The morning call., 1891-06-07
CHAPTER 1.

and State fairs still prove, and his honey
was the sweetest and clearest that ever
reached the markets of Boston and New
York he knew what to plant and when to
plant il in order TO have great deal besides
chance bloom for his bees to depend upon,
so besides getting more honey than any one
else he never lost a swarm of bees by
strike against poor browsing ground and
consequent migration in search of better.
As for heredity, why, human nature was
almost all he found worth studying after he
left school An early copy in his writing
book at school had informed him that d" the
noblest study OF mankind is man. and his
father had informed him, as the result of
personal experience that whoever had
made up that line had a very level head. so
Jack had SUCCESSFULLY and successfully
sized up every man in the village before he
himself was old enough to follow a plow.
As he gained years and knowledge he was
taught by reason and instinct that woman,
being Of the same spe les As man, was
also a noble study He soon Informed
himself, with some surprise aud not
little Indignation. that woman was
much the harder study Of the two;
at least. he made more mistakes than had
DcJu his iul NAAlo NuiiAC4LF lAAAAlE NiAC 4NH
men and boys OF his native village. The same
rules did not seem to work; the girls who
ought to be the incest, according to maScu-
line standards. did not amountto anything at
any rate they were not particularly interest
ing, yet others whose faces and features
wouldn't have promised anything a man
proved delightful company. In MS desire TO
study more carefully he made his acQuaint-
ance Us close as possible, and some girls
we're so mistaken as to his intentions that
when disappointed they had their fathers or
big brothers call Jack 20 account IN way
that caused his bones to aCEe Tor some
weeks His attempts to explain were
laughed 10 SClTn or sworn at, so when his
third difficulty Of the kind was manifeStly
impending The well-meaning but biunGer-
ing youth shook the dust OF lis native town
from his feet and made haste to bury himself
and SORROWS IN Boston.
But change of base did not change his
business aud mental bent. Although he
took the first business chance that offered be
often made a great detOur on his way be-
tween office and clearinghouse TO take IN
the streets OF commission merchants who
dealt in honey, and he fingered critically
and lovingly over the samples exposed to
view lie studied people, too, though afar
Of he did not know the family history OF
any one whom lie met In business or on the
streets so he had TO content himself with
studying pbysiOgnony. There must have
been method in ms madness, Tor his en-
ploYeTs found him quite useful in sizing
mp" new customers, and he had a promising
future before him when a chance newspaper
paragraph caused HIM to leave at short
notice and hurry to the South. TWAS not
question OF heredlJy that prompted this
move; it was q report Of a new wrinkle IN
the honey business. Up in the New
Hampshire hills, where Jack was
born and brought up. the summers
are short and the winters long, so the bees
have a short working season ana must have
q large part Of their harvest left for their
own sustenance during the winter. Here
came a story, however, of a fellow who put
a lot Of hives on big Sc0w, took them
away down the Mississippi. below New Or
leans, about the end Of February, where
everything comes early into bloom, and had
himself toWed about hundred miles each
week, thus following the blooming season
aud giving the bees the best chance that
nature could provide for creatures whose
instinct 1t was to work so long as there was
anything to work upon. The plan sounded
sens bic; if any one could make money in
that way he. Jack Brewster, with his uu-
eQualed knowledge Of bees and their ways,
could make more Three weeks after the
idea struck him Jack had a scow we'll
loaded with bee-hiYes and was moOred to
the leYee of the lower Mississippi, within
easy scent Of a great orange grove, and
wondering why he had never had the sense
10 think out the new system for himself.
The bees attended strictly TO business; so
did Jack, SO long as there was anything for
him TO do, yet he found most Of his time at
his disposal and nothing 10 do with il. At
first as he still knew everything he de-
termined 10 do missionary work, and teach
the natives everything they needed to know;
they were not a bit ike New Hampshire
people, and did not do anything 10 the way
he had been taught 10 do (which Of course
was the only proper way A few endeayOrS
in tiis direction taught him great deal-at
much cost OF patience TO the gOOd-natured
natives; he speedily learned, too, that New
Hampshire dash and nervousness were
entirely out of place If he expected 10
keep his health and temper, so he dropped
back into his old habit of studying human
nature Not many people live directly on
the banks Of the Mississippi, AMI the few
who are there know all about their neigh
borS. like the inhabitants Of small neighboT-
hoods everywhere. so Jack soon heard all
the gossip Of whatever locality he and his
honey-makers CHANGED to be visiting for the
week. The tales did not differ much from
those he had heard at home ever since he
was a boy they could all be traced back to
the few sentiments which undeTlie pretty
much everything that hupIan nature does
or has done since the world began, but be-
cause the dialect and surroundings were
different Jack soon determined, like every
OLuer modern alKee VINO QdQ gone SOuLHp
10 write book about it.
There certainly were some differences.
however, in the people he now saw and
those from whom he came, and the one
which impressed Jack most fOrcibly was
that the women were superior to the men.
Young men of fine physique and high spirits
were scarce, and not ;or the New England
reason in similar cases-all gone somewhere
else 10 seek their fortune. On the other
hand almost all the young women whom he
saw were so pleasant TO the eye that he
wished he might see them again and often
The subject was not one about which he
could talk freely with the natives, vet by
rolling it around his MUD for some time he
succeeded in polishing il until he felt Justl-
fed in trying IL on new acquaintance IN
about this shape:
MEN along the river tell me they FREE
quently nave chills and fever, and that the
climate don't allow ths men to be very ac-
tive. yet / can't see any sign that the
younger women suffer in that way"
No said Sam MaZZitt the man ad-
dressed, as he motiOned the visitor to a seat
on the log on which he was resting in front
Of his own door. Il reckon"-here he
paused to puff contemplatively on his pipe
Il reckon the Lord thinks somebody down
here ought TO have chance to be spTy."
JACK made a mental note of this for his
intended book, and then doubted whether
il would do.
Fact Isl Sam went on. after little
more reflection, gals amt out in the woods
an swamps as much as men. an they don't
dIink-puff-nOr chaw-puff - nor smoke
leastways not many of them takes to smOk-
in Till they've been disappointed in love.
Say, stranger. where's your own pipe? I'll
git a coal Of fire cut here for 10 light it,"
Then he turned toward the house and
shouted "LizzieP'
Please don't trouble YOURSELF" said
Jack, hastily. "Idon't smoke"
The man looked sidewise, quickly and
snspiciousy
What's that? Don't smoker Well.
some don't, but it's pooty bad for 'em in
these parts. TubbackeE keeps off the chills
an fever"
Jack was about to unfold a theory which
he had formed since his arrival on the river.
that tobacco which every one seemed to
use, was probably one Of the causes of