Vespers

“ Vespa maculata, building on trees and fences, has practically the same habits as the ground wasp, germanica, the internal structure of the nest following the same plan, while the outer wall is of a papery substance like that of the combs, made from the scrapings of weather-beaten wood. The genus Polistes builds combs similar to that of Vespa, under porches or in any sheltered place, and does not inclose them. All these wasps, when adult, enjoy fruit and flowers as well as animal food ”

“ If agreeable I will take you to Sleeping Water River, where you have not yet been, and tell you how it accumulated its name. There is no one inside," he continued, as Vesper cast a glance at the kitchen windows, "but the miller and his wife, in whom I no longer take pleasure, and the mail-driver who tells so long stories." ”

“ Though we suffer now, we may yet be happy," and, casting a long, reluctant look at the taciturn young American, he rose from his comfortable seat and went up-stairs. He was tired, out of sorts, and irresistibly sleepy, having been up all night examining the old documents left by his uncle, the priest, in the hope of finding something relating to [Pg 198] the Fiery Frenchman, for he was now as anxious to conclude Vesper's mission to the Bay as he had formerly been to prolong it. ”

“ Vesper leaned over the railing. What a sluggish, silent, stealthy river! He could perceive no flow in its reluctant waters. A few willows, natives, not French ones, swayed above it, and close to its edge [Pg 157] grew the tall grasses, rustling and whispering together as if imparting guilty secrets concerning the waters below.
"Which way does it go?" murmured Vesper; but Agapit did not hear him, for he was eagerly muttering: "A hateful river,—I never see a bird drink from it, there are no fishes in it, the lilies will not grow here, and the children fall in and are drowned ”

“ Vesper would have enjoyed seeking big game in [Pg 158] the backwoods, if his health had permitted, and he listened with suppressed eagerness to Agapit's account of a moose hunt. The world of sport disposed of, their conversation drifted to literature, to science and art in general,—to women and love affairs, and Agapit rambled on excitedly and delightedly, while Vesper, contenting himself with the briefest of rejoinders, extracted an acute and amused interest from the entirely novel and out-of-the-way opinions presented to him. ”

“ Next to Polistes, Vespa is the most numerous in species, about 150 being known, and it is to this genus that all our British social wasps belong. No Insects are better known in our islands than these wasps, owing to the great numbers of individuals that occur in certain seasons, as well as to their frequently entering our habitations and partaking of our food, and to the terror that is occasioned by their supposed ferocity and desire to sting. This last feature is a complete mistake; wasps never sting unless they are roused to do so by attacks, or by considerable interference with their work. ”

“ The Acadien examined him from head to foot. "Your face is beautifuller than a woman's, but you are poorly built."
Vesper drew up his straight and slender figure. He was not surprised that it did not come up to the Acadien's standard of manly beauty.
"Let us shake hands lest we never meet again," [Pg 80] said the old man, so gently, so kindly, and with so much benevolence, that Vesper responded, warmly, "I hope to see you some other time." ”

“ Vesper cast a regretful glance in the direction of the trees, and entered the little shop, whose well-stocked shelves were full of rolls of cotton and flannel, and boxes of groceries, confectionery, and stationery. The drivers of the ox-teams were inside, doing their shopping. They were somewhat rougher in appearance than the inhabitants of Sleeping Water, and were louder and noisier in their conversation. Vesper saw a young Acadien whisper a few words to one of them, and the teamster in return scowled fiercely at him, and muttered something about "a goddam Yankee." ”

“ I am not skilled in medicine. Vespasian: You must cure me or die. Albanus: There was a man who could have cured you with a word; he cast out devils, and raised the dead. He was Jesus of Nazareth, whom the Jews killed for envy. If you believed in him you would recover. Vespasian: I do firmly believe that he is the Son of God and that he can cure me. And immediately the wasps fell from his nose and he was healed. Vespasian then vowed to go to Tiberius and get forces wherewith to destroy the city and nation of the Jews. And after some years spent in gathering an army he besieged Jerusalem. ”

“ Not until the thrill of contact with the land went through the steamer did he spring to his feet, like a man restored to consciousness by galvanic action. He was the first passenger to reach the wharf, and the steward, who watched him going, remarked sarcastically that he was glad to see "that 'ere dead man come to life."
Vesper was himself again when his feet touched the shore. He looked about him, saw the bright little town of Yarmouth, black rocks, a blue harbor, and a glorious sky. ”

“ The Wasp, after her battle with the Avon, could not fight two more, so she sailed away and left them to attend to their consort. They could not save her. The Wasp had stung too deeply for that. The water poured in faster than the men of all three ships could pump it out, and at one o'clock in the morning down plunged the Avon's bow in the water, up went her stern in the air, and with a mighty surge she sank to rise no more. But the gallant Wasp had ended her work. ”

“ I crossed the open space before the door, and as I did so I noticed, clinging to the trunk and lower branches of a tree at the side of the clearing, what appeared to be a wasp’s nest; but an enormous wasp’s nest, big enough, in all conscience, to contain a man if need be; a wasp’s nest greater than I should have thought could exist in the world. ”

“ Yet I go back to the image of an irritated wasp as perhaps offering the best illustration; of some large tropical wasp advancing angrily towards me, as I have witnessed a hundred times, not exactly flying, but moving rapidly, half running and half flying, over the ground, with loud and angry buzz, the glistening wings open and agitated; beautiful beyond most animated creatures in its sharp but graceful lines, polished surface, and varied brilliant colouring, and that wrathfulness that fits it so well and seems to give it additional lustre. ”

“ Should the editor of a respectable paper or periodical refuse his contribution, he flies to a congenial refuge, and there pours out what wasps have nearly a monopoly of—the venom identified with and peculiar to that insect.
There is also the wasp ecclesiastical. He contributes no sweet honey to the Church, and takes little interest in its good. But in Synods, Presbyteries, Convocations, he flies about, driving his sting sometimes into a bishop and sometimes into a presbyter. A sin in another he scents from afar. A virtue in a brother he cannot appreciate. He lives on decay. ”

“ WASP EATING
While poor humanity takes comfort in a mid-day siesta, wasps love the heat of noontide, and with every rise in temperature they fly faster, hum louder, and rejoice more and more in the fullness of life. The entrance to the Vespa nest was but an inch across ”

“ The little man laughed shrewdly, and not unkindly. [Pg 49] "Every man to his liking. I guess it's best not to fight too much."
"I get off here," said Vesper, gathering up his papers.
"Happy you,—you won't have to wait for all of Evangeline's heifers to step off the track between here and Halifax."
Vesper nodded to him, and, swinging himself from the car, went to find the conductor. ”

“ Vesper's arrival had the effect of dispersing the little group. The stable-man moved away to his sulky, as if he preferred the vicinity of his roan horse, who gazed at him so benevolently, to that of Vesper, who surveyed him so indifferently. The [Pg 76] farmer entered the shop and sat down on a box in a dark corner, while the Acadien young men, after cold glances at the newcomer, moved away to the post-office.
After a time Vesper remembered that he must have some Canadian stamps, and followed them. Outside the shop five or six teams were lined up. ”

“ And yet the Wasp is really the Sphex with whom I am so familiar, the Yellow-winged Sphex, the keen Cricket-huntress. I can hardly believe the evidence of my own eyes.
The burrow is not far off: the insect enters it and stores away the booty. I sit down, determined to wait for a new expedition, to wait hours if necessary, so that I may see if the extraordinary capture is repeated. My sitting attitude makes me take up the whole width of the path. Two raw conscripts heave in sight, their hair newly cut, wearing that inimitable automaton look which the first days of barrack-life bestow. ”

“ Vesper's tone was confident, yet Agapit looked anxiously at him through the gathering gloom. "It would be better for Rose not to see you."
"Agapit—we are not babies."
"No, you are worse,—it is well said that only our Lord loves lovers. No other would have patience."
Vesper held his straight figure a little straighter, and his manner warned the young Acadien to be careful of what he said, but he dashed on, "Words are brave; actions are braver."
"How is Madame de Forêt?" asked Vesper, shortly. ”

“ Wishing to get rid of his prisoners as soon as possible, Captain Blakeley overhauled a Portuguese brig, placed them on board of her, and sent them to England.
No doubt the Wasp was one of the finest sailing craft of her day. Her lines are spoken of as being remarkably fine; and one of her officers writes, in a private letter, as follows:
“The Wasp is a beautiful ship, and the finest sea boat, I believe, in the world. Our officers and crew are young and ambitious. They fight with more cheerfulness than they do any other duty. ”

“ One of the most remarkable of our native social wasps is the tree-wasp (Vespa Britannica) , which is not uncommon in the northern, but is seldom to be met with in the southern parts of the island. Instead of burrowing in the ground like the common wasp (Vespa vulgaris) , or in the hollows of trees like the hornet (Vespa crabro) , it boldly swings its nest from the extremity of a branch, where it exhibits some resemblance, in size and colour, to a Welsh wig hung out to dry. We have seen more than one of these nests on the same tree, at Catrine, in Ayrshire, and at Wemyss Bay, in Renfrewshire. ”

“ Much more variety exists in wasps' nests than would be supposed probable; those formed by some of the tropical species of Vespidae are enveloped in so solid and beautifully constructed an envelope of papier-maché, that they resist with complete success the torrential rains of the tropics; while some of those found in our own country are made of extremely soft and delicate paper, {81}which is probably chiefly glandular products. Our British Vespidae number only eight species, all belonging to the one genus Vespa, and yet they exhibit three different modes of nidification. ”

“ Vesper, with slow, quiet emphasis, which always imparted weight and importance to his words, assented to this, with the qualification that it was chilly.
"It is never very warm here until the end of June," said the stout gentleman, with a courteous gesture, "but I find this weather most agreeable for wheeling. I am shortly to leave the train and take to my bicycle for the remainder of my journey."
Vesper asked him whether there was a good road along the shores of the Bay. ”

“ The social habits are in many species only inferred, and with greater knowledge will probably prove fallacious as a guide to classification; indeed we have already said that in the genus Vespa—perhaps the most perfectly social of all the wasps—there is one species that has no worker, and that lives, it is supposed, as a parasite, in the nests of its congeners. ”

“ We have already noticed the variety of nests formed by our British species of the genus Vespa; in other parts of the world the edifices formed by species of Vespa attain a very large size. V. crabroniformis in China, and V. velutina in India, make nests several feet or even yards in length, inhabited by an enormous number of individuals; they are apparently constructed of a material like brittle paper, and are arranged much like the nests of our British hornet, V. crabro. Vespa orientalis mixes a considerable quantity of earth with the paper it uses for its {84}constructive efforts. ”

“ Two angry red spots immediately appeared in Vesper's cheeks, and he stared haughtily at him.
Agapit snapped his fingers. "I trust you not that much, though if you had not come back, my confidence would have reached to eternity. You are unfortunately too nobly human,—why were you not divine? But I must not reproach. Have I not too [Pg 287] been a lover? You are capable of all, even of talking through the wall with your beloved. You should have stayed away, you should have stayed away!" ”

“ Vesper's curiosity was aroused, although he had not understood half that the child had said. "Does he like trees?" he asked.
Rose à Charlitte made a puzzled gesture. "Sir, to him the trees, the flowers, the grass, are quite alive. He will not play croquet with those dear little girls lest his shoes hurt the grass. If I would allow, he would take all the food from the house and lay under the trees and the flowers. He often cries at night, for he says the hollyhocks and sunflowers are hungry, because they are tall and lean. ”