Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1878-12-21

n SuillilSF dtI, dS MI NAldOlGTID QIe
not know how to. get them. III
q felt, however, that he could safely
!, depend upon the instincts anC
n methods of boyhOod. He knew
: that if there was any way in HEAVIER
or earth whereby the shyest BET
that ever lifted a two-hundreo
pound man off the clover could be-
induced to enter a wide-mouthed
glass bottle, his son knew that way
b For the small sum of one dime
q Master Middlerib agreed to procure
several, to-Wit: six bees, sex and
age not specified but, as Mr.. Mid
: dlerib was left in uncertainty as to
the race, it was made obligatory
l upon the contractor to have three
{ of them honey and three humble,
or, in the generally accepted YER
nacular, humble bees. Mr.. M. 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 fairly
whirled. Evening nings all home,
and the last rays OF the declining
sun fell upon Master Middlerib
with short, wide-rmuthed bottle
comfortably populated with hot, i'll
natured bees, and MI. Middlerib
with a dime. The dime and the
bottle changed hands. Mr.. Middle
rib put the bottle in his coat-ptnkef
and went into the puse, eNeing
! everybody he mel VerysuSpici0usly,
as though he had made up his mind
to sting to death the first person
! who said 'bee'' to him. lie confided
his guilty secret to more of his fam
lily. He bid his bees in his bed
room. and as he looked at them just
before putting thenl away he half
| wished the experiment was safely
over. He wished the Imprisoned
bees did not look 50 hot and cross.
| With exquisite care ne submerged
| the bottle in btsin of water, and
! let few drops in on the he.tted in-
| mates to cool them of.
AT the tea-table he had great
fright. Miss Middlerib in the art
less simplicity of her romantic ma
ture, said
Il smell bees. How the odor
brings up"
But her father gIared at her, and
said, with superflu0us harshness
and exccrable grammar:
"Hush up! You don't smell
nothing"
Whereupon Mrs. Middlerib asked
him if he had eaten anything that
disagreed with him, and Miss Mid
dlerib said:
"Why, pa ~ And Master Mid
dlerib smiled as he wondered.
Bedtime at last, and the night
was warm and Sultry. Under vari-
GUS false pretenses, Mr.. Middlerib
strolled about the house until every
one else was in bed, and then he
sought his room. He turned the
night-lanp down until its feeble
ray shone dimly as deathlight.
Mr.. NIiddlerib disrobed slowly
very slowly. When at last he was
ready to go numbering into his |
peaceful couch, he heaved pro-
found sigh, so full of apprehension
and grief that Mrs. Middlerib, who
was awakened by it, said if it gave
him so much pain to come to bed,
perhaps he had better sit up all
night. Mr.. Middlerib checked an
other sigh, but said nothing and
crept into bed. After lying still
few moments he reached out and
got his bottle of bees.
It was not an easy thing to do to
pick out one bee from bOttleful
with his fingers, and not get into
trouble. The first bee Mr.. Middle
rib got was a little brown honey
bee that wouldn't weigh half an
ounce if you picked him up by the
ears, but if lifted by the hind legs,
would weigh as much as the last
end of a bay mule. Mr.. Middlerlb
could not repress a grOan.
"What is the matter with you ?''
sleepily asked his wife.
1t was very hard for Mr.. Middle
rib to say that he only felt hot, but
he did it. He didn't h"vo to lie
ahnut it. either. He did feel very
hot indeed. About sc all over, and
1877 on the end of his thumb. He
reversed the bee, and pressed the
warlike terminus of it firmly against
his rheumatic knee.
1t didn't hurt so badly as he
thought it would.
1t didn't hurt at all.
Then Mr.. Middlerib remembered
that when the honey-bee stabs hu- =
man foe it generally leaves its har-
pOOn in the wound, and the invalid
knew the only thing this bee had to
sting with was doing its work at the
end of his thumb.
He reached out his hand from I'M
der the sheet, and dropped his disa-
bled atom of rheumatism liniment
on the carpet. Then, after a second
of blank wonder, he began to feel
around for the bottle, and wished
he knew what he did with it.
In the meantime strange things
had been going on. When he
caught hold of the first bee, Mr.. {
for reasons, drew it out
in such haste that for The time he
forgot all about the bottle and itsre-
medal contents, and left it lying in
the bed between himself and his in !
nOcent wife. In the darkness there
had been quiet, hut general emf
grafton from that bottle. The bees,
their wings clOgged with the water ;
which Mr.. Middlerib had poured
upon them to cool and tranquillize I
them, were crawling aimleSsIy
about over the sheet. While Mr.,
was feeling around for it I
his ears were suddenly thrilled and
his heart frozen by a wild, pierre {
ing scream from his wife.
Murder !" she screamed, "mur-
der! Oh help me! Help! help!"
Mr.. MiddIerib sat'bolt upright in
bed. His hair stood on end. The
night was warm, but he turned to |
ice in a minute.
"Where in thunder" he said, |
with pallid lips, as he felt all over g
he bed in frenzied haste-"Where
n thunder are them Internal S
bees ?" {
And a large "bumble," with a
sting as merciless as the finger of
,corn, Just then climbed up the in I
side Of Mr.. Middlerib's nfght-shiFt, |
lntil it got squarely between his t
and then it felt for his +
marrow, and said calmly: 2
"Here is one of them" c
And Mrs. Middlerib felt ashamed Y
Of her feeble screams when Mr.. Mid /
herib threw up both arms, and with j
/ howl that made the windows rat |
lie, rOared !
"Take him off! Oh, land of Scott, t
take him off ~ |
And when little hOney-bee be- /
gan to tickle the sole of Mrs. Mid J
Herbs foot, she Shrieked that the I