San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1878-11-09
THE BEE-STING REMEDY.
BY r. J. BURDETTE.

yorite paper Il paragraph copieu from
tbe Praeger Observation-Disclosures
U,ochenblatt, a German paper, which is
an accepted authority on such points,
stating that the sting Of a bee was sure
,ure for rheumatism, and citing several
remarkable instances in which people
had been perfectly cured by this abrupt
remedy. Mr.. Middlerib did not stop to
reflect that paper with such name as
that would be very apt to say anything;
he only thought of the rheumatic twinges
that grappled his knees once in while,
and made life burden to him.
He read the article several times and
Wondered over it. He understood that
the singing must be done scientifically
and thoroughly. The bee, rs he under
stood the article, was to be griped by
the ears and set down upon tn. rheuma-
tic Joint, and held there until it stung
itself stingless. He had some misgiv-
;ugs about the matter. He knew it
would hurt. He hardly thought it could
hnrt any worse than the rheumatism,
and it had been so many years since he
was stung by bee that he had almost
forgotten what it felt like He had,
however, a general feeling that it would
hurt some. But desperate diseases re-
quire desperate remedies, and Mr.. Mid
dlerib was willing to undergo any
amount of suffering if it would cure his
rheumatism. We
He contIaoted with Master Middlerib
for d lilyftad supplyof bees. There were
bees and bees, humming and buzzing
about in the summer air, but Mr.. Mid
dlerib did not know how to get them.
He felt, however, that he could safely
depend upon the instincts and methods
of boyhood. He knew that if there was
any way in heaven or earth whereby the
shvest bee that ever lifted two hundred
pound man off the clover, could be in
duced to enter wide-mouthed glass
bottle, his son knew that way. ...
For the small sum of one dime Master
Middlerib agreed to procure several, to-
wit: six bees, sex and age not specified;
but Us Mr. Middlerib was left in uncer-
tainty as to the race, it was made obi
gatory upon the contractor to have three
Of thera honey and three humble, or in
the generally accepted vernacular, bum
BILE bees. Mr.. NJ. did not tell his son
what he wanted those bees for, and the
boy went off on his mission, with his
head so full of establishment that it fair
ly whirled. Evening brings all home,
and the last rays of the declining sun
fell upon Master Middlerib with short
wide-mouthed bottle comfortably popu-
lated with hot, ill-natured bees, and Mr..
Middlerib and dime. The dime and
the bottle changed hands. Mr.. Middle
rib put the bottle in his coat-pocketand
went into the house, cycling everybody
he met very suspiciously, as though he
had made up his mind to sting to death
the first person that said "bee" to him.
He confided his guilty secret to none of
his family. He hid his bees in his bed
room, and as he looked at them just be-
fore putting them away he half-wished
the experiment was safely over. He
wished the imprisoned bees didn't look
so hot and cross. With exquisite care
he submerged the bottle in basin of
water, and let few drops in on the
heated inmates to cool them off.
At the tea-table he had q great fright.
Miss Middlerib, in the artless simplicity
OF her romantic nature, said:
Il smell bees. How the odor brings
,up--"
! But her father glared at her, and said,
with superfuous harshncss and cxecra-
bic grammar:
Hush up! You don't smell nothing"
Whereupon Mrs. Middlerib asked him
nhe had eaten anything that had disa-
greed with him, and Miss Middlerib
said:
Why, pa!' and Master Middlerib
smiled as he wondered.
Bedtime at last, and the night was
warm and sultry. Under various false
pfetenses, lIr. Middlerib strolled about
'he house until everybody else was in