Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1880-01-01
The Bumble-Bee.
BY NJ. QUAD.


: the eighth of an ounce is capa
bic of "raising" a man weighin:
200 pounds from a bench in th
public park, and then have lot
of lifting material left. Jus
stop and think of it'll Th'
stinger of bee is not near a
large as the finest needle, but sucl
is the force behind it that it Cal
be driven through heavy pants
cloth, backed by merino drawers
and into the flesh about sixteer
feet. If a man could WELD 6
crowbar in comparison, he could
drive it through seven saw-mills
and a whiskey distillery at one
blow. Nature could not give
the bee teeth and claws without
spelling its beauty, and, in com.
pcnsation, she gave him this
stinger as weapol of attack
and defense. If the bee had no
weapon, ants, beetles and bugs
could cuff him around as they
pleased, but, as it is, he is boss
of The walk, and won't take a
word from any Of them.
The bumble-bee is not natu-
rally of a quarrelsome DISPOSE
ton, but he can't be sat down
on over half an hour without
feeling as if some one was doing
him a great wrong. If left to
himself, he will crawl up your
coat-slceve, look around, and
crawl down and go about his bu-
siness; but, if welcomed with a
blow between the eyes, he is GO
ing to be revenged if it breaks
a leg. He invariably closes his
eyes when he stings, and you
have only to look a bee square
in the face to discover when he
is fooling around, and when he
means IA per cent. per annum.
The bayfield, is a favorite re-
sort of the bumblc-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 a marsh like a
frog, and having no beak in
which to carry straws he cannot
nest in a tree like q bird. He,
therefore, takes to the s,and
under the roots of an old stump,
or among a pile of old rails, he
rears his gentle young, and
gives them printed instructions
as to the difference between
six-inch stove-pipe and
boys. The knowledge
of old bees is wonderful. They
know where the school-house 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 a fence-corner, or in need
of an afternoon nap. AS a rule
they are early riscrs. Barefoot
ed boys driving up the cows at
will find the bumble-
bee 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 are all in, and
then slows himself away for a
night of calm and peaceful re-
pose,
The legs Of a bumble-bee are
very crooked. This seems too
bad at first sight, but you will
soon discover that nature was
Ievel-headed. His legs were
thus shaped to enable him to
hang to the brim of a boys
straw hat. Were his legs
he could not walk a
fence rail in a high wind, nor
could he turn around after reach
ing the top of a MULLEN stock.
The stripes on a bee look like a
waste of material, but such is
not the case. They furnish an
extra covering over his ribs to
keep the frosty AIR on, ana tney
serve to stiffen his spinal column
in his flights through the air.
A bumble-bee can fly at the
rate of twenty miles an hour, if
he wants to, but there is no
cause for him to fly any faster
than a boy can run. He some
times lives to be 3 years old, and
is sometimes stricken down be-
fore he travelled at all. His life
is a precarious one. lie may
run a deacon out Of a bayfield,
to-day, and be the big bee OF
the nest, and tomorrow q coun-
try school ma'am may knock
his head off with hcr umbrella.
Nothing in natural history
weighs more for his size than
the bee, and nothing in science
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