1895. 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



75 



iioxnt), laying ic upon the table. Some 

 hours after I heard a sort of scratching 

 sound and found that it came from the 

 envelope, out of which I then took the 

 butterfly, quite revived by the warm room 

 and looking most beaiitiful. 



The question then was how to feed it — 

 for I wished to keep it as a pet — and I 

 put some sirup made of white sugar and 

 water in a tiny saucer and gently took 

 the insect by the shoulders, first folding 

 back his wings. Then I took a small nee- 

 dle, and passing the head of it very gently 

 through the curled proboscis slowly un- 

 rolled it till the end fell in the sirup. 



After he had had his fill I let him go, 

 and he polished his fore feet and antennae 

 and then flew about quite happy. I con- 

 tinued to feed him thus for three days, 

 and on the fourth, when I put out my 

 hand to take him, he flew upon it and at 

 once began to eat of his own accord. 



This went on for about three weeks, and 

 he became really quite a pet, flying to me 

 and settling on my chest, arms or hands, 

 and if I put him on a table and drew my 

 finger along he would follow it like a kit- 

 ten, not flying, but marching slowly after 

 it, and then when I left the table he 

 would turn his bead as knowing as a 

 child or animal. 



In three weeks his bright coloring and 

 gloss grew dull, wrinkles appeared on the 

 body and wings, and after eating he was 

 less particular in pluming himself. Then 

 his appetite failed and his strength also. 

 The three days before his death he was 

 constantly in my hand, and there he died. 



During 1846, the first year of the Irish 

 famine, wheat sold in Amsterdam for £20 

 6s.; in London for £14 14s.; in New York 

 for $40; in St. Petersburg for £10 8s. a 

 ton. __^_ 



Over 1,000 yards of linen cloth have been 

 unrolled from one mummy The cloth in 

 texture resembles the cheesecloth of the 

 present somewhat. It is finer in quality 



Wheat was cultivated in China B C 

 8700 and at that date was deemed the di 

 tect gift of the gods 



With some people a roll of honor is 

 made up of bank bills 



MET A BAD MAN IN TEXAS. 



Hereafter all telegraph and telephone 

 poles which arc erected in the streets of 

 Hartford must be of well seasoned chest- 

 nut wood, oci.'igunal in shape, to be paint- 

 ed a dark grcun unifurnil.v, and not over 

 40 feet in hf.ight from the ground 



The China or tea wheat is said to have 

 come from a grain found in a chest of tea. 



An Army Officer's Experience, Which In- 

 cluded a Drink of Poor W^liisky. 



"Only on one occasion in my life have 

 I felt the need of a -weapon," said an 

 officer of the United States army. "I 

 have never carried a gun, but it has 

 sometimes occurred to me that no man 

 ought ever to be without one. One 

 cannot be sure but that some time the 

 ■weapon would save one's life. For in- 

 stance,! will recite to you a little expe- 

 rience of my own. It was in a wild 

 mountain region of Texas. I was riding 

 along a lonely path, mounted on a gov- 

 ernment mule. Not a thing did I have 

 on my person which could have been re- 

 garded by the most impoverished citi- 

 zen as of value. Whistling as I went, I 

 approached a large rock, about which 

 the path ran to avoid a sharp ascent. 

 Just as I reached it a fierce looking 

 man rose out of the bushes and cried 

 'Halt!' 



"What could I do? Perhaps you will 

 say that I ought to have charged upon 

 him with my government mule, over- 

 powered him, taken away his arms and 

 demanded why he should thus obstruct 

 ■what was the best substitute available 

 for a public highway. I did nothing of 

 the kind. The only reason I can allege 

 is that I was afraid. Such a method of 

 dealing with highwaymen does well 

 enough in story books, but in real life it 

 is dangerous. Accordingly I obeyed the 

 suggestion of the bold bandit and halt- 

 ed. For a moment my heart jumped in- 

 to my throat as I saw him thrust a hand 

 into his hip pocket. He drew from it 

 something and pointed it at me point 

 blank. I perceived that the something 

 was not a pistol; it was a bottle — a large 

 black bottle. Said the highwayman, 

 ♦Drink!' 



"I held out my hand and grasped the 

 bottle with more than ordinary eager- 

 ness. I drank. It was the worst whisky 

 I ever tasted, and that is saying a good 

 deal, for I had lived in the wilds of the 

 west for a number of years. But to me 

 orderea the children to be brought in. 

 Each child was addressed, and, to the sur- 

 prise of the assembly, every one answered 

 by a sign. Not a child could speak a 

 word. They had all learned from their 

 nurses to express themselves by gestures! 

 — Youth's Companion. 



