442 TENANTS OF AN OLD FARM. 



" Liberty Hall," wherein all should be held equal and 

 encouraged to the utmost freedom. With most of our 

 domestic circle there had been no embarrassment, but 

 Dan and Sarah had such an irrepressible tendency to 

 carry their kitchen sparring into the conversations 

 that the good housewife was often shocked. 



"• It will quite overturn my domestic discipline," she 

 affirmed; "and destroy all dignity in our relations 

 with the household helpers. It is preposterous to allow 

 Sarah and Dan such liberties !" 



However, this course seemed to me the only one to 

 evoke the peculiar notions that I wished to reach, and 

 which come only with perfect freedom. So the Mistress 

 yielded with what grace she could, although her pa- 

 tience was sometimes sorely tried, as on this occasion. 

 Perhaps, I may here say that the good wife's predic- 

 tions were not fulfilled, for the spirit of our Liberty 

 Hall evening never seemed to invade the ordinary ser- 

 vices of the house and farm. But this may suffice for 

 apology. 



" We have not quite finished the natural history of 

 the hornet," I resumed. " Almost as soon as the first 

 cells ai-e formed in the early spring, the building of 

 the nest-covering is commenced. At first it has the 

 appearance of a miniature umbrella, but as the cell- 

 work grows it is expanded and drawn downward until 

 it quite encloses the combs. Tlielarvse, of course, from 

 the reversed positions of the cells, live head downward, 

 and this posture they arc said to retain by means of a 

 gummy secretion at first, and afterward by the swollen 



