1907 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



499 



shake the life out of him or scare him so bad 

 he would remember ever more that the girls, 

 even in our rural districts, have not only 

 mothers, but. when needed, mothers who can 

 iight. A little later she took another chick 

 (thatseemed a little too inquisitive) by the leg 

 and swung him aboiit until I came to interfere. 

 A third she took by the unng, and before noon 

 the whole poultry-yard "had notice served 

 on them" that she proposed to shed her last 

 drop of blood in lighting for and protecting 

 those 18 helpless little bits of downy feathers. 

 She proclaimed herself by her actions a ' ' fight- 

 ing mother, "and she and her chickens are now 

 "boss of the island." While I write they are 

 making a handsome picture, spread out be- 

 fore my door, some of them aslee]3 in the 

 bright sunshine, while she the mother (bear 

 in mind, the lighting mother) is also sitting 

 down a little distance away, taking her ease. 

 She (!an do so safely, for she has, in just one 

 short forenoon, taught all the rest the penal- 

 ty, not only of harming a "feather" of those 

 18, but even of coming near with meddlesome 

 and inquisitive looks. 



A spell ago a young girl in New Jersey was 

 drugged and carried off, and never recov- 

 ered. She had no father, no big brothers, 

 and her mother was a poor widow who did 

 washing. Some married men, resj)ectably 

 connected, were sent to prison for the crime, 

 it is true; but after they had been there a 

 year or two a petition was circulated to have 

 them pardoned on the ground they "didn't 

 mean to" kill the girl. 1 don't know wheth- 

 er our land afforded "fighting mothers" 

 enough to "kill" that petition or not; but I 

 hope so — mothers who ai'e. ready to light like 

 my game pullet, not only for their girls but 

 for their boys as well as girls; mothers who 

 will give the whole world to undei'stand that 

 their boys and girls belong to them; mothers 

 who will put up such a tight that saloon- 

 keepei's and all the criminal horde that lurk 

 in the darkness of their dens will back off 

 and out of sight bccmise oi Wie lighting moth- 

 ers. Do you know why the hypocritical lies 

 that were sown broadcast by the so-called 

 " army generals" in favor of the "canteen 

 restoi'ation" had so little eft'ect on the public 

 mind? Because the world is just beginning 

 to learn something of the temper of th^ fight- 

 ing mothers of America. May God be praised 

 that it is my privilege to do a little in clear- 

 ing the way for these "mothers," and in 

 backing them up when the time comes, when 

 "fighting fathers'' are also needed. The 

 wolves that try to prey on our children ai'e 

 cowards — wolves are ahvays cowards. When 

 they once find out that there is "game blood" 

 in our veins — yes, even the blood and the 

 spirit of Him who said, "I came not to send 

 peace on earth, but a sword," then we can 

 take up our peaceful employments while our 

 children go unharmed about their plays, even 

 as these tender little chickens now bask safe- 

 ly in the sunshine unprotected, because the 

 mother has already proclaimed she is ready 

 to die without fiinching in defense of the 

 innocent and helpless ones that God in his 

 mercy has entrusted to her care. 



As I now write, an effort is being made to 

 l^ermit the women of Ohio to have a voice iir. 

 saying whether saloons mayor may not have 

 a foothold in the vicinity of our Ohio homes. 

 Shall the "Spartan" mothers of Ohio be per- 

 mitted to fight for their children and their 

 homes as my game pullet is, even at this very 

 moment, chasing dear out of sight any that 

 she thinks might be undu\jfa)niliarwith.her 

 innocent and unsuspecting little flock? 



CONSCIENCE NOT AN INFORMATION-BUKEAU. 



Ifcon.seience is a sate suide to what is right and 

 wrontr, then the Bible is not needed. There is no 

 half-way ground hei-e, for a guide that needs guidance 

 is no guide at all. And as a matter of fact, conscience 

 is ?iot a guide; and because so many souls mistakenly 

 think it is, confused and wandering errors in the path- 

 way of life are constantly made. Conscience is a mon- 

 itor. It prompts and prods; it urges " Do what you 

 know to be right: do not do what you know to be 

 wrong." But it does not instruct us in what is right 

 and what is wrong; it is not a bureau of information. 

 That instruction we receive from God in many differ- 

 ent ways, of which the Bible and the training of par- 

 ents and teachers are some. Therefore it will not do 

 to settle back in the easy assurance that we have a 

 safe guide in conscience. We have a tremendous re- 

 sponsibility to learn, from sources outside of our- 

 selves, what is our duty, and those sources are always 

 available when we really seek them. 



The above from the Sutiday School Times 

 contains a grand truth that many learn only 

 after sad experience. I wish it might be 

 copied far and wide. — A. I. R. 



PAULOWNIA IMPERIALIS; MOKE ABOUT IT. 



I clip the following from Park's Floral Mag- 

 azine: 



I have a full-grown paulownia in my yard, about 3.5 

 or 40 feet high. It has in May the most beautiful large 

 branches of purple flowers ever seen. The bunch is 

 composed of 25 or 30 flowers, lavender ijurple, with 

 creamy to orange throats, and the odor from them is 

 the most delightful I ever smelt. It is the odor of vi- 

 olets, but 100 per cent stronger; and as the flowers 

 drop from time to time, the grass beneath is sprinkled 

 thickly with them, and the atmosphere for a radius of 

 at least 100 feet each way is permeated with the odor 

 of violets. You can raise them from seeds. The buds 

 form in the fall. They are covered with a thick, vel- 

 vety-brown covering or husk that drops in the spring, 

 then come the flowers. I can go the editor one better 

 in the size of leaves. A sucker sprang from this tree a 

 couple of years ago, and, of course, it received the most 

 nourishment; besides, we sprinkled it plentifully with 

 the hose. It was a sight. It grew in one season 10 

 feet high, with leaves 26 inches across. I have three 

 other small ones on my place. I think they are gor- 

 geous in the fall. I had a man dig and cut a portion 

 of the root to which this sucker was attached, and 

 plant it elsewhere, and it is a tine tree now. 



Riverside, Ohio, July 10, 1906. Mrs. R. Winter. 



Our readers may remember that ours grew 

 more than ten feet last season, and some of 

 the leaves more than a yard across. Both 

 seeds and plants can be had of Geo. W. Park, 

 LaPark, Pa. 



For selling oleomargarine for butter, a St. 

 Louis dealer was a short time ago sentenced 

 to pay a fine of $1400 and also to undergo 

 one month's imprisonment by a federal judge. 

 This ought to prove a warning to some that 

 Uncle Sam will enforce the pure- food law to 

 the limit. 



