36 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



of the efficacy of yelling and of throw- 

 ing- sand. I recall that once in spite of 

 all the noisy demonstrations the hees per- 

 sisted in going- to more quiet fields. The 

 bees arose, a cloudy mass, high in the 

 air. They circled like a swaying balloon 

 anchored by its rope, until they had ob- 

 tained their bearings and across the field 

 they flew, straight for the woods beyond. 



from \illie. Who shall say whether it 

 was the result of Villie's screaming and 

 jumping- jack performances, or whether 

 they unsolicited would have alighted 

 there ? In any case it is beyond my phil- 

 osophy to tell whether here was a case 

 of cause and efifect or only a funny co- 

 incidence. A'illie claimed the honor 

 that evening and he told the men 



f ^ (f^:» 



'-'f-^rC/ -.^ 



"I CLOSE MY F,YES AND SEE THAT EXCTTED DUTCHMAN PRANCING TN THE MTDST OF 



THAT SWARM OF BEES." 



Directly in their line of flight was ri- 

 diculous old Dutch Mllie smoking his 

 pipe and hoeing corn on the summit of 

 the hill, lost in placid memories of his 

 fatherland and in longings for the I^eer 

 of his adopted country, or thinking of 

 his next attempt at drinking some 

 three dozen mugs of that beer on the 

 Saturday's half holiday in the near-by 

 village. The bees literally took a bee 

 line. It led them high in air over the 

 valley, but close to the ground on the 

 summit of the hill around Dutch A'illie. 

 The most astonished Dutchman that ever 

 existed was in that cornfield, when 

 ninety thousand bees swarmed near him 

 in their slow flight onward. Bees in 

 swarming fly swiftly around and around 

 and around like the balloons of the solar 

 system, while the entire family moves 

 slowly onward. A^illie was in the very 

 center of that flight and he had a little 

 dirt throwing and a pandemonium of 

 yelling all to himself. He used hands, 

 arms, legs and mouth — a veritable jump- 

 ing-jack, to my great delight, as I ran 

 up the hill to ascertain where those bees 

 were going. But the thing worked, or 

 seemed to work, for the bees settled on 

 a scrub of a wild cherry bush not far 



at the tavern that he had saved a swarm 

 of bees that was worth five dollars, be- 

 cause he yelled and threw dirt at them. 

 I am not sure of the validity of his 

 claim, l)ut I do know that he gave me 

 more than five dollars' worth of fun that 

 day. and many a laugh since then, as I 

 close my eyes and see that excited Dutch- 

 nian prancing in the midst of that swam 

 of bees. 



A Peculiar Cloud-Effect. 



'Twas eventide. The small lad stood 

 on the bridge clapping his hands vig- 

 orously. Beyond the brow of the hilt 

 a dull red glow sufifused the sky. 



"Ah, little boy," remarked the stran- 

 ger, who was a little near-sighted, "it 

 does my heart good to see that you 

 appreciate yon cloud-efifect." 



"Yes, sir," replied the lad. "I've been 

 watching it for ten minutes." 



Upon the boy's face there appeared 

 a smile of perfect bliss. 



"A real poet without a doubt. And 

 do you watch the sunset often, little 

 boy?" asked the stranger. 



"Sunset? Why, that ain't a sunset, 

 gov'nor ; that's our schoolhouse burn- 

 ing down." — Exchansre. 



