AN IDYL OF THE HONEY-BEE 



branches ; secret chambers where lies hidden the 

 wealth of ten thousand little freebooters, great 

 nuggets and wedges of precious ore gathered with 

 risk and labor from every field and wood about ! 



But if you would know the delights of bee-hunt- 

 ing, and how many sweets such a trip yields besides 

 honey, come with me some bright, warm, late Sep- 

 tember or early October day. It is the golden sea- 

 son of the year, and any errand or pursuit that 

 takes us abroad upon the hills or by the painted 

 woods and along the amber-colored streams at such 

 a time is enough. So, with haversacks filled with 

 grapes and peaches and apples and a bottle of milk, 

 for we shall not be home to dinner, and armed 

 with a compass, a hatchet, a pail, and a box with 

 a piece of comb honey neatly fitted into it, any 

 box the size of your hand with a lid will do nearly 

 as well as the elaborate and ingenious contrivance 

 of the regular bee-hunter, we sally forth. Our 

 course at first lies along the highway under great 

 chestnut-trees whose nuts are just dropping, then 

 through an orchard and across a little creek, thence 

 gently rising through a long series of cultivated 

 fields toward some high uplying land behind which 

 rises a rugged wooded ridge or mountain, the most 

 sightly point in all this section. Behind this ridge 

 for several miles the country is wild, wooded, and 

 rocky, and is no doubt the home of many swarms 

 of wild bees. What a gleeful uproar the robins, 

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