Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1875-12-24
miscellaneous.
P
Sjlas Hiving Bees.

/ ~' DCCSs
The old genLemen's name is Silas. and
that of his eldest son is George his wifc,s
name is Matilda, and his three pretty
daughters are named Helen, Alice, and
Susie there is little Silas, too, and an
elder boy whose name is too queer to men,
| ton.
The bees had alighted in great bunch,
as large as Il halfbushel measure, on the
limb OF peach tree in the yard. You all
know how it is done. A table is placed un-
der the over hanging limb. spread with q
clean white cloth, and the hive placed
thereon.
Then one of the boys, one that is good
for nothing else, is sent into the tree with
a saw to sever the limb the limb comes
down slowly and easily. and the old gent
below, dressed in great coat, buckskin
gloves, cowhide boots, and bed-quilt tied
around his neck and face, slyly manipu-
lates twig from the tree, and in two min
utes mas coaxed every bee to enter the hive,
during all of which time Matilda and Hell
en- and Alice and Susie pound the bottoms
out of just four tin pans. little Silas does
his prettiest yelling, while the boy with a
queer name is just old enough and sharp
enough to slip behind the house and wait
for the thing to come to point. That is
the way it ought to haue gone off; but that
isn't the way it did. Silas, the elder, was
very comfortably bundled up for 50 warm
a day, and he had his suit well arranged,
only he forgot to tie strings around the bot
toms of his pants legs.
The bees had settled on the limb of
peach tree, aud SiIas, when his table and
white cloth and hive were all ready, COM
manded:
"Now, George, grab that old rusty saw
and climb guess you can cut that small
limb of easy enough.'
George was just home from six months
term at school, and he felt great tenderness
for his father and would have gone through
a patch of thistles barefoot to please the
old gent, and yet he had a particular dread
for the business end'' of bee, and partic-
ularly of such crowd of them. But he
obeyed, and began to fiddle away cautious
ly upon the particular limb. One little
bunch of bees dropped and were Gagged
another and another small bunch dropped,
and the prospect seemed good, when sud
denly au old honey maker, who had been
in the business before scared upward
George shut up one eye quick,
gave one terrible surge on the
old rusty saw, got out of that tree at one
jump, and his anxious mother caught one
glimpse of him as ne flew around the cor
ner of the barn twenty rods away.
But poor old Silas The bees came
down, and he thought the bunch as big as
a hay stack now. They did not so into
the hive, but they went through bis over
-o~at-and bed quilt as if these had been
mosquito bars, and they climbed up the
inside of his pants legs, aud the old gent
danced as he had never danced before
and ne slapped his legs, as had never al
lowed anyone else to slap them, and his
voice lowered high above the clatter of tin
pans and the shrieks of little Silas as he
yelled:
Throw water on me | throw water on
me soak me, wet tpe down ~
He rolled three or four times over in the
grass, and sprung up shouting, ''Slap me ]
slap me Can't you slap me ?'' in the
midst of which little Silas crept up behind
his infuriated pa and dealt him lively one
with shingle but poor little Silas landed
the next second against the milk-house, for
his pa took him and his shingle for thou
sand bees, and gently brushed them off.
o, the agony Of that three minutes jig
Ae appealed to his wife.
Matilda, for heavens sake, bring me
another pair of breeches, won't you 20
But these things don't last always, any
more than any other happiness, and after
a few minutes the old gent came iimping
out of the cellar with the breeches on that
Matilda brought bin, feeling much easier,
OuI Juob 90 O'SNA5N
got back from the barn and the boy with
queer name slipped around the corner of
the house. Both were very nxious to
know how matters stood, and asked
Did you git 'em hived, pap
But the old man was tco mad to answer
or even look at his boys. He turned to
little Sias and said: q
Little one, you meant all right, and rm
sorry cufIed YOU so next time don't slap
80 hard
Then to his wife, Matilda, to you L
owe everything. Accept my heartfelt graft
tude. Well take no more stock in bees.
[ have made up my mind, and it's settled.
May our quiet, peaceful farmhouse never
be so stirred up again. Seems to me 1
never had so much of life crowded into E
few short minutes before. Run after the
cows, now, boys be off for it is almost
lark.