1897. 



THE AMERICAN BEE KEEPER. 



145 



THE MENDICANTS. 



We are as mendicants who wait 



Along th« roadside in tlie sun. 

 Tatters of yesterday and shreds 



Of morrow clothe us every one. 



And some are dotards, who telieve 



And glory in the daj's of old, 

 While some are dreamers, harping still 



Upon an unknown age of gold. 



Hopeless or witless! Not one heeds 

 As lavish time comes down the way 



And tosses in the suppliant hat 

 One great new minted gold today. 



But there be others, happier far, 



The vagabondish sons of God, 

 Who know the players and the ilowers 



And care not how the world maj- plod. 



Thjey idle in the traffic lands 



And loiter through the v/oods ^vith 

 spring. 

 To them the glory of the earth 



Is but to hear a blackbird svc-.g. 



They, too, receive ea^h one his day, 

 But their wise hearts know many things 



Bej'ond the sating of desire, 

 Above the dignity of king.'^. 



One, I remember, kept his coin, 

 And laughing flipped it in the air, 



But when two strolling piije players 

 Came by he tossed it to the pair. 



Spendthrift of joy, his childish heart 

 Danced to their wild, outlandish bars. 



Then supperless he laid him down 

 That night and slept beneath the stars. 

 — Bliss Carmen in Loudon Sun. 



HIS FIRST WIFE, 



Madison Janeway was always pointed 

 out as a "self made man" and was ap- 

 parently well satisfied with his own 

 handiwork, for content radiated from 

 his full face and from bis figure, which 

 had lost its youthful muscle under 

 creeping waves of flesh. Mr. Janewaj- 

 had satisfied his ambitious as far as it 

 is pos.sible for a man to do it. Fortu- 

 nately for bis content these aspiration? 

 were of the kind that are most often re- 

 alized. He had a handsome wife and 

 three bright children; ho was president 

 of the state bunk, an institution known 

 to be founded on the rock of sound 

 finance; he had been mayor of Shewauee 

 and was a member of the legislature. 

 So much of earthly glory had fallen to 

 his share. 



When he read the obituary of another 

 self made man, he alwaj's nodded his 



head sagely, as much as to say, "I : ; nw 

 how it goes; I started with nrilirg 

 myself." In fact, Mr. Janeway's elec- 

 tion to the legislature came of the ad- 

 miration the electors had for a man of 

 the people. When his constituents hired 

 a band and wei.t to congratulate him, 

 they found him ready with a speech. 

 He said: "Fellow citizens, I will not 

 try to hide Ircm you my deep gratifica- 

 tion at the result of the election. I 

 wanted to be elected. I have wanted a 

 good many things, and I've generally 

 got them, but not without working. I 

 started with nothing; I did chores for 

 my keep; I went to school when I could, 

 picked up a penny here and a penny 

 there; I did any honest work that I 

 could find. And where am I now? Pres- 

 ident of a bank, ex-mayor and a mem- 

 ber of the legislature. I thank you, 

 friends, for ycur votes, yet I feel that I 

 have won n.y ev.n way; that I am one, 

 a private perhaps, in the great army oi 

 self made niei:," He bowed and retired 

 amid loud applause. In another thia 

 speech would have provoked criticism, 

 but one of the privileges of the self 

 made man is to praise his maker with- 

 out stint. 



Mr. and Mrs. Janeway had but just 

 come frcm a visit to their own house, 

 which their architect assured them was 

 in the pure<^t style of the Gothic renais- 

 sance. But thej" were sure, too, which 

 seemed tc them of far more importance, 

 that it was the finest house in town and 

 quite eclipsed Mrs. Morgan's red brick 

 mansion. 



They were to move into it at once, 

 and Mrs. -Jr.neway went about the old 

 hoiise planning what should be left be- 

 hind, as not coming up to the artistic 

 standard oi the new place. "Come here 

 a minute, Mar'iscn," she called from 

 an obscare entry back of the dining 

 room. 



Mr. Janeway laid down his paper and 

 went to her, followed by Flc-rry, their 

 youngest child. "What is it, my dear?" 

 he asked. 



"Hadn't Ibetter pack this away — the 

 frame's so shabby that it isn't fit for 

 the new house?" She pointed to a faded 

 photograph hanging in a dark corner. 

 It was the likeness of a plain woman, 

 with a broa-i mouth and eyes widely 

 separated; the hair was parted and 

 drawn back frcm the forehead like two 



