292 



TUE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



October 



Thorough, 



The late George Higinbolham, chief 

 justice of Victoria, was noted for the 

 thoroughness with which he performed 

 bis duties, no matter whether they were 

 pleasant or unpleasant, light or onerous. 

 During his early life in Melbourne, the 

 breaking out of the New Zealand war 

 caused the departure of the Fortieth 

 British infantry from the city to the 

 Scene of hostilities. Volunteers were en- 

 rolled to guard Melbourne, and Mr. 

 Higinbotham joined them as a private. 

 A-ii officer of the volunteers describes a 

 scene which shows how conscientiously 

 his duty as a soldier was performed: 



Scene, the Werribee namp. Time, 

 4:30 in the morning. Company parad- 

 ed, and the officer commanding the 

 company announces that the two men 

 whose names are the first on the roster 

 are to fetch the meat from the butch- 

 er's, the next to fetch wood, and so on. 



"Orderly sergeant, call the names." 



"George Higinbotham, Richard Hale 

 Budd." 



A sort of shudder passed through the 

 ranks when it was seen to whom the 

 most unpleasant duty had fallen — a 

 graduate of Dublin university, a lead- 

 ing barrister, Higinbotham, and a grad- 

 uate of Cambridge, the secretary of the 

 education department, Budd. 



The orderly sergeant asked the officer 

 if he might be permitted to find volun- 

 teers to take this work off their hands, 

 adding that he could easily find 40. A 

 young bricklayer and a young laborer 

 came forward, but they could not per- 

 suade Private Higinbotham. 



"Budd," said he, "they want to re- 

 lieve us of this work because it is dis- 

 agreeable. What do you say?" 



A r'^solute "No" was the answer. 

 And the best educated men in the coun- 

 try marched to the bv^tcher's, waited 

 for the meat and brought it back skew- 

 ered on their ramrods. 



Zebras Stronger Than Horoea. 



The zebra is an almost incorrigible 

 little beast, and up to now all attempts 

 to train it to work have had small suc- 

 cess. The Boers, persistent and method- 

 ical, have conquered it at last, and put 

 the hitherto unruly animal into the 

 traces of their mail coaches. 



Together the zebras show an inclina- 

 tion to bite, but when harnessed with 



mules they are easier to manage. This 

 utilization of the zebra is one of the 

 greatest importance to South Africans. 

 Horses are likely to be killed by hyenas, 

 while the zebras are a match, with teeth 

 and hoofs, for any hyena. 



Boers find that the zebra is capable 

 of greater movement than the horse and 

 is not so susceptible to disease. Strange 

 to say, the little striped beast is also 

 stronger than the horse, though its 

 weight is less than one-half that of the 

 other draft animal. — Strand Magazine. 



Lacked Modern Facilities. 



"I am sorry," remarked Mr. Blykins' 

 wife, "to see that you are of such an 

 irritable disposition." 



"I guess that most men have theiJ 

 moods," he replied, a little defiantly. 

 "Men are all liable to lose their tem- 

 pers at some time. " 



"Think of the philosophers! Think of 

 how Socrates even took the cup of poi- 

 son without a murmur! I don't believe 

 he ever lost his temper." 



"Humph! He didn't have the mod- 

 ern facilities. I'll wager a silk hat that 

 if Socrates had ever gotten seven miles 

 from home and found that his back tire 

 had a puncture in it and that somebody 

 had stolen his repair kit, he'd have said 

 things that he wouldn't have had his 

 publishers know about for worlds. " — 

 Washington Star. 



The Pyramid Liimp. 



"The pyramid limp," as it has come 

 to be called, is that state of body which 

 falls upon one for two or three days aft- 

 er making the ascent of the pyramids. 

 One is so much pulled and pushed at 

 the time that little or no inconvenience 

 is felt. There is no sign of soreness of 

 joint or muscle until after one has slept, 

 and then the trouble begins to brew. 

 The second day of that man or wcman 

 is worse than the first; the cliirax is 

 reached at the end of the second or be- 

 ginning of the third day and from that 

 time the pain begins slowly to lessen. 

 — Cairo Letter. 



The first iron hails made in this coun- 

 try were hammered into shape at Cum- 

 berland, R. I., in 1777. 



Italy has 6,850,000 women of mar- 

 rtageabJe age. 



