The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1900-07-03

he kept on until he had eaten the
whole box full.
Mus have mother box said the
elder in a sort of a husky voice. 'Bes
honey in world
We'll. the good old elder ate three
boxes of honey, and then he fell down
III q heap in a corner OF the green
house and went to sleep, ~murmuring.
Want one more honey. Bcs' honey
ever made
Tom was terribly shocked. for he
thought the elder must have been
tanking rp before he came after the
honey. The next week. though. class
\. 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 a '!one-bearded billy goat Then
the minister began to suspect Toms
honey had something to do with it..
lie called on Tom and found him out
IN the greenhouse filling up a saucer
with whiskey for a delegation Of
thirsty bees. The good man was
shocked.
Tom, Tom he sighed. to think
that YOU should be the cause OF such
q II in the church and the down
1aIl OF SO many formerly Respectable
bees. You must either give up feed
ing those degenerate bees Pike coun-
~ whiskey or leave the church,
well, Tom tried to argue the mat
ter, but the man Of God was firm. 1t
was a case of choosing between beCS
and blessings and Tom took the bees.
1t would be cruelty to animals
and depriving myself of good honey
IN cI,,4 81 -, +lo..
Of the game. 1t ain't the fault Of thos
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 tn,
church. But Tom hardened his hear
and said he didn't care.
with the help of a growing banl
account and my Industrious, though
thirsty bees, ] guess | can worrI
through the winter without the hell
of either the minister or Elder Brown,
said Tom detiantly.
But, pride goeth before Il fall a!
the good book says, and Tom didn'
appreciate what a danger he was run
Mug in turning his bees into little an
lmated dlStIlIerlcS.
ga bee hive where the inmates ar
afflicted with delireum trennens is
bad game to 90 against. | told him
Even the thirStiest of honey gather
crs can't stand the amount Of liquo
: you are pouring into those bees
"Tom only sneered and said h
: could run his hives without the al
t of minister. elder or deacon, 50 ! lcf
him to follow the promptings of hi
greedy nature.
"One day the crash came. The bee
| had been acting queer and nervous
and on this day, instead of going t
work after getting their ]allowanc
s OF whiskey. they flew about in a
: aimless sort of way. All of a sudde
: u big bee gave an unusually loud buz
: and pumped up against the glass G
/ the greenhouse. That started them a
off, and in less than a minute the gree
| house was full of crazy bees. fiyin
in all directions, and singing whateve
e they bumped against. And by til
9 time Tom escaped from the greer
house so MANY Of them had come II
e against him that his face looked lk
the experiment ground for a new ha-
t how.
THAT was practically the end {
Toms whiskey fed honey bees, fo
V those who didn't die as the result {
c the tremens were never any good I
gathering honey. But VAS Tom T.
p%entant? Not a bit.
l. "'Whiskey is too strong for hone
n bees he SAID respectfully. Next vii
ter I'll feed my bees on beer