Evening star., 1928-12-24
WORLD FAMOUS STORIES
A DREAM OF WILD BEES
BY OLIVE SCHREINER.

oys schreinsE sotS or Mrs CrG}nwrght
Probably bly, her si;' most famous % book T is The The;
Story of an African Farm.D
A mother sat alone at an open WIN
dow. Through it came the voices of
the children as they played under the
acacia trees and the breath of the hot
afternoon air. In and out of the room
flew the bees, the wild bees, with their
legs yellow with pollen, going to and
from the acacia trees, droning all the
while
She sat on a low chair before the
table and darned. She took her work
from the great basket that stood before
her on the table; some lay on her knee
and half covered the book that rested
there. She watched the needle 60 in
and out, and the dreary hum Of the
bees and the noise of the children's
voices became a confused murmur In
her ears as she worked slowly and more
slowly.
Then the bees, the long-legged, wasp
like fellows who make no honey, few
closer and closer to her head, droning.
Then she grew more and more drowSy,
and she laid her hand, with the stock
ing over it, on the edge of the table
and leaned her head upon 1t. And the
voices of the children outside grew
more and more dreamy. came now far,
now near; then she did not hear them,
but she felt under her heart where the
ninth child lay. Bent forward and
sleeping there, with the bees flying
about her head, she had weird brain
picture; she thought the bees length
ened and heightened themselves out and
became human creatures and moved
round and round her. Then one came
to her softly, saying:
Let me lay my hand upon thy side
where the child sleeps. II shall touch
him he shall be as l."
She asked, who are you?"
And he said: II am Health. Whom
I touch will have always the red blood
dancing in his veins; he will not know
weariness nor pain; life will be a long
laugh to him.
mo" said another, "let me touch, for
I am Wealth. If I touch him material
care shall not feed on him. He shall
live on the blood and sinews Of his fell
low men, if he will, and what his eye
lusts for his hand will have. He shall
not know I want" And the child lay
still like lead.
And another said: "Let me touch
him. I am Fame. The man I touch
lead to a high hill where all men see
him. When he dies he is not forgotten;
his name rings down the centuries;
each echoes it on to his fellows. Think
not to be forgotten through the ages!"
And the mother lay breathing stead
lily, but in the brain picture they pressed
closer to her.
Let me touch the child" said one,
"for am Love If I touch him he
shall not walk through life alone. In
the greatest dark, when he puts out his
hand he shall find another hand by it..
When the world Is against him another
shall say, You and T." And the child
trembled.
But another pressed close and said:
LET me touch, for am Talent. ! can
do all things-that have been done be-
fore. I touch the soldier, the states
man, the thinker and the politician
who succeed, and the writer who Is
never before his time and never behind
it, If I touch the child he shall not
weep for failure"
About the mothers head the bees
were flying, touching her with their
long, tapering limbs, and in her brain
picture, out of the shadow of the room
came one with sallow face, deep lined.
the cheeks drawn into hoilows, and a
mouth smiling quiyeringly. He stretched