Found in Dad's Shed

Dad has given me this delightful cross stitch that he found when he was cleaning out his shed.  

Kittie was a well known beekeeper in the village and she gave Dad some of her equipment when she down-sized from her house with a very large garden on the outskirts of the village to a bungalow in the village centre about 30 years ago.    

We guess that Sheila was the vicar's wife.

The verse is the first stanza from a poem by Isaac Watts (1674 - 1748).

How doth the little busy bee

Improve each shining hour,

And gather all the day

From every opening flower!

How skilfully she builds her cell!

How neat she spreads the wax!

And labors hard to store it well

With the sweet food she makes.

In works of labor or of skill,

I would be busy too;

For Satan finds some mischief still

For idle hands to do.

In books, or work, or healthful play,

Let my first years be passed,

That I may give for every day

Some good account at last.

What makes this particularly touching for us is that both Kittie and Sheila were guests at our wedding 24 years ago.   Kitty has since passed away and Sheila and her husband moved away when he retired.

I have arranged a suitable frame and will be hanging this in the barn where we do the honey extraction.