1883 



JUVENILE GLEANINGS. 



,557 



tracted, while I extract joy and comfort from that 

 baby. What with attending to the bees outside, and 

 tending the baby inside, I am having a sweet time of 

 it. 



I can enjoy one during the day, and the other at 

 night. Between the two sweet employments, you 

 may imagine that I am kept busy. Sometimes the 

 singing during the night is so Interesting that I have 

 to get up to enjoy it. The hum of the busy bee Is 

 nothing to the music of that baby. The former 

 come home laden with all the autumn richness of 

 the asters and the goldenrod, singing their " harvest 

 home " melodies in a way that only an enthusiastic 

 bee-keeper can fully appreciate; but that first girl- 

 baby creates an enthusiasm In the neighborhood 

 among the old maids and the young maidens, the 

 married women and little children, equal to a bee- 

 keepers' convention. 



On one particular night this particular baby was 

 more frisky than usual. Mrs. S. says it was a flea, 

 and she knows it. The wicked flea, when no man 

 pursueth, biteth the baby. Solomon knew what he 

 was about when he wrote that; but perhaps he had 

 to stop writing to rock the baby to sleep, and forgot 

 to finish the sentence. It's a burning shame that 

 the festive flea has been biting the babies from Sol- 

 omon's time down to the present, and no one has 

 invented a flea-trap. 



"The bees are swarming !" Well, welll will they 

 never stop swarming? They began in May, and, 

 from present indications, I do believe they will keep 

 it up till October. Every fresh spurt of honey they 

 act as if it were always to last, and leave their un- 

 finished sections to " multiply and replenish the 

 earth." Talk about the wisdom of the bees! They 

 don't know any more than that- baby, who is now as 

 wide awake as a fish, when she ought to be growing 

 in baby dream-land. The bees show just as little 

 wisdom and foresight in a great many other things 

 as swarming so late in the season. Why do they toil 

 all summer gathering propolis to stop imaginary 

 cracks? Why do they rear ten thousand drones 

 when only one is necessary? Why do they sting 

 the hand that feeds them, just as quickly as one that 

 robs them? Why do they refuse to accept a queen, 

 if a fertile worker is in the hive? 



There! the baby has the stomach-ache, and I 

 must go and rock it. Eugene Secor. 



Forest City, Ta., Aug.. 1«83. 



Friend S., are you not afraid that was a 

 wicked pun of yours when you perverted 

 Solomon's wise saying in regard to the con- 

 science of wicked nieu following them in 

 some respects' like a flesh-and-blood foe? 

 May God bless that first girl-baby ! 



■ — I ^ 



MRS. L.IJCINDA HARRISON. 



WHAT SHE SAW IN CENTRAL PARK, ETC. 



fAM in New York City, children, and I went to 

 Sep Central Park the other day, and the first 

 ■ thing I did on entering it was to scamper off 

 after a flower that|I never^saw before. It was blue, 

 and belonged to the Ray family, and a lady informed 

 me thatjit was chicory, and its roots are ground up 

 to adulterate coffee with. Who can tell us some 

 more about it, and whether it is a honey -plant? 

 Now, don't speak all at once. I can see a good many 

 bands raised. 



The company I was with didn't care a fig about a 

 simple wild flower, and hurried me into the muse- 



um, saying, "There, Aunt Lucinda, is Powers' 

 Greek Slave." Sure enough, here was a white mar- 

 ble figure, with such perfectly formed limbs, with 

 dimples and finger and toe nails so natural; the 

 countenance had such a sweet, sad look, and the 

 hands were chained. There was a great deal more 

 sculpture, that I haven't space to tell you about. It 

 is strange that marble can be cut to express love, 

 despair, hatred, etc. I saw lamps, tombs, or sarco- 

 phagi, and ugly shaped figures cut out of stone 

 thousands of years ago, and dug up in the island of 

 Cyprus. There is where the Cyprian bees come 

 from. Which will benefit the country most, the 

 bees or the old stones? 



There are many pictures in the museum, but I'll 

 tell of only one which has world-wide reputation,— 

 Raphael's Madonna. It was sold in 1878 for twenty 

 thousand pounds ($100,000), and belongs to an Eng- 

 lishman, who loaned it to the museum. I can't de- 

 scribe this picture, children, lor my pen is not equal 

 toil; and as I sat and looked at it I did not know 

 which to admire the more — the picture or its gener- 

 ous owner. If its owner were selfish, he would have 

 kept it at home shut up in a picture-gallery, instead 

 of risking it on an ocean voyage, to be brought here 

 to be viewed by the American people. 



When I left the museum I heard, " Aunt Lucinda, 

 don't you want to see the Obelisk? We'll go under 

 that bridge, and up on that mound so we can view 

 it better." And here was Cleopatra's Needle! What 

 queer fingers she must have had, to u«e such a nee- 

 dle! and I could not see a speck of an eye. Only 

 think! Moses saw the obelisk, and it has changed 

 but little since his day; the hieroglyphics are slight- 

 ly worn on a part of it, by the drifting sands of the 

 desert. 



The Park has many things to amuse and entertain 

 children. There is a playground with swings, and 

 merry-go-rounds, and a dairy near, where healthful 

 food can be purchased. In another part, burros and 

 ponies can be hired for a ride, and on the Mall are 

 miniature barouches, with a span of goats to draw 

 them. These goats have harness like horses, only 

 they have no bits la their mouths. These little car- 

 riages had two seats, and four could ride at one 

 time. Oh how the little boys wanted to drive them- 

 selves, instead of having a boy in livery to do it! 



In one part of the Park is a flock of sheep, attend- 

 ed by a shepherd dog. There is a pond with row- 

 boats upon it, which can be hired ; also a base-ball 

 ground. There is a menagerie where many wild 

 animals are kept; and many other interesting things 

 which I can not at present tell you about. 



New York, Sept. 8, 1883. Mrs. L. Harrison. 



Now, Mrs. H., you may be right in your 

 statement, that Moses saw Cleopatra's Nee- 

 dle, but I should very much like to know 

 how you know it. While reading your arti- 

 cle, my mind ran back to all I ever knew of 

 Moses, which perhaps isn't very much, and 

 also to all I knew of contemporary history, 

 which is surely very little, but I could not 

 in any way make the connection. Probably 

 you are right, and I should view the obelisk 

 with even greater wonder and reverence'if it 

 is really so.— Children, we can see flocks of 

 sheep, and shepherd dogs, without going to 

 Central Park, can't weV and^bees and bee^ 

 hives too ? Mrs. H., do they not have any 

 bees there V You told us about flowers, but 

 you did not say you saw any beeg around 

 them. 



