1907 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



187 



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Be still, and know that I am God.— Psalm 46: 10. 



When WooL-y gave us that wonderful ad- 

 dress in the Methodist churoh, at St. Louis, 

 Mo., a young girl sang a voluntary that has 

 followed me in memory oeoasionally ever 

 since. As nearly as I can judge it was that 

 old hvmn. "My Heavenly Home is Bright 

 and Fair," with variations, in sheet-music 

 form. If any one who was present, or any- 

 body else, can send me the music I should 

 consider it a very great favi»r. I have found 

 it in the books, but neither music nor words 

 are exactly as she sang it. When that great 

 audience was spellbound by her wonderful 

 rendering, she closed with the words, spoken 

 slowly and with great emphasis, "Rec^onciled 

 to God." The effect was such that these 

 words have followed me sleeping and wak- 

 ing; and whenever they come wafted by 

 heavenly breezes a wonderful peace and joy 

 comes with them that so tills my heart I oft- 

 en burst out aloud, "Thank God that 7am 

 finally 'reconciled to God.' " 



It was the thought of this, together with 

 the enjoyment and happiness I am now find- 

 ing with my plants and chic^kens. that sug- 

 gested the text, "Be still, and know that I 

 am God." To get my story of to-day well 

 Iiefore you, let me go back a little. 



About Dec. 1st I wrote brother Shumard 

 to get me about half a dozen hens of S'>me 

 good breed, and one or more sitting hens if 

 possible. Later I reflected that, if he didn't 

 succeed in getting a sitting hen. my plans 

 would all be blocked, and so I purchased a 

 cheap light incubator and packed it in my 

 tnink. and wrote again to Mr. S. to have fiO 

 eggs ready for the incubator when I arrived. 



The directions said, " Start a sitting hen, 

 if possible, when you start the incubator, 

 and run it after her pattern as nearly as you 

 can." 



When I reached the island, Dec. 17. 1 found 

 they had one Brown Leghorn sitting hen, but 

 only 41 eggs, and they had kept some of these 

 two or three weeks because the hens didn't 

 lay on account of hot weather. I gave the 

 hen 15 of the eggs and put 2tj in the incuba- 

 tor. The hens on the island celei)ratcd the 

 day of my coming by laying 13 more eggs, 

 making 39 in all by the evening of the tirst 

 day. Then my "studies" commenced. Bid- 

 dy was inclined to show fight at first; but I 

 patted her on the back and called her "nice 

 old biddy" several times every day. and we 

 finally liecame excellent friends. We both 

 have our own opinions of things, of course, 

 and she has some very deciffed opinions; but 

 we get along very well. When 1 fouml her 

 she was out in the woods in a box nailed on 



a limb of a cedar-tree. I have told you about 

 putting the box close to the head of my bed, 

 etc. Well, next day I placed her, box and 

 all, under the work-bench near my shop. 

 She made no objection to the change of lo- 

 cation, and was there several days, going off 

 for food, etc., all right until I decided to take 

 her out of the box and put her on the dry 

 warm ground. She made a lot of fuss, but 

 finally settled down over the eggs all right, 

 but along in the afternoon she came off re- 

 peatedly. As the box was a rickety old 

 thing I had taken it to pieces and put it inside 

 the shop. Finally she came off the nest and 

 began searching around for something. She 

 found the pieces of her old box in the shop, 

 and then came and stood before me and said 

 in actions that spoke louder than words, "I 

 want my box bai^k again!" 



"Why, you old fussy, you don't either. It 

 will be a great deal better for you and the 

 chickens to be right down on the ground. 

 Go back and sit on your eggs. You belong 

 to me, and you have got to do as I say." 



"In one sense I belong to you, but I lie- 

 long to (iod first; and what he tells me is be- 

 yond all the wise men the world has ever 

 furnished or will furnish. I want the priva- 

 cy and retirement of my box, and I will have 

 it!" 



Before I could open my mouth to read to 

 her "the riot act" she hopped up on the 

 work-bench and then went over my four-foot 

 poultry-netting, yelling defiance and rebel- 

 lion. After scratching my head a little I con- 

 cluded to follow, and found her in a second 

 nest-box that had been nailed in the same 

 cedar-tree. 



"Old lady, you must go back and take 

 care of those eggs." 



"Can I have my box?" 



"Yes. you can have your old box if noth- 

 ing else will do." 



She went back quietly (or, rather, I car- 

 ried her back); and when I fixed the pieces 

 of the old box over and around her she seem- 

 ed tolerably well satisfied; but I soon found 

 there was something lacking. She was more 

 conspicuous than she had been with the box 

 before I demolished it. I fastened a wide 

 board up in front of her, and then she gave 

 her contented "c-r-r-r." that means every 

 thing is all right. Just before hatching-time 

 I thought the long hay in the nest would lie 

 a bother to the chicks, and undertook to re- 

 move it. This she objected to; and when 

 she grabbed it out of my hands and threw it 

 over her back, and even got off the nest to 

 poke it back in place with her bill, I let her 

 have her own way. On the morning of the 

 21st day I uttered a shout when I saw egg- 

 shells outside the nest. As soon as she saw 

 me she gave me for a greeting that well- 

 known "c-r--r-r" of contentment, and made 

 no objection at all when I attempted to re- 

 move them. When, a little later, I saw sev- 

 eral pairs of bright peering eyes with little 

 downy heads I gave a bigger shout, and de- 

 cided then and there that, though God might 

 have given the children of men something 

 prettier and handsomer than little chickens. 



