Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1901-12-14
THE DAILY
SHORT STORY.
The Scribbling Bees.

school I used TO spend my vacations.
Such fine cabbage beds. bordered
with crisp green lettuce. and all so
carefully weeded. ralled and swept!
They were watered morning and
evening before sunrise and after sun
set from an old sandstone fountain.
green with MOSES and water cress.
from which escaped by thousand lit
tie holes threads OF crystal and tiny
singing rivulets.
Sarrasin. the Gravedigger. held the
office Of gardener. At first this idea
was offensive TO my childish mind. The
grass seemed to smell of death and the
currant bushes TO taste OF the GENE
terry.
But in a short time / forgot about
this, as there was rarely death In
the village. Sarrasin often remarked
that his title OF gravedigger was more
n joke than anything else.
At the top OF the garden. back of the
old. fountain. was a narrow strip OF
land. rather a lonely sort of place.
where NJ. lie Cure used to pass every
moment not occupied with the duties
OF his sacred office.
From n distance / could watch him
I'm company with the gravedigger. al
ways moving about in an excited man.
ner and making the most remarkable
gestures. They forbade my approach.
an. lie Cure does not want you"
Sarrasin said. There are only bee
hives there"
In truth these mysterious hives filed
the garden with buzzinS bees. darting
here and there the iivelong day, intox-
icated apparently with pollen from the
heart of the hollyhocks.
But why was I forbidden to look At
the hives?
At what strange work were the bees
engaged i'm the company Of priest
! and n gravedigger?
One afternoon NJ. lie Cure and Sara
sin were called quite a distance away
to bury all old woman. Thus lett
alone. l could not control my curiosity
another moment. With n beating
heart | went straight TO the forbidden
ground back of the fountain. There
found n plot of dry. sandy soil. plant
ed with rosemary. lavender and every
variety OF herb. all giving a grayish
tint and giving forth delicious odor
as they cracked underfoot. thick
sunlight. indicated the corner where
the hives were located. for Sarrasin
had not lied to me-hives there were
indeed. but what hives!
Picture to yourself an odd array Of
boxes. propped up one against another
and only held in their places by miri
acle of equilibrium; long boxes. arched
boxes, boxes looking like fabulous
monsters with arms and beaks! They
were all pierced with holes through
which the bees went in and out as
TRANQUILITY as though their homes were
ordinary hives. but this fact did no:
reassure me. and. terrified by the I'M
natural appearance of it all | fed
back to the peaceful vegetable garden.
Ten years later a chance walk took
me again to the village. / found the
cure broken in health and much older
in appearance. The gravedigger was
dead. The little garden was almost
wilderness OF herbs. but in the dis
lance 1 heard, as in former days. the
hum of bees. This recalled my ad-
venture. and I resolved TO make n
clean breast of IL.
On questioning the old cure he began
me his hives. There they were i'm the
same lonely little strip of land behind
the fountain. all having the same odd
shapes which had startled my childish
eyes years before.
1T is an idea of mine" said the
cure. 81 have worked over it for
twenty years. 1t has cost me quite a
sum of money and n great deal of time.
but l still hope for success"
Can you guess what the old man was
working for and what had turned his
hair prematurely white?
will bet ten TO one that you must
give 1t up.
He was determined to make his bees
write I'm letters or honey, "Vive Fem
pereurP 1t was for this end they had
slipped Tie dew OF morning. darting
hither and thither in the green valley,
gorging themselves with pollen and
gathering liquid amber. All. IL the
bees had knownI But the bees did not
know.
In his office OF cure the old priest had
always had a certain amount of am
bition and in the evolution OF what he
called his idea had nourished the most
chimerical hopes. The thirteen letters
once completed. he intended to nail
them, yellow as the sunshine and en-
broidered in the fine hexagonal cells.
on II board. the front of which should
be carved to represent the Arc de Tri-
omphe. This achievement should be
exhibited in Paris. and the emperor
could not do less than accord him
medal and make him an honorary can
on.
But what endless trouble he had to
arrive ut this RESULT These impish
bees were so capricious! Certain let
tiers displeased them = no one knew
why. The Inhabitants of an L or an z
would find their winding. twisted
dwelling unnatural and inconvenient
and would desert It. and there were
other annoyances. The V Of vive was
already spoiled and running to waste.