1904 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



4S1 



I have somehow got the notion into my 

 head that Senator Chamberlain is a good- 

 lx>king man. May be it is just my notion, 

 but I think his wi/e will agree with me, 

 even if others do not. Well, if he had been 

 a nice young woman instead of a nice young 

 man, and had given me such a smile as 

 that, I do not know but I should have been 

 '■ worried " a little for fear I was not ex- 

 actly loyal to Mrs. Root in being so much 

 pleased over such a simple thing. 



After a long delay, and after we were all 

 tired out by other matters and prelimina- 

 ries, the President of the Senate announced 

 the Brannock bill. When Senator C. first 

 came, right after dinner, he was happy 

 and smiling; but just as the Brannock bill 

 was called I noticed he looked pretty sober. 

 Attorney Waj^ne B. Wheeler, who sat just 

 over the railing, near him, also looked rath- 

 er sober, and I thought both seemed to be a 

 good deal worried. The brewers had given 

 up trying to overpower us in voles, but their 

 next best thing was to kill the effect of the 

 bill bj' various amendments. Another bright 

 young Senator across the room sprang to 

 his feet and began. He first announced he 

 was a friend of temperance, and particu- 

 larly a friend of this local-option bill. He 

 talked so well that it was hard to believe he 

 was noi in very truth what he claimed to 

 be. But when he brought out his amend- 

 ments I very soon decided that his purpose 

 was to get us " rattled " and into trouble if 

 he could. This man. Senator Oskamp, is 

 one of the brightest young lawyers I ever 

 listened to. Nothing could embarrass him. 

 He never got mixed up nor tangled, and he 

 was as cool and deliberate as if he had the 

 whole world right under the tips of his fin- 

 gers. I could not help admiring him, even 

 while I feared his logic. It had been de- 

 cided by the temperance forces, for the sake 

 of peace, to accept some of the amendments 

 that would not hinder us very much, and 

 Oskamp soon got the temperance Senator 

 into a tangle. The President of the Senate 

 himself declared one of the motions was, in 

 his opinion, out of order. I tried with all 

 my might and mental strength to grasp all 

 the points of the situation, and to keep it 

 clear in my head; but I got all mixed up. 

 Senator Chamberlain was evidently some- 

 what put out and embarrassed also. Let 

 me say right here that the President of the 

 Senate was one of the finest presiding offi- 

 cers I ever met in my life. It rejoiced mj' 

 heart to know that we had so able a man in 

 Ohio to preside over such an important 

 gathering. It evidently would require a 

 little time for the temperance people to clear 

 up their position. 



Just here I began to pray most fervently 

 for our cause; and my prayer seemed ans- 

 wered when the President announced that, 

 lo save iime, they would go on and vote on 

 the motion while the clerk looked up and 

 straightened the matter, where he thought 

 Mr. Chamberlain was out of order. In a 

 few moments he announced with a peasant 

 smile that Senator Chamberlain was all 



right. Then they went on with the contest. 

 For a time a part of the amendments were 

 accepted by vote, and the champions of the 

 brewers were becoming encouraged. Then 

 the enemy made a mistake. They had such 

 a great string of amendments the honest 

 men among the Senators began to be suspi- 

 cious, and the noes became more frequent. 

 Oskamp kept on, however, presenting his 

 amendments until there was a call for the 

 "question" from all sides of the House. 

 The whole body of Senators began to be 

 impatient until it got to be the fashion to 

 greet each new amendment with continual 

 noes,- and when no got to be the fashion, 

 every amendment offered was rejected. It 

 reminded me of a flock of sheep. After we 

 had got the enemy on the run it was an 

 easy job, apparently, to keep them goino-. 

 The final decision was 27 in favor of tem- 

 perance to only 6 against it — a wonderful 

 triumph. Perhaps I might say it was an 

 unexpected triumph. 



It is a very hard thing indeed for me to 

 sit from half past twelve till half- past six 

 without leaving my seat. The room was 

 densely crowded with men and women who 

 were friends of temperance. In fjct, the 

 papers say it was the most crowded session 

 of the season. It is very hard for me of 

 late to sit very long in a crowded audience. 

 When I was younger I could stand it for a 

 brief season better than I can now. At 

 half- past three I felt as if I should have to 

 leave the room; but when I became thor- 

 oughly interested in the legal contest over 

 the matter of saloons or no saloons in the 

 residence districts of our State, I forgot my 

 fatigue. After the little embarrassment I 

 mentioned at the outset, I began praying 

 that the Holy Spirit would move on the 

 hearts of our Senators and guide them 

 aright. When it came to voting, of course 

 / could not vole; but, thank God, I could 

 pray, and that most earnestly, for the vot- 

 ers. As the clerk called the names I pray- 

 ed briefly, as the names were announced, 

 that every answer might be no. Some of 

 the Senators were undecided, and the clerk 

 had to call their names twice before they 

 made up their minds. At such times I 

 prayed most vehemently— of course mental- 

 ly — that the good brother might be influ- 

 enced to say no instead oiyes; and it seem- 

 ed to me as if all who hesitated finally said 

 no. Now, please do not fear, dear friends, 

 that I am getting^ to be superstitious. The 

 good Book says, "The effectual fervent 

 prayer of a righteous man availeth much." 

 That does not exactly come in here; but if 

 the inspired writer had said, "Even the 

 prayers of blundering sinners avail much," 

 there might have been some hope that my 

 prayers were doing some good. I do not 

 know but some of the friends who have 

 more confidence in hypnotism than your 

 humble servant may suggest that the Sen- 

 ate was hypnotized into givingf us this great 

 temperance victory. To which I reply that 

 I never before heard of hypnotism being- 

 used for an3 good purpose. If it really has 



