1897. 



THE AMERICAN BEE KEEPER. 



91 



remain iu btu? The tea steamed ever 

 the aicobcl lamp. There were fresh hrtad 

 and goldcu butter, ham, cold roast beet; 

 the eveuiiig piii-crs were nicely stacked 

 on one side; cu the other, my box of ci- 

 gars, the ash tray and the matche-s. 

 Just as Johanna was wont to arrange 

 things in the gcod old days, before hap- 

 lees Mouse interfered. 



I went into the next room, where 

 Mouse was kept. The lamplight was 

 jnttffied, but in the semidarkness I rec- 

 ognized the form of the trained, nurse 

 bending over the baby's crib. 



"The trained nurse! Was I dxeam- 

 Ing? I knew that head, with the dain- 

 tily molded cheek, the rich blond hair, 

 giacefully arranged at the back. 



I had kissed it many times. A step, 

 and I was near her. "Anna I" I cried. 

 "My wife I" 



I caught her in my arms. She pressed 

 her head to my breast and whispered: 



"Richard, forgive mel" 



It was not a dream. It was sweet re- 

 ality. Again the lovely woman in my 

 arms whispers: 



"Can you forgive me, Richard?" 



I can only kiss her again and again 

 and listen to the story of her coming. 



Johanna had written her in what a 

 plight I was. She had told her about 

 the coming of Mouse, the child's illness 

 and her own, and my helplesa condition 

 tn the face of all this trouble. And then 

 Johanna had lectured her abont the 

 great virtue of forbearance and other 

 ■wholesome truths with regard to the 

 married life of two people who in reali- 

 ty loved each other. 



The old woman's words went straight 

 to Anna's heart. She came, and I held 

 her in my arms and begged her to stay 

 forever. 



By this time Mouse had been aroused 

 from his peaceful slumber. When he 

 ■aw me, he stretched out his little arms, 

 and I tcck him and laid him into those 

 of my wile. 



"Will you be a mother to him?" I 

 asked. 



"I will love him as you do," an- 

 swered the s^Ycet woman by my side. 

 And thus pence has once more come in- 

 to my house. 



And the cause of it all was — Mouse. 



Blessed Mouse! — From the German 

 For St. Louis Republic. 



W^ired Glass. 



As the result of a thorough investiga- 

 tion of the heat resisting qualities of 

 wired glass instituted by the Philadel- 

 phia Fire Underwriters' association the 

 latter has made a report which must 

 be very serviceable to all interested in 

 this unique product. The report declares 

 that such glass can be safely used in 

 skylights and in such situations will 

 Itand a severe lire and not give way 

 when water is thrown on it. A wooden 

 framing for skylight, covered with tin, 

 all seams lock jointed and with nails 

 hidden, is superior iu fire resisting qual- 

 ity to iron framing. Wired glass in 

 wooden sash, covered with tin, all 

 seams lock jointed and nails concealed, 

 can safely be used for windows toward 

 an external exposure and in fire doorf 

 to elevator shafts and stairway tow 

 ers, where it is necessary to light thi 

 shafts ; iu office buildings, hotels, 

 etc., where it is undesirable to hav« 

 elevator shafts entirely inclosed and 

 dark, wired glass permanently built 

 into a brick or terra cotta shaft, or 

 arranged iu a metal covered wood 

 frame, can safely be used, and, again, 

 wired glass plates, securely fastened in 

 standard fire shutters, can safely be 

 used toward an external exposure — in 

 this case, the fact that a possible fire in 

 a building all the windows of which 

 are protected by fire shutters can much 

 more readily be detected from the out 

 side through the wired glass is impor- 

 tant. — New York Sun. 



Our Forefathers' Books. 



In the course of some remarks at the 

 London dinner to Poynter, the acad- 

 emy's president, Conan Doyle said: "It 

 is difficult now to realize the avidity 

 with which our forefathers fell upon a 

 good, solid book. For them there were 

 no book stalls crammed with cheap lit- 

 erature, no little pirating magazines, 

 containing the looted spoils of a dozen 

 goodly bocks^. Consequently they had 

 time to abse rb a book, so that it be- 

 came part cl their mind and soul. We 

 could not put back the clock and make 

 books rarer. We would not if we could. 

 But it wciiici not be a bad thing now 

 and again il we went into a retreat for 

 a month cr a year and swore off all 

 ephemeral htcriiture and turned back to 

 the classics ci' our knguaae. " 



