Tombstone epitaph., 1890-12-13
TRADITION ABOUT BEES.
The Busy Insects Object to Being Kept
 by Quarrelsoms Families.

Inere IS prODaOly no lnSccU III Wnicn mankind takes more interest than the bee, says the London Standard, and shere certainly is none around which so many superstitions have clustered from time immemOrial. The important part the busy little bee has ever played in our domestic life, how its deeds have been sung by our poets and rnoralized on by our preachers. it is not proposed to dilate on here; but some of the current supersti- tions connected with it, though very amusing, may not be generally known. Primarily, quarrelsome people. if in- tlined to live in the country and keep bees, are warned to mend their ways or their hives will soon become deserted. Bees may be. and we believe are. very pugnaciOus among themselves. but they strongly object. so say the country folk. to belong to 8 contentious household. A Querulous family, we are assured. will get no honey. keep as many bees as they may, Another good example set by them is that they object to thrive if dis honestly come by: on the contrary, they forthwith pine away and die. thcrebv showing highly commendable respect for the eighth commandment. And i they must not be stolen. neither mus they be sold. To sell them for money considered most unlucky proceeding but they may be bartered away, and all will go right.
 A bushel of corn was always cOnsid cred fair equivalent for a swarm, or
 small pig would be taken in exchange So long as the bees are bartered they are happy, but to be guilty of selling them is grievous omen indeed, than which nothing can be more dreadful:" evidently their self-respect is touched. and they refuse to work for an owner who has bought them into slavery Their sympathy with mankind and hi troubles were shown in variety o' ways. It Is a common saying in Hamp- shire that bees do not succeed at all in storing up honey whenever there are wars abroad. A large bee-keeper says he has constantly noticed this during the last European wars, though ordi- nary people will reflect that they can rot remember any great scarcity of honey at those particular times. But the most commonly-accepted belief is that the bees in certain cases share our troubles, and this is more particularly noticeable in connection with death.
 In. some districts the entrance of a bumble.bee into cottage is looked upon as certain sign of death, and in others their swarming upon piece of dead wood is regarded as equally o,ni- nous.. A story is told of the wife of a respectable cottager living in Sussex who died in child birth whose husband accepted the blow quite philosophically because he said they had been warned of the event fortnight before her con f1nement. The woman went into the garden and saw that their bees. in the act of swarming. had made choice of a dead hedge-stake for their settling place. This is considered an infallible token of approaching death in tho family, and in this instance it is nor than probable that the prediction brought about it's own fulfillment.
 Informing bees of death in tho family is custom still, we believe, prscticed in many parts of England. The necessary formalities were very precise, and if they were not fully con formed with the bees wOul Id certainly take Offense and leave their hives never to return. So universal was the custom few years ago that an inquiry after x cottager's bees would occasionally elicit some such reply as this: "They have sll gone away since the death of poo! Dick, for we forgot to knock at the hives and tell them that he was gone dead" The answer would be given with as much gravity as if the speaker were relating how her hen roost had been devastated by fox, or her pigs had died of swine fever. If neighbors were talking of the death of a friend some one in the com. pany would most likely wonder if th' bees had been informed of the sad cir cumstance. and would be comforted by a reply in the affirmative, and that a piece of the funeral cake had been de. posted in their hives. A correspondent writing on this subject says this super. stition is common among the small farmers of Devon. He once knew an apprentice boy sent back from the funeral cortege by the nurse to tell the bees of it, as it had been forgotten, and, to make up for the omission, little wine and honey was put in front of the hives as a solace to the inmates in theii uesumable sorrow. In some districts me country people go. even further than this. Not only do they, on death oc. curing, deck their apiaries with crape after duly informing the inmates of the cause, but they invite the bees to the funeral.