TAKING REINS IN HAND 



backs of their hives; all the stores of my little 

 colony would be absorbed in a day, if they 

 were brought into contact with his lusty 

 swarms. 



Many of the old writers tell pleasant sto- 

 ries of the amiable submission of their favor- 

 ites to gentle handling; but I have never had 

 the curiosity to put this submission to the 

 test. I remember that Van Amburgh tells 

 tender stories of the tigers. 



I have observed, however, that little people 

 listen with an amused interest to those tales of 

 the bees, and I have sometimes availed myself 

 of a curious bit of old narrative, to staunch 

 the pain of a sting. 



"Who will listen," I say, "to a story of M. 

 Lombard's about a little girl, on whose hand 

 a whole swarm of bees once alighted?" 



And all say "I" — save the sobbing one, who 

 looks consent. 



M. Lombard was a French lawyer, who 

 was for a long time imprisoned in the dun- 

 geons of Robespierre; and when that tyrant 

 reformer was beheaded, this prisoner gained 

 his liberty, and went into the country, where he 

 became a farmer, and wrote three or four books 

 about the bees : among other things he says, 



"A young girl of my acquaintance was 



59 



