Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1869-10-15
Josh Billings ON the Hornet.

|
The hornet is an inhamibel bugger,
sudden in his impreshuns and hasty in
hiz conclusion, or end.
Hiz natral disposishen IL warm cross
between red pepper in the pod and fusil
oil, and his moral bias IL, git out ov mi
way"
They have long, black boldly, divid-
ed in the middle by a waist spot, but
phisikal importance lays at the terminus
of their suburb, in the shape o1 a jaw
elm.
This javelin IL alwuz loaded, and
stands reddy to unload at minut's
warning, and enters man az still as
thought, az spry az litening, and az full
ov melankolly az the toothake.
Hornets never argy case they set
tie all ov their differences ov opinyan by
letting their javelin fly, and az certain
to hit az mule IL.
This testy kritter lives in congregations
numbering about 100 souls, but whether
they are male or female, or conservative,
or matched in bonds ov wedlock, or
whether they are Mormons and good
many ov them king together and keep
one husband to save expense, don't kno
nor don't kare.
never hav examined their habits
much, l never konsidered it healthy.
Hornets bid their nests wherever they
take noshun to, and seldom are dis
turbed, for what would it profit man
tew kill SO hornets and have the Tooth
hit him with hiz javelin?
They bid their nests ov paper, with
out emmy windows to them or back doors.
They hav but one place ov admission,
| and the nest IL the shape of an over
grown pineapple, and IL cut into just as
many bedrooms as there is hornets.
! 1t IL very simple to make hornets
} nest if yu kan, but | will wager emmy
r man 800 dollars he kant bid one that
E he could sell to hornet for half price
e Hornets are long lived-I kant state
r jist how long their lives are, but / know
from instinkt and observashun that emmy
kritter, be he bug or be he devil, who is
: mad all the time and stings every good
J, chance he kan git, generally outlives all
e his nabers.
!. FLAT RooFs.-The great difficulty il
+ forming fiat roof which will be at once
: cheap, durable, has puzzled builders fol
S a long time. The following is commun
y icated to the Country Gentleman
Eighten years ago | made fiat roo
Il over the central portion of my dwelling
y in the flowing manner: l first laid 10 int
/ ed flooring boards upon the joists, ant
:, covered this surface with roofing paper
g Then l poured upon section of the roo
q a small quantity of raw coal tar, spread
S ing it evenly with shingle, to the depth
L perhaps, of a sixteenth of an inch. Up
g on this then sifted common road dust
a putting it on evenly to the depth of hal
g or three-fourths of an inch, that is, a
" long as the dust continued to be we
is through to the top by the tar. 1t tool
d me but an hour or two to go over tn
n whole roof-1S feet by 1S-in this man
n ner. My first application was made i
May, and about six weeks later wen
n over the whole surface again in lik
d manner, finishing up the fourth applic.
h in Sept. Since the application of Ii
IS first coating of tar and dust, to ii
h prsent time, the roof has not leaked
d. drop and looks good for century q
he .east to come. Since the first year it bs
#, been like firm sheet of stone, abor
ID half an inch thick, on which the famil
I'd can sit, walk, run or dance, without il
,g jury to it.