TAKING REINS IN HAND 



eye of the sobbing one, but as I read on, the 

 tear is gone, and the eye dilates; and when I 

 have done, the sting is forgotten. 



I have written thus at length, at the sug- 

 gestion of my thatch of a bee house, because 

 I shall have nothing to say of my bees again, 

 as co-partners with me in the flowers, and in 

 the farm. I have to charge to their account 

 a snug sum for purchase money, and for their 

 straw housing — a good many hours of bad 

 humor, and the recollection of those little 

 screams to which I have already alluded. 

 Thus far, I can only credit them with one or 

 two moderately sized jars of honey, and a pleas- 

 ant concerted buzzing with which they wel- 

 come the first warm weather of the Spring, 

 Even as I write, I observe that a few of my 

 winged workers are alight upon the mossy 

 stones that lie half covered in the basin of the 

 fountain, and are sedulously exploring the 

 water. 



CLEARING UP 



Of course one of the first aims, in taking pos- 

 session of such a homestead as I have par- 

 tially described, was to make a clearance of 

 debris, of unnecessary palings, of luxuriant 

 corner crops of nettles and burdocks, of 



6i 



