BEGINNINGS. 37 



It was Saturday the ioth of February that I 

 drove, in company with Will and my mother, to 

 Howard to get a check for this amount, to inclose 

 with my order. While there I made inquiries as to 

 the best sash and door factory. It was necessary 

 that the material for hives should be cut out with 

 great nicety, so that every hive should be the exact 

 counterpart of every other. I was unwilling to 

 trust the work to any but the most skillful work- 

 men. At the same time I wanted the cost to be as 

 small as possible. Having mailed my order, I tried 

 to dismiss bees from my mind until the articles 

 should arrive. I spent the nights and Saturdays 

 and Sundays among some friends. As a relief from 

 school cares, and from my long absorption in study 

 of bee literature and plans for my first season's cam- 

 paign, I read Romola and Robert Falconer. Both 

 books served as intellectual and moral tonics. As 

 I closed the volume on the last page of Romola I 

 could but feel deeply grateful for the gift to hu- 

 manity of that great genius who had wrought into 

 the book so much of the wealth of her own soul. 



In a little more than two weeks I received notice 

 from Howard that my goods had arrived. The fol- 

 lowing Friday afternoon I went home, and with 

 Will's assistance, by ten o'clock at night, had put 

 the work-shop which stood near the barn, in a cor- 

 ner of the orchard near where the bees were to be 



