628 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



AuG.[l. 



or both from the handle-bars to adjust her 

 d^i Jly cap, and the wheel seemed to be really 

 a part of herself as it made graceful curves in 

 order to go a Utile faster than some of her fel- 

 low-travelers. I love the boys and girls of 

 this country, and I am proud of themj; and 

 when I get among them, and feel myself al- 

 most one of them, I can hardly tell you how 

 I "hunger and thirst" to see them grow up 

 to he good and pure — not selfish, but doing 

 their part to help this great teeming world 

 along — to help provide not only the wheels 

 and the wheel-palhs, but all sorts of comforts 

 — that is, honest, innocent comforts and helps, 

 for all humanity. 



I do not like to travel on Sunday ; but if 

 traveling ituist be done I very much prefer to 

 do it on my wheel, because in that case I do 

 not ask anybody else to labor for me — no, not 

 even the horses that generall}' have to work 

 enough week days. The man at the ticket-of- 

 fice said I would have to take the 10-o'clock 

 train, and it would land meat Elyria, 25 miles 

 from home, between 9 and 10 at night. There 

 was an 8:30 train, but to take it I would have 

 to be at the armory, to have my ticket stamp- 

 ed, at 8 o'clock ; then I would have to get 

 from there to the Likeshore Depot (two miles 

 distant) in 30 minutes. This was an easy mat- 

 ter ; but my wheel would have to be taken 

 apart and packed in its case, and checked to 

 Medira ; and you may know by experience 

 that you can not always get baggage checked 

 when time is limited. But I decided to try 

 hard to make the 8:30 train. Now, when I 

 have something difficult on hand to be done 

 at a certain appointed time, I have prided my- 

 self on looking forward and ant cipating every 

 thing that might make a hitch in the proceed- 

 ings. Somelimes here at home we have to 

 shut off our waterworks in order to make re- 

 pairs, as we do not like to be a minute longer 

 than necessary without protection in case of 

 fire, so we plan to have every thing ready that 

 may possibly be needed, so there will be no 

 stopping at a critical time to hunt for this, 

 that, and the other. 



I was at the armory before 8 o'clock, had 

 my ticket in my fingers, and every thing ready 

 to be the first one to get a ticket stamped. 

 The agent was late, and I told him the circum- 

 stances. He said, " All right ; give us your 

 ticket, and get your twenty-five cents ready, 

 and you can be off in a minute." When I ex- 

 tended to him a dollar, however, he said I 

 would have to make my own change. He said 

 if I did not have the 25 cents he would have 

 to take the next man. Not one in the crowd 

 c )uld change a silver dollar. I ran acrossth e 

 street to a drugstore. They were out of 

 change, but said I could get it at the saloon 

 next door ; and here was A. I. Root again, 

 rushing from one saloon to another to get a 

 dollar changed. Had I wanted a drink they 

 could have found the change. I kept going 

 on further and further, and then remembered 

 I had left my wheel in that crowd while I was 

 two or three blocks away. Finally I came to 

 a grocer}', and got my change. By the time I 

 was back, a great crowd was ahead of me. 

 The agent had my ticket, and I tried to ex- 



plain that I came in ahead ; but I should not 

 have got off had not a good friend given me 

 his place. A good many minutes had gone 

 by, but I jumped on my wheel, and explained 

 to a policeman that I wanted to catch a train. 

 You have all read in novels how the horse 

 seemed to catch the spirit of the rider in some 

 great crisis. Well, can't I believe that that 

 wheel of mine c lught the spirit of the rider as 

 much as any horse ever did? The policemen 

 seemed to catch the spirit as well as the wheel. 

 They were very kind, pointed out the way, and 

 said it was all right when I told them I want- 

 ed to catch the 8:30 train. My worst trouble 

 was from vehicles coming down side streets. 

 But I soon learned the trick. Sometimes I 

 could follow in the wake of a fast rider. It 

 took me 7 minutes to get from the armory to 

 the Lakeshore Depot, and a policeman said it 

 was two miles. The baggageman happened 

 to be a good-natured fellow, and he helped me 

 all he could. My wheel was pulled apart, 

 packed in the case, the fastenings snapped to- 

 gether, and then, although I showed my 

 ticket, there seemed to be difficulty about de- 

 ciding what train I belonged on. I went to 

 the right place, but the porter said that was 

 not it — that I would have to go to the gate 

 and inquire. But the gateman said it was 

 "it," and I had about one minute to rest be- 

 fore the train started. 



I reached Elyria between 5 and 6 o'clock, 

 but had to stop briefly for lunch, as I had had 

 no supper. My wheel, after it was out of the 

 case, seemed to be just as ready for a run as it 

 had been in the morning. I was doing nicely, 

 and should have reached Medina before dark, 

 but I came to a spot where there had been 

 heavy rains, and it was getting too dark to 

 see. Just then somebody came up behind 

 me on a wheel, v\ith an acetylene light. It 

 proved to be a boy who had been in my em- 

 ploy, and he was on his way to Medina ; but 

 he wanted to stop at a little town to attend a 

 farmers' institute. He offeied to lend me his 

 lamp, but then he would have to get through 

 in the dark. If it had not been muddy I 

 should have been all right ; but I had to avoid 

 mud-holes, and hunt up dry streaks, without 

 any light. At one point I thought I saw a 

 very nice smooth piece of road Of late I sel- 

 dom get thrown from my wheel ; in fact, I 

 sometimes boast that I have not fallen for a 

 year ; but when I struck that light, smooth- 

 looking strip, there were some circus perform- 

 ances you may be sure. I could not think 

 what had got into that road ; and finally, in 

 spite of all I could do, off I went on my head, 

 into the ditch. When I crawled out I pro- 

 ceeded to investigate, and I found that the 

 farmers had just plowed three or four furrows 

 on each side of the road, and then the rain 

 had stopped them. I had been trying to keep 

 my seat while riding over those furrows in 

 the dark. A little after 9 o'eloek, ho-wever, 

 struck the new stone road I have 'told you 

 about, that leads right up to our door ; and 

 didn't I appreciate just then {Saturday night) 

 and there a sort of road that does not have 

 mud-holes and slippery spots, even if it has 

 been raininjj hard ! 



