Pawtucket tribune. (Pawtucket, R.I.) 1890-189?, 1893-07-22
SELECTED STORIES.
THE MAJORS STORY.

Major Corraway arrived on time last
Sunday, and Mollie and Jack soon had him
busy They were talking Of pets, and the
major astonished the little folk by this:
"Ive had tame bees even-in fact, my
bees used 10 be the wonder Of Siam, in
which country ! was stationed for three
years, having been commissioned by Brit
ish company 10 make study Of its climate
with view TO finding out IL il would pay
the company TO 90 into the ice business
there. Siam is, as you have probably heard,
very warm country, and as ice Is a rare
thing in warm countries these English peo-
| pie thought they might make vast for
tune by sending tugboats up to the Allan
| tic ocean, and with them capture and tow
icebergs to Siam, where they might be cut
up and sold TO the people at tremendous
| profit
1.-The scheme was certainly good one,
| and found many Of the wealthy Siamese
| quite willing TO subscribe for 100 pounds OF
| ice week at $40 pound, but IL never came
| TO anything because we had no means Of
| preserving the icebergs after we got them
into the gulf Of Siam. The water was so
hot that they melted before we could cut
them up, and we nearly got ourselves into
very serious trouble with the coast people
| for that same reason. An iceberg as you
| know, is a huge affair, and when dozen
or two Of them had melted In the gulf they
added so TO the quantity Of water there
that 80 miles of the coast line were com
pletely flooded and thousands OF valuable
fish, able TO live in warm water only, were
so chilled that they got pneumonia and
died. You can readily imagine how indig-
nant the Siamese fishermen were with my
ha haA 20 haa
but their affection for me personally was
so great that they promised not to sue the
company il would promise not to let the
thing occur again. This promised and all
went well. But about the bees-it was
while was living in Bangkok that had
them, and they were truly wonderful.
There was hardly anything those bees
couldn't do after got them tanned"
"How did you tame them, Uncle Majori"
asked Jack.
"Power Of the eye, my boy" returned the
major. II tanned the king bee, and when
he had learned all sorts Of funny little
tricks, such as standing on his head and
humming tunes, let him go back TO his
swarm. He was gone week, and then he
came back, he had grown to be so fond OF
me, as we'll he might, because fed him
well, giving him a large basket Of flowers
three times day Back with him came
1900 or 3 1000 other bees, and whatever Jang
did they did"
"Who was Jangf" asked Jack.
THAT was the first bees name-King
Jang. Jang is Siamese for Billie, and as /
was always fond of the name Billie called
him Jang. BY and by every bee in the lot
could hum The Star Spangled Banner and
Yankee Doodle as well as you or could,
and it was grand on those soft moonlight
nights we had there to sit ON the back
porch Of my pagoda and listen to my bee
orchestra discoursng sweet music. OF
course as soon AS Jang had learned TO hum
one tune IL was easy enough for him to
learn another, and before long the bee or
chestra could give us any bit of music we
wished to have. Then used to give mu-
sicales at my house, and all the Siamese
people from the king down asked to be In
vited, so that through my pets my home
became one OF the most attractive homes OF
all Asia,
"And the honey those bees made It was
the sweetest honey you ever tasted, and
every. morning when i got down to break
fast there was fresh bottleful for me-the
bees having made IL in the bottle itself
over night. They were the most grateful
pets i ever had, and once they saved my
life. They used to live In hive ! had
built for them in one corner of my room,
door In the house wide open and not be
afraid OF robbers because those bees were
there TO protect me. One night lion
broke loose from the royal zoo and while
trotting along the road looking for some
thing TO eat he saw my front door wide
open. In he walked and began TO sniff. He
shifted here, and he shifted there, but found
nothing but a pot of anchovy paste which
made him thirstier and hungfier than ever
So be ,prowled into the parlor and had his
appetite further aggravated by a bronze
statue Of the emperor of China had there.
He thought in the dim light that it was a
small sized human being, and he pounced
upon IL in minute. Well, of course he
couldn't make any headway trying to eat
bronze statue, and the more he tried the
more hungry and angry he got. He roared
until he shook the house and would un-
doubtedly have awakened me had 1t not
been that j am always a sound sleeper and
never wake until / have slept enough.
But the roaring OF the lion disturbed
the bees, and Jang buZzed out Of his hive
to see what was the matter Just as the lion
appeared at my bedroom door The intel
bgent insect saw in an instant what the
matter was, and he sounded the alarm for
the rest OF the bees, who came swarming
out OF the hives in response TO the sum-
mons. .Jang kept his eyes on the lion
meanwhile, and just as the prowler caught
sight OF your uncle peacefully snoring
away on the bed, dreaming of his boyhood,
and prepared to spring down upon him,
Jang buzzed over and sat down upon his
back, putting his sting where IL would do
the most good. The angry lion, who in a
moment would have fastened his teeth upon
me, turned with yelp of pain, and the bite
which was to have been mine wrought
havoc with his own back. Following
Jang's example, the other bees ranged
themselves in line over the lions broad
shoulders and stung him until he roared
with pain. Each time he was stung he
would whisk his head around like dog
after flea and bite himself, until finally
he had literally chewed himself up, when
he tainted from sheer exhaustion, and
was saved. You can imagine my surprise
when next morning l awakened to find a
dying hon In my room"
but, Uncle Major" said Mollie, "I
don't understand one thing about IL. IL
you was fast asleep while all this was hap
pening, how did you know that Jang did
those things"
"why, Jang told me himself" replied
the major calmly.
Gould he talki" cried Jack In amaze
ment.
mot as you and do" said the major.
"Of course not, but Jang could spell. l
taught him how. You see, reason it out
| this way: III a bee can be taught to sing
song, which Is only story in music, why
can't he be taught TO tell story in real
words' 1t was worth trying anyhow. and
tried. Jang was an apt pupil. He was
| the most intelligent bee | ever met, and IL
didn't take me more than month To teach
| him his letters, and when he once knew his
letters II was easy enough TO teach him
| how To spell.
| II got great big sheet and covered IL
with 20 squares, and In each of the squares
.s...I l..Ve Il.