1895. 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



69' 



turn in, i ruilecf over and slept again. 

 When I next woke, it was 7 o'clock, and 

 the men wer<^ still crouching over the em- 

 bers, helping to cook breakfast, their blan- 

 kets having been replaced upon my shoul- 

 iers. 



I had paid these men off the day before 

 tifiis happened, and they left me the next 

 morning with a hearty '*God be vyith 

 you," unconscious that they had done 

 anything more than the proper thing to- 

 ward their employer and companion. — 

 Youth's Companion. 



A Brilliant Idea. 



A German paper tells an amusing story 

 of Cumberland, the thought reader. On 

 a journey from Vienna to St. Petersburg 

 he entertained his fellow passengers by 

 guessing their thoughts. One of the trav- 

 elers, a Polish Jew, who took the whole 

 thing for a hoax, offered to pay Cumber- 

 land the sum of 50 rubles if he could di- 

 vine his thougiits. Visibly amused, Cum- 

 berland acceded to his request and said: 

 "You are going to the fair at Nijni 

 Novgorod, wliere you intend to purchase 

 goods to the extent of 20,000 rubles, after 

 which you will declare yourself a bankrupt 

 and conjpound with your creditors for 8 

 per cent. " 



On hearing these words the Jew gazed 

 at the speaker with reverential awe. He 

 then, without uttering a syllable, drew 

 out of the leg of his boot a shabby purse 

 and handed him the 50 rubles, whereupon 

 the great magician triumphantly in- 

 quired, "Then 1 have guessed your 

 thoughts, eh?" "No," replied the Jew, 

 "but you have given me a brilliant idea." 



cudan peculiarities. 



The Sentimental Song's Success. 



"Did you ever hear anything as mushy 

 as that?" asked the man at the minstrel 

 show. He referred to a song about "papa" 

 and "dear mamma" and "sweet little 

 child" that was being done by a man 

 with a soft,, girlish voice. 



He didn't like it at all, but the house de- 

 manded an encore, and a woman just in 

 front of him had a handkerchief to her 

 eyes. 



"That's what people want," said the 

 man who sat beside the complainant 

 "Just give them mother and baby and a 

 waltz tune, and they're happy." 



The lines of the song were almost idiotic 

 In their strained attempt at tender senti- 

 ment, and the air seemed a variation of 

 what has been heard in every minstrel 

 "first part" for 20 years, but the people 

 liked it just the same because it was so 

 well sung f»nd because "mamma" and 

 "baby" were treated with such exceeding 

 tenderness. — Chicago Record. 



Some of the Curious Customs That Con- 

 front a Visitor to Havana. 



Ben Stern, a New York theatrical man, 

 tells some amusing incidents connected 

 with a visit he made to Havana. 



"Talk about yellow fever," said Mr. 

 Stern, "you have it in Cuba. It is full of 

 it. You have to be very careful how you- 

 live, what you drink, and then you are 

 fortunate to escape. In the hotels — such 

 as they are — you find marble floors. In 

 your room you will find a little rug near 

 your bed, and you are supposed to stand on 

 this rug vrhile dressing. 



You are warned to keep off the marble 

 In your bare feet. You may catch yellow 

 fever. Carpets you have not. Tliey hold 

 the germs Ninety per cent of the houses 

 Bro but a single story high. The streets 

 are just wide enough to allow two small 

 vehicles to pass, and the sidewalks are 

 about two feet in width. 



"But what in. pressed me is the system of 

 taxes — bribe taking and tipping. If you 

 register at a hotel, you place a stamp op- 

 posite your name If you use a sheet 

 of paper, you stamp it, and if you go- 

 into a public park somebody will ask you 

 for 10 cents before you sit down. TJien 

 the stamps are only kept in limited quan- 

 tities. I asked a hotel clerk why they did 

 not keep a better supply. He declared it 

 was because the next Spanish steamer ar- 

 riving might bring a new design, and the 

 old ones would have to be destroyed at the 

 cost of the holder of them. So you s"e 

 Spain's way of doing business with her 

 Cuban subjects. They hate their mother 

 country — I mean the native Cubans. Of 

 course, the Spaniards, strictly speaking, 

 are more loyal. Unfurl an American flag 

 in Cuba, and the people fairly go wild over 

 the stars and stripes. Unfurl the emblem 

 of Spain, and there is not much enthusi- 

 asm. 



"The rulesof the theater are queer: You 

 pay so much to get in and then pay for 

 your seat afterward. No difference if you 

 had a $30 box seat, you would have to pay 

 an admission fee. The system is full of 

 bother to the patrons of the places of 

 amusement. There are, I believe, about 30 

 newspapers printed in Cuba, but only 

 about hve allract much attention. All are 

 printed in Spanish. About the only Amer- 

 icans you see are in one hotel, and when 

 you leave there you are among the Cubans 

 entirely. The system of collecting duties' 

 is very lax — full of temptations for brib 

 ery, which, I am told, is one of the worst 

 evils of the i.sland. The Spanish govern- 

 ment has everything of an official character 

 under its controj. which m%kes Spain. 



