The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1880-12-09
WARM HORNETS.
What Resulted from Leaving n HOP-
nets Nest by the stove.


There is woman on Catharine street
who delights to find case that all tho
doctors have failed to cure and then 20
to work with herbs and roots and strange
things and try to effect at least an i'm
provement. A few days ago she got hold
of a girl with stiff neck, and she offered
an old negro named Uncle Tom Kelly,
fifty cents to go to the woods and
bring her hornets nest. This was to
be stepped in vinegar and applied to tho
neck. The old man spent several dayu
along the Holden road, and yesterday
morning he secured his prize and brought
it home in basket When he reached
the Central Market he had a few little
purchases to make, and after getting
some tea at grocery, he placed his bas-
ket on a barrel near the stove and went
out to look for beef bone.
1t was dull day for trade. The gro
GER sat by the stove rubbing his bald
head. His clerk stood at the desk bal
ancing accounts and three or four men
lounged around talking about the new
party that is to be founded on the ruins
of Democracy. 1t was a serene hour
One hundred and fifty hornets had gone
to roost in that nest for the winter The
genial atmosphere began to timber them
up. One old veteran opened his eyes,
rubbed his legs and said it was the short
est winter he had ever known in all his
hornet days. A second shook off his
lethargy and seconded the motion, and
in five minutes the whole nest was alive
and as owners were ready to sail out and
investigate. You don't have to hit a
hornet with the broadside of an axe to
make him mad. He's mad all over all
the time, and he doesn't care picayune
whether he tackles humming bird or
an elephant.
The grocer was telling one of the men
that he and General Grant were boys to-
gether, when he gave a sudden start of
surprise, This was followed by several
other starts. Then he jumped over q
barrel of sugar and yelled like Pawnee.
Some smiled, thinking he was after
funny climax but it was only minute
before solemn old farmer jumped three
feet high and came down to roll over q
job lot Of wash-boards. Then the clerk
ducked his head and made rush for tho
door. He didn't get there. One of the
other men who had been looking up and
down to see what could be the matter, was
suddenly called upon to go home. He
was going at the rate of forty miles an
hour when he Collided with the clerk
and then rolled on the floor. There was
no use to tell the people in the store to
move on. They couldn't stay to save
'em. They all felt that the rent was too
high and that they must vacate the
premises. A yell over by the cheese box
was answered by war-whOop from the
show case. A howl from the kerosene
barrel near the back door was answered
by wild gestures around the show win
dow.
The crowd went out together. Uncle
Tom was just coming in with his beef
bone. When a larger body meets a
smaller one the larger body knocks it
into the middle of next week. The old
man laid around in the slush until eve
rybody had stepped on him all they
wanted to, and then he sat up and asked:
"Hev dey got de fah all put out yit"
Some of the hornets scared out doors
to fall by the wayside, and others waited
around on top of barrels and baskets and
jars to be slaughtered. 1t was half an
hour before the last one was disposed Of
and then Uncle Tom walked in, picked
up the nest, and said
"Mebbe dis will cure de stiffness in
dat gals neck, jist de same, but | tell you
/ I !
till it will take a hull medical college all
winter long to get me so l kin jump off a
street kyar." Detroit Free Press