An Appalachian Tale: Mars Johnston and his Bees

An Appalachian Tale: Mars Johnston and his Bees

When Mars Johnston's pa died, Mars became the keeper of the family bees. The ten year old knew he had been given a great responsibility; he couldn't be slack, especially if he wanted to have food on the table for his family. As soon as the sun started going down on the first day of Daniel Johnston's death, his wife gathered up her two sons to walk down into the meadow behind their house. All three carried strips of black cloth to place around the family's hives.

Once the strips were wrapped around each box, Mars stepped forward and announced the passing of the family beekeeper. The bees seemed to understand and their buzzing sound became softer as if they were listening to every word. He then invited the bees to his father's funeral, stating that there would be food and sugar water laid out for them so that they could pay their respects.

With tears in his eyes, Mars then promised that as the eldest son, he would be the caregiver of the hives for now and for the future of the generations of bees to come. When he finished, they turned and walked back to their house to prepare for the funeral. What is not said is that the family believed that the discussion with the bees needed to be done as quickly as possible. They felt sure that the colonies would fly away and not return if not given the news.

Like many men who lived in the Appalachian Mountains in 1917, Daniel Johnston had worked as a coal miner. On the tragic day it happened, he and a few other men were digging into a coal seam when the roof collapsed. Though the other men jumped out of the way of the cave-in, Daniel was not so lucky. The crew that dug him out knew he had little time left as they lifted him out of the dark hole in the ground and into the arms of his wife and mother. As he gasped his last few breaths, a small trickle of blood ran down from his mouth. He was staring up at the sky when his final breathing stopped.

A message was sent to the local church while the crew chief and some of his neighbors wrapped his body up in a bed sheet. As they began to carry him home, the church bells rang out, announcing his passing, chiming for each one of his twenty eight years.

 A number of ladies from the church community were waiting on the porch of the house as the miners took the body upstairs to a bed in the back room. The women were there to help the man’s wife in her time of need. Daniel’s body would be washed, dressed in his best clothes and laid out with their help.

Two of Daniel’s cousins walked out back to the barn and brought back a couple saw horses, some long flat boards and a couple of old bricks. These they took into the parlor. Placed across the saw horses, the boards were covered with multiple covers, pillows and pieces of cloth so that the body could be laid out and viewed by family and friends before being buried in the ground. The men positioned the bricks flat under one end of the saw horses to allow the front of the body when laid out to be raised up a bit.

Other neighbors came by bearing food and drink. Some were set up on the long kitchen table for those visiting or placed in the family ice box for later. Because the corpse would be laid out for three days in a room with open windows but no air conditioning, many mourners came with armfuls of flowers to place around the dead man so the stench would not be too bad. Chairs were scattered around the room for those willing to stay over night to chase the animals away that may try to take the body. A loaded shotgun stood in a corner of the room.

Mars remembers the night of his father’s wake. His uncle Mark walked with him up to his pa’s body and laid the coins over his brother’s eyes. Mars himself placed the bowl of salt in his father’s folded hands. His pa sure was dressed nice, like he was going on a trip. Ma cried a lot and his brother looked awful small sitting by himself in a corner chair. His father sure was going to be missed.

The boy was surprised at the amount of people that came by to pay their respects and to catch up on local news. Daniel Johnston was well known as a good and honest man. He also capped and sold some of the best honey in the county.

During the evening, Mars was approached by a number of people willing to buy the their beehives but he refused to sell. No Sir; he was the family beekeeper now and he had a plan. He knew if he did it right, bee products would become the family livelihood. His ma was already making good money selling her beeswax candles and using the honey and herbs she foraged for medicines.

In thinking about his father, Mars remembered a story that his pa had once told him. It happened when his younger brother Billy was just born. His father said that while Billy was cooing in his cradle, a bee came into their house and landed on the child’s lips. Pa said that was a sign he would become a great writer or some such.

Nope. Our family hives will stay where they are.

Beside that, the bees are getting to know him well. Why, one even slept with him the night of his father’s funeral. When he got up the next morning, he had to brush it out of his hair. Buzzing, it flew away. Surely, that’s a sign too.

And so it was for many years. As Mars grew older, he was steadfast in the protection of his family’s hives. Where once he had six, the hives had grown to eighteen. Neither he nor his brother ever had to work the mines, even after their mother died. Billy eventually when on to school and later became a writer. One of his books even made the best seller’s list. He didn’t come home much after that.

When Mars died at the age of sixty-eight, his younger brother came back to the small Appalachian town for the funeral. As Billy pulled up in front of the old Baptist church, he noticed a commotion at the front door. The people who had started to walk into the front entrance, slid quickly away and headed for the side door to enter in. As he came closer to the front of the church, the man began to understand why. Shaking his head, he realized his brother must have told them of his plans before he died.

Hanging down in a great clump over the front door was Mars’s bees. They came to pay their respects. With a crooked smile, Billy went through the side door and took a seat.

Catherine S. Buck  1207 words