Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1894-02-07
THE CURES BEES.


The most delightful garden which l
have ever known was that Of the village
cure. with whom as little boy at school
j used to spend my vacations, Such fine
cabbage beds, bordered with crisp, green
lettuce, ard all so carefully weeded, raked
and swept They were watered morning
and evening before sunrise and after sun
set from an old sandstone fountain, green
with mosses and water cress, from which
ESCAPED by thousand little holes threads
81 crystal and tiny singing rivulets. Sar-
rasin, the gravedigger, held the office VI
gardener. At fret this idea was offensive
70 my childish mind. The grass seemed to
smell Of death and the currant bushes to
taste OF the cemetery. Bnt in short time
forgot about this, as there was rarely
death in the village. Sarrasin often re-
marked that his title OF grayedigger was
more joke than anything else.
At the top OF the garden, back OF the old
fountain, was narrow strip of land, rath-
er a lonely sort Of place. where NJ. lie Cure
used TO pass every moment not occupied
with the duties of his sacred Office. From
: distance could watch him, IN company
with the gravedigger, always moving
about in an excited manner and making
the most remarkable gestures. They for
babe my appronch.
an. Ie Cure does not want you" Sara
sin said stThere are only beehives there.
In truth, these mysterious hives filed
the garden with buzzing bees, darting here
and there the livelong day, intoxicated
apparently with pollen from the heart OF
the hollyhocks. But why was forbidden
to look at the hives2 At what strange
work were the bees engaged in the com
pany OF priest and gravedigger? One aft
ernoon NJ. lie Cure and Sarrasin were called
quite distance away to bury an old wom-
an. Thus left Alone l could not control
my curiosity another moment. With 4
beating heart went straight to the for
hidden ground back of the fountain. There
/ found a plot OF dry, sandy soil, planted
with rosemary, lavender and every variety
Of herb. all having a grayish tint and siv-
ing forth a delicious Odor as they cracked
under foot. A thick cloud of bees, shining
like gold in the sunlight, indicated the
corner where the hives were located, for
Sarrasin had not lied to me--hives there
were indeed, but what hivesl
They bore not the slightest resemblance
to the elegant little pointed houses made
of straw in which the bourgeois bees lived,
nor yet to the hollow trunk of tree, with
a bit OF broken tile over the entrance to
serve as roof, the ordinary habitation of
wild swarms. Picture to yourself an odd
array of boxes, propped up one against an
other and only held in their places by
miracle of equilibrium; long boxes, arched
boxes, boxes looking like fabulous mon
pierced with holes, through which the bees
went in and out as TRANQUILITY as though
their homes were ordinary hives, but this
fact did not reassure me, and terrified by
the unnatural appearance of it all fed
back to the peaceful vegetable garden.
That evening, my vacation over, was
taken back to school, As time went on
almost forgot this incident. Sometimes if
happened to think of it asked myself if
it was not the hallucination of childish
brain.
Ten years later a chance walk took me
again to the village. l found the cure
broken in health and much older in APP
pearance The gravedigger was dead. The
little garden was almost wilderness of
herbs. but in the distance heard, as in
former days, the hum of bees. This re-
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