108 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



February, 1921. 



clenee of the humble inventor who built it. 

 It performed astonishing feats, and did not 

 cost much over $100. I may not have got 

 my statements just right, as it was so long 

 ago. Well, I was so much interested that 

 I made full investigation. How do you 

 suppose it turned out? No such machine 

 was exhibited at the exposition. No such 

 man invented a flying-machine. It was just 

 a built-up yarn, picture and all. ' Now just 

 imagine the publishers of a daily paper 

 telling somebody, witliout any scruples of 

 conscience, to go to work arid make a pic- 

 ture and write it all up in order to create an 

 excitement, draw people to the fair, and 

 help the newsboys to sell their papers. 



In 1917 one of our good friends, know- 

 ing I was a "potato crank," sent me a clip- 

 ping from a Sunday daily picturing a po- 

 tato-pen and giving a full description of 

 how a certain man in Kansas City, Mo., 

 grew over 40 bushels of potatoes in a bed 

 about the size of a dining-table. The name 

 and address and full particulars, backed 

 by a circular from a great Coal Co., in- 

 duced me to investigate. I found the man 

 seemed honest and straight, and I gave 

 the whole thing space in Gleanings — page 

 559, July, 1917. I did not build a potato- 

 pen; but my next-door neighbor went to 

 considerable expense in building one, and 

 was going to start two more, when I suc- 

 ceeded in getting him to hold' on. I had 

 enough good sense to refer the matter to 

 Director Thorne of the Ohio Experiment 

 Station, and he declared at once that the 

 whole thing was a fake — an utter impossi- 

 bility, and I published his letter in connec- 

 tion with the article. The Rural New- 

 Yorker has lately declared that hundreds 

 and maybe a thousand such pens were built 

 all over the country, and not one of them 

 was a success ; and that the greater part of 

 them did not give back as much seed as 

 was planted. 



Occasionally a Sunday daily is deposited 

 on my doorstep ; but of late it goes into the 

 waste basket, and I promptly inform the 

 newsman that I have no use for a Sunday 

 daily. My sons and sons-in-law do not 

 quite agree with me — at least not all of 

 them; and occasionally I see my grandchil- 

 dren wasting their time Sunday mornings 

 in looking at the pictures. I call them low- 

 lived pictures — that is, the average picture 

 in the Sunday daily. Once in a while grand- 

 pa is criticised because he does not enjoy 

 jokes. My good friends, you who think so 

 are quite mistaken. I do enjoy a joke as 

 much as any person, I think— that is, where 

 they are harmless jokes and jokes that are 

 likely to do good. One of our Florida pa- 

 pers lately suggested that the California 



"earthquake bumps" of a recent date were 

 the result of prohibition. Such a joke I 

 greatly enjoy ; and I think this particular 

 joke will bear good fruit, because it is just 

 about as reasonable as some of the objec- 

 tions that the wets are bringing forward. 



Another Florida paper, in speaking of 

 the wonderful effects of their Florida cli- 

 mate, relates that at a test of athletic 

 strength recently a lively miss of only 

 94 (?) took the first prize. This test of 

 physical strength was in climbing trees; 

 and the 94-year-old woman took the prize 

 against all competitors. Let us now get 

 back once more to the Sunday newspaper. 



You all know about the paper shortage; 

 and some valuable rui'al periodicals, I be- 

 lieve, have ceased publication because they 

 could not get paper. The Record suggests 

 that if our great, heavy, bulky, Sunday 

 dailies could be stoi^ped this one thing 

 alone would effect a great saving in paper. 

 Well, a saving in paper is certainly desir- ■ 

 able ; but the saving in morals, especially 

 among our children, is of tremendously 

 greater importance than the saving of pa- 

 per. What do yoii think the impression 

 probably may be on a child twelve years 

 old, when he comes to read about such 

 things as the flying-machine and the potato- 

 pen I have just mentioned? When this 

 child afterwards finds out the truth about 

 it he will begin to suspect untruth in every- 

 thing. 



Now, there is one thing more the Record 

 did not mention; and it is not only the Sun- 

 day papers, but the weekly papers that are 

 guilt,y. Many of our advertisers — especial- 

 ly ungodly advertisers — seem to take it for 

 granted that nobody, will look at their ad- 

 vertisement unless there is some display of 

 nude women, or women's legs, to put it in 

 plain and square English ; and it is not only 

 the advertising pages but the reading pages, 

 for there seems a notion that the paper will 

 not sell unless there is some such immodest 

 display of some good-looking woman. In 

 fact, it has seemed to me that of late they 

 were racking their brains to discover some 

 plausible pi-etext or excuse for exhibiting 

 nude women. It is right and proper for 

 girls and women to go in bathing in a 

 proper manner as well as for men; but 

 what earthly reason can there be for giv- 

 ing these things place in print? 



There has been considerable said of late 

 in regard to the lack of attendance at pub- 

 lic worship; but our good pastor down in 

 Florida suggested that quite a few profess- 

 ing Christians stayed away because they 

 got interested in the Sunday daily. In re- 

 gard to the waste of time, I think I have 

 mentioned that Charles M. Sheldon, author 



