e which I saw in one of the hives, and bring out some of the honey. My
brother and Julian did not quite agree with me in this matter. They
thought, as nearly as I can recollect, that there were three good reasons
against this mode of obtaining honey: first, I should be likely to get
pretty badly stung; secondly, the act would be a very mean and cowardly
piece of mischief; and, thirdly, I should be found out.

Still, I was bent on the chivalrous undertaking. I procured a stick of the
right size, and marched up to the hive to make the attack. While I was
deliberating, with the stick already a little way in the hole, whether I
had better thrust it in suddenly, and then scamper away as fast as my legs
could carry me, or proceed so deliberately that the bees would not suspect
what was the matter, Captain Perry happened to come into the garden; and I
was so busy with my mischief, that I did not notice him until he advanced
within a rod or two of the bee-hives. He mistrusted what I was about.
"Roderick," said he. I looked around. I am sure I would have given all I
was worth in the world, not excepting my little pony, which I regarded as a
fortune, if, by some magic or other, I could have got out of this scrape.
But it was too late. I hung my head down, as may be imagined, while the
captain went on with his speech: "Roderick, if I were in your place (I
heartily wished he was in my place, but I did not say so; I said nothing,
in fact), if I were in your place, I would not disturb those poor, harmless
bees, in that way. If you should put that stick into the hive, as you were
thinking of doing, it would take the bees a whole week to mend up their
cells. That is not the way we get honey. I don't wonder you are fond of
honey, though. Children generally are fond of it; and if you will go into
the house, Mrs Perry will give you as much as you wish, I am sure."

This was twenty years ago--perhaps more. I have met Captain Perry a
hundred times since; yet even now I cannot look upon his frank, honest
countenance, but I distinctly call to mind the Quixotic adventure with the
bees, and I feel almost as much ashamed as I did when I was detected.

STORY THIRD.
THE WEEKLY NEWSPAPER.

I never shall forget what a sensation it used to produce in our family,
years ago, when the newspaper came. We children--there were three of us,
one brother and two sisters--used to watch for the