Word: beese
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MCKAY'S BEES
The German settlers McKay takes with him to the Kansas Territory make music boxes that play Old Dog Tray. The young wife McKay takes with him suffers from underwork, a cold heart and a galloping case of pre-feminism. She also dislikes the residents of her husband's hives...
McKay himself is a rich Bostonian of refined sensibility, great kindness and few brains. Because bees tend to start new swarms if the old queen is removed, and can do so up to four times a season, McKay figures he can parlay the ten hives he is taking to Kansas...
The year is 1855. Border raids between Missouri and Kansas, and hatred of Eastern abolitionists, shake McKay's project to the ground. The bees get a disease; most of them die. McKay and Catherine retreat to Boston. In the process, real people as well as real historical events glance...
McMahon's book is a marvel of brains, brevity and sharp description. He flashes around like a lightning bug briefly casting a glow on some detail or other: what it's like to travel on the Erie Canal: how a character is inadvertently shot; the way in which...