188S 



GLEANINGS m BEE CULTURE. 



113 



husband says if he ever gets to heaven he expects 

 to see me coming aloog with a bee-hat on, and smo- 

 ker in hand. 



Whether bee - keeping is too hard for women, 

 should be viewed from different standpoints, as we 

 are so apt to measure other people's wheat in our 

 own half-bushel. As an illustration, when I was at 

 the North-Western Convention at Chicago, several 

 bee-keepers spoke disparagingly of my bee-hat; but 

 If my head could be changed to their shoulders, they 

 might think differently. By putting on a wet head- 

 eap, and an airy wire hat, I can work safely in the 

 hot SUB, when it would be rash to go out without it, 

 as I have a tendency to apoplexy, and my head 

 would feel like bursting, with a hat and veil, 



I do a good deal of head work, planning to have the 

 work as light as possible during the busy season. 

 All of the plain sewing, such as the making of calico 

 dresses, underclothing, aprons, sun-bonnets, etc., is 

 done during the winter. The house is cleaned early; 

 and when the closets are overhauled, and paper-i-ags 

 picked up, the suitable ones are rolled up and tied 

 for fuel for smokers— plenty to last during the sea- 

 son. Gloves are mended, wire hats put in order, 

 and, as the season advances, hives are put in posi- 

 tion for new colonies. It is true, that during the 

 busy season I have little time for visiting, but I 

 make up the lost time during the rest of the year. 

 I have made money and I can afford to attend a bee- 

 convention, or take a trip to the mountains or sea- 

 shore. From my standpoint, it seems as though the 

 sisters Linswik, with their eleven years' experience, 

 and the amount of bees they have, ought to clear a 

 thousand dollars per year. By taking time by the 

 forelock, and securing help, one at a time might 

 skip off to the mountains for rest and recuperation; 

 and at the close of the season be fresh and vigorous 

 with plenty of spending-money. 



I want to say to Cyula, before closing this article, 

 when you talk of selling your bees, don't ; but if, in 

 spite of my protest, you shall persist in so doing, it 

 will not be the least of my regrets— the losing from 

 among our number one who wields so graceful a pen 

 as Cyula Linswik. Mrs. L. Harrison. 



Peoria, 111., Feb., 1883. 



I warmly second your concluding words, 

 Mrs. H. ; and in regard to hiring good and 

 efficient help, I would say that we sometimes 

 make a mistake in using too much economy. 

 I have several times felt as if 1 really could 

 not afford the price that some good man 

 wanted ; but I soon found out that it was a 

 plain saving of money to pay a good, honest, 

 faithful hand enough to make him feel hap- 



Ey, and with it a determination to work 

 ard for my interests. Somebody has men- 

 tioned that Mrs. Axtell's honey crop will net 

 over $5000. Just think, Cyula, how much 

 good you might do in your own neighbor- 

 hood by giving employment, and developing 

 the latent talent that lies slumbering about 

 you. No, I am not mistaken. Over and 

 over again have I seen a little kind care and 

 teaching bring out intelligence that surpris- 

 ed the neighbors, and the one that possessed 

 it, more than anybody else, perhaps. Just 

 look about you now, until your eye catches 

 on some child that is hungry for work, and 

 then accept the charge as a commission from 

 the loving Savior, and teach that child as 

 you would if the Master had said to you di- 

 rect, "• Inasmuch as ye do it unto her, ye 



have done It unto me." AVhen the child be- 

 gins to take hold, and feels proud and hap- 

 py because she is succeeding, and tries to 

 show her love and gratitude to you by kind 

 looks as well as kind offices, you will feel a 

 thrill of joy that nothing else in this world 

 that 1 know of can equal. If you have tri- 

 als and perplexities and discouragements, 

 let them serve to drive you to the Master, 

 and blessings of all kinds will come as sure- 

 ly as the rising of the sun. 



Are those who write the bright little let- 

 ters in our Juvenile Gleanings any 

 smarter than the boys and girls in the vicin- 

 ity of your own home V Siirely not. To be 

 sure, every child may not have a taste for 

 bees, and one therefore would need to exer- 

 cise a little wisdom in selecting one for trial ; 

 but give me the boys or girls who like work, 

 and whose circumstances make it needful 

 that they should have work, and I have sel- 

 dom failed in enlisting their enthusiasm. 

 While the^ do manual labor, also teach them 

 to do writing, and to thus get hold of the 

 machinery of the great busy world. I have 

 been addressing these words to Cyula ; but, 

 my good friend Mrs. IL, they will apply to 

 you too, although you have started out a lit- 

 tle in that direction ; and not only you, but 

 a thousand others who have got where they 

 can see how great is the harvest, and how 

 few are the really conscientious, intelligent 

 laborers. It is our own fault, friends. The 

 material lies all about us, and it is, to a great 

 extent, our fault that it develops into self- 

 ishness, and sometimes even crime. "\e 

 are my witnesses." 



SOME OF OUK GREAT HONEY - PRO- 

 DUCERS. 



TAKING A LOOK AT THEIR FACES. 



flllEND BLANTON is not only a big 

 bee-man, but he is a big man as well; 

 and he is not only big in body, but, 

 like all other big bee-men, he is a big-heart- 

 ed, jovial fellow. When at Cincinnati, he, 

 with friend Jones, Muth, and neighbor H., 

 almost made me feel small. Besides that, 

 while we were riding around the city they 

 actually went to laying traps for my inno- 

 cent and unsuspecting country feet. You 

 see, we passed a big shop where they had 

 barrels and hogsheads and tierces of some- 

 thing that I thought might be beeswax (I 

 declare, I wish it were beeswax now), but it 

 wasn t beeswax at all ; it was only tobacco, 

 and friend Jones said it would ruin my smo- 

 ker business, sure, and I might just as well 

 give up, for they would make tobacco a good 

 deal faster than I could make smokers. 

 And then after a while friend Blanton said, 

 very soberly and solemnly, that he had a 

 great notion to give up the use of tobacco ; 

 and then friend Jones gave him a long 

 brotherly talk about the evils of the weed, 

 and about his influence and example, until 

 he finally declared he would give it up, if I 

 would give him a smoker. Eriend J. then 

 made a few closing remarks about always 

 feeling happy when he was able to induce 

 any one to give up a bad habit ; and there 



