Chapter 17

BUSTER LEARNS OF THE RAISING BEE



"Yes!" said Jimmy Rabbit. "I hear that there's going to be a raising bee at Farmer Green's place to-morrow. And if I were you I should certainly want to be there."

Being very good-natured, Jimmy Rabbit was always ready to talk to anybody he happened to meet, no matter how small the other person might be. And now, while he was nibbling at Farmer Green's lettuce, he had chanced to glance up and spy Buster Bumblebee, who was buzzing about the tall hollyhocks, which made a sort of hedge where the flower and the vegetable garden met.

"A raising bee!" Buster Bumblebee exclaimed, when he heard Jimmy Rabbit's bit of news. "I've never in my life seen that kind of bee--nor heard of it, either.... It must be a great curiosity."

"Yes!" said Jimmy Rabbit. "And you ought not to miss seeing this one. I'd like to go over to the farmhouse to-morrow myself--if I had the time."

"Well, I'm going, anyhow," Buster declared. "And when next I see you I'll tell you all about this strange bee. For all we know now it may be nothing but a honey bee that has changed his name."

Jimmy Rabbit only smiled at his small friend. He said nothing at all--though he looked uncommonly wise.

"What time to-morrow can I get a peep at this 'raising bee,' as he calls himself?" Buster Bumblebee inquired.

"You had better plan to reach the farmyard at nine o'clock sharp," Jimmy Rabbit advised him.

"How shall I know where to look?" Buster asked him.

"Oh! you'll have no trouble finding the raising bee," Jimmy replied. "Just follow the crowd! All of Farmer Green's friends for miles around will be there."

"Is that so?" said Buster. "What are they coming for?"

"Why, they've heard about the raising bee, too," Jimmy told him. "Farmer Green has invited everybody to come to his house. And there'll be plenty to eat for everyone. No doubt they'll have a dance, too, in the afternoon--just before milking time. Of course they'll all have to go home in time to milk the cows," Jimmy explained.

"I suppose so," Buster remarked. "And I must say I'm glad that I have no cows, for it has always seemed to me that they are only a nuisance."

Jimmy Rabbit agreed heartily in that opinion.

"Yes!" Buster Bumblebee continued. "Farmer Green has many strange ways. Now, what's the sense of having a vegetable garden? And yet I understand that he always plants one over there where you're sitting."

Jimmy Rabbit shook his head.

"I can't quite agree with you," he said quickly, "though I've always claimed that a flower garden is just a waste of time."

"What a