156 THE JONATHAN PAPERS 



&quot;Well, anyway, I want to find a bee tree. 

 Let s go bee-hunting!&quot; 



&quot;What s the use? You don t know a 

 honeybee from a bumblebee.&quot; 



&quot;Well, you do, of course,&quot; I answered, 

 tactfully. 



Jonathan, mollified, became gracious. &quot;I 

 never went bee-hunting, but I ve heard the 

 old fellows tell how it s done. But it takes all 

 day.&quot; 



&quot;So much the better,&quot; I said. 



And that night I looked through our books 

 to find out what I could about bees. Over the 

 fireplace in what was once the &quot;best parlor&quot; 

 is a long, low cupboard with glass doors. Here 

 Bibles, albums, and a few other books have 

 always been stored, and from this I pulled 

 down a fat, gilt-lettered volume called &quot;The 

 Household Friend.&quot; This book has something 

 to say about almost everything, and, sure 

 enough, it had an article on bees. But the 

 Household Friend had obviously never gone 

 bee-hunting, and the only real information I 

 got was that bees had four wings and six legs. 



&quot;So has a fly,&quot; said Jonathan, when I came 

 to him with this nugget of wisdom. 



