1897. 



THE AMERICAN BEE KEEPER. 



155 



Jimmy! My boy Jimmy!" 



I staid a month. I fixed up the place, 

 paid off all the debts, had a good time 

 and came back to New York. I am go- 

 ing to seud $50 home eveiy week. I tell 

 you, Johu, it is mighty nice to have a 

 home. 



Johu was locking steadily at the head 

 of his cane. When he spoke, he took 

 Jim by the hand and said: "Jim, old 

 friend, what yon have told me has af- 

 fected me greatly. I haven't heard from 

 my home aM'ay up in Maine for ten 

 years. I am going home tomorrow." — 

 Lulu Michel in St. Louis Post-Dispatch. 



Myths of Vendland. 



Charles de Kay, consul general to 

 Berlin, writes of Vendhiud in The Cen- 

 tury under title of ' 'An Inland Venice. " 

 Concerning the strange myths of the 

 Venda, Mr. de Kay says: The water 

 nixy is dangerous to young w^omen who 

 wade into ponds to cut reeds for thatch. 

 The sandman has his female counter- 

 part. When a boy nods, it is Hermann 

 that has come; when a girl gets sleepy 

 over her spinning, it is Dremotka. 

 Reapers who fail to rest for an hour at 

 midday are in danger of a ragged fe- 

 male demon called Pshespolniza. She 

 comes with a sickle bound to a pole and 

 cuts off their heads. She seems to have 

 been sunstroke personified, but is now, 

 like Serpowuiza, only a bugbear used to 

 frighten children away from growing 

 crops. 



Here in the Spreewald exist many of 

 the superstitions common to Ireland and 

 Scotland — the changeling, the whirl- 

 wind, will o' the wisp, kobold, lepie- 

 chawn and good little people generally. 

 Here are the crafty spirit of the lake and 

 the demon that springs on men's shoul- 

 ders at night. Here especially is 1 be 

 banshee. Indeed no less a family than 

 the Hohenzollerns have a private and 

 particular white lady who appears in 

 the unsentimental vicinage of tlie 

 schloss, in the heart of Berlin, and woils 

 round the battlements when a death is 

 to occur in the family. Connection be- 

 tween the British islands and the lands 

 drained by the Elbe and the Vistula ha.-J 

 been constantly renewed by migration 

 and conquest. In remote periods the 

 race seems to have been alike in both 

 countries. 



He Got There Tirst. 



There is a small town in one of the 

 eastern states, not far from Boston, 

 whose inhr.l itants take- great prit.e in 

 excelling every other town in their vi- 

 cinity. They try every new invention, 

 and if it has any sort of merit it is sui'e 

 to be assigned to duty in some part of 

 the place. Two pertly gentlemen, one a 

 sea captain and the other a lawyer, both 

 retired from active life, were the prime 

 movers in tbe experiments and adop- 

 tions, and naturally in the course of 

 time they failed to agree. Extrenie jeal- 

 ousy then prevailed, and a bitter ani- 

 mosity spii.ng up between them. 



Unfortunately these two gentlemen 

 lived next c.ccr to each other. In fact, 

 so close were their houses that the side 

 walls almost adjoined. One very windy- 

 night the lawyer was reading a book in 

 his study when a terrific crash up stairs 

 startled him. Upon investigating he 

 found that an unruly chimney had ruth- 

 lessly hurled itself through his roof, 

 doing considerable damage. That in it- 

 self was a matter of great annoyance, 

 but when he discovered it was the sea 

 captain's chimney that was responsible 

 his wrath knew no bounds. Hastening 

 down to his library, he pulled out his 

 lawbooks and hunted up similar cases, 

 devising and scheming bow he could 

 secure satisfaction from the detestable 

 captain. While thus engaged a note ar- 

 rived from his enemy that read as fol- 

 lows, "If you don't return those bricks 

 at once, I will put the matter in the 

 hands of the law." — Harper's Round 

 Table. 



Th« Arab and the Wheel. 



The liijal triumph of the wheel v/ill 

 come when it has divorced the Arab 

 from his s^ced of poetry and romance 

 — his "siaiijcn shod with fire." The 

 Paris paixis print news from the French 

 Sudan to tbe effect that the bicycle is 

 making iis v,ay there, and that it has 

 impressed the natives more than any- 

 other article impcrted into that country 

 from Europe. The Mohammedan mem- 

 ber of the French cljamber of deputies 

 was interviewed about the matter and 

 said that the Ktiran had nothing to say 

 against the wheel, as the prophet had 

 not fcreseeu its invention, but he di. 

 not thi;.k ike Arabs would ever dream 

 of forsi:l;inK the ir fine horses for it. 



