CHAPTER XVIII 



" BEES " 



AT the time of my flying visit to my native land, referred 

 to at the close of the sixteenth chapter, I found the 

 country in a state of mild idiotcy regarding one of those 

 foreign fads that, from time to time, obtain such a hold 

 of the English people. This was the " spelling-bee," a 

 Yankee importation ; though I am bound to admit that 

 " bees " were rife enough in Canada also. In England 

 there was a mania for spelling-bees, especially at dis- 

 senting places of worship, and among certain classes of 

 the swindling fraternity, who for a time reaped a rich 

 harvest from the proceeds of bogus spelling-bees. 



Now, in the States, "bees" were not confined to 

 spelling competitions ; indeed, the latter was one of the 

 newest innovations. I have not been able to discover 

 how, or when, " bees " originated ; but they are nearly and 

 perhaps quite as old an institution as Independence Day. 

 A bee is an assemblage of persons to perform some 

 industrial work for the benefit of a neighbour. That was 

 the original meaning of the thing. An assembling to 

 test persons in spelling is not therefore strictly a bee, 

 as it partakes more of the definition of a competition. 

 But a bee was designed for amusement, as well as 

 employment. 



The first " bee " that I ever saw was a husking-bee. 

 I was invited by the lady of the house, who added, in 

 her note, that she intended to introduce me to one 

 of the prettiest girls in the neighbourhood. Not know- 

 ing, as yet, what a bee was, I looked with some suspicion 



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