

GEORGE W. YORK, Editor. 



39th YEAR, 



CHICAGO, ILL,, NOVEMBER 2, 1899, 



No, 44, 



CR-AP-HIBAt 



St" Jc-^ 



Mf. Wm. A. Selser and Family. 



SEVERAL years ago there called at this office, while un- 

 fortunately we were away, a gentleman from the East 



who left the name of '' Wm. A. Selser." We had heard 

 of him and regretted our absence from the office, especially 

 when told by one of our employees that he seemed to be 

 such a very pleasant man. 



About two months before the 

 Philadelphia convention, when 

 again passing thru Chicago, Mr. 

 Selser dropt in to see us for 

 a while, and once more we were 

 not in, but returned after our 

 caller had waited a half hour or 

 so. He could stay only about an 

 hour longer, so we put in the 

 time well in getting acquainted. 

 But it seemed as if we had always 

 been friends, and it was with 

 much regret on our part that we 

 had to separate so soon. And 

 yet it was to be only a short time 

 until we should meet again, as 

 Mr. Selser exacted a promise that 

 when attending the convention 

 in Philadelphia we would be his 

 guest. 



And so, according to arrange- 

 ment, at the close of the first 

 evening's session of the conven- 

 tion, Sept. 5, Mr. Selser called 

 together those whom he had ex- 

 pected to entertain, and we all 

 took the 10-mile ride out to the 

 beautiful suburb of Philadelphia 

 where he lives. It was perhaps 

 11 o'clock when we arrived, and 

 then met Mr. Selser's charming 

 wife, who was " keeping a light 

 in the window," as it were, for 

 her beloved and his friends. And 

 more than that, everything was 

 ready for us all to sit down to the 

 table and partake of a luscious 

 water-melon and lemonade before retiring. On one or two 

 evenings peaches and cream were served—and such peaches 

 and cream — why, our mouth waters even now when we just 

 think of their deliciousness. 



Perhaps before going further we ought to give a few 

 personal notes concerning Mr. Sel.ser and his familv. 



]l'i//iaiii A. Selser. 



Wm. A. Selser was born Sept. 22, 1859, in the heart of 

 the old city of Philadelphia, near the historic Independence 

 Hall. He attended the common school, and then Philadel- 

 phia College, leaving the latter institution on account of 

 sickness at the beginning of the closing term. He took 

 special interest in zoology, particularly insects, which in- 

 cluded bees, of course. 



Mr. Selser learned the trade of tanner of morocco 

 leather, but in 1877 entered a firm of fruit importers with 

 his brother. In 1883 he left the fruit business and formed 

 a partnership of Selser, Meurer & Co., for the manufacture 

 of morocco leather. They did a business amounting to 

 three-quarters of a million dollars a year, and Mr. Selser 

 kept bees as a pastime. 



In 1893, Mr. Selser closed the morocco-leather business 

 on account of the rascalitj' of others, and embarkt in the 

 bee and honey business as a specialty, taking the Philadel- 

 phia branch of the A. I. Root Co. 

 in connection therewith. 



In 1889 Mr. Selser married 

 Miss Pauline Hallowell, of Ar- 

 lington, a daughter of one of the 

 old Ouaker families of eastern 

 Pennsylvania, the descendants of 

 Wm. Penn. Then he built a fine 

 home at Jenkintown, moved there 

 the same year, where a bright 

 little boy was given them to love 

 for one year, when he was taken 

 from them by the Giver. Now a 

 dear little girl of six years is left 

 to cheer their daily life— Marga- 

 retta, whose picture helps to grace 

 the next page. She and the 

 writer became good friends, and 

 it wasn't the easiest thing to tear 

 one's self away from such a loving 

 and lovely child as Margaretta. 



Before passing- on, we must 

 also mention that Mr. Selser's 

 sister and mother are also in his 

 family, all being devoted mem- 

 bers of the Baptist church. Mar- 

 garetta's grandma is a sweet old 

 lady, reminding us not a little of 

 our own dear mother whom it 

 was our great pleasure to visit 

 in (_)hio on our way back from 

 Philadelphia. 



Xow as to Mr. Selser's bee 

 and honey business : We believe 

 he has the most complete honey- 

 bottling works in the world. It 

 is located right with his apiary (a 

 picture of which was publisht on 

 page 599), and perhaps 80 rods from his home. He uses two 

 sizes of bottles — the one-pound and the half-pound, the same 

 shape as the Muth bottle or jar. The honey is put in hot, 

 then corkt, sealed air-tight with a special kind of sealing- 

 wax, and then a tinfoil cap put on. A black label with 

 gilt letters completes the job. and it makes a very attractive 



