190i 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



599 



There, friends, the above is from Terrj', 

 whose reputation is world-wide as a teach- 

 er and lecturer at farmers' institutes. You 

 may smile when you read it. I am not sure 

 but I laugfhed out loud. You may say there 

 is no particular point to it; but there is a 

 point that gives a glimpse of the wonderful 

 waj' in which we were created, according 

 to our text, and the waj' in which man be- 

 came a living soul. . ^\'e are creatures of 

 habit. "Wh}', look here. I have a nap ev- 

 ery daj' just before dinner. My system, or 

 whatever you may call it, has become so 

 accustomed to it that it clamors for quiet, 

 rest, and sleep, just — well, we will sa3' as 

 a pen of pigs get uneasy when thej- are not 

 fed about the usual time. This involunta- 

 ry part of mj'self that takes care of the di- 

 gestion and other things gets into a habit, 

 or rut. On Sunday, in order not to get 

 drowsy during the serinon, I take a nap, as 

 a rule, at 9 oclock. I have no trouble 

 whatever, in going to sleep. I alwa3's go 

 to sleep instantly. All other days my nap 

 is at half past ten. Well, every Monday 

 morning at 9 o'clock I begin to feel used up 

 and worn out. Do you know why? Well, 

 it is because, the day before, this peculiar 

 machine of mine hiid a resting-spell; and 

 because it was the day before, it has got a 

 notion into its head (if you- will excuse the 

 expression ) that a rest should come every 

 day at 9 o'clock. For a good while I did 

 not understand wh^* these feelings came at 

 9 oclock. After a time I "caught on" 

 that it was Monday morning when I had 

 them. Then I remembered it was the 

 shadoiv, if I maj' so call it, of the nap I had 

 the day before. 



It may not be so with every one; but my 

 organization strongly demands regular hab- 

 its. The machinery gets ready for food, 

 gets readj' for water, at regular periods; 

 and it runs better if supplied at regular in- 

 tervals. You all know more or less about 

 this. You have all had experience in the 

 same way. Well, now, this doctor told 

 Terry that a particular kind of food was 

 hurting him. He proved it b}' chemical 

 demonstration. An excess of acid and fruit 

 would have to be stopped. Wh}', no won- 

 der our poor friend said it was " as plain 

 as daylight." He stopped eating fruit, 

 fully expecting that indigestion and dis- 

 tress would cease, and the}' did so. Why, 

 I have gone without fruit, lemonade, and 

 things of that sort, a great part of mj' life, 

 just as friend Terry did, and have told 

 friends where I was visiting right and left 

 that I could not eat such and such things 

 without getting in'o trouble. Once in a 

 while I would break over, as friend Terry 

 says he did, and then I would watch for the 

 unpleasant symptoms. Usually they came. 

 Sometimes, however, they did not. 



At Omaha, when bee-keepers were eating 

 Rocky Ford muskmelons by the dozen, I 

 said, '■ Well, now, I do not believe this 

 beautiful fruit or vegetable will hurt me. 

 It seems as if God designed it for human 

 food," and I pitched- in with the rest. I 



had a good half-dozen, one after the other. 

 They all assured me so positively that such 

 fruit would not hurt anybody that I began 

 to have faith it would not hurt me a parti- 

 cle. 



Now, friends, let us not be in a hurry to 

 rush to conclusions. There is another side 

 to this, I feel convinced. When Terry was 

 conducting farmers' institutes in Missouri 

 he not only ate fruit at mealtimes at the ho- 

 tels, but he went out into the markets and 

 bought it by the basketful; and I remember 

 wondering if he could stand so much fruit. 

 My impression is, he was eating too much. 

 We have all had experience in eating fruit 

 too freel}', say when it sets our teeth on 

 edge, and there is pretty clearly an excess 

 of acid in the system. At such a time, I 

 believe it is the thing to have a meal or two 

 of nice beefsteak and graham bread. By 

 the way, I always crave cheese when I am 

 eating a good deal of fruit. I think nature 

 would indicate pretty nearly what we need 

 if we could get rid of our notions. Yes, 

 dear friends, I do believe that we are all 

 full of notions. W^ith some like myself you 

 might callit "hobbies." We carrj' these 

 notions and hobbies to an extreme; but does 

 it not seem almost incredible that we should 

 carry them to such an extent that fruit or 

 lemonade would cause us distress, just be- 

 cause we got a notion it would? Is there a 

 possibility that fermentation can get a go- 

 ing, and rouse us up at night during a 

 sound sleep, just because we have got a no- 

 tion in our heads it would? Why, I am 

 ashamed to admit it, but I am afraid it is 

 true. People g^et a going in certain direc- 

 tions, and they lose their common sense — 

 yes, they "lose their heads. " A man told 

 me an hour ago that the present cold spell 

 (I am wearing an overcoat while I dictate) 

 right here in June was clearly predicted by 

 Hicks. I attempted a little remonstrance. 

 Said I, "Did Hicks say there would be a 

 cold spell here in Northern Ohio?" 



"No, he did not say that; but he said 

 there would be hailstonns and cold rains in 

 different parts of the country. " 



I replied that he could alwa3's say that 

 with safetj'. There never was a June with- 

 out cold rains and hailstorms somewhere; 

 but when he said, "Oh! but Hicks is al- 

 wa3-s right, I have watched him for years, " 

 I had to givcit up. There is no use in talk- 

 ing with such a man. He has a notion that 

 Hicks has miraculous foreknowledge, and 

 that it will come out just as he expected it 

 would, every time. You need not laugh at 

 his faith, for there are manj' of us who rea- 

 son in the same way. I do not suppose our 

 faith in our special ruts would bring a hail- 

 storm, but I do think it might produce a 

 stomach ache. The action of the mind, as 

 Terry says, has such an influence on diges- 

 tion that digestion itself is a slave to it. 

 The very small boy is too sick to go to school. 

 He is a truthful, honest boy. Suddenly a 

 party comes along that is going fishing. 

 He begins to plead with mamma. He says, 

 and saj's truthfully, "O mammal if I go 



