FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 17 



FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES. 



BIOGRAPHICAL— BOYHOOD DAYS. 



Fifty miles east of Pittsburg lies the little village of 

 Ligonier, Pa., where I was born June 10, 1831. Twenty miles 

 away, across the mountains, lies the ill-fated city of Johnstown, 

 where my family lived later on. The scenery about Ligonier 

 is of such a charming character that in recent years it has 

 become a summer resort, a branch railroad terminating at 

 that point. Looking down upon the town from the south is a 

 hill so steep that one wonders how it is possible to cultivate it, 

 while between it and the town flows a little stream called the 

 Loyalhanna, with a milldam upon whose broad bosom I spent 

 many a happy winter hour gliding over the icy surface on the 

 glittering steel; and in the hot and lazy summer days, with 

 trouser-legs rolled up to the highest, I waded all about the dam, 

 the bubbles from its oozy bed running up my legs in a creepy 

 way, while I watched with keen eyes for the breathing-hole of 

 some snapping turtle hidden beneath the mud, then cautiously 

 felt my way to its tail, lifted it and held it at arm's length for 

 fear of its vicious jaws, and with no little effort carried it 

 snapping and struggling to the shore. Ever in sight was the 

 mountain, abounding in chestnuts, rattlesnakes, and huckle- 

 berries, and I distinctly recall how strange it seemed, when all 

 was still about me, to hear the roar of the wind in the tree-tops 

 on the mountain eight or ten miles away. 



EARLY EDUCATION. 



My earliest opportunities for education were not of the 

 best. Public schools were not then what they are today, for 

 they were just coming into existence. I recall that we children, 

 upon hearing of a free school in a neighboring village, decided 

 that it must be a very fine thing, for what else could a free 



