height of 24 feet ; but now it rises 

 only about 14 feet. The valve is kept closed 

 unless power is wanted, on account of the 

 force of the stream cutting out the iron pipes, 

 as I have explained. 



After thanking my good friends, and assur- 

 ing them that such a sight was worth going 

 many miles to see, I started to go back to the 

 little town of Apple Creek ; but when my 

 friends informed me that Apple Creek was 

 three miles away, and Orrville, which was on 

 my way home, was only six miles distant, I 

 decided to take a moonlight ride to Orrville. 

 The moon was not yet up ; but rather than 

 sit down and await its slow motion I decided 

 to get along as best I could in the dark. 

 With good roads this would have been a very 

 easy matter ; but with the deep soft dust con- 

 sequent on our long severe drouth I was 

 obliged to feel my way, as it were, with the 

 rubber tire ; but I soon got so I could ride 

 very well ; and when the great full moon 

 illuminated my pathway I found the ride after 

 dark much more agreeable than during the 

 daytime. There is something exceedingly 

 invigorating about the damp night air, espe- 

 cially when on the wheel ; and when I ride 

 through a valley where there is quite a little 

 fog, I find the moisture-laden air is simply 

 delicious. 



In order to get home to see to some impor- 

 tant business I started off next morning at 

 four o'clock. Another reason for my early 

 start was that the morning air is much pleas- 

 anter during severe hot weather, and the dust 

 is not nearly as bad. Another thing, through 

 the day one is not only annoyed by teams 

 going back and forth, but these same teams 

 stir up the dust. The wheelrider who gets 

 up at daylight has the road all to himself, and 

 is comparatively free from dust, even during 

 a very dusty time. 



Between Orrville and Rittman I found more 

 flowing wells with their watering- troughs out 

 in the fields ; but the water here is so near the 

 surface that the farmer finds it but little ex- 

 pense to find a flowing well anywhere he 

 wishes. Many of them are right by the road- 

 side ; and the noise of the falling waters 

 makes one think of babbling brooks. ' ' Blessed 

 are they which do hunger and thirst after 

 righteousness ;" and, somehow or other, pure, 

 cool, sparkling water has always associated 

 itself in my mind with righteousness ; and 

 who can tell how much iniquity might be put 

 away or washed away, if you choose, by hav- 



