, 1889-08-30
BUSY BEES IN A HOTEL
A Drummer's Lively Experience in "A South
west Georgia Town

n run mers Lively Experience In a South
west Georgia Town
Did you ever see busy bees making
honey in a hotel9" The question was
put by a travelling man who had just
returned from a six weeks trip
through the southern portion Of tho
state.
~ wouldn't have believed" he con.
tinued, that people and bees could
live together, but ] have seer il with
my W eyes, and ] am convinced that
they can. Last week, as | was max
ing my return trip TO Savannah, i
stopped over at O~glethorpe, and | spent
the night i'll that industrious little town
at the Druinmers' Home, the only ho-
tel there. 1t is kept by Judge Willis,
the largest merchant and one .of the
w%ealthiest e in southwest Georgia.
l was sitting u on the front porch
just after supper, smoking a cigar,
and kept hearing a rumbling noise,
as II water were pouring off some
place. The sound came and went at
intervals, n sometimes | could hear
it distinct enough to almost tell, /
thought, what it was. From the ar
tesian well, situated in the center of
the town, runs a small stream. 1t runs
down a hill over rocks and pebbles,
making n rumbling noise like that of
n brook, and forms a branch further
down the hill, and the ripping of the
little stream is heard at the business
houses.
81 got up and walked down TO the
south end of the porch, imagining
that could smell the sweet fragrance
of the violets and ~honeysuckles on the
branch, when a bug, rs | supposed,
whizzed by my head. | threw my
hand up TO my head when something
lighted on it. ! wasn't frightened,
but skittish of bugs. Imade a desper-
SIC brush at the insect with my left
hand and struck it. II did not fall
dead 10 the floor as | expected. Its
sting was in my hand. and the poor
thing could not get loose. The sensa-
ton was unnerving, and with an en-
crgetic use of my cap | got rid of it. 1t
vas a bee. | smelled him and his
scent was abroad. | leaned up against
n column to get breath after the expe-
rieuce and Jared the post consider
ably. stopped down to pick up my
cap, and when | Strengthened up /
ran my head into a bee nest There
were more bees there than / ever felt
before. They pitched on my face
and head, and as fast as one would
sting he gave place TO tho next one,
who gave me a whack. | ran into the
room, and in some way they got the
bees off of me. | remained over in
Oglethorpe two days-that was longer
TO stay until my fondness for the
place 'swagged down TO its natural
size.
Two days afterward, a few hours
before | was going to leave, | thought
/ would take a last look at the 'fated
spot | found the column against
which ! leaned, and the first thing
that attracted my attention was the
rumbling noise hat heard two nights
before. Looking at the top of the post
! saw a bunch of bees that would
have filled my hat. They were going
in and out of a crack in the post, Just
as they go in and out of a gum. They
were making honey. | had made a
discovery. | made known what l had
seen TO the proprietor of the house.
He Investigated it and found that the
column, which is about ten feet high
and eight inches in diameter, was full
of honey up to within two feet of the
top. After calculating awhile, we
found h a the column contained over
200 pounds Of honey. 1t was a find of
between $50 and 500. Nobody had
ever seen the bees before, and, not
w~ithstanding the rumbling noise had
attracted the attention of numbers of
people, they attributed the sound to
the branch just as ! did. was told
that the bees would be robbed of their
honey the next day, if would remain
over, but ! 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 pillaging and rob-
ing."-Savannah News.