AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



525 



same, as they have affiliated with the 

 Unitarians since they went West. 



In politics Mr. Abbott is a Cleveland 

 Democrat, and thinks the less we inter- 

 fere with the business of individuals by 

 making laws for or against them, the 

 better it will be for the country. 



In addition to the work referred to 

 above, Mr. Abbott had a tilt last year 

 with Prof. Evans, of Munich, Germany, 

 in the Popular Science Monthly, refut- 

 ing some nonsense the Professor wrote 

 in the name of science about bees. 



A Friend. 



XXXXXXXXX3 



FROM THE STINGER. 



They talk about a woman's sphere 



As though it had a limit ; 

 There's not a place on earth or heaven, 

 There's not a task to mankind given, 

 There's not a blessing or a woe, 

 There's not a whisper, yes or no. 

 There's not a life, or death, or birth, 

 That has a feather's weight or worth, 



Without a woman in it. — Selected. 



Our old friend Gleanings seems to be 

 stung by one of my random shafts ; it 

 has squealed, and I am sorry for it. And 

 all because I happened to state that it 

 was something of an imitator when it 

 announced that it was going to run a 

 series of illustrations of bee-keepers' 

 families. That editor thinks because 

 The Stinger made such a statement that 

 he must be •' a new hand in the field, or 

 else he is not acquainted with the back 

 numbers of Oleanlngs.'" The Stinger is 

 no "spring chicken," and for the infor- 

 mation of Qleayiings he will say that his 

 style was acquired many years ago — 

 some time before he ever heard of 

 Gleanings, or any of its correspondents. 

 Further, he will say that the style of 

 paragraphs used in these Stings and in 

 Dr. Miller's " Straws," was used by The 

 Stinger from 10 to 15 years ago in two 

 of the Eastern bee-papers ; that some 

 of those published in one of those publi- 

 cations were copied into the press of the 

 country as jokes. (The Stinger tells 

 this with reluctance, as he does not wish 

 to blow his own horn, but he neverthe- 

 less desires to dispel the imputation of 

 Gleanings that he is " a new hand in the 

 field.") So far as copying is concerned, 

 that charge cannot be laid to the door 

 of the writer. That the first part of the 

 title of the complained of column is con- 

 cerned, it does look as if it got a,-stray ; 



and that none of The Stinger's work 

 can be said to be a-rambling around the 

 country hereafter, I shall see that a 

 new label is put on the stings, and I feel 

 confident that they will be none the less 

 pointed when they go forth under a 

 designation different from one bearing 

 the impress of the " Home of the Honey- 

 Bee," so-called. 



The Stinger is pretty well posted with 

 what has appeared in Gleanings since it 

 was first published, as he has all, or 

 nearly all, the issues of that excellent 

 publication. He is also almost as well 

 posted as to what has appeared in the 

 American Bee Journal. He is aware 

 of the fact that both papers have used 

 portraits of prominent bee-keepers for 

 many years ; that the Bee Journal was 

 a little ahead of Gleanings in using the 

 first cut, as far as he can recall ; that 

 both papers used them only occasionally 

 until the American Bee Journal com- 

 menced to use them in every number at 

 the commencement of the present year. 

 This, I think, Gteanmgs will not dispute. 



Now, what The Stinger intended to 

 say, and what he thought was plain 

 enough to any one who understood the 

 English language, was, that when our 

 over-sensitive friend commenced to run 

 a series of pictures of apiarists' families 

 it was somewhat imitating this paper. 

 And this statement I think Gleanings is 

 too fair and conscientious to deny. Re- 

 gretting that the editor above referred 

 to tried to make a mountain out of a 

 mole-hill, and that he placed himself in 

 about the same situation that the fly did 

 that is mentioned by ^sop as riding on 

 the hub of a chariot, I will dismiss the 

 subject, hoping at the same time that if 

 the sting that Gleanings squealed about 

 did it any great harm, it may be the 

 means of taking some of the kinks out 

 of it, as stings are said to be good for 

 such things. 



" I came, I saw, I conquered," said a 

 bee as it drove a mighty King out of an 

 apiary, when the latter approached too 

 near a hive. 



What a lot of valuable printer's ink 

 those New York bee-keepers caused to 

 be used up on account of the little item 

 the editor of the American Bee Jour- 

 nal let slip into his paper one fine day. 

 The fine display those Empire State api- 

 arists made early in the existence of the 

 Columbian Fair seemed to have stirred 

 up the ire of the brethren that hail from 

 other States. I was well pleased with 



