1905 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



875 



serve God and man. They must be aided 

 to find and fill each one a place in church 

 life and work. Satan still finds some mis- 

 chief for idle hands to do. Let respon- 

 sibilities be put upon their shoulders. In 

 the choir, the Sunday-school, the prayer- 

 meeting, to serve as ushers, collectors, dea- 

 cons, clerks, trustees, etc., to serve on com- 

 mittees. It is a mistake to keep every thing 

 in the hands of the older half of the mem- 

 bership. Rather systematically work in the 

 new recruits. 



In particular, teach the young to begin 

 early to bear their full share of the financial 

 burdens, whether for home expenses or be- 

 nevolences. From the cradle instruct them 

 to earn, save, keep in store, the pennies, 

 nickels, dimes, dollars, and in part in order 

 that they may have whereof they may be- 

 stow. Teach them the duty of stewardship. 

 Too often the children are esteemed financial 

 nobodies, nonentities. But childhood and 

 youth are the chosen time in which to begin 

 to form all good habits, with systematic 

 giving prominent among the virtues. If 

 this is omitted from early life, it is almost 

 certain never to appear, at least to have an 

 existence but stunted and sickly at the best. 



NOTtS or TRAVEl. 





THE CABIN IN THE WOODS IN AUGUST. 



When Mrs. Root and I reached here, July 

 27, we found every thing almost out of sight 

 in the weeds and tall grass. When I was 

 last here, about April 1, I hoed around all 

 the fruit-trees, cut down every burdock, 

 mullein, and thistle I could find, and had 

 things in pretty good shape; but after about 

 four months' absence, nature had done a pile 

 of "asserting." Partly under the doorstep, 

 and right in front of the door (see page 658, 

 June 15), a huge burdock had shot up until 

 it was higher than I could reach, by actual 

 measure; and as it almost closed up the 

 doorway my first job was to get it down. 

 It took several smart blows with the ax to 

 make it "let go." I am sure there was no 

 sign of a burdock at that spot when I left in 

 April; but now, " fowls " might easily have 

 "roosted in its branches." I mention this 

 to show the wonderful fertility of the soil 

 around here, especially when newly reclaim- 

 ed from the woods. After the burdock 

 "tree" tumbled over I noticed the red- 

 cheeked Hale's Early peaches right before 

 the door. A part of the fruit should have 

 been thinned off in June; but they are now 

 so nearly ripe we have decided to do the 

 ' ' thinning ' ' as they begin to get mellow. 

 Close around the back door, down among 

 the weeds, I found my eight currant-bushes, 

 all different. They were bought of Storrs 

 & Harrison, Painesville, O., in April, 1903. 

 A little nervously I parted the grass and 



weeds around the one near the kitchen door 

 (Fay^s prolific), and as I did so I called out: 

 "O Sue! just look here at our treasures." 



Notwithstanding the weeds, the little bush 

 was fairly loaded with the largest and most 

 luscious currants I ever saw. The next bush 

 is Pomona, not so large a berry as the Fay, 

 but the bunches are large and long, and the 

 lower part of the bush was one huge cluster 

 of dead-ripe currants. Then came the White 

 Grape, also a mass of fruit, and much sweet- 

 er than any of the red currants. The Cherry 

 currant is so much like the Fay I can hardly 

 tell one from the other. Versailles is small, 

 but has a peculiar flavor that makes it a 

 general favorite. Wilder and Red Victoria 

 are two splendid currants; and last but not 

 least, if you have a currant garden* you 

 want Black Victoria. I know a good many 

 say they can not bear black currants; but it 

 is because they have not acquired a taste 

 for them. If you could sample one of Mrs. 

 Root's English-currant puddings I think you 

 would agree with us that they are a splendid 

 fruit. Ours here are the largest and finest 

 I ever saw. From one small plant set two 

 years ago we had enough fruit this year to 

 can. But this is a berry region around here. 

 As usual our woods are full of raspberries. 

 You can hear the happy voices of women 

 and children almost daily as they come in 

 crowds, and go home with filled pails, and I 

 am always glad to welcome them, as it seems 

 too bad to have such luscious fruit ripen and 

 fall on the ground for want of some one to 

 pick it. Red-raspberry shortcake, made 

 with buttermilk that we get of the neigh- 

 bors, / think is a little ahead of even straw- 

 berry shortcake, so much talked about. It 

 is true we are miles away from the butch- 

 er's; but our neighbors grow string beans 

 and sweet corn for the canning-factories, in 

 Traverse City, and the former are certainly 

 the best I ever ate. The factory furnishes 

 the seed. The growers don't know the 

 name. A single lake trout has supplied us 

 for the last three days; and as Mrs. Root 

 cooks it I think it quite equal to the famed 

 black bass. 



It is quite the fashion around here for 

 the farmers to take "a day off," and all 

 hands, big and little, "go huckleberrying, " 

 and so we have had plenty of the latter ber- 

 ries also. 



Our expenses here in the cabin are not as 

 much for a whole week as they would be for 

 one day in a "resort hotel," yet our bill of 

 fare is, to my notion, away ahead of any 

 thing I ever found at any hotel. 



The paths Mrs. Root and I made through 

 the woods last fall in different directions to 

 the different neighbors, we found considera- 

 bly grown up, clogged with fallen dead 

 branches, etc. Last evening we had quite 



* I find currants, especially the improved red ones, a 

 delicious substitute for lemons in hot weather. When I 

 am tired and thirsty I greatly enjoy sitting on the soft 

 grass beside a bush and pickingcluster after cluster un- 

 til I am refreshed and satisfied with something tart. It 

 is cheaper, and incomparably more wholesome, than any 

 artificial acid to be bought at the soda-fountains, or in 

 the shape of any other " soft drinks " that cost money. 



