THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW, 



17 



eral Grant may be seen. One of these was 

 signed by Jefferson Davis. Different kinds 

 of stones and their uses are shown, then the 

 crystals are in another group, the metals in 

 another, etc., etc. The different races of 

 the world and their dress are illustrated by 

 wax figures. Then there are groups of in- 

 sects, of birds, of animals, etc. I was pleas- 

 ed to notice that the growth of a bee from 

 the egg to the full grown bee was shown by 

 specimens preserved in alcohol. A virgin 

 queen and one just mated were shown. I 

 must mention one specimen among the 

 birds, that of the Rhinoceros Hornbill. It 

 is a black bird as large as a good sized roos- 

 ter. It has a red topnot and a long crooked 

 bill that probably gives it its name of horn- 

 bill. It builds its nest in an opening in the 

 side of a tree, the same as does our American 

 wood-pecker. And now comes the peculiar 

 part. When the female begins sitting, the 

 male stops up the opening with mud, leav- 

 ing a hole large enough for the prisoner to 

 thrust out her bill. She, of course, must be 

 fed by the male. The supposition is that 

 the opening is closed to protect the nest and 

 its contents from enemies. All this is illus- 

 trated by a model in wax, except that I think 

 the bird on the outside, that was in the act 

 of feeding his mate, was probably a stuffed 

 specimen. Just as we were about to leave 

 the building, one of the Washington friends 

 who very kindly volunteered to show us 

 about, said : " Mr. Root, wouldn't you like 

 to see something from the other world ?" 

 '• Certainly." He then led the way to where 

 lay a specimen of an aerolite. It looked like 

 a cross between a piece of cast iron and a 

 lump of anthracite coal. It was marked: 

 " 1400 lbs." If this is its true weight, it is 

 the heaviest substance I ever saw. 



Our next visit was to the Treasury De- 

 partment. It reminded me of a prison. 

 There were the massive walls of stone, the 

 low arched passageways, the grated iron 

 doors, etc. The money is counted so many 

 times, and passes through so many hands, 

 each one doing only a small part in its man- 

 ufacture, that theft is impossible. The re- 

 demption and destruction of mutilated or 

 worn out currency is interesting. It is count- 

 ed and re-counted, then large holes are 

 punched through it, then it is counted again, 

 then the bills are cut in halves, then each 

 half counted separately by difierent persons, 

 and at last it is put into a vat for maceration, 

 and new bills issued in place of the old ones. 



We went down into the vault where in one 

 pile lay 193.000,000 in silver dollars. They 

 were in rough pine boxes, each holding a 

 little more than half a bushel I should judge. 

 These boxes were stacked up in a pile per- 

 haps forty or fifty feet square and eight feet 

 high. Around the pile was a grating of iron 

 or steel. A narrow alley around the outside 

 allowed one to walk around the pile. Through 

 the courtesy of one of the officials, we were 

 shown the room where the U. S. bonds are 

 kept, and for the space of perhaps half a 

 minute, the fingers that are now manipula- 

 ting the keys of the type writer, held in their 

 grasp U. S. bonds worth $l,()<i(),(toO ! 



The next visit was to the Art Gallery. The 

 paintings and statuary were exceptionally 

 fine. Among the latter I stood the longest 

 before two little twin girls perhaps a year 

 and a half old lying asleep, their curls inter- 

 mingling, the head of one upon the shoulder 

 of the other and her chubby arm throw over 

 her sister. Two little feet peeped from un- 

 der the covering that lay in folds so natural 

 that I could almost imagine that it rose and 

 fell from an imaginary breathing beneath 

 it. The faces were alike but the crowning 

 beauty was the expression of sweetness and 

 innocence seen only in a sleeping child. 

 The man who can put such expression into 

 cold, white marble, is worthy of the name, 

 artist. The painting from which I derived 

 most satisfaction was the "Forester's 

 Home." A room in a house built of logs. 

 Guns, axes, and rude implements upon the 

 wall. The forester, a man with a flowing 

 grey beard, sits at the head of the table, a 

 long pipe in his mouth, his head partly sup- 

 ported by a brawny hand, the elbow of that 

 arm leaning upon the table. Upon the face 

 an expression of extreme weariness enjoying 

 a well-earned repose. Before a blazing fire 

 in a fire-place knelt the wife attending to the 

 roasting of some game, or something of that 

 sort. At her side lay a dog, and the inter- 

 ested, earnest, "doggish" expression upon 

 the dog's face was brought out so strongly 

 by the bright firelight that it was hard to re- 

 alize that it was only a picture. The effect 

 of the ruddy glow upon the woman's face 

 and on the folds of her dress was simply per- 

 fect. 



The last place visited was the Washington 

 Monument. I believe this is the tallest 

 structure in this country — 520 feet in height. 

 I should judge it was fifty feet square at the 

 base. Inside there is a winding stair way, 



