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6 (654) T H I
Our Boys
,
JOHNNY AND THE BEE.
"0 Johnny, you are a lazy boy," said his
auntie as she watched him weed the onion bed.
"Why, if that little bee were big enough to do
your job and had been given it, he would have
had it done long ago, for he is busy all the time.
Don't you know, Johnny, that when you fiddle
over a job you make it twice as hard? Now look
at the bee; it goes from flower to flower and
never wastes a minute, and then, when it has all
the honev it can carry, otf it goes to the hive
without being told. Surely you ought to be as
able 1o work as a little bee. Why, a bee earns
its own living, and that is more than you can
do."
Johnny began ashing questions about the bees,
which auntie answered; then, telling him to hurry
with his work before the sun became too hot,
she left him. Lazy Johnny weeded one more
row and then decided that he must have a rest
and an apple, so over he went to'the apple tree
and threw himself down on the gross. "That's
all stuff auntie was tilling me about bees," he
told himself. "She can always find something
to compare a fellow to, but that bee business?T
can't swallow that."
Just then he heard a buzzing noise, and a bee
>ettled in a dandelion not far away, and the
i J '"i- i J?J'
iiuiiiiuT. liiiiik ii?|>pt*ntni. 1 nai aunoeuon oegan
to prow bigg?r and bigger until it was as
big as a tub. and that boo became larger and
larger unril it was as lone as Johnny was tall.
But. funniest of all, the bee began to talk.
"Hello, Johnny Slow Poke! Have you finished
weeding your oi.ion bed yet?"
"No, I haven't," answered Johnny; "but that
is none of your business."
?
"0 you're a saucy boy as well as a lazy one,'
answered the bee. "Well, f could sting you real
hard for speaking to me like that, but 1 won't;
1 urill ti'w tn i>/mi ~? ? "
* ??**?. i/i j iv* man juu UVIU'1 IXiailJlClD.
"I thought you were such a busy fellow that
you would not have time to stop and talk,"
answered the saucy hoy.
"Well, I have my pocket filled with honey,
so I will stop long enough to tell you a few
things about busy bees. I heard you say that
you do not believe all the stuff your aunt was
telling you."
"Well, go ahead," said Johnny.
"Well, in the first place, my companions and
myself gather all the honev our nueen. our
drones, our babies, and ourselves eat, and what a
great many people eat also. We make bee bread
out of honey and pollen to feed our babies. We
also make the wax for our honeycombs, and then
make the combs. When our hives become stuffy
for want of air, some of us turn ourselves into
fans and fan the air into the hive. We wait on
our queen and make wax nests for her in which
to lay her eggs, and then we attend to the baby
bees when they are hatched. We never stop from
morning until night; and if you do not think
this is true, come over to Mr. Brown's farm,
where iny hive home is, and watch us work and
. ask Mr. Brown to tell vou about us. Now you'd
better finish your onion bed, for I must away
with my heavy load."
Away flew the bee, and Johnny rubbed his
eyes and looked at the dandelion on which the
bee had. sat. and it had crown small again. "T
wonder if I was asleep." thought the boy as he
went back to his onion bed and worked so hard
lhat he finished in a very short time. After
dinner he asked his auntie and received permission
to go over ro Mr. Brown's farm. Mr.
S PRESBYTERIAN OF THE SOt
*
and Girls i!
i i
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? ,,i
Brown was only too pleased to let Johnny watch
the bees, and he tohl him many interesting things
about them, and Johnny found that all the
things the bee had told him were true. Mr.
Brown also told him that if two queens arc al
towed to remain in a hive the bees will quarrel
and divide, part of them leaving with one of the
queens. Wherever the queen settles, on tree,
chimney, bush, or man. there the runaways will
settle in a hunch around her, and thev are verv
easdv captured and put in a box. Thus anotber
beehive is started. Johnny saw the queen
of one of the hives and noticed that she had a
much longer body than the workers or the
drones. As Johnnv watebed the bees through a
srlass window which Mr. Brown had put in one
< f the hives ir??t for that purpose, be heeran to
the husv bees were about the busiest thinprs
lie had ever seen and the drones about the
laziest. Tfe heirnn to be vcrv much distrusted
with the drones. and then a sudden thomrht
struck him.
"Why, there are lota of hoys and crirls just
like those drones, who cret out of doincr all the
work they ean. Why, T helieve T have heen a
drone hoy myself! "Well, T won't he after this."
Johnny's relatives were mneh surprised to see
him suddenly, chancre from a very lazv hov into
quite a little worker; and if ever he was tempted
to shirk his work, the sight of a hee would
make him hustle.?Gertrude M. Neil, in the
Christian Guardian.
A MOHAMMEDAN GIRL'S WEDDING.
Though I've been in Egypt ten years. I saw
la->t week for the first time the wedding ceremonies
of a Mohammedan girl. This does not
mean that nobody has been married lately, but
just that I was not fortunate to get an invitation
before. This girl had been a regular attendant
at our l'ttle weekly prayer meeting.
Now she will come no more, for she is not al.owed
to put her foot over her husband's doorstep.
Such is the free and untranmieled life
fA .. 3-- i*r ? * ?
u. Kiuufluuuruau wtJiniiu i vvoil 1(1 you Diame
lhcm if they turned suffragettes? Wei!, let's
get to the wedding.
We entered a room and had to wedge our way
through a solid mass of humanity, mostly small
girls, to the corner where chairs were placed for
us. We found ourselves just opposite from the
musicians, three hard-faced, much-bedizened
women, with no character to lose. Two had tambourines
and one heat a sort of drum, while all
three sang in shrill, high-pitched voices the
praises of the prospective bride and groom. The
girls and women seemed to enjoy the music, although
not in breathless silence. At frequent
intervals the music stopped, and each of the
musicians had a cup of very strong coffee and a
cigarette. During this pause 1hey indulged in
witticisms which brought forth much laughter.
One of them amused the children by darting her
tongue out at them so far that it seemed as if
it must he like that tongue referred to in my
childhood?loose at hoth ends. After about,
three hours of this singing, the singers, followed
by all present, went to the room, where the bride
was sitting in state to escort her to the "drawing-room."
T had slipped in some time before
to see her and incidentally to escape the music.
She was looking very fine in a bright pink dress
trimmed with a great deal of white lace and pink
ribbons. Her hair, put up for the first time,
was ornamented with a number of bejcwelel
combs and a "diamond" tiara. She looked very
r T H [ July 16, 191J
warm and uncomfortable. She was surrounded
by her girl friends. On the invitation to come
lorth, she rose; and her four bridesmaids, two on
each side, locked arms and danced with her in
a very slow and dignified way to the hall and on
the other room. Here the ceremony of the
"henna" began. The leaves of the henna plant
were crushed and inade into a brown dye. With
1 i i ?
ima in*: unuf s nj'L'urowB, iasnes, unger naus, ana
toe nails were stained. All the others in the
room went through a like process; and as all
the little girls of the neighborhood came in for
an application, it took a long while. The rest
of the day was given up to sitting in state and
feasting. All this happened at the bride's
house. On the next day but one she was escorted
to the groom's house, closely veiled, so that
no man might see her beauty. She was taken
into an inner room. The groom and his friends
were outside with the religions official who makes
out the marriage certificate. This was signed
uy tlie groom. The bride was asked if she was
willing to Take the man; and when she gave her
consent, thejr were considered married and were
ready for congratulations. After that sweet
drinks were passed around, and more feasting
was indulged in. After the friends left, the
groom saw tor the tirst time the bride of his
choice. We went two days after the wedding
to call on the bride; and her mother-in-law asked
ns a very sarcastic tone, pointing a scornful
finger at the poor, shrinking little bride, "Do
you call that a bride T" We tried to persuade the
old lady that the bride had her good points, but
in the end got a grudging. "0, she might be
worse" from the mother-in-law.
From there we went to two other houses, in
each of which was a bride. One was a real
Deautv?sparkling blue eyes, with the red of a
damask rose in her cheeks, beautiful curling
iiair. and with a buoyancy and aplomb that fewEgyptian
brides achieve. In a few mimites the
sweet drinks were served, then the bride lighted
a cigarette and almost forced it into my mouth.
Knowing that my scruples would not appeal to
her, T urged the fact that it would make me very
siek. She desisted and then stuck the cigarette
into her own mouth, and was soon 'blowing smoke
out of her nose with an ease a bearded youth
might envy. As she smoked we explained how
bad it was for her health. She told us she could
not live without it?had to smoke the first thing
in the morning. "We further learned that this
was her second venture in the matrimonial waj";
she had already been divorcd once. And all this
wealth of worldly-wiseness in a girl of sixteen!
As we left we asked if we might come again to
eall, to which she replied in loud, cheerful tones:
"O, yes! You are always welcome Come every
day." This is the first time in a Moslem house
that. T have seen the mother-in-law completely
overshadowed, but the one in this house scarcely
opened her mouth.
On the way home I passed a vacant lot, and
there was a small hov seated in the midst of a
garbage heap, gruliiri.fr through it lilrc an alley
cat and handing out -the choice hits to his baby
brother, scarcely larcre enough to stand alone.
And T +VimirfVi+ +/-> miraolf.
?..m ? w w jiynvu utcii at mat, tucir
bodies are beinsr better cared for and nourished
than their poor, necrlected sonls, and they are
two amone millions." O. the myriad of wailinpr
cries that nscpnd to the prreat white throne!
"No man eareth for my son!.'* Do we hear the
echo of $iat ervf What is onr answer? Is it
the one that Cain of old crave, or shall we have
compassion on them libe onr Savionr hecanse
tTiov spom to ns ns "sTioop tinvincr no stippTiordf*'
?Mr*, r S. Roll, in flip Vvitcfi Pre fibyl prion.
Whop oaoTi man is tmo to ihimsoK. thon must
all tTiincrs prosper.?TTorhert Sppneor.