The New Bloomfield, Pa. times. (New Bloomfield, Pa.) 1877-188?, 1881-02-01
BricktOp's Bee Story.


7 HAD an improved back yard 1
Il went through seed store and bought
a sample of everything that would grow
in this climate. The result was a per-
feet tangle of flowers and things, from
the overgrown sunflower to forget me-
not. Mrs. Bricktop is very proud of our
garden, and while gushing over it the
other morning, happy thought work
ed its way under her back hair: What
a delightful thing 1t would be to have
hive of bees, and raise our own honey,
as well q everything elsel' L have
always thought that woman inspired
ever since she convinced me that l
couldn't do better that to marry her,
This was an original, bold idea {; hap
py thought. l promised her hive of
bees, and went to business with light
er heart, and flrmer belief in the gen.
uineness of home comforts and amuse-
ments.
boughta hive of honey-bees and
brought it home with me that very
night. 1t was one of those patent hy-
drostatic, back-action hives, in which
the bees have peculiar accommodations
and all the modern improvements. 1t
was a nice little hive, none of your old
fashioned barn-sized affairs. 1t even
had windows in it,so that the bees could
look out and see what was going on,
and enjoy themselves. Both myself
and Mrs. B. were delighted; and before
dark arranged the stand for the hive
in the garden, and opened the bay
windows so that the bees could take an
early start and get to business by sun
rise next morning. Mrs. B. called me
honey several times during the evening;
and such sweet dreams as we had
We intended to be up early next
morning to see how our little birds
took to our flowers but good
half.h hour before we probably should
have done so we were awakened by the
unearthly yells of a cat. Mrs. B. leaped
from her downy conch, exclaiming,
What can be the matter with our
yellow Billy?" The yells of anguish
convinced us that something more than
ordinary was the matter with him, and
so we hurried into our toilets. We
rushed into our back yard, and, oh,
what a sightsme our astonished gaze
The sight consisted of yellow cat that
appeared to be doing its best to make
bin-wheel of itself. He was rolling
over and over in the grass, bounding up
and down, anon darting through the
bushes and foliage, standing on his
head, and then trying to drive his tail
into the ground, and all the while keep
ing up the most confounded yowling
that was ever heard.
"The cat is mad,'' said Mrs. B. af-
frighted.
why shouldn't he be ? the bees are
stinging him. said I, comprehending
the trouble. Mrs. B. flew to the rescue
of her cat, and the cat flew at her. So
did the bees. One of them drove his
drill into her nose, another vacclnated
her on the chin, while another began to
lay out his work near her eye. Then
she howled, and began to act almost as
bad as the cat. 1t was quite an animated
scene. She cried murder, and the
neighbors looked out from their back
windows and cried out for the police,
and asked where the fire was. This be-
ing trifie too much, I threw a towel
over my head and rushed to her rescue.
In doing so, ran over and knocked
her down, trod upon the cat, and made
matters no better. Mrs. b. is no child
on wrestle, and she soon had me un-
der her, and was tenderly stamping
down the garden-walk with my head,
using my ears for handles. Then 1 yell
ed, and some of the bees came to her as
sistance, and stung me all over the
face.
I the mean time the neighbors were
shouting, and getting awfully excited
over the show, while our servant, sup
posing us fighting, opened the basement