Question

My anxious scribe felt very dull that day; a sheep-bell tinkled nearby, and called my wandering wits after it. What does scribe mean as it is used in this way? mourner bees enemy writer

Answer 1

The correct answer is “bees”. Adapted from the novel “The Country of the Pointed Firs” by Sarah Orne Jewett (1896), the intended meaning of the word “scribe” in this passage is “bees”. The original passage reads, “One anxious scribe felt very dull that day; a sheep-bell tinkled near by, and called her wandering wits after it.”. One can understand that the author is talking about bees because they are mentioned in the previous lines (“Now and then a bee blundered in and took me for an enemy…”). In fact, after this passage the narrator explains that she has the scent of bergamot, a plant that attracts number of specialist bees, and it refreshes “the labors of anxious scribes”. In other words, the bergamot makes the bees feel they have more energy again. Then, the narrator continues describing the sad atmosphere after the funeral she witnessed saying that “One anxious scribe felt very dull that day…” (a bee felt very dull that day).