The Pascagoula democrat-star. (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1878-1920, 1889-05-17

derstand such things.
"Thev are fiXin' 10 swarm, and
we'll have to watch 'em mighty
close, my son. ] reckon had bet
ter not 90 to meetn' Sunday, for
they mought swarm, and then aeif
they moughtn't. They ginerly
swarm when you're least eXpectin'
it; and the Scripture says it ain't
no SIN to pull an OK outn the ditch
on Sunday, and | 'spose bees are
| as good as oXens.'
That was his logic, and it suited
me to I.
Sunday was an ideal summer
Sabbath. Just such a one as you
see along about Easter, or little
after: when The soft blue skies are
flecked with little white clouds that
drift along like pleasure boats III a
Calm.
The air was full of fragrance and
full Of song.
The light winds rustled the ten
der leaves, and the old mocklng
bird sat among the peach tree
boughs and sang in dreamy sort
of way, as if she were singing in
! her sleep.
The old dominicker stood on the
fence and crowed He would throw
his head back and
"Cuck coo-cuck oo-Oo!"
And away down at Pepper Joe's
house the old blue game would an
swer-
"Cuck .oo-cuek-oo-oo-oo p
And The old domlnlcker would
hold his head sorter one-sided and
listen and then blaze away again.
The yellow hen laid an egg under
the furnace, and came out cackling
as if she had laid a nest full of Os-
trich eggs, with red and blue
streaks on them. The yellow hen
was as VAIN as town girl with an
Easter bonnet, and all about one
little egg, that any one hen could
have laid.
Nobody at home but grandpa
and me.
He got a pillow and lay down on
the back piazza TO watch the bees,
and | tined 10 get up fight be-
tween Pidy and POnchartrain.
About eleven o'clock | heard "A
terrible buzzing at the bee gum,
and | Jumped and ran to where |
could see good, and it looked to me
like there were about forty million
bees darting around like they were
crazy.
so, granda the bees is swarm
in! the bees is swarmin' u =
yelled as | jumped up and down.
The old man sprang up and sha-
ded his eyes with one hand and
shaded them with the other, Tor
he'd been hard and fast asleep.
"Well, they are by hoky!"
That was one of his cuss words.
IL seed 'em first, didn't | grand
pa ~
"Yes-you're a smart boy, and
you shall have the brnGIe calf for
that
80, we must make 'em pitch.
Run sit two tin pans and sump'n
to beat on 'em with. Run, quick;
nOw.p
| dashed into the kitchen and got
two pans, and came back, and
grandpa took one and took the
other, aud we raised a hullaballoo
in about two minutes.
We beat and banged and Ponch-
artrain followed around and viii.
ned, and the old Pidy cat scaled
up into the loft with her tail as big
as a rolling pin, meowing and spit
ting at every jump.
The bees circled around, and cir
cled around; getting higher and
higher, and further away from the
gum.
"Beat hand, my son, for they're |
atryin' TO run away," cried grand
pa, with the sweat streaming down
his face; and | just doubled my
self up and nearly beat a hole In
The dish pan.
Al last | saw few of them light |
on a sycamore limb, and the rest
all began TO cluster around them;
and they flew slower and got thick /
er. and the first thing | knew there
was a bunch of them hanging to
limb as big as a mules head.
"Now we've got 'em. All we've |
cot 10 do is glt 'em in a gum. We've
got TO be mighty keariul, though,
Tor they're a contrary set"
The gum had been made for sew
eral DAYS in anticipation of their
swarmlng, and we proceed to get
it ready.
"Grandpa, won't they sting us Z"
"Not if we amt ascared OF 'enl.
If we let 'em know we're ascared /
of 'em they'll stick it 10 us though
We got the gum aud took some
peach tree leaves and salt and put
Them IN water and bruised them.
and we sprinkled the gum good
with it. and then we set the gum
on a table that we placed right un-
der the bees.
"Now. III fix myself" said grand
pa, "for you know the Scriptel says
in time Of peace prepare for war,
and forewarned is forearmed.
| didn't know what the Scrip
lures said about IL, but If il meant
10 rig fellow up like grandpa did
himself that day, / knew / didn't
understand the scriptures.
He got q -four sack and crt Two
little holes tor bis eyes and big
one for his nose 20 breath through,