•Sv 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER, 



February 



The lirst way of envisaging tleath seems 

 to bo as ateiiipoiary state lil^e sleep, wliich 

 It so closely rescniljles. A little boy of 2}4 

 years, on hearing from his mother of tho 

 death of a lady friend, at onco asked, 



"Will Mrs. P still bo dead when we 



go back to London?" 



The knowledge of burial leads the child 

 to think much of the grave. The instinc- 

 tive tendency to carry on tho idea of life 

 and sentience with the buried body is il- 

 lustrated in C 's fear lest the earth 



should be put over his eyes. The follow- 

 ing observation from the Worcester col- 

 lection illustrates the same tendency: "'A 



few days ago H , aged 4 years and 4 



months, came to me and said, 'Did you 

 know they'd taken Deacon W to Graf- 

 ton?' I, -Yes.' H : Well, I s'pose it's 



the best thing. His folks (meaning his 

 children) 'are buried there, and they 

 wouldn't know he was dead if he was 

 buried here. " This reversion to savage 

 notions of the dead in speaking of a Chris- 

 tian deacon has its humorous aspect. It is 

 strange to notice here the pertinacity of 

 the natural impulse. All thoughts of 

 heaven were forgotten in the absorbing 

 Interest in the fate of the body. 



A PIRATE'S DISCIPLINE. 



The Rules of Conduct Observed on Board 

 a Buccaneer. 



The customs and regulations most com- 

 monly observed on board a buccaneer are 

 w«rth noting. Every pirate captain doul^t- 

 less had his own set of rules, but there 

 are certain traditional articles that seem 

 to have been generally adopted. The cap- 

 tain had a state cabin, a double vote in 

 •lections, a double share of booty. On 

 gome vessels it was the captain who decid- 

 ed in what (direction to sail, but this and 

 other matters of moment were often settled 

 bj a vote of the company, the captain's 

 ▼ote counting for two. 



The officers had a share and a half or a 

 share and a quarter of the plunder and 

 the sailors one share each. Booty was di- 

 vided with sc-rupulous care, and maroon- 

 ing was the penalty of attempting to de- 

 fraud the geni^ral company, if only to the 

 amount of a single goldpiece. Every man 

 had a full vote in every affair of impor- 

 tance. 



Arms were always to be clean and fit 

 for service, and desertion of the ship >r 

 quarters in battle was punished with 

 death. On one ft,mous pirate's ship a man 

 vrho was cripjiled in battle received $S00 

 out of the common stock, and a propor- 

 tionate sum -^as awarded for lesser hurts. 

 Another allmved !t'7S5 for the loss of a 

 limb, and orher captains instituted a sort 

 of tariff of v,oiinds which extended to ears. 



fingers and toes. 



In chase or battle the captain's power 

 was absolute. He who first spied a sail, 

 if she proved to be a prize, was entitled to 

 the best pair of pistols on board her over 

 and above 'lis dividend. These pistols 

 were greatly coveted, and a pair would sell 

 for as much as $150 from one pirate to an- 

 other. 



In their own commonwealth the pirates 

 were reported to have been severe upon 

 the point of honor, and among one crew it 

 was the practice to slit the ears or nose of 

 any sailor found guilty of robbing his fel- 

 low. — New York Dispatch. 



Easy Snna, 



"What does 'quartered oak' mean, fa- 

 ther?" inqnirt'd little Dennis McKay, who 

 had been reading the advertisement of a 

 large furniture manufacturing company. 



"An here's the rcsoolts av iddication!" 

 ejaculated Mr. McKay, with an expression 

 of great contempt on his ruddy face. 

 "Here's me b'y that's been a-addin an 

 subthractin, mooltiplyin an dividin for 

 the lasht siviu years coom nixt Daycimber, 

 an has to ask his poor owld faythcr the 

 manin of a simple little sooni loike that." 



"Why, I didn't know" — began Dennis, 

 much abashed, but his father gave a de- 

 precatory wave of his right hand. 



"And fwy didn't ye know?" he broke 

 in. "Fwy? Because the cooltivation av 

 common sinre is not included in your 

 coorycooluin at school, that's fwy. St;..i 

 me oop in a row, an ask me how manuy 

 is elivin, sivinteen, twinty-wan and forrty- 

 four, an it's mesilf that ud have nivver a 

 wurrd to say. But let mo casht me oy in- 

 ter a windy where there's chape chairs an 

 tables an other furnitoor, marked 'quar 

 thered oak, ' an the owld shtory av the ap- 

 ple cut inter four paces, that was larnt me 

 as a b'y, cooms roight back to me. 



"There's four qviarthers to ivery blissed 

 thin in this wurrld, Dennis, me son, an 

 whin a table is 'quartheredoak' acconrdin 

 to tho man that sells it, be tho same token 

 you may know it's thray quarthers poine, 

 aven if he makes no mintion av it." — 

 Youth's Companion. 



Curran's Wit. 



Gurran's ruling passion was his joke, 

 and it was strong, if not in death, at least 

 in his V^st illness. One morning his phys- 

 ician observed that he seemed to "cough 

 with more diiliculty. " 



■That is rather surprising, " answered 

 Curran, "for I have been practicing all 

 night." 



While thus lying ill, Curran was visited 

 by a friend. Father O'Leary, who also 

 loved his joke. 



"1 wish. O'Leary. " said Curran to him 



