4-2 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 15 



Mr. de Beche and the Kout Co. did business 

 in such a way they could at any minute 

 show the fig'ures in black and white for ev- 

 ery copper they had received or expended, 

 or for every bit of honey or wax that had 

 been trusted to their care. I rebuked those 

 who were inclined to listen to such stuff, 

 telling- them it was childish folly. But I 

 could not see everybody. Let me digress a 

 little. 



Shortly before Rambler's death he em- 

 ployed a young man by the name of Gilson. 

 I formed his acquaintance when Mr. Ste- 

 phen Green, of our office, and I made a trip 

 from Paso Real to Rambler's apiary to get 

 some kodak views of it. Mr. Gilson was 

 out in the woods — or perhaps you may say 

 swamp — hard at work with his bees and 

 honey. He was surrounded by those who 

 spoke only Spanish, and knew very little 

 Spanish himself. No wonder he became 

 lonesome after his employer's death. I 

 shall always remember with what a g^lad 

 boyish smile he welcomed us. I proposed 

 a trip to the mountains, only a few miles 

 away. Both boys felt a little uncertain as 

 to whether they could conscientiously take 

 the time to go, until I told them I would be 

 responsible for at least one day's vacation. 

 We mounted our wheels and started off in 

 high glee. Young- Gilson soon performed 

 such tricks over the rough Cuban roads, in 

 difficult wheel-riding, that I asked him if 

 he was not a professional " trick rider " on 

 the wheel. He seemed pleased to receive 

 the compliment. And what fun we had, es- 

 pecially when we reached Mr. Young's api- 

 ary, and got him to join with us! The boys 

 pulled off their coats and vests, gathered 

 pebbles on the shore of the river, threw at 

 marks, skipped stones on the water, until 

 it made me think of schooldays, and the 

 time when "school was out" in the after- 

 noon. I have not space here to tell you all 

 about our mountain-climbing; but before 

 night I had formed a very favorable opinion 

 of my three companions. During that ac- 

 quaintance Mr. Gilson informed me that he 

 had no money at the time of Rambler's 

 death, and had received none since, having 

 made no sales of honej' nor any thing else; 

 that he had been running up accounts at the 

 store at Taco-Taco, waiting for some orders 

 to be given by the American consul at Ha- 

 vana. He asked me what he had better do. 

 He showed me a letter he had received from 

 Mr. de Beche, advising him to bring to the 

 city some honey he had on hand, and get 

 permission from the consul to sell it. I told 

 him to do exactl3^ as Mr. de Beche directed 

 him. Now, friends, please do not criticise 

 my young friend Gilson, nor say any thing 

 hard about him, when I tell you that, hear- 

 ing of these things I have mentioned above, 

 when he got to Havana he went direct to the 

 office of the consul, without visiting Mr. de 

 Beche. He told me, some time afterward, 

 that the consul seemed to be too full of bus- 

 iness to listen to a boy. Finally he turned 

 on him briefly and made a speech some- 

 thing like this: 



" Mr. Gilson, if somebody left in j'our 

 charge a lot of chickens, and by some acci- 

 dent did not get back as soon as he expect- 

 ed to, would you let the chickens starve to 

 death, or would you feed them? " 



Mr. Gilson told him, of course, that he 

 would feed the chickens. 



" Well, now, it is just the same with those 

 bees. You sell enough honey to get what 

 you need to take good care of the bees until 

 you get further notice." 



You see the consul did not appoint Mr. 

 Gilson as administrator or manager. He 

 did not give him any document or paper of 

 any sort. He simply told him to sell honey 

 enough to get funds to pay running ex- 

 penses and let it drop. I can not now ex- 

 plain why Mr. Gilson did not go and tell 

 Mr. de Beche what the consul said; but, 

 boylike, he jumped on his wheel and put oft' 

 for home. * 



I happened to go into Mr. de Beche's of- 

 fice the very morning after he had discov- 

 ered that Mr. Gilson had been to see the 

 consul, and gone home without meeting 

 him. I suppose my good friend Mr. de 

 Beche will scold when he sees this in print; 

 but I want to say to the readers of Glean- 

 ings that he is one of the most generous, 

 whole-souled, energetic, go-ahead business 

 young men I have ever met. When our 

 bees landed in Cuba, and the custom-house 

 officers were going to endanger the lives of 

 the colonies by "red tape" routine after 

 they had got thus far, Mr. de Beche showed 

 his business ability better than any Yan- 

 kee could do. In fact, I am not sure we 

 have any Yankees that could equal him. 

 He talked Spanish, French, and American 

 to the different officials. Then he took oft' 

 his coat, and carried more hives of bees 

 from the boat-landing to the railway than 

 any other man, American or Cuban. Not 

 satisfied with this he went to Paso Real 

 and worked all night in unloading the bees. 

 He got out the Spaniards with their ox 

 teams, and made them work in the night 

 when they did not want to; and when the}' 

 were going to charge about four prices for 

 their services he coolly informed them they 

 were not dealing with an American. He 

 told them that he was a Spaniard, and 

 knew their tricks; and he paid them rea- 

 sonable prices for their work, and would 

 not give them any more. I never saw Mr. 

 de Beche, except once, when he was not a 

 smiling, jolly, good-natured fellow. By the 

 way, he is as spry as a cat; and when he 

 is going through the narrow streets of Ha- 

 vana, turning corner after corner, if you 

 get your eye on him you have got to be 

 pretty smart to keep him in sight. Well, 

 on this morning in question he did not look 

 quite happ3'. He told me something of the 



* Of course, Mr. de Beche did not know this. He 

 onlv ascertained that Mr. Gilson had been in Havana, 

 hatT been to visit the consul, and had sold soine,hon- y. 

 As we talked it over, it looked to both of us at first as if 

 the consul might have appointed Mr. Gilson adniiiii.s- 

 trator, and authorized him to dispose of the apiary 

 should he see fit. On further reflection I was satisfied 

 this could not have been done. 



