The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1900-07-01

he kept on until he had eaten the
whole box full.
"'Nfus' have mother box said the
elder in a sort of husky voice. 'Bes'
honey in world
well, the good old elder ate three
boxes of honey, and then he fell down
in heap in a corner of the green
house and went to sleep, murmuring,
Want one more honey. Bes' honey
ever made
tom was terribly shocked, for he
thought the elder must have been
tanking up before he came after the
honey. The next week, though, class
a. of the Sunday school went on a
picnic, and after getting away with
six boxes of Toms honey that picnic
broke up in a row. in which the teach
er of the class referred to the minister
as 'long-bearded billy goat. Then
the minister began to suspect Toms
honey had something to do with it.
He called on Tom and found him out
in the greenhouse filling up a saucer
with whiskey for delegation of
thirsty bees. The good man was
shocked.
"'Tom, Tom he sighed, TO think
a scandal in the church and the down
fall of so many formerly respectable
bees. You must either give up feed
ing those degenerate bees Pike coun-
ty whiskey or leave the church,
well, Tom tried to argue the mat
ter, but the man of God was firm. 1t
was case of choosing between bees
and blessings and Tom took the bees.
1T would be cruelty to animals
and depriving myself of good honey
to shut off on their liquor at this stage
of the game. 1t amt the fault of those
honest, if hilarious, bees, that people
take too much of my honey
"The minister warned Tom that no
good would come of money earned
that way, and the next Sunday the
minister and Elder Brown combined
forces and had Tom expelled from the
church. But Tom hardened his heart
and said he didn't care.
"'With the help of a growing bank
account and my industrious, though
thirsty bees, | guess | can worry
through the winter without the help
of either the minister or Elder Brown,
said Tom defiantly.
but, pride goeth before a fall as
the good book says, and Tom didn't
appreciate what a danger he was run
ming in turning his bees into little an
mated distilleries.
ga bee hive where the inmates are
afflicted with delireum tremens is a
bad game to go against | told him.
Even the thirstiest of honey gather
ers can't stand the amount of liquor
! you are pouring into those bees
TON only sneered and said he
could run his hives without the aid
of minister, elder or deacon, so | left
| him to follow the promptings of his
| greedy nature.
Zone day the crash came. The bees
had been acting queer and nervous,
and on this day, instead of going to
work after getting their allowance
of whislley, they flew about in an
aimless sort of way. All of a sudden
a big bee gave an unusually loud buzz
and pumped up against the glass of
the greenhouse. That started them all
off, and in less than a minute the green
house was full of crazy bees. flying
in all directions, and singing whateveg
they bumped against And by the
time Tom escaped from the green
house so many of them had come up
against him that his face looked like
the experiment ground for new har-
how.
''That was practically the end of
Toms whiskey fed honey bees, for
those who didn't die as the result Of
the tremens were never any good at
gathering honey. But was Tom re-
pentant? Not bit.
'Whiskey is too strong for honey
bees he said regretfully. Next win
ter I'll feed my bees on beer