AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



653 



RMBM STk 



FROM THE STINGER. 



Ach, dot pee, him bin so funny ; 

 Und he make der fine, schweet honey. 



Vat eferypody likes. 

 Vy, dot pee, him vork like crazy, 

 Und nefer vas him lazy. 



Like mens vat goes on schtrikes. 



A bee-keeper in one of the honey 

 counties of California receatly shuffled 

 of his mortal coil away out at his lonely 

 mountain home because he was desolate 

 and despondent. It is really a cheerless 

 life some of those California apiarists 

 lead, out in those lonely canyons, far 

 from the haunts of man, and without 

 the cheering ini3uence of woman. At 

 best such a life must be irksome, but 

 when it is coupled with the fact that all 

 one's labor is to go for naught because 

 prices for honey are low, and what little 

 he does get will be absorbed by the ex- 

 pense account, is enough to drive almost 

 any man out of his mind. Sheep-herders 

 and bee-keepers in California are often 

 to be found in the most unfrequented 

 places in that strange State; the former 

 often become subjects for the mad-house, 

 and many have gone to their grave by 

 the suicide route. 



The Stinger has never heard of any 

 bee-keeper going insane at one of these 

 canyon retreats, but he would not be 

 surprised to know that one or more of 

 them have lost their reason through 

 leading so retired a life. It is mainly 

 for this reason that The Stinger has 

 been afraid that the amiable Rambler 

 might become despondent and do some- 

 thing that the bee-keeping world would 

 regret. Perhaps the only thing that has 

 kept him from becoming like some of 

 those unfortunate apiarists who have 

 become bereft of their reason is, that he 

 manages to ramble around more than 

 the average manipulator of bees and 

 hives. 



The Stinger knows a remedy for those 

 men who are leading such cheerless 

 lives. It is this : Let each take unto 

 himself a good and faithful wife, and 

 their lives will then be filled with bright 

 sunshine. Even if our facetious friend, 

 Rambler, should heed this advice, he 

 would find himself a better bee-keeper, 

 and, I may say, a more useful citizen. 



The Stinger recently caught a skunk 

 in his honey-house. A trap had been set 



in the house to catch a rat that was 

 known to get into the room, which was, 

 in truth, nothing more than a cloth- 

 house, as the sides of the structure were 

 composed of cheese-cloth. One night a 

 small skunk found his way into the 

 place, and got his feet, at least one of 

 them, into the steel jaws of the trap. I 

 did not venture to take him out of the 

 trap alive, so I took a gun and shot the 

 little fellow, thus causing his death. 

 That honey-house has been more odor- 

 iferous than any apothecary shop ever 

 since. Fortunately, all the honey had 

 been removed from the place some 

 weeks previously, else I would have 

 some fears that the honey might take 

 up a little of the unpleasant scent that 

 pervades the tent-house. 



When the Prophet Rockenbach (see 

 page 532) gave his set of command- 

 ments to the Progressive Bee-Keeper, he 

 forgot a most important one. It was 

 this : Thou shalt subscribe to, and be a 

 diligent reader of, the American Bee 

 Journal, that thy days in the land may 

 be long, and that thy worldly store of. 

 goods, especially of honey, may be great. 



Here is a sample of the intelligent 

 conversations that are held in the land 

 famous for its baked beans and brown 

 bread : 



Mrs. Sapmind— " Well, I do declare ! 

 Them Western folks is growln' crazy." 



Mrs. Lisner— " Why, what's the mat- 

 ter now ?" 



Mrs. Sapmind — "Matter enough. 

 Here's an article in this paper about 

 'lynching bees out West.' When folks 

 haven't got nothin' better to do 'an go 

 around lynchin' bees, I've got my opin- 

 ion of 'em." 



Have Yoii 'I'l'ietl to get a new sub- 

 scriber for the Bee Journal this fall ? We 

 offer to throw in the balance of this year 

 free to new subscribers for 1894, besides 

 their choice of one of the books offered to 

 them on page 645 of this Journal. Then 

 we also give a premium to a present sub- 

 scriber who will send in new ones. It seems 

 to us that our liberal offers this fall ought 

 induce every one of our readers to aid in 

 doubling the circulation of the Bee Jour- 

 nal within six months. Why not help do 

 this, and then see what a grand journal we 

 can furnish to everybody when once the 

 increased number of readers is secured ? If 

 each present reader would send only one 

 new subscriber besides his or her own re- 

 newal before Dec. 1st, the thing would be 

 done. Will you do it, reader ? 



Great Prexuiutnson page 64+ 



