186 



THE AMERICAN BEE KEEPER. 



Junt 



/- 



PARTNERS. 



Love took chamliers on our street 



Opposite to mine. 

 On his door he taelied a neat, 



Clearly lettered sign. 



Straightv/ay grew his custom great, 



For I is si;;n read so: 

 "Hc;'i is united \vl:ile you wait. 



Step in. Love & Co." 



Much I wondered who was "Co." 

 In Love's partnership. 



Tho-a ht across the street I'd go- 

 Learn from Love's own lip. 



So I went, and since that day 



Life is hard for me. 

 I was bunkoed! (Ey the way, 

 "Co." is Jealousy.) 

 — Ellis Farker Butler in Century. 



A BIKE FAIRY TALE. 



Oiice upon a time there was a queeii 

 who was so advanced that the king wa.( 

 quite out of it. She set an example of 

 female independence to her subjects by 

 going long journeys on her bicycle, un- 

 incumbered by any court train. She be- 

 came so enthusiastic about female 

 wheeling that she built three bicycle 

 tracks. On the first there was a hedge 

 100 yards thick, on the second a pond 

 100 yards wide, and on the third a lad- 

 der 100 yards high, and .she decreed that 

 no girl should marry the crown prince 

 unless she rode her bike through the 

 hedge, across the pond and up and down 

 the ladder. Many girls tried, but all 

 failed; the crown prince remained sin- 

 gle, and at last the tracks were over- 

 grown with weeds for want of use. 



One day the queen went out on her 

 bicycle alone, as usual, and lost her 

 way. Night came on, and she was glad 

 to find shelter in a lonely cottage where 

 dwelt a woman and her daughter. The 

 daughter was very beautiful — a wise 

 woman had foretold that she would ride 

 over the three tracks and marry the 

 crown prince, but she had once met a 

 handsome young huntsman in the for- 

 est and vowrd she would never marry 

 any one but him, so she refused to learn 

 to bike at all. 



The mother was a clever and ambi- 

 tious woman. She knew the queen at 

 once by her profile, which was on all 

 the penny pieces, and besides she wore 

 the great seal on her finger to prevent 

 the king from misusing it in her ab- 



sence. But the mother kept her own 

 counsel and treated the queen as a 

 stranger, setting before her the best 

 food there was in the house for supper. 



When the queen had finished her 

 meal, she noticed how lovely the girl 

 was and said to the mother, "Is your 

 daughter fit for anything?" The woman ' 

 replied, "She is the champion lady bi- 

 cyclist of the whole world. " "Oh, in- 

 deed, " said the queen, "and, pray, why 

 does she not ride over the three tracks 

 and win the hand of the crown prince?" 

 "Because," answered the mother, "she 

 is too independent to run after any 

 man." "I never thought of that," ob- 

 served the quc-cn, and pulling a ciga- 

 rette out cf her case she fell a-smoking. 



When the girl went out to wash up 

 the supper things, the queen asked, 

 "Can't you persuade your daughter to 

 ride over the three tracks just to show 

 how Superior we women are?" 



"Yes," replied the mother, "but she 

 must have three things." "Name 

 them," said thequeen. "She must have 

 a pavilion built, opening on to the 

 tracks^, from which she must start and 

 tr> which she must return after each 

 round, without any one being allowed 

 to speak to hci*. " 



"Why?" asked thequeen. "Because 

 every man tli.it speaks to her wants her 

 to speak to Lim, and she despises such 

 a waste of lime," replied the mother. J 

 "Oh!" said the queen. "Next she must fl 

 have three riding suits, one for each 

 track, and each suit must have a veil to 

 match, for her to wear when she rides." 



"Why?" asked the queen. "Because 

 every man v. ho looks at her and sees 

 how beautiful she is tries to make her 

 look at him," replied the mother. 

 "Hum!" said the queen. "Lastl}-, I 

 must go with her, and so must her three 

 uncles. " 



"Why?" r<!-ked the queen. "Because 

 she will have to ride so hard that she 

 will wear out a bicycle on each track, 

 and she must have always a fresh one 

 ready, v.ilh an uncle to oil it and to 

 have it in good working order." 



"Ha!" said the queen. "Do you 

 know, my good woman, that I am 

 your rightful sovereign?" "I never 

 thought of that, " replied the mother. 

 "But it is so, "'said the queen, "and I 

 command you to bring your daughter to 

 my three tracks this day week, when 



