922 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 1 



hand and welcome the old-fashioned emo- 

 tional religion? 



During these meetings I have been speak- 

 ing about, it was a common thing for peo- 

 ple to come two and even three miles, many 

 times crosslots, through the woods to the 

 meetings. Here is another point I wish to 

 make: 



In inquiring of our young married people 

 around Medina why they are not seen at 

 church as often as formerly, many times the 

 excuse is presented that there is a baby in 

 the household. Sometimes I am told they 

 can not both come at once on account of the 

 baby, and so they take turns. Well, I am 

 glad to see them take turns; but at that 

 Bingham revival I have just told about, the 

 baby does not hinder, for these seekers for 

 ' ' higher ground ' ' take the baby along, even 

 to the extent of carrying it half a mile or a 

 mile through the woods and over the hills. 

 At one of the meetings there were at least 

 a dozen babies; and when the meeting got 

 noisy the babies helped to make it noiser 

 still. But they were not all crying; and, 

 finally, I want to tell you the minister's 

 wife, who is such a wonderful singer, came 

 to meeting several evenings bringing her 

 baby, the latest arrival of the eleven; and 

 when she was singing those beautiful soul- 

 stirring pieces the baby that lay on the 

 bench all alone was cooing, and kicking up 

 its feet, waving its hands, and rejoicing 

 with the rest. If it was not happy over the 

 new converts its beautiful little face showed 

 that it was happy with the rest of us. God 

 knows why, even if we do not. Now, when 

 people become so much interested in the 

 gospel of Jesus Christ that they can work 

 hard all day picking beans, then walk sever- 

 al miles after their work to meeting, and 

 take turns in carrying the baby besides, such 

 religion means something. It costs some- 

 thing, and it is worth something after we 

 have got it. 



Some of you may say these children and 

 others will ruin their health by overwork. 

 I wish you could come to that Bingham 

 Sunday-school some morning and see wheth- 

 er these people look ' ' ruiilted ' ' in health. I 

 have had my eye on several in particular 

 who, I feared, were working too hard three 

 or four years ago when they were from 

 twelve to fourteen years old. They are 

 now splendid specimens of robust strength 

 and beauty. It does not hurt people to 

 work pretty hard occasionally in the open 

 air, especially with that beautiful air to 

 breathe that we have all round about the 

 Grand Traverse region. 



Once more in regard to holding out. If 

 these young people who have taken that 

 first step do not keep on and hold out, it is 

 largely your fault and mine; for we who 

 are older should see to it that they do hold 

 out. Remember what Jesus said in his part- 

 ing admonition to poor frail Peter. Twice 

 he said, " Feed my sheep;" but previously 

 he said, ' ' Feed my lambs. ' ' By the way, I 

 do not know of any more glorious work for 

 a man or woman in this world of ours, espe- 



cially elderly people, than looking after the 

 sheep and lambs, and seeing that they are 

 kept in the straight and narrow path that 

 leads to the kingdom. 



Mrs. Root and I spent a great part of our 

 time during the three weeks we were there 

 in going off through the woods to visit the 

 neighbors, and it was a joyous three weeks. 

 May God be praised for that revival which I 

 was permitted to take part in, even if it 

 was in some respects a noisy one. 



Praise ye the Lord. 



I copy the following from the American 

 Issue; and it expresses so well what I have 

 been thinking of and praying about for 

 many a long day that I rejoice in the oppor- 

 tunity of giving it a place before our read- 

 ers. How many are there in the United 

 States who will say amen to the following, 

 from the pen of Abraham Lincoln ? 



REVERENCE FOR LAW. 



Let reverence for law be taught in schools and col- 

 leges; be written in primers and spelling-books; be 

 published from pulpits and proclaimed in legislative 

 houses, and enforced in the courts of justice; in short, 

 let it become the political religion of the nation. 



HATCHING CHICKENS OVER A BEE-HIVE — 

 MORE ABOUT IT. 



On pa^e 527, May 15, I said I had written 

 Mr. Decker for particulars about his discov- 

 ery, etc., but that nothing had been received 

 from him. I wish to apologize to him, for a 

 brief statement was received from him; but 

 as it was contained in an order for queens 

 it did not get to me at the proper time. 

 When I got ready to use it in print it was, 

 unfortunately, mislaid, and I asked him to 

 repeat briefly what he had written. In 

 reply to this we got the following : 



Mr. A. I. Root:— You have written to my father, H. 

 Decker, about hatching chickens over bee-hives. He 

 has hatched them so ever since 1895 until the last two 

 years, or since mother died. He has not kept poultry 

 since, so has not tried it, but says he will another year 

 if he keeps well. He has had letters from all over the 

 world about hatching eggs— more than he could possibly 

 answer, and I have answered a good many for him, and 

 he asked me to answer this for him. Yes, he received 

 the queens, and they are doing finely. If you would 

 like another statement about how he hatches them I 

 will try to make it as plain as I can. 



Rome, Ohio, Aug. 3. Mrs. R. H. Higley. 



Many thanks, Mrs. H., for your kind re- 

 ply; but as the matter has been gone over 

 so thoroughly in all sorts of papers I think 

 we will not ask you for any further state- 

 ment. I think Mr. Decker told us in the 

 letter I have lost that he never made the 

 claim that a colony would give a big yield of 

 honey, and do the work of "eight sitting 

 hens ' ' all at one time. See the May num- 

 ber referred to above. The present state- 

 ment informs us that Mr. Decker has made 

 no experiments for the past two years. 

 From this our readers can judge what a 

 poor foundation we have for the extrava- 

 gant statements in the Scientific Am,erican 

 and no end of other periodicals that wanted 

 to give their readers something sensational. 



