im 



THE AMERICAN BEE- KEEPER. 



June 



He just bent over his AVife and gaVe lier 

 a kiss, and then sat himself down to the 

 piano, anil his fingers straying over the 

 notes began to sing more to himself ap- 

 parently than to her. Music aways ap- 

 pealed to her, and she could not help re- 

 marking in a pause that came between 

 the verses that it was a very pretty song, 

 and she had no idea he could play so well. 



'•It conies from the new opera at the 

 Futurity," he said. "I haven't got it 

 quite right, but it went something like 

 tl'.cJC', I think, as far as I can remember." 

 He had bought the music three days before 

 and had been trying to get right ever since. 



"You are very spruce tonight, " she said, 

 looking up as he shut down the piano and 

 took lip his stand against the chimney- 

 piece. 



"Are you going ottt anywhere? I'm go- 

 ing to supper, and you will have Owen to 

 entertain you. He is sure to stay late. He 

 hasn't seen you since yesterday, has he?" 



She ignored the sarcasm in the sugges- 

 tion, and, still looking up at him, reflected 

 with an inv\'ard sigh tliat she wished Algie 

 Wiis half as handsome as this husband of 

 hers. Then her mind reverted to the sup- 

 per. 



"It's to be with some woman, I sup- 

 pose?" she said. 



"What?" he queried carelessly. 



"Why, this supper." 



"Nothing of the kind," he said, but in 

 a tone which only confirmed her suspi- 

 cions. 



"Well, Where's it going to be anyway?" 



"Oh, at a little place in Soho. I don't 

 suppose you've ever heard of it." 



"And you are really going alone?" 



"Certainly." 



She got up from her chair and came over 

 to where he was standing. 



"Can't you make it dinner instead of 

 pupper and take me with you?" she said. 



"But Mr. Owen?" 



"Oh, bother Mr. Owen! He can have 

 his dinner by himself. I can easily invent 

 Bome excuse. ' ' 



"And besides it's not exactly the sort of 

 place a woman like you can go to; it's 

 not" — 



She flew out of the room and returned a 

 moment afterward in her cloak. "Come 

 along, quick," she said, "or he'll catch 

 Us." 



"Who?" 



"Wiiy, Algie!" 



Mr. Denison smiled. It was really very 

 hmny. 



******* 



The dinner was a great success, the 

 champagne irreproachable. As Mr. Deni- 

 son produced his cigar case he thougiit he 

 had never seen his wile looking so piu'Lty. 



bo the divorce never came off, after all. 



ALL roOLS^ DAY FUN. 



SOME OF THE CUSTOMS OF THE 

 MERRY ANNIVERSARY. 



Stories Alleging the Origin of tlie Day. 

 Napoleon Married on the 1st of April. 

 The Scotch Have Great Times With the 

 Ga'wk — The Grocer Evens Up. 



"The compliments of the season to 

 my worthy masters and a merry 1st of 

 April tons all," wrote the genial and 

 gentle Charles Lamb. 



He further goes ou to say: "I will 

 confess a trutli — I love a fool as natural- 

 ly as if he were kith and kin to me, and, 

 take my word for it and say a fool told 

 you, that he who has not a dram of folly 

 iu his mixture liath pounds of much 

 worse matter iu his composition." 



Very few men are willing to embark 

 in a new enterprise ou April 1, and 

 marriages are rarely solemnized on that 

 day. One that has a historical record is 

 that of Napoleon I with Maria Louise, 

 which cannot be said to have furnished 

 an example calculated to bring the day 

 into favor. The French people attached 

 much significance to the choice of that 

 day by Napoleon. Like all Frenchmen, 

 the emperor was su.sceptible to ridicule, 

 and it is hard to understand how he 

 gave the Parisians an opportunity to de- 

 ride his marriage day, which they did 

 most effectually, a theme which was im- 

 portant at that time to both Napoleon 

 and his dynasty and called attention to 

 his daring revokal of the laws iu his 

 second marriage. 



Shakespeare, who, like Lamb, loved 

 a fool, does not once allude to the cus- 

 tom of keeping April 1 as All Fools' 

 day. Indeed he only mentions April 1 

 once in his plays, and that is in connec- 

 tion with a tragic incident when King 

 John is informed: 



"The 1st ot April died your noble 

 mother. " 



That the custom was in vogue at that 

 time iu France is established, but there 

 is no absolute certainty of the time 

 when it was introduced into England. 



Some pretend to date the custom back 

 to the Feast of Fools, a kind of satur- 

 nalia popular in the middle ages. Its 

 chief object w^s to honor the ass, on 



