, 1889-08-01

AAAtO hANNAAA6 OFtA mn III NGAAON
wings. And as he lay there the luxury
of Incidence stole in upon his senses and
the gentle soughing of the pines fell with
a soothing influence upon his ear. The
drowsy hum of bees and the in~articulate
voices Of the wood lulled him to sleep.
How long he lay there Mickey could not
tell. He was rudely awakened by a big
black ant, which had crawled up his
trousers leg, and a great yellow hairy
caterpillar crossing the bridge of his
nose. As he sat up inc brushed away
these insects a cat bird in a tree near by
began to jeer at him with what to
Mickey's excited fancy were the words:
Playing hockey! Playing hookeyr"
In some mysterious manner gladness
seemed to go out of the day for little
Mike at this cruel taunt. The odors of
the lower were just as sweet as they
had been before, the moss at the foot of
h pine tree was as vivid a green, the
swallows dipped as gracefully over the
field of billowy wheat, but the charm of
all this beauteous panorama was gone.
His toe began to hurt again. With
dropping head and limping gait, Mickey
plunged deeper into the woods. AT the
foot of n big rock he found n spring.
Lying at full length upon the sward he
put his lips down to the water and drank
deep of the champagne of the woods.
The reflection of his face in the spring
grinned s~ardonically at him. And from
the brown eyes shining from the cool
depths came a r%eproachful glance which
seemed to a Y
THE leather strap is waiting for you
in the kitchen!"
All that afternoon he wandered
through the wood seeking happiness, but
finding none He flew for refuge to the
birch tree, but the bark had lost all its
old time sweetness. The s~assafras root
which often had tasted like honey in his
mouth now too on the flavor of worm
Woo As he retraced his steps to the
stone wall where he had hidden his books
the awful consciousness came to him that
he would be obliged to tell a lie in order
to escape n whipping. Like a thief in
the night he sneaked down the steep hill
side up which he had climbed so cheerily
in the morning, me five minutes later
entered the shanty. So downcast was he
and so furtive in manner that his moth
er's attention was attracted to him. Just
at this a big humble bee wearing
a black velvet vest with yellow stripes
Numbered into the room.
Are ye sick, Mickey said his mother,
solicitously.
mo; Pm not sick, mother" said little
Mike, but me toe is hurtin' me-"
"Well, what makes ye act so quare?''
This was uttered in such n tone of so
licitude and with so kindly n look that
like Mikes eyes began to overflow as his
mother try to ''shoo" the humble bee
out of the room.
I'm glad you're not n wicked little
by, Mickey, like thin Doolans,' con-
tinued Mrs. Finn. "If We were I'd be
thinkin' that humble bee nd be afther
stingin' ye. Shure that's fwhat humble
bees does be doin'-stingin' little b'ys
fur their sinsl'
Slap went the end of Mrs. Firms tassel
against the wall and away sailed the bee
out of the window like an animated
jewel of jet and amber.
Little Mike was oppressed with fears.
The haunting consciousness of wrong
doing weighed him down like the guilt
of a murderer. He felt a great load
taken off his conscience when the humble
bee flew out of the window, for he be-
ASf1N ALlpAANlAlN Alldl NHC lIloGIb Iltu
flown into the shanty for the purpose of
singing him because he had played
hockey. He busted himself about the
yard, milking the goat and chopping
wood. He was so unusually jealous in
this work and SO quiet that his mothers
suspicious were awakened.
"Faix," said she, I'm afeerd me little
b'ys beer up to mischief, he's actin that
quare. Shure, he has berry stains on his
face, IN thare's no berries at school.
Musha, I'm afther thinkin' he was play
in hookeyi"
Just hen Mickey came into the shanty
with another armful of wood. His
mother looked at him closely, unobserved
by the boy, and saw that his knees were
stained with grass juice and that to the
back of his jacket chung some t~ell-tale
pine needles. But she kept her own
counsel and awaited developments, salts
fed that Mickey would confess his guilt.
Another armful of wood had been
thrown under the stove, and little Mike
looked up to catch the expected approx
ing glance of his mother, when Mrs.
Finn cried in alarm:
LUX out, Mickey; here comes the
humble bee fur vel"
Again the fears of the boy were awak-
ened, and turning quickly he struck a
frantic blow at the bee. This evidently
angered the insect, for it avoided the
blow, flew over the boys head and stung
him on the back of the neck. Having
punished the truant and satisfied its
vengeance the humble bee flew out of
the door. AS Mrs. Finn bound a handful
of mud upon the swelling wound little
Mike looked upin his mothers face, and,
with a trembling voice full of remorse
and pain, said in a hoarse whisper:
"M-m-m-otherl'
"Eis, Mickey" said Mrs. Finn, know
ing that the time of confession had
come. The boy continued with CULVER
ing lips:
81 know why the bee s-s-tung me. Be
kase l. bekase mother-I-I-I was
Observation-Disclosures
As he hid his face in his mothers dress
she stouped over him and her lips touch
ed the bronzed, berry stained face in the