44 PASTORAL DAYS. 



tinuous drone — that sympathetic chord in the universal harmony of 

 spring. How they revel in that rich harvest ! Who knows what sweet 

 messages are borne from flower to flower upon those filmy wings ? 



On the green slope beneath, the scattered dandelions gleam like drops 

 of molten gold upon the velvety sward, and a lounging family group, in- 

 tent upon that savory noonday relish, gather the basketfuls of the dainty 

 plants for that appetizing " mess of greens." Often, while thus engaged, 

 have I stopped to watch the antics of the festive bumblebee, tumbling 

 around in the tufted blossom — always an amusing sight. See how he 

 rolls and wallows in the golden fringe, even standing on his head and 

 kicking in his glee ! Presently, with his long black nose thrust deep into 

 the yellow puff, he stops to enjoy a quiet snooze in the luxurious bed — 

 an endless sleep, for I generally took this chance to put him out of his 

 misery, preferring, perhaps, to watch the robin hopping across the lawn. 

 Now he stops, and seems to listen ; runs a yard or so, and listens again, 

 and without a sign of warning dips his head, and pulls upon an unlucky 

 angle-worm that much prefers to go the other way. It is a well-known 

 fact that angle-worms approach the surface of their burrows at the sound 

 of rain-drops on the earth above. I sometimes wonder if the robin in its 

 quick running stroke of foot intends to simulate that sound, and thus 

 decoy its prey. 



I remember the wild tumult of a troop of boys upon the hill-side, track- 

 ing the swarming bees as they whirled along in a living tangle against 

 the sky, now loosening in their dizzy meshes, now contracting in a mur- 

 muring hum around their queen, and finally settling on a branch in a pen- 

 dent bunch about her. So tame and docile, too ! seeming utterly to for- 

 get their fiery javelins as they hung in that brown filmy mass upon the 

 bending bough ! " A swarm of bees in May iz wuth a load o' hay." So 

 said our neighbor, as with fresh clean hive he secured that prized equiva- 

 lent. Here they are soon at home again, and we see their steady winged 

 stream pouring out through the little door of their treasure-house, and the 

 continual arrival of the little dusty plunderers, laden with their smuggled 

 store of honey, and their saddle-bags replete with stolen gold. Down near 

 the brook they find a land of plenty, literally flowing with honey, as the 

 luxuriant drooping clusters of the locust-trees yield their brimful nectaries 

 to the impetuous, murmuring swarm. But there is no lack now of flowery 

 sweets for this buzzing colony. On every hand the meadow-sweets and 

 milkweeds, the brambles, and the fragrant creeping-clover show their allur- 



