844 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 1 



God and the brotherhood of man. We at- 

 tended the same church, and Mr. L. usually 

 met me at the church-door at the close of 

 the meeting for a brief conversation on 

 weather conditions and crop notes ; and 

 whenever we had suffered from drouth, and 

 a timely rain had fallen, he would extend 

 his hand to me and begin with that beauti- 

 ful quotation from the 65th Psalm, "Thou 

 visitest the earth and waterest it;" and that 

 psalm has been a favorite of mine ever 

 since, and I always think of Mr. Langstroth 

 when I read it ; and it has been my practice 

 for many years (when a timely rain has 

 fallen) to read it at family worship. 



Mr. Langstroth was naturally of a most 

 happy disposition, but he had an infirmity 

 which almost amounted to insanity. It was 

 a disposition to melancholia; and often for 

 six months together he would shut himself 

 in his room, refuse to see callers, and seem 

 utterly wretched. He told me that he spent 

 his time playing " solitaire," and he believ- 

 ed that was all that kept him from insanity. 

 He would suddenly come out from the influ- 

 ence of these spells as bright and happy as 

 ever; and he said to me he believed he en- 

 joyed more happiness than the average man; 

 for when he was free from this infirmity he 

 was supremely happy. 



Mr. Langstroth was a most eloquent preach- 

 er, and a speaker who would hold his audi- 

 ence perfectly. He took an active part in 

 the business affairs of the church; and I re- 

 call once when there had been a feeling of 

 depression in our business meeting he made 

 an address in which he used the following 

 illustration to show that our church was no 

 worse off than others, and that the churches 

 of to-day v/ere very much freer from jeal- 

 ousy and troubles which hinder their work 

 than in the former days. His story was as 

 follows: 



An old farmer in Kentucky, who lived on 

 a farm where they were obliged to grub the 

 sassafras sprouts every spring from the 

 cornfields (they called them " sassafig " in 

 the vernacular), finally became so discour- 

 aged he determined to locate in a better 

 country. He sent two of his sons to the 

 then new State of Missouri, of which he 

 had heard wonderful stories as to the fertil- 

 ity of the soil and healthfulness of the cli- 

 mate. Their first letters were optimistic, 

 and the old man became so enthused by them 

 that he determined to emigrate to Missouri. 

 He could not sell his farm, but made some 

 arrangement to have it cared for by a neigh- 

 bor, loaded his effects on a wagon, and start- 

 ed on his long journey. According to the 

 custom of the locality, the neighbors gather- 

 ed to the number of a score or more to ride 

 out on horseback with him as far as they 

 could and get back that day; but as they 

 passed the postofRce the postmaster handed 

 him a letter. In those days of 25-cent post- 

 age the receipt of a letter was an ev<. nt in 

 the neighborhood, and he stood ap m his 

 wagon to read it aloud to his neighbor.^. It 

 contained bad news. The frost had ruined 

 the wheat crop; the corn was nearly a fail- 



ure; his sons had shaken with ague until 

 they had lost courage; and the letter closed 

 with the following words: "And, father, 

 sassafig gi"ows here too." The old man 

 turned to his neighbors and said, " I've been 

 fitin' sassafig all my life in old Kaintuck, and 

 I'm not goin' to a new country to begin the 

 battle over again. ' ' And he turned his team 

 around and drove back home. 



Mr-. Langstroth was intensely patriotic, 

 and rendered valual)le service with tongue 

 and pen, as well as sending his only son to 

 the front. In the pulpit, on the streets, and 

 through the press his influence was known 

 and felt for the encouragement of the sol- 

 diers and the help of the widows and or- 

 phans. I was never more impressed by a 

 sermon and the recitation of a poem than 

 one Sunday morning when Mr. Langstroth 

 was greatly depressed, and came into the 

 pulpit and began the service by reading from 

 the psalm in which occurs the verse, ' ' Thou 

 executest righteousness and judgment for 

 all that are oppressed." Without lifting 

 his eyes from the Bible, or changing his 

 tone, he broke forth in the ' ' Battle-song of 

 the Republic," 



Mine eyes have seen the glory 

 Of the coming' of the Lord. 



He recited the whole poem in such an im- 

 pressive manner as to fix the incident indel- 

 ibly in the minds of his hearers. 



One Sunday morning he preached a ser- 

 mon from the text, "Who can find a virtu- 

 ous woman? for her price is above rubies?" 

 He became so interested in his subject, and 

 so enthusiastic, too, that he lost all track of 

 time, and held his audience spellbound, un- 

 til finally on looking at his watch he found 

 he had been jDreaching an hour and a half, 

 while those of us who had listened had not 

 realized the lapse of time. 



I knew Mr. Langstroth more as a minister 

 and a friend than as a bee-keeper; but his 

 name will godown to posterity as the invent- 

 or of the movable-frame hive which revolu- 

 tionized bee-keeping, and made the success 

 of later days a possibility. When I was a 

 boy, if we wanted honey we killed the bees 

 with brimstone and removed the honey. By 

 Mr. Langstroth 's plan the honey could be 

 removed in the best condition, and the bees 

 saved. He was an indefatigable worker 

 along this line, and you could see him as 

 soon as daylight broke in the long summer 

 days out in his apiary working, and he kept 

 it up until late at night. He spent whole 

 days studying and investigating the habits 

 of bees, and probably added more to the 

 knowledge of bee-keeping, and to making it 

 profitable, than any other man of his time. 

 He had no fear of bees at all, and claimed 

 he had been inoculated with bee-poison until 

 he was immune. His talent and valuable 

 work were appreciated by the leading bee- 

 kjepers of the United States, and his pres- 

 ence at their conventions was always wel- 

 come, and they voted him some substantial 

 rewards for his investigations. His book, 

 "Langstroth on the Honey-bee," was, at 

 the time of its publication, far in advance of 



