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Show paper box, and while she buzzed her rage, he thrust forth the Implement Imple-ment and secured the one he had described as her mate. I was greatly delighted. Now I would show these meddling neighbors neigh-bors that they would not make life among them miserable for a stranger without paying for It When the progeny of my pair of bees began to run wild like Apaches over the neighborhood, they would wish they had thought twice before trying to make trouble with a newcomer among them, who had arrived full of kindliness, and was anxious to dwell In their village Id peace and amity. Proudly I took my purchases home. Leaving them In their box I went to the village, bought some lumber and tools, and constructed a Little Busy Bee ' By James J. Montague I TALL began when I planted the lawn with clover. Hardly had the blossoms begun to shine forth among the sorrel and burdocks bur-docks and dandelions, which I was always able to raise successfully, than almost every morning one of the neighbors would come over and complain about my bees. Always I assured them that I had no bees, and desired none, and that If strange bees Insisted upon coming over and nibbling my clover blossoms, blos-soms, the people whom they stung were Injured at their own risk. This assurance proved unsatisfactory. unsatisfac-tory. They went to the local chief of police about It. He thumbed over his book of regulations and or- hive which resembled those I had seen In the bee man's yard. Then feeling that nature must take Its course, I returned to the work ol getting the house settled. I am not a quarrelsome person, but I like the people around me to feel that I am not to be made a victim of petty spite without doing something about It. In a week, by which time I felt sure that the hive would be populated, popu-lated, I put on a veil of mosquito bar and went down to open the hive. I expected a vast buzzing would greet me as I performed this operation, op-eration, but nothing of the kind occurred. Wider and wider I extended ex-tended the gap between cover and hive, and heard no sound, and behold, be-hold, no bee. Then I lifted off the lid entirely. To my astonishment the place contained only a wicked looking spider, who darted at me savagely, and when I withdrew my hand scrambled out Into the sunlight sun-light and disappeared in the grass. This was discouraging. I went back to the bee dealer, tie was rather crusty when I told him my story. Indeed, he appeared to think that I was lying to him. But, by and by, he became more calm, and said that In view of my Ignorance of the game, and my real need of bees, he would sell me his next best pair for five dollars and a half. I wrung his hand In gratitude and took my new prize away, determined deter-mined to use more care the next time. To my astonishment he was dinances and could find no reference refer-ence to bees. The neighbors then decided to take the law Into their own hands, and climbed my fence at night to pull up the clover. Anybody Any-body who knows anything about lawn making knows that clover Is a pearl of great price, and like such jewels Is worthy of defense. So I In turn went to the police station. The chief heard my story, thought for a while, asked me If I bad a cigar, and said: "The only way to get to the rights of this Is to have a test case brought agin you. If you have bees of your own, and them neighbors objects to 'em, let 'em get a lawyer an' file a complaint. Then, If they ain't got any grounds, an I think they ain't, then you can go ahead with your clover raisin' an' be blowed to 'em. As long as you've got no bees they can't bring no complaint, an' they'll just keep pes-terln pes-terln 1 you an' pulling up your clover." I thanked him, gave him another cigar, and drove out of town to a roadside farm where I had seen a sign that told the world honey was for sale there. I did not like the looks of the man who worked among the hives when I arrived, but I couldn't believe that the gingerly character of the Insects would affect af-fect his honesty, so I asked him straight out how much he'd charge me for a pair of good guaranteed bees. at my door the next morning. After nsklng him how my new bees were behaving, he Bald : "Listen. I'm going to the city to live starting this afternoon. I have to go In a hurry on business. An' you've been such a good customer that I'm going to turn over to you for practically nothing a mere fifty dollars, all the bees I've got left. Cut I can't keep the offer open. I can get another purchaser If you think you can't afford so many." Fifty dollars Is big money, but after I had figured out how I could get back at my neighbors by turning turn-ing hordes of bees Into their gardens, gar-dens, I passed over a bill of the necessary denomination, boxed up my new bees till I could build a hive for them, and went to a moving mov-ing picture show. And the first thing that came on the screen was one of those nature na-ture studies about bees, and I found He glanced at me suspiciously, I thought, and then deciding that I was acting In good faith, said: "I suppose you want the best bees, guaranteed to give honey, and to be kind and gentle." "I'd like to have them give honey," I said, "but I'd really prefer pre-fer aggressive bees, touchy bees, bees that will watch the place like a eheep dog watching a herd. It doesn't matter why, but those are the kind of bees I want." "Well," he said, that's the kind of bees I sell. Gentle bees ain't so good at honey gatherln. You see, they got to fight for the honey with birds an' all kinds of Insects, and the good natured ones give up the fight, while the mean ones put up a battle an' bring the honey home." lie lifted gingerly the lid of a hive on which he had been sitting. I who had supposed It was Just a box, started back, for a thin yellow yel-low line of buzzing Insects Issued forth. At least ten of them lit on their owner's hand, and he merely brushed them off, and reaching Into the hive with a pair of long slender pincers, drew forth a large well-nurtured well-nurtured bee. "This, he said, "Is Susie. She's the best layln' bee I've got That's her mate down there on that peony. pe-ony. Illm an' her Is never far apart. Now, since you want bees that will fight an' make honey, you want good ones. I wouldn't do it for everybody, but you bein' a stranger here, I want you to git Interested In bees, an' I'll sell yoa this pair for seven dollars. I Imported them from Bermuda myself, at' I wouldn't part with 'em to anybody but a man I took a llkin' to at first sight for less than fifteen dollars. You'll never regret buyln' them bees, especially espe-cially If you want flghtin' bees. I don't have no time now to run off bee fights, but when I did, the par-i par-i ents of them two bees won me a I pot of money." I As he spoke he placed the first bee he had picked up in a little out that you need practically a million mil-lion to make any kind of disturbance disturb-ance In a neighborhood. And that night the local constable came over to the house and gave me a summons sum-mons to the Justice court for keeping keep-ing bees without a license. Somehow Some-how or other I'm beginning to feel that a city man doesn't stand mnch of a chance when he takes np his abiding place among the people he has always looked on ns yokels. . Bell syndicate. V NU Service. |