THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



275 



came forth, and under the escort, as it 

 proved, of the queen we had thought 



Nellie caught up her branch, now 

 somewhat dry and withered, and hurried 

 to the place in the oal-tield where she had 

 stood on the preceding day, and toward 

 which the swarm was again moving. 

 With respect to the risk she incurred, I 

 hiu\ remonstrated sutficienlly, but to no 

 effect, the day before. So, now, I only 

 hastened to carry a hive, sheet, etc., to 

 the spot. The bees did not hesitate, as 

 before, about accepting the position as- 

 signed them, and that the whole swarm 

 w. uld alight soon became evident. 



•' Is that branch strong enough ? " I in- 

 quired, anxiously, as the cluster grew 

 larger. 



" Of course it is," said Nellie, re-asur- 

 ingly. 



" And are you strong enough to hold it 

 steadily to the end V " 



"Quite so! Don't worry, Cyula! If 

 the swarm should come down about my 

 head there will only be another bee or two 

 in my bonnet!" 



Just then, glancing toward the house, 

 which had been left alone, I caught the 

 flutter of a white dress, and a moment 

 later had decided that the dress belonged 

 to the minister's wife, and that the broad- 

 brimmed straw hat, just coming round 

 the corner, was worn by the minister 

 himself 



" What shall we do?" I cried, painfully 

 conscious that I could not leave Nellie 

 ahme with that mass of bees above her 

 head. 



" Perhaps they will not see us, and will 

 wait a little to rest in the shade," sug- 

 gested Nellie. 



Vain hope! we were espied the next 

 moment, and our guests advanced curi- 

 ously to the edge of the oats, where, after 

 such exchange of courtesies as was possi- 

 ble at that distance, they stood witching 

 the scene. 



It was very warm. The sun beat down 

 fiercely alike upon our callers and our- 

 selves. Nellie stood motionless as a 

 statue, holding her loaded branch aloft 

 with both hands. I fancied that her wrist 

 trembled a little now and then, but this 

 she indignantly denied. The bees were 

 gathering with usual rapidity, but the 

 moments were unusually long. 



Nellie had just promised to let me help 

 her lower the bees, if I would but wait for 

 them to gather, only one moment longer, 

 and I had turned cmce more to see if our 

 friends were still watching us, finding, to 

 my relief, that they had retired to the 

 shadow of the house, when, suddenly, an 

 ominous, sharp cracking behind me 



I am ashamed to say that I did not even 

 turn my head. I only jumped a long way 

 further on. 



The catastrophe was almost simultane- 



ous with the warning. As I turned, the 

 mass of bees came down with the broken 

 branch. Fortunately, Nellie had been able 

 to give it a partial inclination and the 

 greater portion struck the sheet. But it 

 is needless to say that bees were sent fly- 

 ing and falling in all directions. Never 

 before had either Nellie or myself been 

 caught in such a shower. Nellie, as was 

 natural, was the more plentifully sprink- 

 led. To my breathless inquiry — "Are 

 you stung? "she responded, 



" No! hurry them into" the hive, Cyula, 

 and don't mind me! " 



But a moment later, when she had 

 shaken the. bees from her hat and dress 

 and stepped back a little, I heard her 

 murmur — 



" One, two, three, four, — only four." 



Then I ordered her to the house forth- 

 with ; and mindful of our neglected guests, 

 if not of my suggestions of ammonia, etc., 

 she obeyed. 



When, after a little time, I was ablei,ta 

 follow, I found her regaling our gnesti 

 with the last strawberries of the seaso: 

 and entertaining them with a descriptio 

 of our adventure. She was dwelling 

 upon the narrow escape Cyula had had, 

 and the presence of mind (!) Cyula had 

 shown in springing forward at just the 

 right moment, almost from under the fall- 

 ing swarm. Despite the fact that her 

 hands were swollen to a more than come- 

 ly plumpness, and that one cheek bore 

 ludicrous resemblance to that of a provi- 

 dent chipmunk, she had evidently suc- 

 ceeded in conveying to our friends the 

 impression that her own share in the 

 transaction hah been of quite secondary 

 importance. 



As soon as I could obtain a hearing, I 

 proceeded to reconstruct Miss Nellie's 

 statement, — i. e., to put her facts into 

 their proper relations, and to set them in 

 their true light. And then, honor having 

 been awarded where it was due, I decreed 

 that this should be the last experiment of 

 the kind that should be tried in 'our 

 apiary. 



"Yes," said Nellie, "for next time I 

 will make sure that the branch be per- 

 fectly fresh and strong! " 



Cyula Linswik. 



For the American Bee Journal. 

 Maury Co. (Tenn.) Meeting, 



The Maury County Bee Society met a t 

 the Recorder's oflice on. Saturday, the 9th. 

 There was a good attendance, nearly every 

 portion of the county being represented. 

 The meeting was called to order by Mr. 

 W. S. Rainey, after which the minutes of 

 the previous meeting were read and 

 adopted. The constitution submitted at 

 the last meeting was taken up and acted 

 upon, section by section. Articles first, 

 second and seventh adopted as read. Ar- 



