Charlotte M. Yonge - "Under the Storm"

Jean de La Fontaine - "The Tales and Novels, v17: The Progress of Wit &c"

Mary C.E. Wemyss - "The Professional Aunt"

Charles Hose and William McDougall - "The Pagan Tribes of Borneo"

New Philadelphia Book Publisher Highlights Local Talent
Book and Publishing News from Publishers Newswire(tm)

Looking for Child to be on Cover of a New Book, 'The Model Child'
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. -- The Philadelphia literary world will celebrate the launch of two new players today, April 10th: Kay Square Press, a new publishing company focused on Philadelphia-area artists, their stories, and their art; and Kay Square's first release, 'With the Rich and Mighty: Emlen Etting of Philadelphia' (ISBN: 978-0-9815129-0-7), a critical biography by Kenneth C. Kaleta.

FlatSigned Press Alleges Don Imus Remarks Damage Legacy of President Gerald R. Ford
NEW YORK, N.Y. -- Nathan Yungerberg, an accomplished model scout and professional child photographer is launching a nation-wide casting call to find the cover model for his highly anticipated book release, 'The Model Child: A Parents Guide to the Child Modeling Industry' (ISBN: 978-0-9817018-0-6).

Books: The Junior Classics Volume 8

S >> Selected and arranged by William Patten >> The Junior Classics Volume 8




"And now _my_ work begins," said the Queen, and she heaved a
deep sigh; for her work was the hardest work of all. She sat down
in the middle of the hive and began to lay her eggs. She laid great
heaps of them, and the Bees were kept very busy running with the
little eggs in their mouths and carrying them into the new cells.
Each egg had a little cell to itself; and when they had all been
put in their places, the Queen gave orders to fix doors to all the
cells and shut them fast.

"Good!" she said, when this was done. "I want you now to build me
ten fine big rooms in the out-of-the-way parts of the hive."

The Bees had them ready in no time, and then the Queen laid ten
pretty eggs, one in each of the big rooms, and the doors were fixed
as before. Every day the Bees flew in and out, gathering great
heaps of honey and flower-dust; but in the evening, when their work
was done, they would open the doors just a crack and have a peep at
the eggs.

"Take care," the Queen said one day. "They are coming!" And all the
eggs burst at once, and in every cell lay a pretty little Bee Baby.

"What funny creatures!" said the young Bees. "They have no eyes,
and where are their legs and wings?"

"They are Grubs," said the Queen. "You simpletons looked just like
that yourselves once upon a time. One must be a Grub before one can
become a Bee. Be quick now, and give them something to eat." The
Bees bestirred themselves to feed the little ones, but they were
not equally kind to them all. The ten, however, that lay in the
large cells got as much to eat as ever they wanted, and every day a
great quantity of honey was carried in to them.

"They are Princesses," said the Queen, "so you must treat them
well. The others you can stint; they are only working people, and
they must accustom themselves to be content with what they can
get." And every morning the poor little wretches got a little piece
of Bee bread and nothing more, and with that they had to be
satisfied, though they were ever so hungry.

In one of the little six-sided cells close by the Princesses'
chambers lay a little tiny Grub. She was the youngest of them all,
and only just come out of the egg. She could not see, but she could
plainly hear the grown-up Bees talking outside, and for a while she
lay quite still and kept her thoughts to herself. All at once she
said out loud, "I could eat a little more," and she knocked at her
door.

"You have had enough for to-day," answered the old Bee who was
appointed to be head Bee Nurse, creeping up and down in the passage
outside.

"Maybe, but I am hungry!" shouted the little Grub. "I will go into
one of the Princesses' chambers; I have not room to stir here."

"Just listen to her!" said the old Bee mockingly. "One would think
by the demands she makes that she was a fine little Princess. You
are born to toil and drudge, my little friend. You are a mere
working Bee, and you will never be anything else all your days."

"But I want to be Queen!" cried the Grub, and thumped on the door.
Of course the old Bee did not answer such nonsense, but went on to
the others. From every side they were calling out for more food,
and the little Grub could hear it all.

"It is hard, though," she thought, "that we should have to be so
hungry." And then she knocked on the Princess' wall and called to
her, "Give me a little of your honey. Let me come into your
chamber. I am lying here so hungry, and I am just as good as you."

"Are you? Just you wait till I am a reigning Queen," said the
Princess. "You may be sure that when that time comes I shall not
forget your impertinence." But she had scarcely said this before
the other Princesses began to cry out in the most dreadful manner.

"_You_'re not going to be Queen! _I_ shall be Queen!
_I_ shall be Queen!" they shrieked all together, and they
began to knock on the walls and make a frightful disturbance.

The head Bee Nurse came running up in an instant and opened the
doors. "What are your graces' orders?" she asked, dropping a curtsy
and scraping the ground with her feet.

"More honey!" they shouted, all in one voice. "But me first--me
first. I am the one who is to be queen."

"In a moment, in a moment, your graces," she answered, and ran off
as fast as her six legs could carry her. She soon came back with
many other Bees. They were dragging ever so much honey, which they
crammed down the cross little Princesses' throats. And then they
got them to hold their tongues and lie still and rest.

But the little Grub lay awake, thinking over what had happened. She
longed so much for some honey that she began to shake the door
again. "Give me some honey! I can't stand it any longer. I am just
as good as the others."

The old Bee tried to hush her. "Hold your tongue, little bawler!
The Queen's coming." And at the same moment the Queen Bee came.

"Go your ways," she said to the Bees; "I wish to be alone."

For a long time she stood in silence before the Princesses'
chambers. "Now they are lying there asleep," she said at last.
"From morning till evening they do nothing but eat and sleep, and
they grow bigger and fatter every day. In a few days they will be
full grown, and will creep out of their cells. Then my turn will be
over. I know that too well. I have heard the Bees saying to one
another that they would like to have a younger and more beautiful
Queen, and they will chase me away in disgrace. But I will not
submit to it. To-morrow I will kill them all; then I can remain
Queen till I die."

Then she went away. But the little Grub had heard all she said.

"Dear me!" she thought; "it is really a pity about the little
Princesses. They are certainly very uppish, and they have not been
nice to me, but still it would be sad if the wicked Queen killed
them. I think I will tell the old growler outside in the passage
all about it."

She began once more knocking at the door, and the head Bee Nurse
came running up, but this time she was fearfully angry. "You must
mind what you are doing, my good Grub," she said. "You are the
youngest of them all, and you are the worst for making a noise.
Next time I shall tell the Queen."

"First listen to me," said the Grub, and she told her about the
Queen's wicked design.

"Good gracious! is that true?" cried the old Nurse, and beat her
wings in horror. And without hearing a word more, she hurried off
to tell the other Bees.

"I think I deserve a little honey for what I have done," said the
little Grub. "But I can now lie down and sleep with a good
conscience."

Next evening, when the Queen thought that all the Bees were in bed,
she came to kill the Princesses. The Grub could hear her talking
aloud to herself. But she was quite afraid of the wicked Queen, and
dared not stir. "I hope she won't kill the Princesses," she
thought, and squeezed herself nearer to the door to hear what
happened.

The Queen looked cautiously round on all sides, and then opened the
first of the doors. But at the same moment the Bees swarmed out
from all directions, seized her by the legs and wings, and dragged
her out. "What is the matter?" she cried. "Are you raising a
rebellion?"

"No, your majesty," answered the Bees, with great reverence; "but
we know that you are intending to kill the Princesses, and
_that_ you shall not be allowed to do. What would become of us
in the autumn after your majesty's death?"

"Let me go!" cried the Queen, and tried to get away. "I am Queen
now anyway, and have the power to do what I like. How do you know
that I shall die in the autumn?" But the Bees held her fast, and
dragged her outside the hive. There they set her free, but she
shook her wings in a passion and said to them,--

"You are disloyal subjects, who are not worth ruling over. I
won't stay here an hour longer, but I will go out into the world and
build a new nest. Are there any of you who will come with me?"

Some of the old Bees, who had been Grubs at the same time as the
Queen, declared that they would follow her. And soon after they
flew away.

"Now we have no Queen," said the others, "we must take good care of
the Princesses." And so they crammed them with honey from morning
till night; and they grew, and grabbed, and squabbled, and made
more noise each day than the day before.

As for the little Grub, no one gave a single thought to her.

One morning the doors of the Princesses' chambers flew open, and
all ten of them stepped out, beautiful full-grown Queen Bees. The
other Bees ran up and gazed at them in admiration. "How pretty they
are!" they said. "It is hard to say which is the most beautiful."

"_I_ am!" one cried.

"You make a mistake," said another, and stabbed her with her sting.

"You are rather conceited," shrieked a third. "I imagine that
_I_ am rather prettier than you are." And immediately they all
began calling out at once, and soon after began to fight with one
another as hard as ever they could.

The Bees would have liked to separate them, but the old head Bee
Nurse said to them,--"Let them go on fighting; then we shall see
which of them is the strongest, and we will choose her to be our
Queen. We can't do with more than one."

At this the Bees formed round in a ring and looked on at the
battle. It lasted a long time, and it was fiercely fought. Wings
and legs which had been bitten off were flying about in the air,
and after some time eight of the Princesses lay dead upon the
ground. The two last were still fighting. One of them had lost all
her wings, and the other had only four legs left.

"She will be a poor sort of Queen whichever of the two we get,"
said one of the Bees. "We should have done better to have kept the
old one." But she might have spared herself the remark, for in the
same moment the Princesses gave each other such a stab with their
stings that they both fell dead as a door-nail.

"That is a pretty business!" called the Bees, and ran about among
each other in dismay. "Now we have no Queen! What shall we do? What
shall we do?"

In despair they crawled about the hive, and did not know which way
to turn. But the oldest and cleverest sat in a corner and held a
council. For a long time they talked this way and that as to what
they should decide on doing in their unhappy circumstances. But at
last the head Bee Nurse got a hearing, and said,--"I can tell you
how you can get out of the difficulty, if you will but follow my
advice. I remember that the same misfortune happened to us in this
hive a long time ago. I was then a Grub myself. I lay in my cell,
and distinctly heard what took place. All the Princesses had killed
one another, and the old Queen had gone out into the world: it was
just as it is now. But the Bees took one of us Grubs and laid her
in one of the Princesses' cells. They fed her every day with the
finest and best honey in the whole hive; and when she was
full-grown, she was a charming and good Queen. I can clearly
remember the whole affair, for I thought at the time that they
might just as well have taken me. But we may do the same thing
again. I propose that we act in the same way."

The Bees were delighted, and cried that they would willingly do so,
and they ran off at once to fetch a Grub.

"Wait a moment," cried the head Bee Nurse, "and take me with you.
At any rate, I will come and help you. Consider now. It must be one
of the youngest Grubs, for she must have time to think over her new
position. When one has been brought up to be a mere drudge, it is
not easy to accustom oneself to wear a crown."

That also seemed to the Bees to be wise, and the old one went on,
--"Close by the side of the Princesses' cells lies a little Grub.
She is the youngest of them all. She must have learnt a good deal
by hearing the Princesses' refined conversation, and I have noticed
that she has some character. Besides, it was she who was honourable
enough to tell me about the wicked intentions of the old Queen. Let
us take her."

At once they went in a solemn procession to the six-sided cell
where the little Grub lay. The head Bee Nurse politely knocked at
the door, opened it cautiously, and told the Grub what the Bees had
decided. At first she could hardly believe her own ears; but when
they had carried her carefully into one of the large, delightful
chambers, and brought her as much honey as she could eat, she
perceived that it was all in earnest.

"So I am to be Queen after all," she said to the head Bee Nurse.
"You would not believe it, you old growler!"

"I hope that your majesty will forget the rude remarks that I made
at the time you lay in the six-sided cell," said the old Bee, with
a respectful bow.

"I forgive you," said the new-baked Princess. "Fetch me some more
honey."

A little time after the Grub was full grown, and stepped out of her
cell as big and as beautiful as the Bees could wish. And besides,
she knew how to commando "Away with you!" she said. "We must have
more honey for our use in the winter, and you others must perspire
more wax. I am thinking of building a new wing to the hive. The new
Princesses shall live there next year; it is very unsuitable for
them to be so near common Grubs."

"Heyday!" said the Bees to one another. "One would think she had
been a Queen ever since she lay in the egg."

"No," said the head Bee Nurse; "that is not so. But she has had
_queenly thoughts_, and that is the great thing."



A SWARM OF WILD BEES

By Albert W. Tolman

"How many bridges have I driven rivets on?" repeated the watchman,
reflectively. "Let me see--just forty-seven--no, forty-eight! I
forgot the Mogung cantilever. Never in Burma were you? Well, it's
the only time I ever went abroad. It was something of a compliment
for a young fellow of twenty-two to be sent on his company's first
job abroad. I should have liked the trip first rate if Harry Lancy
hadn't been going as foreman.

"Harry had risen from the ranks, and at twenty-five was considered
one of the company's best men. I'd never worked under him; but I
judged he'd be uppish and arbitrary, and knew I shouldn't like him.
You notice such things when you've just come of age. As you get
older, you begin to think less of your own feelings, and more of
doing your work right.

"We landed at Rangoon about May 1st, went by rail to Mandalay, and
from there travelled slowly up-country by construction-train to the
Mogung Gorge. During the whole journey I didn't speak a hundred
words to Lancy. Still, I don't think he suspected I had any grudge
against him. If he did, he never let on, but treated me just like
the others.

"The gorge was an awful hole, two hundred and fifty feet wide and
two hundred deep, with the river dashing white over the ledges at
its bottom. It was to be spanned by a cantilever bridge with an
intermediate truss.

"We found our work all cut out for us. Every beam and girder was on
the ground, numbered and ready. There were plenty of coolies for
the ordinary labor. So we got busy at once. A temporary wire
suspension-bridge was thrown across above the site of the
cantilever, and work begun from both sides at the same time.

"From the outset I had determined to give Lancy no chance for
fault-finding, but to have as little to do with him as I possibly
could.

"Little by little our beam-trusses pushed out from each bank, and
the gap between them grew narrower.

"One thing that interested me especially at first was the wild
bees. For miles back into the hills their nests lined the walls of
the gorge. Millions of them made it their thoroughfare to and from
the flower-covered plains below us. Particularly at morning and
night their hum, echoing through the ravine and mingling with the
murmur of the river, sounded like the drone of distant machinery.

"These bees were black and small; but they made up in fierceness
for what they lacked in size. Their stings were far more painful
and poisonous than those of our bees here. Some of us, myself
included, learned this by experience; and we didn't need more than
one lesson.

"By the middle of June the ends of the opposite beams were about
fifty feet apart.

"One hot morning, between ten and eleven, I was reaming out a
rivet-hole in the tip of the last beam. I was feeling out of sorts
that forenoon. Lancy had given his orders to me gruff and short,
though, as a matter of fact, he was probably just as gruff with
everybody else. But when you're looking for trouble, you know, you
don't have much trouble finding it.

"I straddled the beam, my feet almost touching under it. It was hot
in the unclouded sun, and the air was full of tropical scents.
Insects hummed round me. Bright-colored butterflies floated by. Now
and then a flock of shrieking birds swept up the gorge. On the
steel behind me a dozen men were busy.

"I had almost finished the hole, when my ears caught a humming,
gradually growing louder. I looked down. Several yards below hung a
black mass about as big as a nail-keg. It was a nest of wild bees
swarming.

"At first I felt curious, interested. Then I noticed that the bunch
was rising directly toward me, and I began to feel alarmed, as I
remembered their fearful stings. If they attacked me I should be in
a bad fix.

"Slowly, with a revolving motion and an intense, spiteful
_sszzzzz_-ing, the irregular mass kept rising. Its center
seemed so solid that I wondered how the wings had room to beat. Its
outside frayed off into separate bees, drawn inward by a common
attraction.

"It was not a yard under me now. I dared not move, for I knew what
concentrated misery the swarm held for the man who angered it. As I
watched it floating nearer, my skin crept and my; brain was
fascinated by that monotonous buzzing. Perhaps, if I sat perfectly
quiet, it would pass and leave me unharmed.

"For a moment, apparently undecided, the ball hovered under me.
Then with a quickened motion, up it came, straight for my feet.

"I grew hot and cold. My flesh quivered with the imaginary stings
of thousands of poisoned needles, as the fearful mass melted apart
and settled in thick clusters on my shoes and legs!

"As I watched the crawling thousands come to rest, I simply choked
with terror. What could I do? If I made the slightest motion to get
up, they would swarm over me like lightning, and sting me to death.

"Twenty feet behind me one of my mates began to hammer, shaking the
beam with his blows. I was afraid the jar might anger the bees into
an attack.

"'Stop that pounding, Jim!' I begged huskily, as he ceased for a
moment. The hammering stopped.

"Then exclamations of alarm and sympathy fell upon my ears, and
presently all work on the steel was suspended. I could hear feet
shuffling quietly back to the bank. Soon I was left alone on the
truss, threatened with a death ten times more horrible than any
tiger or snake could inflict.

"Not daring to move a muscle, not even to turn my head, I sat, as
it seemed to me, for hours, perfectly rigid, staring straight
forward at the red-painted end of the opposite beam, wavering in
the heat fifty feet away. My brain was clear as glass, my senses
keen. Low, excited voices babbled behind me. I could smell onions
boiling in the cook's quarters, and hear his pans and dishes
rattling.

"Every little while I turned my eyes downward, hoping to see the
bees getting ready to leave. But my shoes and trousers were still
buried inches deep under the sluggishly clinging black bodies.

"The brassy alarm-clock in the mess tent clanged out eleven. I had
been sitting there only half an hour.

"The sun struck fiercely down on my head, scantily protected by my
thin cap. A filmy white feather from some passing bird dropped
before my face. I followed it past the hideous furry swelling on my
feet, straight down through the breezeless air, till it dwindled to
a white speck above the ledges two hundred feet below. That was
where I should strike if I fell; but what torments I should suffer
before I struck!

"The beam was hard and hot. I could not sit quiet forever. I
stirred uneasily. An angry hum rose, and I stiffened. Some of the
bees were above my knees. Suppose I should crush one between my leg
and the steel! Suppose they should creep up and cover my body and
head!

"A banging of pans began on the bank. Somebody had borrowed the
cook's tinware in the hope of starting the swarm. A wave of unrest
ran over the insects; but soon they settled into quiet again.

"The heat was affecting my head. I felt fretful, irritable. Why
didn't somebody do something to help me? But what? My teeth
chattered, a nervous chill shook me, and the bees buzzed at my
shaking.

"The voices behind me stopped. Something was about to happen. I
listened. Feet came stealing cautiously along the beam. What was
going on?

"'Sit perfectly still.'

"It was Lancy's voice. What was he trying to do? I felt a consuming
curiosity, but dared not turn my head. His voice came again:

"'Take a full breath; then shut your mouth.'

"What in the world had my mouth got to do with it? But I obeyed.

"A penetrating sulphurous scent stole through the thick air. Then
right under my bee-swollen feet swung a small black kettle,
suspended by a chain round its bail, and filled with a yellowish
substance, burning bluely. It was brimstone, of which we had a
supply for fastening bolts in the rocks. Lancy was trying to smoke
the bees off.

"Back oscillated the kettle out of my sight. But the swarm had got
the benefit of its contents and didn't like them. An ominous
buzzing rose. Their wings lifted, then settled back. The scent was
not strong enough to start them.

"I took another full breath. To me the strangling fumes had been
sweet for the relief they promised. Once more the kettle swung
under me, this time remaining a little longer. The smell was
strong; with difficulty I repressed a coughing that threatened to
shake me.

"This time the outer layer of bees rose slightly and hovered over
the others. Some flew wildly and angrily about. A few dropped,
stupefied. It would evidently take but little more to start the
whole swarm. Lancy moved up close behind me.

"Again he swung the kettle under the bees. They had had enough. The
entire mass left my legs. The greater number dropped down and hung
a few feet below, but stray skirmishers flew confusedly about.

"So far, however, not a single bee had touched either of us. It
looked as if we were to escape unharmed.

"Suddenly an unexpected disaster happened. One end of the bail
pulled out, allowing the kettle to tilt down sidewise. Out fell the
sulphur in a blue-burning, smoky stream. A moment later the chain
slipped entirely off the bail; the kettle shot downward, leaving
only a vanishing scent and a swarm of infuriated bees.

"Lancy grabbed my shoulder.

"'Quick! For your life!'

"I didn't need any urging; but I was stiff and slightly dizzy from
the fumes, and it took me several seconds to get to my feet on the
beam. Unfortunately, too, I crushed three or four bees that Were
crawling stupidly on the steel.

"Then it seemed as if the whole swarm struck me at once. The
sulphur may have half-stupefied them, but they hadn't forgotten how
to sting.

"I'll never forget my walk along that narrow beam to the bank. The
bees were all over me in a moment. My hands and face felt as if
they were being punctured with red-hot splinters. Before I'd gone
ten steps my eyes were closed so tight I couldn't see.

"I'd have gone off the beam head first if it hadn't been for Lancy.
He had on gloves, and mosquito-netting over his head. But they
crawled up his sleeves and down his neck, and stung him bad. Yet he
didn't falter. With one hand stretched back and grasping mine, he
walked cool and straight for the bank, as if he'd been on solid
ground, instead of two hundred feet in the air.

"Blind and almost crazy from the stings, I stumbled along behind
him. Every step was agony. I was almost tempted to jump from the
beam and go down to be crushed to pulp on the boulders. The only
thing that saved me was Lancy's hand, cool, firm and strong.

"'Steady! Steady!' he kept saying. I heard him through the
shooting, burning pains, and it saved my reason. At last it didn't
seem as if I could take another step.

"'Let go!' I cried, trying to get my hand loose; but he dragged me
on.

"'In a minute,' said he; and all at once I felt the earth under my
feet.

"I wasn't so far gone but I gave the hand I'd been holding a grip
that squeezed the fingers together. It was all the thanks I could
offer just then. Lancy squeezed back. Then everybody turned to and
helped fight the bees off us.

"It was weeks before I got over those stings. Lancy had suffered,
too, but of course not so badly. I don't know that he ever knew why
I gripped his hand so hard. I was too much ashamed to tell him of
the grudge I'd held. But I do know that after that I looked on him
as one of my best friends. He'd saved my life, and a friend can't
do much more for you than that."



THE INTELLIGENCE OF ANTS

By Sir John Lubbock

The subject of ants is a wide one, for there are at least a
thousand species of ants, no two of which have the same habits. In
this country (England) we have rather more than thirty, most of
which I have kept in confinement. Their life is comparatively long:
I have had working ants which were seven years old, and a queen ant
lived in one of my nests for fifteen years. The community consists,
in addition to the young, of males, which do no work, of wingless
workers, and one or more queen mothers, who have at first wings,
which, however, after one marriage flight, they throw off, as they
never leave the nest again, and in it wings would of course be
useless. The workers do not, except occasionally, lay eggs, but
carry on all the affairs of the community. Some of them, and
especially the younger ones, remain in the nest, excavate chambers
and tunnels, and tend the young, which are sorted up according to
age, so that my nests often had the appearance of a school, with
the children arranged in classes. In our English ants the workers
in each species are all similar except in size, but among foreign
species there are some in which there are two or even more classes
of workers, differing greatly not only in size, but also in form.
The differences are not the result of age nor of race, but are
adaptations to different functions, the nature of which, however,
is not yet well understood. Among the Termites, those of one class
certainly seem to act as soldiers, and among the true ants also
some have comparatively immense heads and powerful jaws. It is
doubtful, however, whether they form a real army. Bates observed
that on a foraging expedition the large-headed individuals did not
walk in the regular ranks, nor on the return did they carry any of
the booty, but marched along at the side, and at tolerably regular
intervals, "like subaltern officers in a marching regiment."