Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1890-05-16


Thou CONTEST o almighty King Of Kings
And stilest all the tumut Of the years.
And TAX st each babbler to thy breast at last
Herbert E. Clarke.
HIS NEIGHBOURS BEES.
It was still, frosty evening in October
with the moon just old enough to cast rudy
light on the leaf carpeted path, and the an
sient stone wall, all broidered over with
ichens and moss The air was instinct with
sweet aromatic scents, and one red light
dow on the hill.
"Lookl' said Fleda Fenwick. 'sMamma has
lighted the lamp! It's high time we were
home"
'sAnd you haven't said yes!" mournfully
uttered Jack Trevelyn.
sAnd l don't mean to say yes!'
Jack seated himself on the stone wall, just
where the bars had been taken down. He
was a handsome, sunburned fellow, with
sparkling, black eyes and a rich, dark COM
plexion, as if, in his far back ancestry, there
had been some olive browed Spaniard. Fleda
leaned against the bars, the moon turning her
fair hair to gold and lingering like blue sparks
in the deeps of her laughing eyes. If ever OPP
posites existed in nature, they existed there
and then.
GIVE great mind to go away to sea" said
jack slowly and vengefully.
3D." saucily retorted Fleda.
sAnd never come back again!''
"Oh, Jack!"
IL L. -. L
if to invoke the fair moon herself by way Of
audience ''of a girl refusing to be married
simply because she hasn't got some particular
sort of q wedding gown to stand up in"
''lf I can't be married like other girls,
won't be married at ALL" declared Fleda
COMPRISING her rosy lips.
'sThe idea of keeping man waiting fol-
that" groaned Jack.
sit won't be long," coaxed Fleda.
''But, look here, Fleda, why can't we &C
quietly to church and be married, any day
and get the gown afterwards?' pleaded Jack
''But, Jack, it wouldn't be the same thing
at all. A girl gets married but once in he1
life, and she wants to look decent then"
'.My own darling, you would look an angel
in anythingr
''Now, quit that. Jack!" laughed Fleda.
"It's what my school children call 'taffy.'"
81 hate your school Children" said Jack,
venomously. 81 hate your school, 1 despise
the trustees, and I should like to see the
building burn down. Then you would have
to come to me-"
mo, 1 shouldn't, averred Fleda. 81 should
take in millinery and dressnaking until had
earned enough for the white silk dress.
never would-Oh, Jack! Who's thats"
"a tramp! I'll soon settle him with my
blackthorn!" cried Trevelyn, springing up.
''No, DON'T" whispered Fleda, shrinking
close to him; ''it's Mr.. Mingden. He's on his
own premises; these woods belong to him.
It's We that are tresspassers Wait! Stand
still until he has gone by. He's very near
sighted and he will never see us!''
"And who," breathed Jack, as stout,
elderly person trotted slowly across the
patch Of moonlight and vanished behind
the stiff laurel hedge, lis Mr.. MingdenY'
"Don't you knowe Our neighbor. The
new gentleman who has bought Smoke hall. u
1.-THE old cove who is always quarreling
with YOUR
''Yes-the very man who hates bees so in
tolerably, and wants mamma to take away
all those lovely hives, down by the south
fence. He says he can't take his constitu-
tional in peace, because he's always afraid of
being stung."
"Why don't he take it somewhere else,
then?'
'sThat's the very question" said Fleda.
ssMingden, ehs believe he must be Harry
Mingden's uncle-it's not such very COM
mon name," said Jack, refectively. 'And
Harry's my college chum-and Pm going to
ask him to be my best man at the wedding. u
ooh, Jacki hope he isn't as disagreeable
as his uncle!" cried Elfeda.
sHes trump"
''Besides, don't believe his uncle will let
him come" added the girl.
'sNot let him come? Why shouldn't he?'
because he hates us So"
"On account of the bees?"
eyes, on account of the bees"
"It's regular Montague and Capulet bust
ness, is'it, eh?"
sRather so, I'm afraid" sighed Fleda
''But, say, Fleda!'' cried the young man,
ssthis complexities matters. I promised to
go and see Harry Mingden when I was down
heren
$50 and see him, then; but don't mention
the name of Fenwick for your life.n
s'Indeed I shall. Isn't it the name Of all
others in which I take the most pride?"
ooh, Jack, you will only make more trou
ble It'll be worse than the bees. Promise
me. Jack, or I'll never, never speak to you
again"
And Jack had to promise, after some I'M
willing fashion.
Mrs. Fenwick, pretty, faded little widow,
was full charged with indignation when Fleda
returned from her stroll in the woods.
''Mamma, what is the mattersn said Fleda.
zone of the hives was t-tipped over to-
night sobbed Mrs Fenwick; land I'm sure
he did it."
SIT was the wind, mamma"
s'No wind ever did that, Fleda But 1 set
it up again. will never, never sacrifice my
apiary to his absurd prejudices."
''Dear mamma, if you would only have
the hives moved to the other side of the gar
deu!n pleaded Fleda, caressingly.
"And sacrifice question of principle
Never!n declared the widow.
Mrs Fenwick, ordinarily the most amiable
of women, was reused on this subject to an
obstinacy which could only be characterized
as vindictive. And Mr.. Ezra Mingden was
ten times as bad as his neighbor
''That woman is a dragOness, Hal, he said
to his nephew. "She keeps those bees simply
to annoy me- I hate bees Bees hate me-
Every time | walk there get stung."
''But, uncle, shouldn't brandish youl
cane about SO" reasoned Harry. 'It's sure
| to enrage EN-"
81 don't brandish it on the woman's side OF
| the fence. If her abominable buzzing insects
persist in trespassing in my garden, am not
| bound to protect myselfs" suffered Mr.
| Mingden.
stCan't Won walk somewhere else?n
| "Can't she put her bees somewhere else?'
'sBut, uncle, all this seems such trivia
affair"
'"rrivial, indeed If you'd been stung or
your nose and your ear and your eyelids and
everywhere else, would you call it trivial
l never eat honey. and I've always considered
bees to be an absurdly overrated section Of
entomology. What business have her bees tx
be devouring all my flowers9 How would sh'
| like it herself?"
Harry Mingden smiled to see the degree O
fury to which the old gentleman was gradu
ally working himself up. He was already il
Jack Trevelyn's confidence, and thus, to I
certain extent, enjoyed the unusual opportu
| ,,;t1, of caainer both cidec of the uupStiOn