1316 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 15 



the table. But there was a great abundance, 

 and a good variety of wholesome food. 

 Friend Huelmer is a German, as you might 

 infer from his name. His guests. I believe, 

 ai'e mostly German people. In fact, the Ger- 

 man language is spoken a good deal there. 

 But they are about the kindest and most 

 friendly sort of people I ever came across. 

 When 1 had my chilly spells, as I almost al- 

 ways do in August and September (that is, 

 if I am in a I'egion where there is malaria), 

 I was made (juite at home and quite wel- 

 (^ome up close to the big cook-stove, where I 

 could help myself to hot water from the spa- 

 cious tea-kettle. 



Friend Hueljner has made his humble 

 home handsome with flowers, fruit-trees, and 

 little simple oi'namental work all around the 

 premises. At different places in the door- 

 yard there are pyramids of mineral curiosi- 

 ties — samples of petrified wood, etc., for in- 

 stance. In fact, petrified wood is so plenti- 

 ful and common there that one may see it 

 lying loose in the streets. Beautiful hitching- 

 posts are made of Ijroken fragments of pi^ri- 

 fied wood. You might think it was an old 

 rotten log until you tried to jab the blade of 

 your knife into it, and then you w^ould find 

 out your mistake. I saw a rotten log by 

 the side of the road, or at least I supposed 

 it was; but when I came to hit it a clip I 

 found it was beautifully veined agate. I 

 wondered that these petrifac^tions are not 

 collected and sold in regions where they are 

 not so common. 

 THE HOT SPRINGS AND HOT-SPKING BATHS. 



Right in the center of the town there is a 

 .spring calleil The Kidney Medical Spring. 

 Droves of people are constantly going there 

 to di'ink. vSomething like a dozen cups are 

 provided, Ijelonging to the spring. But 

 many of the people carry their own cups. 

 They will get a cupful, sit down on the 

 benches, and drink it slowly. I had hoped 

 it might be a benefit to me in my malady, 

 like the springs of Agua Caliente, Arizona, 

 that I wrote al)out three years ago; but as I 

 had had some sad experience with medical 

 springs in the past, I si])ped the w'ater a lit- 

 tle cautiously. It had a faint sulphurous 

 odor that warned me; and I soon decided 

 it would not do for vie at ali. Some big 

 doctor has said "the best mineral waters 

 are those that contain the fewest minerals:" 

 and I have often found it so in my case. 

 Wlien I wanted some dill'ei'ent water to drink, 

 I found it was a pretty difficult matter to get it. 

 Thousands of people come to this region to 

 seek their health, and I concludeil to make 

 something of a study of the methods of baths 

 and bathing. Let me digress a little: 



Almost all through my life I have been a 

 victim at times of severe colds. Sometimes 

 I can Avard them off for a year or more by 

 being careful of my diet and of the w^ater I 

 drink, etc.; Imt at other times they come 

 like a thief in the night, and I can not tell 

 for the life of me what brought the troul>le 

 on. Just about as I was erabai'king from 

 C'uba on my homeward trip, by carelessness 

 in regiird to ]ny attire while riding mv 



wheel, or something else. I caught a severe 

 cold. It settled in my throat, and I was so 

 hoarse I could hardly speak. I liegun won- 

 dering if it. is in the power of our physicians 

 of the present day to break up sui^h a cold, 

 especially with myself; and in thinking over 

 the sad exi^erience I had gone through, es- 

 pecially in doctoring with all sort? of medi- 

 cines, and I might say with all sorts of doc- 

 toi's, I rather decidecl it is not in the scope 

 of medicine to break up a cold after it has 

 gotten such a hold as mine had. I went on 

 board the ship, and prayed with unusual 

 earnestness' that God would in some way 

 show me (in a way so I could teach my fel- 

 low-men) what to do to break up a cold. A 

 swift answer came to that praver. It not 

 only came in an vinexpected way, but it 

 made me think of the old adage that the 

 remedy may be worse than the ilisease. 

 When we got out of the still water into the 

 gi'eat ocean I became violently seasick. The 

 sweat just oozed from every pore like rain. 

 I was drenched through and through with 

 perspiration; and it was not only perspira- 

 tion, but every thing else movable in my di- 

 gestive apparatus seemed to make haste to 

 get out of the way. I wiped my w^eeping 

 eyes (and nose), and realized at the same 

 time that ray prayer was answered. The 

 soreness in my throat was all gone, the ague 

 in my face had disappeared, my nostrils 

 were perfectly cleansed, and the earache 

 gone. I stayed in my berth till we arrived 

 at Miami, and then walked out in the beau- 

 tiful sunshine — I was going to say, clothetl 

 and in my right mind, and thanking God. A 

 tremendously big sweat did the business. 



I gave y(ju a few months ago an illustra- 

 tion of the same thing when I .spoke of 

 tramping along with the .surveyors in North- 

 ern Michigan. Well, at Hot Springs I had a 

 glimpse, I think, of another way yet of get- 

 ting rid of a sudden attack of severe cold in 

 the head and all over the body. I told them 

 at one of the bath-houses I wante<l to go 

 through the program and see just how they 

 managed to cui"e people. They put me in a 

 bath-tub filled so full that I could get entirely 

 under w^ater without any troiible. Tlie tem- 

 perature was raised as liigh as I could stand 

 it; and I was told to remain in under the 

 water (head and all at intervals) twenty min- 

 utes, and to add hot water whenever 1 could 

 stand a little more. In twenty minutes I be- 

 gan perspiring all over. I am not prepared 

 to say that this treatment took the place of 

 the sw^eating I had on the rolling steamer, 

 nor, perhaps, at the time when I took such 

 severe physical exercise in climbing the hills 

 wath the surveyors; bvit it was an impcu'tant 

 remedy, along in the same line as producing 

 a sweat by means of the health cabinet .so 

 much advertised, and pei-haps aujoiiuts to the 

 same thing, or may he a little Ijetter. The 

 bath-tub, however, it seems, is less machin- 

 ery where you have an abundance of hot 

 water. The minerals in this hot water at 

 the Black Hills may have some value. Very 

 likely they do have. Some of you may re- 

 member the storv of the Missouri A.-oman 



