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yesterday's news
Ben Welter

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I see a little of "The Little Rascals" in this 1913 Minneapolis Tribune report.

Bee Colony Ends 'Spelling Bee'

Racine, Wis., Sept. 8. – Angered because of … whispering during a "spelling bee," H.E. Sherman, teacher in the Somers village school, was about to administer corporal punishment to a number of his pupils when he was forestalled by an energetic colony of honey bees.

Sherman, rod in hand, was set upon by the bee vanguard and immediately the "spelling bee" buzzed in the wildest confusion. The villagers, responding to the cries of the "stung" pedagog and the school, found that several colonies of honey bees had taken possession of the schoolhouse during the summer vacation.