THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



365 



' Yon were once so full of the subject of 

 bees that you could neither think nor talk 

 much about anything else. Of late years, 

 and especially within the last few days, it 

 has seemed to me as if you rather avoided 

 the subject than otherwise. What has brought 

 it about ? ' 



' I an glad to answer you. For many long 

 years, as you say, I never tired of talking 

 about and investigating and studying the 

 honey-bee ; and I used to think I should 

 never get weary of that one subject. Finally, 

 however, when my health began to fail, I 

 discovered that I turned almost involuntarily 

 to something else as a relief — a rest, or 

 change ; but when business, and a desire to 

 help others who wanted to know, continued 

 to hold me down to that subject, it began at 

 times to be almost painful. I went into 

 other things expecting and rather hoping 

 that a little rest from that one subject would 

 throw off this feeling. It has done so to 

 some extent : but, to tell the truth, I have, 

 at the present time, very little to do with the 

 bees. The bee-keeper of our establishment 

 is, at present, Ernest. Growing potatoes 

 and draining land, riding the wheel, and 

 even looking into the wonderful progress 

 that has been made in your line of business, 

 attracts me much more than bee culture. 

 Sometimes I have felt sad about it ; and 

 then I have thought that, perhaps, there was 

 a sort of providence in it ; and I do believe 

 that it is God's will that, while we look after 

 our own industry, we should also avoid set- 

 tling down into one narrow line of work too 

 long at a time.' 



After I explained to friend Cook as above, 

 he astonished me by coming over to where I 

 sat. and putting out his hand. When I 

 looked up in surprise for an explanation he 

 said something like this : 



' Mr. Root, I rather suspected something 

 of what you have told us ; and I want to tell 

 you that my experience i** much like yours. 

 I have felt as if I could not stand it unless I 

 had some sort of relief from duties that have 

 been wearing, month after month and year 

 after year, on the same set of nerves, and in 

 the same line of work.' 



Perhaps he did not say it just as I have put 

 it. but it was something in that line. It is 

 true, there is such a thine as changing about 

 from one thing to another before one has 

 had time to accomplish anything anywhere : 

 but there is also an opposite extreme to be 

 avoided." 



Several times since the foregoing appeared 

 have I been tempted to publish it and com- 

 ment upon it. Most of you know how 

 strongly I have plead for specialty. Not one 

 word that I have said would I recall. Those 

 old saws about a " -Jack at all trades " being 

 " good for nothing at none," and when there 

 are "Too many irons in the fire some are 

 burned," are only too true. A man can never 

 hope to attain the highest success unless he 

 masters one subject, and to attempt the 

 mastery of several means the mastery of 



none. But when a man's thoughts flow con- 

 stantly in one channel they are necessarily 

 narrowed. A man should sometimes think 

 of something besides his business. His busi- 

 ness and himself will thereby be benefitted. 

 After a dip into something foreign to his 

 regular business, he returns to his post with 

 a sort of enthusiasm for his work. As Dr. 

 Miller remarked after reading the above, 

 •' If Mr. Root had not ridden the bee-keep- 

 ing hobby so long and so hard when he first 

 mounted it he might yet have been editor of 

 Gleanings.'^ Perhaps those were not his ex- 

 act words, but they convey the idea that he 

 meant to advance, viz., that Mr. Root wore 

 out his enthusiasm for bee-keeping by too 

 long continued efforts in that direction : if 

 he had given his mind a rest by taking up 

 something else to a certain extent he might 

 now have had sufficient enthusiasm left for 

 bee-keeping to be able to edit Gleanings. I 

 think the Dr. is correct. We all know that 

 Mr. Root has lately taken up gardening and 

 is riding this hobby as furiously as he ever 

 did bee-keeping. 



In looking over my own life for the past 

 twenty years I can see that while bee-keeping 

 has been my business most of the time, that 

 is, I have made it a specialty, I have at the 

 same time tried different branches of it, and 

 occasionally indulged in by-plays. When I 

 was about fifteen I began to seriously con- 

 sider the question of what I should do in 

 life. I wished the question decided that I 

 might be studying and working in the right 

 direction. I had a great love for machinery 

 and the life of a locomotive engineer seemed 

 to me an ideal one. I progressed in this di- 

 rection until I was able to " fire " and run an 

 engine in a planing mill. Then the beauties 

 of literature took possession of me and I be- 

 gan studying with fresh enthusiasm and 

 teaching school. You may smile if you like, 

 and I will not be offended, but in those days 

 I thought I should like to become a writer. 

 I did not know exactly what I should write 

 about, but I had such an itching for writing 

 that several stories and sketches were sent to 

 different papers only to be returned, as I can 

 now see very clearly they ought to have been. 

 Then music took possession of my soul and 

 I almost decided to make of it a profession. 

 Next came bee-keeping, and twenty-one 

 found me yet undecided. I know that I 

 often felt ashamed of my vacilation ; it 

 seemed as though I ought to have sufficient 

 decision to be able to make a choice. I re- 



