586 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



JUI.Y 15. 



Maywood, and got hold of my trusty wheel 

 once more, I felt like — well, say like a little 

 girl who has lost her doll baby, and rero\-ered 

 it after several trying experiences. W^- are, 

 all of us, but children of ; m older grdwth, 

 any way. 



The first person I met in Mnywood was a 

 boy of about sixteen or eighteen, smoking a 

 cigarette, and holding a wheel by his side. 



Said I : 



' ' My young friend, I see you ride a wheel. 

 Perhaps you can tell me how far it is to West- 

 ern Springs." 



He replied that he never heard of such a 

 place. 



"Why, Western Springs is where Vaughn 

 the great florist has so many greenhouses. 

 Surely there is such a place near here." 



Again he replied that he never heard of 

 Vaughn nor of any greenhouses. 



"Well, then, will you please direct me to 

 a bicycle repair shop? They will probably 

 know all about it." 



He replied he did not know of any place 

 where they repaired bicycles. 



"Oh! then you do not live in town?" 



He replied that he had lived there all his 

 life. I do not know but I got a little stirred 

 up again. Said I : 



" You say you have lived here all your life, 

 and you ride a wheel, and yet do not know 

 whether there is a repair shop in town or not." 



He still declared he did not. Now. I relate 

 this incident to show you what kind of fruit 

 cigarette-smoking produces, or what sort of 

 young- men it produces, if you choose. I 

 found a repair shop right in sight, and they 

 told me Western Springs was off south some- 

 where, about seven or eight miles ; so I fol- 

 lowed the street-car line off south. Nobody 

 knew much about Western Springs ; but a 

 traveling notion-dealer said I must turn and 

 go east about a mile, when I would come to a 

 saloon, and then turn south again, and he 

 thought at this saloon they could tell me 

 more about it. Now, this street-car line ran 

 out to a sort of beer-garden where there were 

 any number of saloons ; but there did not 

 seem to be a man or woman in the saloons or 

 out who ever heard of Western Springs. I 

 inq lired of people on the street and of people 

 inside, but they all seemed to be soaked in 

 betr everywhere. At one place I found a 

 gray-haired woman, the only occupant of a 

 salcon. She sat near a table, with a pitcher 

 of leer. She did not know any thing about 

 such a place — never heard of Vaughn nor of 

 any greenhouses. A man with a bloated red 

 face came in, and he did not know any more. 

 The woman who kept the bar said she thought 

 she had heard of such a place somewhere. I 

 tried saloon-keepers and other people with the 

 same results. Finally, in sheer disgust, my 

 wheel and I started off south, without instruc- 

 tion. I found a market-gardener loading up 

 cabbages. //^ was in his "right mind," and 

 had some sort of head-piece on top of him. 

 He explained to me that Western Springs was 

 only eight or ten miles from Maywood, but 

 that I should have to go a good deal further 

 to get there, on account of the river. 



I have given you a pretty sad description of 

 the inhabitants in the suburbs of Maywood. 

 Permit me to add, however, that they have 

 most beautiful roads along the street-car lines 

 and past the saloons. Perhaps the beer busi- 

 ness built the beautiful roads. When I came 

 near a town called Riverside things looked 

 better, and I fell to wondering whether the 

 people of Illinois knew there is a place so 

 beautiful as Riverside. It is all green lawns 

 and asphalt streets. There are no fences, no 

 weeds — nothing but hand.some residences, 

 lawns, flowers, and parks. I was in a hurry 

 or I would have explored a little more. When 

 I crossed the river the saloons and bloated 

 faces were in evidence again, and nobody 

 knew of any thing. When I neared Western 

 Springs I passed through a town the name of 

 which I forget, with most beautiful graded 

 streets planted with trees, and every thing in 

 regular suburban stvle, all but the houses. I 

 felt amply repaid for all my trouble and pains 

 that afternoon when I got a glimpse of 

 Vaughn's great string of greenhouses, some 

 time between four and five o'clock. But I 

 shall have to defer, till the next issue, an ac- 

 count of my visit there. 



THE STARVING ONES IN INDIA. 



A Report on the Spot, from a Missionary who 

 Takes Gleanings. 



My dear Mr. Root: — For the last fovir months I have 

 been going to wiite to you, but I have been too busy 

 in taminerelief vfork ; but, lime or uo time, I must 

 vsrite you. I received your paper for several months, 

 which I was glad to get. I received your letter also ; 

 but since receiving it I have been transferred from 

 Kaira to Sanand, which is a new station opened by 

 our mission. 



To take the cattle as a whole, ninety per cent of 

 them are dead, if not more. There are very few wells 

 in this district, hence very little irrigation. The small 

 irrigated barley harvest which has just been reaped 

 has been a costly one to hundreds. Many have spent 

 50 rupees (a rupee is eqiial to 33 cents), others more, 

 in raising their crops, finly to get at^out 1.5 rupees in 

 retu n. This was owing to the very cold weather ex- 

 peiienced here this last cold .season. So not only has 

 the monsoon crop failed, but the cold-season crop also. 

 Gouari, a medium-sized white grain, is usualU' sown 

 at the beginning of the hot season ; but very few have 

 in thi-i di trict ventured so soon, being afraid, undoubt- 

 edly, that it would be labor in vain, on account of the 

 dryness of the land and the weakness of th' ir cattle. 

 You will see from the above that there is no hope of 

 getting any food stuff from within until next October; 

 and until then all food stuff must come from without. 



The peop'e who have thus far stayed in their villages 

 to \.xy to raise a small crop have sold and pawned 

 every thing to buy food with. Many of them are now 

 pulling the doors out of their houses, also the tiles 

 and beams off the roof, and are selling them for food ; 

 and in going round from villi ge to village one of the 

 saddest sights one sees is some of the women and 

 young girls almost nude, and some quitf-. I know of 

 whole families of from five to eight in number from 

 whose clothes, taking them all together, one could not 

 get a yard of good cloth. I have had one case brought 

 to my notice where the poor wom^n could not leave 

 her house. I have seen others who have had to wear 

 their bedding around themselves during the day. 

 Mothers, being half sla'ved them.^elves, have no nour- 

 ishing food for their suckling babes ; hence the chil- 

 dren are seen by the score dying at their mothers' 

 breast. These mothers, with tears and sorrow, im- 

 plore us on behalf of their little ones. Truly it is 

 Matthew 2:18 over again, only instead of the little 

 ones being killed by a cruel king a cruel famine is tak- 

 ing them off. " In Rama wasthere a voice heard, lam- 

 entation and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel 

 weeping for her children, and would not be comfort- 



