The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1896-02-05
LOVE And
HUMAN NATURE.
Tale Of a Short courtship Oh
the Mississippi River.
BY JOHN HABBERTON.
CHAPTER I.


thought he knew everything, yet he
knew only two things well-honey and
heredity. He got and sold more honey
from a given number of swarms OF bees
shan any other man in his native State,
a many reports Of county 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 it in order to have great deal
besides chance bloom for his bees to de-
pend upon, 30 besides getting more
honey than anyone else he never lost a
swarm Of bees by q strike against poor
browsing ground and O consequent NIL
grafton 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 In
formed him that The nobless 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 very level head, so
Jack had successfully and successfully
sized up every man in the village before
he himself was old enough to follow
plow. Az he gained years and knowl-
edge, he was taught by reason and in
stinct that woman, being OF the same
species as man, was also noble study.
He soon informed himself, with some
surprise and not a little indignation,
that woman was the harder study OF
the two; at least, he made more mis-
takes than had been his lot while con-
, templating the few men and boys OF
his native village. The same rules did
not seem to work; the girls who ought
to be incest, according to masculine
standards, did not amount to anything;
at any rate, they were not particularly
interesting, yet others, whose faces and
features wouldn't have promised any
thing in man, proved delightful COM
pany. In his desire to study more
carefully he made his acquaintance as
close as possible, and some girls were
30 mistaken as to his intentions that,
when disappointed, they had their
fathers or big brothers call Jack to ac-
count in way that caused his bones
to ache for some weeks. His attempts
to explain were laughed to scorn or
sworn at; 50 when his third difficulty of
the kind was manifestly impending, the
well-meaning but blundering youth
shook the dust Of his native town frorc
his feet, and made haste to bury him
self and his sorrows in Boston.
But change of base did not change his
business and mental bent. Althoughhe
took the first business chance that
offered, he often made a great detour on
his way between Office and boarding
house to take in the streets OF commits
sion merchants who dealt in honey, and
he fingered critically and lovingly over
the samples exposed to view. He
stndied people, too, though afar off. He
did not know the family history Of any
one whom he met in business or on the
streets, so he had to content himself
with studying physiognomy. There
must have been method in his madness,
for his employers found him quite use
full in sizing up" new customers, and
he had a promising future before him,
when chance newspaper paragraph
caused him to leave at short notice and
hurry to the South. 1t was not oues-
tiop of heredity that caused this move,
It was the report Of q new wrinkle in
the honey business. Up in the New
Hamshire hills, where Jack was
born and brought up, the sum-
mers are short and the winters
long, so the bees have short working
season and must have large part OF
their harvest left for their own sus-
tenance during the winter, Here came
@ story, however, Of fellow who put
up lot of hives on big scow, took
them away down the Mississippi below
New Orleans, about the end Of Febru-
sry, where everything came early into
bloom, and had himself towed about a
hundred miles each week, thus follow
Ing the blooming season and giving the
bees the best chance that nature could
provide for creatures whose instinct it
was to work so long as thero was any
thing to work upon. The plan sounded
sensible; if any one could make money
in that way he, Jack Brewster, with his
uneQualed 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-hives and
was moored 10 the levee Of the lower
Mississippi, within easy scent Of
great orange grove, and wondering why
he had never had the sense to think out
the new system for himself.
The bees attended strictly to busi-
ness; so did Jack, 80 long as there was
anything for him to do, yet he found
most of his time at his disposal and
nothing to do with. it. At first, as he
still knew everything, he determined to
do missionary work and teach the ma
They weren't bit like New Hampshire
people and didn't do anything in tho
way he had been taught TO do it, which,
~ tho mix, A
few endeavors in this direction taught
him q great deal, at much cost Of pa
fience to the good-natured natives; he
speedily learned, too, that New Hamp
shire dash and nervousness were en-
tirely out Of place if he expected to
keep his health and temper, SO he
dropped back into his old habit Of study
ing human nature. Not many people
live directly on the banks Of the Missis-
sippi, and the few who are there know
all about their peighhors. like the in
habitants Of small neighborhoods else
where; so Jack soon heard all the gos-
sIp OF whatever locality he and his
honey makers chanced to be visiting
for the week. The tales did not differ
much from those he had heard at home
ever since he was boy; they could all
be traced back to the few sentiments
which underlie pretty much everything
that human nature does or has done
since the world began. but because the
dialect ard surroundings were different
Jack soon determined, like every other
modern Yankee who had gone South, to
write book about 1t.
There certainly were some differences,
however, in the people be now saw and
$boua from whom ha cane and the one