The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-07-30
BUSY BEES III A HOTEL
A Drummer's Lively Experience IN q
Southwest Georgia Town

A Drummer's Lively Experience in q
Southwest Georgia Town
Did YOU ever see bees making honey in
a hoteIT' The question was put by trav-
cling man who has just returned from six
weeks trip through the southern portion OF
the state.
81 wouldn't have believed, !" he continued,
''that people and bees could live together,
but [ have seen it with my own ewes, and
am co ivluced that they can. Last week,
as l was making my return trip to Savan-
nah, | stop ed over at Oglethorpe, ana
| spent the night in that lud lstrl MS
little town at the Drummer Home, the
only hotel there. 1t is kept by Judge
Willis. the lar Iest mere ant and ne OF the
wealthiest men il Southwest GeorEla: l
was sitting out on the front porch just
after supper smoking a cigar, and L Kept
hearing a runbling noise as If water we're
pouring off some place. The sound came
and went at intervals, ana sometimes
could hear il distinct enough TO almost tell, L
thought what 1t was. From the artesian
well, situated in the center Of the town,
runs a small stream. 1t runs down a hill
over rocks and pebbles, making TumOllng
noise like that of a brook, and forms
branch farther do Tn the hill and the rip
pling of the little stream IS distinctly heard
at the business houses.
Il got 10 a ID walked down to thu south
end Of the porch, imagining that l uld
smell the sweet fragrance OF the Vlole1S
and honeysuc lies on the branch, wneu a
bug, a, | supposed, 'whizzed' by my head.
l threw my hand up to my head when
something lighted on it. l wasn't fright
G led, but 'skittish' of bugs, made des-
perate brush at the insect with my left
hand and struck it. 1t did not fall dead TO
the floor as | expected. It's sting was in my
Iand and the poor thing could not get
loose. The sensation was unnerving, and
with an energetic use OF my cap got RID
of it. 1t was a bee. | smelled him aad his
scent was abroad. | leaned up against a
column to get breath after the experience,
and Jared the post considerably. l
stopped down TO pick up my cap
and when | Strengthened npI ran my head
into bee nest There were more bees
than | ever felt before. They pitched OF
my face and head, and as fast as one would
sting he gave pl zee to the next one who
gave me a whack. ran 'swarming' into
the room and in some way tney got the
bees off of me. | remained OVER III Ogle-
| thorpe two days--that was longer than
expected to stay, but [ wanted to stay until
my fondness for the place relaxed and
'swaged down to it, natural size.
Two days afterward, a few hours before
[ was going to leave, | thought | would
take a last look at th9 fated spot I fou d
the column again { which l leaned, and the
first thing that attracted my attention was
the rumbling noise that [ heard two night,
| before. Looking at the top of the post
81 a bunch of bees that would have filed
my hat They were going in and out Of
crack in the post, just as they go in and out
of q gum. They were making honey. had
made discovery. made known what
had seen to the proprietor of the house. He
Investigated it a ID found that the column
which is about ten feet high and Gig t
inches in diameter, was full of honey up to
within two feet of the top After calcu-
lating awhile, we found that the column
contained over 200 pounds of honey.
1t was a find of between $50 and SlO1.
Nobody had ever seen the bees before and,
notwithstanding the rumblihg noise had
attracted the attention of numbers of peo-
pie, they attributed the sound to the branch
just as | did. l was told that the bees
would be robbed of their honev the next
day, if | would remain over, but l was two
days behind, and had to pull out The
two families live peaceably together now, |
am told, and no hostility will be manifested
until the post gets full Of honey, then the
whites will begin pillagin and robbing."