July 27, 1899. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



469 



has seen three dozen men in a field at the same time wield- 

 ing the old sickle or reap-hook, keeping step and moving'- 

 together with the precision of well-drilled soldiers. He has 

 seen grain thresht with a flail and winnowed with a sheet. 

 He remembers when the women cookt by the fire-place in 

 pots and kettles, and when the cook-stove was introduced 

 amidst the usual opposition to new things. The spinning- 

 jenny and power-loom have turned the hand-loom into 

 stovewood, and relegated the old spinning-wheel to the 

 garret, whence it is brought on " state occasions," as relics 

 of a bygone age. The writer has seen hundrds of pounds 

 of wool and flax spun and woven, in his own home, on these 

 now superseded implements. 



No man can say what the future has in store for us, and 

 no wise man will venture to predict that anything that any- 

 body wants done will not be done. It is a grand time to 

 live, with the bright past and brilliant future. I cannot 

 understand how anybody' can sit down on an old bee-hive 

 and sulk or think of discouragement. The supply of earnest, 

 energ'etic, courageous people, is far below the demand. 

 Especially to the young, the times appeal for pure, healthy 

 bodies, thoroly cultivated minds, and large, sympathetic 

 hearts, to grapple with the great problems of life, and lift 



L. J. Tempi in. 



till they see stars, and even far beyond them, to aid in ele- 

 vating the race to a higher plane of life. 



To succeed in the bee-business, or anj- other for that 

 matter, one must be alive. And life means more than mere 

 existence. Nothing has a more real existence than a granite 

 boulder, and j-et we never think of it as possessing life. 

 Life means correspondence with one's environment. This 

 correspondence is not duration, but knowledge. The nature 

 of this life depends upon the character of the environment 

 with which one corresponds. If the environment is limited 

 the life is limited ; if it is temporary the life is temporary, 

 and if the environment is eternal the life is eternal. "This 

 is life eternal to know Thee, the true God, and Jesus Christ 

 whom Thou hast sent." Knowledge is life. This corres- 

 pondence with, or knowledg"e of, God constitutes eternal 

 life. It includes the idea of unending existence, but 

 means much more than this. This life begins here, and 

 now, whenever a soul comes into this sympathetic corres- 

 pondence with the eternal environment, and is extended 

 into a future state of existence. Death has no more power 

 to begin or end this life than a light frost has to begin or 

 end the life of a pine tree. 



So the life of the bee-business consists in a knowledge 

 of the bee-hive with all its appurtenances, that will stimu- 

 late the individual to put forth his or her best efforts to pro- 

 duce the best possible results. As one cannot understand 



about eternal life without studying His Word, neither can 

 a bee-keeper keep up with the constant advance in knowl- 

 edge and methods of his business without studying what 

 has been done and written, and what is now being done 

 and written by the masters in the business. In order to do 

 this he must not onh' read the standard books on the sub- 

 ject, but he must take and read one or more of the excellent 

 publications now furnisht so cheaply. The man who thinks 

 he does not need these helps will soon find himself trotting 

 along behind the band-wagon, when the main procession 

 has moved on out of sight. The world has no use for an 

 old fogj'. Societ)- has enough inertia of its own, without 

 hitching on a lot of dead men, or those who ought to be 

 dead, to clog the wheels of progress. 



It seems a part of human nature for men to become 

 conservative as they grow old. Standing with their faces 

 to the past, as the young do with theirs to the future, they 

 gradually fall out of sympathy with the present. We some- 

 times hear them lamenting for the good old times. Take 

 away from them all the inventions and discoveries, all the 

 blessings and good influences that have come to the world 

 in the last 50 years, and a few weeks' experience would sat- 

 isfy them with •' the good old times." I have often thought 

 what an excellent scheme it is, that when a man loses in- 

 terest in the world and its advancement ; when he becomes 

 fossilized, and a shell forms on him that will no longer ex- 

 pand in sympathy with a moving world, that death comes 

 along and quietly lays him in the grave where he will no 

 longer be disturbed by the chang-es and innovations of a 

 younger generation. 



Did it ever occur to you what a condition the world 

 would be in if the generations that have lived and died in 

 the past were living, with all their prejudices, fogyism and 

 narrowness ? What a time we would have in making anj' 

 advance or improvement along any lines of human interest. 

 Propose any improvement or change, and j-ou would be met 

 with the response : "Why, that is not the way we did two 

 thousand years ago." Another would be ready to declare 

 that five thousand years ago such a thing' was never 

 thought of. Would we not have a fearful task in heaving 

 the world up such a hill as that ? Why, it is bad enough as 

 it is, when one man in ten thousand does not live to be a 

 hundred years old. No man has a rig-ht to stand in the way 

 of the real progress of the world ; so if Dr. Miller, or Root, 

 or Doolittle, should become fossilized or ossified in the 

 joints of their minds so they cannot dismount from some 

 hobby that has become crippled or so antiquated that it 

 cannot keep up with the movements of the bee-keeping 

 world, let him retire, and let the boys come forward and 

 run the ranch awhile. 



The bee-business is a delightful one — if we can only 

 succeed. But while enjoying the sweets of this life it is 

 well to remember that which is " more precious than gold, 

 yea than much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and the 

 honey-comb." 



Well, I could wish that all bee-keepers might live to be 

 a hundred years old (if they would not get fogyish), and 

 then be translated to a happier clime, where the ills of this 

 life are not known. Fremont Co., Colo. 



York's Honey Almanac is a neat little 32-page pamph- 

 let especially gotten up with a view to create a demand for 

 honey among should-be consumers. Aside from the Alma- 

 nac pages, the forepart of the pamphlet was written by Dr. 

 C. C. Miller, and is devoted to general information concern- 

 ing honey. The latter part consists of recipes for use in 

 cooking and as a medicine. It will be found to be a very 

 effective helper in working up a home market for honey. 

 We furnish them, postpaid, at these prices : A sample for 

 a stamp ; 25 copies for 50 cents; 50 for 70 cents; 100 for 

 $1.25; 250 for S2. 75; 500 for S4.50. For 25 cents extra we 

 will print your name and address on the front page, when 

 ordering 100 or more copies at these prices. 



Queenie Jeanette is the title of a pretty song- in sheet 

 music size, written by J. C. Wallenmeyer, a musical bee- 

 keeper. The regular price is 40 cents, but to close out the 

 copies we have left, we will mail them at 20 cents each, as 

 long as they last. Better order at once, if you want a copy 

 of this song-. 



The Premiums offered on. page 474 are well worth work- 

 ing for. Look at them. 



