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itinerant fumigator. It is, nevertheless, to be 

 regretted that he thus deliberately denied himself 

 the pleasure of a sensation which every one 

 ought to experience at least once in a lifetime. 



I consider Dr. Talmage a better authority 

 than Jesse he has felt the hornet's sting. I did 

 not know him as an entomologist until he 

 preached his sermon on " Stinging Annoyances," 

 from the text, Deuteronomy vii, 20, " The Lord 

 thy God will send the hornet." How vividly he 

 describes him ! " It is a species of wasp, swift 

 in its motion and violent in its sting.. Its touch 

 is torture to man and beast. We have all seen 

 the cattle run bellowing from the touch of its 

 lancet. In boyhood we used to stand cautiously 

 looking at the circular nest hung from the tree- 

 branch, and, while we were looking at the won- 

 derful pasteboard covering, we were struck with 

 something that sent us shrieking away ! " 



The hornet is used as a simile for the stinging 

 vexations of life which beset mankind in a thou- 

 sand forms. If Talmage had a garden, he would 

 see a swarm of hornets in the rose-pests, the 

 dry weather, the overplus of rain, the plant- 

 staking, the weeds, his dandelioned neighbors, 

 the east wind, before which all plants must bow 

 and many break. Indeed, he refers to the hor- 

 net as visiting us in the shape of friends and ac- 



