1899 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



761 



necks are very much like the average politi- 

 cian — have no backbone, and they can turn 

 their heads clear round so quick as to almost 

 look themselves in the face. The only way to 

 subdue an ostrich is to wind his neck around 

 his legs and tie it in a double bow-knot. The 

 ostrich never smiles, and takes every thing for 

 granted and many things that are not granted. 

 His means of defense is his foot, and he kicks 

 forward just like a man ; but, what a kick ! 

 He will kick a board off a fence and into 

 kindling-wood. Bill McKinley (that's the 

 name of the big ostrich) got angry at some 

 cross-eyed remark his wife made, and he kill- 

 ed her with one kick. The ostrich does not 

 sing, cackle, or quack. It has an inclination 

 to be sociable ; but when the words start from 

 the lungs they evaporate before they reach 

 the head (wonderful provision, especially in 

 the female ostriches). His life is regulated 

 almost altogether by dumb signs ; and only 

 when angry will the male ostrich give utter- 

 ance, and the attendant said it was not unlike 

 the roar of a lion. 



A little whiffet of a dog not so large as a 

 pint of cider will scare the life out of an os- 

 trich, and make the whole flock run around 

 the corral like race-horses. A kid, however, 

 is looked upon as a curiosity, and handled as 

 such. I have a notion that the ostrich will, 

 after all, find his sphere in some reformatory 

 where these refractory kids are trained. Kids 

 are so loath to fall into the care of an os- 

 trich the second time that they are very good 

 as long as the ostrich is in sight. 



When an ostrich tips his head up sidewise, 

 cocks his eye and drops his under lip, you 

 can always know that he is fixing for a grab, 

 and you may regulate your life accordingly. 



The ostrich is a queer bird, and is put to a 

 queer use — just growing feathers to adorn la- 

 dies' bonnets. They look pretty, of course ; but 

 isn't such adornment a relic of barbarism ? 



The charge for admittance to this farm is 

 two bits; but when a man's wife accompanies 

 him he hardly ever comes out without having 

 paid five or ten dollars for feathers. This is 

 another point where the man and the ostrich 

 resemble each other — the ostrich is plucked, 

 and so is the man. 



This kind of poultry would not work well 

 with an apiary. If the hives were not swal- 

 lowed as, an article of diet they would be 

 kicked to splinters upon the least provocation. 

 Then a good feather-bearing ostrich is worth 

 from two to three hundred dollars; and what 

 bee-keeper can. launch out money at that rate 

 to stock a farm ? Mr. McNay, the wealthy 

 bee-keeper of Wisconsin, might; but, alas for 

 us Californians ! after these two dry seasons 

 there is not one in ten of us who feels able to 

 buy a Shanghai rooster. There can be much 

 more said about the ostrich, but probably the 

 above is about as much as the bee-keeping 

 world can stand at this time. 



X. B. L., Quebec. — As to the best French 

 bee journal, that is a matter of taste. Proba- 

 bly Bertrand's Revue Internationale would 

 suit you. It is printed in Nyon, Switzerland. 



THE REFORMED SPELLING. 



The Reform to be Accomplished Step by Step, and 

 Not by Radical Change. 



BY E. B. THORNTON. 



I am glad to learn that you are in favor of 

 the short spelling, though you do not yet see 

 your way clear to adopt it. I note, however, 

 that you do adopt many short spellings. See 

 the following from the July 1st issue : Catalog 

 (formerly here and in England still spelled 

 catalogue); also neighbor for neighbour; plow 

 for plough ; center for centre ; wagon for 

 waggon ; color for colour. 



I do not know how many more might have 

 been selected. It all depends on the point of 

 view. The more ancient the book or manu- 

 script you compare it with, the more does 

 modern English depart from what was once 

 considered correct. 



The "taste" of Milton or Shakespeare 

 would doubtless have been greatly "offended " 

 by the spelling on any page of Gleanings or 

 the Review. It seems to me that a man who 

 wants to do right will find in this subject not 

 a question of esthetics, but one of ethics. The 

 schoolchildren of England and America are 

 robbed of two years of their school life in 

 order to learn something that might better be 

 left unlearned. 



The editor of the Independent puts the mat- 

 ter in its true light when he says that the 

 whole matter is one that ' ' properly belongs 

 to the societies for the prevention of cruelty 

 to children." " The weariness, the tears, the 

 blotted copybooks, the nervous strain we put 

 on our children, are our shame." .... 

 " We are often told that our children are far 

 more backward than the children of other 

 languages. How can it be otherwise ? The 

 time that we waste in learning to read and 

 spell, a German or Spanish or Italian child 

 can give to his arithmetic and geography." 

 . . " Many more children could go to 

 the high school and to college if their years 

 and their patience had not been exhausted in 

 useless labor at the very threshold of learning. ' ' 



Then why not try a little more of the new 

 spelling, in Gleanings? You will not be 

 long alone. Spelling reformers are making 

 special effort to promote the orthography of 

 the following list of words as recommended 

 by the National Educational Association : 



Program (programme) ; tho (though) ; altho (al- 

 though); thoro (thorough); thorofare (thoroughfare); 

 thru (through) ; thruout (throughout) ; catalog (cata- 

 logue); prolog (prologue); decalog (decalogue); dem- 

 agog (demagogue) ; pedagog (pedagogue). 



This list is small ; but as a rallying-point it 

 is important. If we can not reform these 

 spellings we can not reform any. We wapt 

 our friends to show their colors. In union 

 there is strength. The true friends of the 

 reform do not neglect small opportunities 

 while waiting for larger ones. 



Pitman tried for fifty years to make a com- 

 plete job of it on a thoroughly phonetic basis, 

 and he accomplished little more than to call 

 attention (not always favorable) to the sub- 

 ject. American reformers in the meantime 



