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"HE AMERICAN BEE KEEPER, 



April 



"FELICE NOTTE!" 



God send the little golden bees of sleep 

 To murmur in the blossom of your ear 



Their gentln summer music, hushed and deep, 

 Their softest slumber songs to you, my dear. 



And may the gypsy, fortune telling dreams 

 Draw you beneath their painted tent and take 



Your palm and tell you fortunes, rosy gleams 

 Too sweet to be remembered when you wake. 



Once may your hyacinthine lids unfold 

 Calm in the pleasant glory of the moon. 



The happiest stars in heaven may you behold 

 And pray and sigh for joy and slumber soon. 

 —Irene Putnam in New York Tribune. 



MILLY'S EETUM. 



Uncle Ben S'-inms stood by his bam 

 3oor, inteut en fining a broken harness. 

 He did not hear my footstep or see me 

 nntil I was close upon him. "Good 

 morning, uncle, ' ' I said. I knew how 

 friendly he vraa to every stranger and 

 did not fear his not answering me or 

 asking annoying questions about me. 



"Mornin, stranger. Fine momin this ! 

 From York?" 



"Yes, sir; just this morning. At 

 what time does the train — I mean the 

 next one — leave the station going back?" 



'"Bout 4 this afternoon. I wuz jist 

 tryin to fix up this ole harness, so's to 

 meet the 1 o'clock train. It's jist about 

 played out. 'Lowed 'twould last as long 

 as me an the ole lady did, but seems 

 like it's jist fallin all to pieces all at 

 once. You see, stranger," and a glad 

 smile lit up his bearded, wrinkled face, 

 "you see, Milly's coniin home today. 

 Milly — that's my darter — been gone 

 nigh on nine years. She wuz our only 

 child, all we ever had, 'cept Andy. He's 

 been with us since he wuz 9 years old. 

 Andy's a good boy, sir; a good boy as 

 you ever seed, and most anybody'll tell 

 you the same. 



"Yes, she wrote me a card. I got it 

 here in my blouse pocket. Ma's just 

 wild fer joy. An, stranger, yer ought ter 

 see the good things she's got cooked. 

 Ma's a wonderful good cook. There 

 ain't a woman in the cou\itry round 

 that can beat her. She's beev trapesing 

 round fixing up good things ever since 

 Andy bro't this card. Yes, it'll lift a 

 mighty heavy load from this ole heart 

 if Milly conies today, and it'll make mo 



ten years younger. These has been nine 

 of the most miserable long years ole 

 Uncle Ben Simms ever put through 

 with. 



"You see, stranger, it wuz this a 

 way. ' ' And Uncle Ben wiped his eyes 

 on his checked blouse sleeve and let the 

 old harness down carefully. "Dick 

 Plummer, he ust of ten to come out hero 

 in the summer fer a visit, ever since he 

 war the same age as when we took 

 Andy to raise. He an Andy us't to have 

 sich times a-fishin an swimmin an hunt- 

 in. He warn't a bad chap, an I didn't 

 mind his visits to our place — sorter liked 

 to see him an Andy together. But when 

 he growed up an begin to larn to be a 

 doctor, I sorter somehow turned ag'in 

 him. He us't to tell 'bout cuttin people 

 to pieces an all. It gave me the creeps. 

 He us't to say 'twan't nothin to see 

 scholars where he studied play ball with 

 a man's arm. Ugh, sich men! Incur 

 day it was very different, very different, 



"Waal, one day I wuz out in the 

 smokehouse sharp'nin my sickle — an I 

 wan't in a very good humor either, I 

 mind — when Dick came out thar an 

 told me he wanted to marry my Milly. 

 I mind, sir, I got so riled I wuz fairly 

 beside myself, for I'd sot my heart on 

 her marryin Andy, fer Andy wuz good 

 'nuff fer any girl — wouldn't hurt a flea, 

 Andy wouldn't. Why, sir, I've seed 

 him pet an coax an work with our ole 

 black boss (he's balky most all time), 

 an if 'twould been me I'd come blame 

 near killin him. Waal, I ain't so much 

 that way now since Milly's gone. I've 

 sorter mastered my fiery temper, 'tween 

 thinkin of her an watchin Andy. 



"But that morn in when Dick came 

 out thar an told me he wanted to marry 

 Milly — I told you I wuz on a 'high 

 hos, ' as old Parson Shockley used ter 

 say — an I wouldn't give in an inch, he 

 kept a-telliu me that he loved Milly an 

 she loved him, but it never made any 

 difference; I wanted her to marry Andy, 

 but they went over to Roseville an wuz 

 married that afternoon. 



"When they came back — I can see her 

 now come in a-laffin — an she came up 

 to me an said, 'Pa, you ain't mad, air 

 you?' mother she bust out a-cryiu, fer 

 she knew I would act a dern fool, fer I 

 wuz in a terrible fit of temper, fer that 

 morniu old Dodson's boys had nigh 



