1873.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



106 



thought, mechanically and unconsciously al- 

 most, we are continually taking precautions 

 which our friends at the village, who have less 

 acquaintance with bees, may neglect until too 

 late. I should certainly not hesitate to act as 

 though I knew they were our bees, if only I 

 knew what to do. As it is — don't you want to 

 go to the village with Richard, for the mail?" 



" Well, proceed," said Nellie. " You surely 

 don't want me to go to the village to help 

 Richard bring home the mail; what am I to do 

 there ?" 



'' Oh, you will call at Mr. Hondel's, of 

 course, and can determine at once whether or 

 no the bees are ours. And you can explain to 

 Mrs. Hondel that they are simply in quest of 

 sweets, and impress upon her the necessity of 

 keeping everything of that description out of 

 their reach. Tell her that, as it is so late, they 

 will trouble her little more to-day, and she 

 must be careful not to let them in to-morrow. 

 Tell her, too, that we do not know what we 

 can do to help her, here ; and be sure to tell her 

 that we are very sorry, and very much ashamed 

 of the bees." 



" Is that all f"' said Nellie, as with wonted 

 docility she prepared to do my bidding. 

 " Wouldn't you like me to catch and bring 

 home in my pocket every individual bee?" 



" Just as you please about that, my dear. By 

 the way, however, you may as well tell Mrs. 

 Hondel that the bees will harm no one; that 

 they will not sting unless pinched." 



" Ready, Nellie ?" called Richard, who was 

 waiting, impatiently, of course, after the man- 

 ner of men; and Nellie hurried off without 

 stopping to listen to my parting injunction — 

 to come home in time to avoid the evening 

 dews and the attendant risk of ague and fever. 



Hence it was after nightfall — [Nellie trium- 

 phantly maintained that it was, after all, in 

 due (dexo) time] — when she and Richard 

 brought back to me this somewhat dishearten- 

 ing report. 



The depredators, of whom Nellie found not 

 a few stray loiterers, were genuine Italians; 

 hence, unquestionably, our bees. They had 

 come "all at once," Mrs. Hondel said, in such 

 numbers that, much alarmed, she had dispatch- 

 ed a messenger to summon her husband from 

 his office. By various expedients, she had suc- 

 ceeded, toward night, in getting rid of most 

 of them, but, during their stay, they had made 

 themselves generally disagreeable. One of the 

 little boys had been stung, and the baby had 

 put his little fat hand upon a bee on his moth- 

 er's shoulder, and — 



"And the baby was stung?" I interrupted, 

 quite shocked and distressed. 



" No, the mother was stung," said Nellie, 

 with a smile. " Is that better ?" 



"Much better," I responded, with a sigh of 

 relief — " and the mother, no doubt, would agree 

 with me." 



Further inquiry revealed the fact that the 

 bees Jiad not contined themselves to an invasion 

 of Mr. Hondel's premises. They had likewise 

 entered the provision stores and helped them- 

 selves to sugar and whatever else was to their 

 liking. " First time I ever saw bees eat brown 

 sugar!" remarked one of the afflicted parties. 



"I don't know," Nellie continued, "whether 

 you will be most amused or vexed, to Icaru that 

 I was politely assured that they could not be 

 our bees, for these marauders were long, lean, 

 ravenous creatures, the reckless, desperate way 

 in which they plunged into everything, show- 

 ing conclusively that they were half starved. 

 To which was added, 'and of course. Miss Nel- 

 lie, yoi:r bees must be plump and well fed.' It 

 was somewhat embarra^^sing to be obliged to 

 own the bees, and to feel tliat my listener must 

 at once conclude that we half-starved, and per- 

 haps otherwise maltreated our pets." 



"But, of course, you told them that our 

 bees had stores in plenty." 



"Yes, I told them so — but I don't know how 

 much credit was given to the assertion I was 

 vaguely conscious of a doubt somewhere, and 

 quite sure that it wasn't in my own miud." 



" Well," I said, when the whole situadon had 

 been depicted and discussed, "as to-morrow is 

 Sunday, perhaps the doors will be closed 

 against them, and by Monday there may be a 

 change in the weather." 



"There is not much consolation in that," re- 

 marked Nellie. " How are we to prevent it 

 from happening again on the ne.vt warm day? 

 And if, next year, our bees increase at thu same 

 rate that they have done this year, we shall 

 have, next fall, twenty-five colonies, in.stead of 

 seven, wherewith to vex our neighbors! and 

 what — " 



" My dear," I interrupted, " never allow 

 yourself to exaggerate ! At the same rate of 

 increase we shall have but twenty-four and a 

 half colonies 'wherewith to vex our neighbors.' " 



" I didn't exaggerate ! Does the swarm in the 

 woods add nothing to the rate?" 



"I believe that it would not be allow — " 



"Oh, nonsense, Cynia! Tell me at once 

 what you think of the prospect." 



" Well, 1 confess that, so far as I can see, it 

 isn't altogether pleasant. Whenever we shall 

 have a perfect autumn day — a day to be enjoy- 

 ed — we shall think of our bees and our neigh- 

 bor.'!, and sigh for clouds and rain. In- fact we 

 shall only be happy when the weather is disa- 

 greeable enough to make us wretched. When- 

 ever the sun shines we shall go about repeating 



" 'J'lie melancholy days have come, 

 The saddest of the year ;" 



"Cynla!" said Nellie, in a tone of grave 

 remonstrance. 



" Well, my dear, seriously and candidly, I 

 don't know what to do. I don't like the no- 

 tion of troubhng our neighbore, but, on the 

 other hand, I cannot think of giving up our 



