Orson Clark-12/14/81 - Pg 28

Ruth Knowlton: I think that's precious.

Interviewer: So you worked with Uncle Timothy and his bees?

Orson Clark: When he had bees, I used to help him a little.

Interviewer: What kind of a man was he?

Orson Clark: He was one of these kind of, oh I don't know how to describe him. He was a good man but didn't seem to have too much ambition or at least not much push. Maybe that was it. He used to have bees around here. He had a little house where he kept some hives and his extractor. He would catch any hives in the spring when they swarmed. When they swarmed, he would go get them and bring them in and put them around. He'd raise the honey. But I don't know how ambitious. He wore a beard. He did all right. I don't know anything about his early life, when he had his family and raised a family. He was apparently living alone in the days when I was growing up.

Interviewer: How was he regarded in the community?

Orson Clark: I don't know, he was all right. There was nothing wrong with him. The bee business was kind of a touchy thing. Most people don't know bees, except to be stung. He was never afraid of them stinging or anything. He would go right in and take the honey out and change it.

Interviewer: My mother got a few hives when I was growing up so I had my experience with bees.

Orson Clark: Smokers?

Interviewer: Yes, smokers they called them. I wouldn't go near a beehive unless I had on a full uniform.

Orson Clark: Well, he used to wear a veil down to about his shoulders.

Interviewer: I wanted a veil and everything else. Dog-gone bees!

Orson Clark: Well, his policy was, "Don't irritate them and they won't hurt you, they won't sting you." That's the wat he would go in. He would go in and smoke them a little to get them to move out. Then he would take the frames out.

Interviewer: I wonder how he ever got involved in the bee business.

Orson Clark: I don't know. Like I say, I never did know his early history.