Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1917-02-23
HE CUT A
BEE TREE
By M. QUAD
Copyright 1919, by the Mcclure
Newspaper Syndicate,

ut was Sunday mawnln', My wife
said to me,
'Hcb, this Is my day fur readn' the
Bible, but | have lost my spcctacles
soleWhar an can't llnd 'em jlst now
wouldn't You like to read a chapter
fur mcY
i don't feel like readln' nuthln,' /
replied, I've got mean streak on
me nm hon't Gttln' to read to any
body, 'm wlshln' this mawnlr' that
! Nas sumbodys dawg,'
Mebbe yOu'll feel better with the
Bible In your hand, she coaxed. But
1t was no use, | felt meaner and
mcaner an / waved her back TO the
cabin, AFTER II few minlts mo- IL
struck me that | would go up on the
side Of the mountlngs AN cut down
n bee tree that | knowcd OF. had
bin TO 1t three or fO' times, an as 1t
was big holer tree | was shore that
1t held Il heap o honey, | could sell
that honey fur cash In town.
II sharpencd up the aX an was
about TO move Off when the ole woman
cum out ag'm an said; Xeb, you are
goin' to wander in the woods on the
laWd's day, AN jist what you're goin'
TO do with that AK | don't know. But
it's all wickedncss, Zcb. Everybody
orter respect the Sabbath day an keep
1t holy
My mcanneSs was so mean that |
Shouldcrcd the aX an whistlcd to my
dawg an walked away widout another
word.
1T was In the month Of September,
an thar had bin a frost the night befo'.
The chill Of the mawnln' kept the bees
at home, an not one could see when
J got to the tree, knOwcd they were
thar, however, an pulled off my coat
an went to work. ! was goin TO have it
fall across big log ana split itself wide
open. II thar was n heap o honey thar
! would 20 back to the cabin an lit q
WaShtub to hold it. Mcbbc | wouldn't
feel 50 mean then an | would aX the
wife to cum back wild me an help
carry the tub
"lf it had bin hot mawnin' the bees
would have cum buZ2in' wild the fust
stroke Of the aX, but as it was | didn't
see marry an inSeck till arter the tree
fell. She split open iiSt as hoped fur,
an then about n million of those bees
cum out at once. Mcbbc they didn't
see me at fuSt an that was the reason
they sailed round an round in great
cloud. reckoned ii was five minits
hcfO' the fuSt bee lighted on me. lie
wasn't mad, an he didn't sting. Then
another an another came, an befo' |
could count n hundred quart of the
pcsky varmintS had settled on me.
"Mebbc you know nuff about bees
stranger to know that when they set
tie on You you mustn't go to fightin
back, If you keep mighty quiet they |
will all leave when they git ready an !
no harm will be done to you. These
bees, an thar seemed to be thousands |
Of 'cm. settled down on me out Of be-
Stranger. | may live to he n hun
drcd vars old, but I'll never he in any |
wuss situation. The weight of those
inScckS must have bin twenty pounds
or over, an some of them crawled
down the back of my neck. an some
craWlcd up the legs of my trousers.
had TO call up all my grit to keep
from yellin'. When | looked ahead
an thought they might be wild me fur
hours an hours | wanted to cry like
boy.
You see, sub, | couldn't expect any
nan to be wanderin' through the
woods, an, as fur my wife, she was a
nile away, an had she wanted to
search fur me she would not know
Nhar to look. | figgered it out an
'eckoned | was in fur the whole day.
a full hour had gone by an the
ices had settled down on me as if fur
long rest when | heard sumthin'
novin' through the bresh. 1t might
)c a bar who had smelled the honey
IN was comm fur his share of it. or
might be a coon or wOodcOck. |
Jared not turn my head to see if could
make out what caused the noise, but '
" an by, whatever animal it was, it
ot Skeercd an moved away. | reck-
ned it was half an hour arter this
then | heard soft footsteps an was
ever so happy in my life when heard
he voice of the ole woman sayin' to
lie:
"Zeb, l was lookin' fur you, an |
ound you some time ago. You seem
} be in bad fix
&" I am l replied, an what am l
wine to do about it?'
'Zeb, have you got over your mean.
ess? Is it all gomez
" Every burned bit of it,
" 'Wal, | was here befo' an seen
st how you was fixed. | brung up
id me this time a big torch, an as
ION as | kin strike a match | will