The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1880-01-16

wONA& w St1NCV 0AAuuUkty " OAE AlukSOv"
erished people, whereas we now quiet
ly permit that SUM to be added unto
him who already hath abundance"
THE BUNDLE BEE. %
BY NJ. QUAD.
Children, did you ever stop to con-
slider the immense power possessetl by
q bumble.bee: An insect Weighing no
more than the eighth of an ounce ia
capable of tsraising" q man weighing
22O pounds from bench In tho public
park, and then have lots of lifting ma
terial left. Just stop and think of 1t
The stinger of a bee Is not near as large
as the finest needle, but such is the
force behind it that it can be driven
through heavy pants cloth, backed by
merino drawers, and into the flesh
about sixteen feet. If man could
WELD crowbar in comparison, he
could drive 1t through seven saw-milis
and distillery at one blow. Nature
could not give the bee teeth and claws
without spelling its beauty, and, in
compensation, she gave him this stinger
as a weapon of attack and defense.
II the bee had no weapon, ants, beetles
and bugs could cuff him around as
they pleased, but, as 1T Is, he is boss of
the walk, and won't take word from
any of them.
The humble bee Is not naturally of n
quarrelsome disposition, but he can't
be sat down ON over half an hour with
out feeling as If some one was doing
him great wrong. If left to himself,
he will crawl up your coat sleeve, look
around, and crawl down and 60 about
his business; but, If welcomed with u
be revenged If it breaks leg. He In
variably closes his eyes when he stings
and you have only to look q bee square
in the face to discover when he is fool
ing around, aud when he means ii
per cent. per annum.
The bayfield, is q favorite resort of
the bumble-bee, but you can find him
almost anywhere else If you try hard.
Having no pair of long hind legs he
cannot build his nest in marsh like a
frog, and having no beak in which to
carry straws, he cannot nest in q tree
like a bird. He therefore takes to the
grass, and under the roots of an old
stump, or among pile of old rails, he
rears his gentle young and gives them
printed instructions as to the difference
between stinging six-inch stovepipe
and runaway boys. The knowledge of
old bees is wonderful. They know
where the school-h0use is. They know
when school Is out. They can sail
miles away from home, get in their
work ON a farmers son wedding out
corn, and return home without miss
ing fence. corner or In need of an
afternoon nap. AS rule, they are
early risers. Barefooted boys driving
up the cows at daylight will find the
bumble-bec out of bed and quite ready
to begin the arduous labors of the day.
Along about sundown he quits work
counts noses to see If the family arc all
in, and then slows himself away for n
night of calm and peaceful rcpose.
| The legs of a bumble-bec arc very
| crooked. This seems too bad mt first
sight, but you will soon discover that
| nature was level-hcadcd. His legs
were thus shaped to enable him to
hang to the brim of a boys straw hat.
Were his legs straight he could not
walk fence rail In q high wind, nor
could he turn around after reaching the
top OF n MULLEN stock. The stripes on
a bee look like n waste of material, but
such is not the case. They furnish an
extra covering over his ribs to keep the
frosty air of, and they serve to stfffen
his spinal column in his flights through
the air.
Il A bumble-bee can fly at the rate of
twenty miles an hour, If he wants to,
J but there is no cause for him to fly
. faster than q boy can run. He some
) times lives to be three years old, and Is
sometimes stricken down before he has
travelled at all. His life is a precarious
} one. He may run deacon out OF a
bayfield, to-day, and be the big bee in
the nest, and tomorrow n country
school-ma'am may knock his head off
with her umbrella. Nothing in nat
ural history weighs more for his size
than the bee, and nothing In science
works easier without cogwheels or rub
ber rollers than his stinger. 1t Is al
ways ready, never out OF repair, and
satisfaction Ito the bce) is guaranteed
in every case.
The discovery that about forty bodies
have been stolen from lakewood Gene
terry, at Richmond, Va, since cold
weather set In, has caused much ex-
element in that city. The exhumed
corpses are suppOsed to be those Ol