The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1893-09-23
The Wonderful Bee.

The little honey bee is Il trump and 4
wonder from stem to stern, 1t is good
To rumiuatc about their wisdom and
skill and their government. Just
think of one queen being the mother
Of -, Geo and controlling them all more
absolutely than any human mother
controls her Children. Just think of
l9, 500 workers and only 500 drones in
colony. These drones are the gentle
men, and remind you of gentlemen
loafers and swellS who set about on the
riazzuS of the hotes and watch the
girls 20 by. But the droues don't
enjoy themselves but 4 month or two,
The eVuttu gets tired of them and gives
her orders and then the massacre of
II, Bartholomew begins. In an hours
time everyone j. Slaln-Stung 10 death
10y the workers, and their puffy, bloat-
cd carc,ls>vS dragged out and tumbled
on the ground.
There is no little thing in nature
more wonderful than the honeycomb
that these little workers make, Its
mathematical construction gives the
most space with the least enclosure,
the arcned top and bottom of every cell,
the exact and uniform thickness of
every division and the wisdom shown
in shaping the whole storehouSe to
suit the shape of the hive is, indeed,
marvellous. Then there is the division
of the workers into brigadeS and regi-
mentS and companies, some 70 gather
honey, some 10 make wax, some In
huild the cells, some to stand guard,
some to wait on the queen and be her
escort as she moves around, and II
whole regiment To keep their wings
going like revolving fms and supply
fresh air in the hive. That fan Uusi-
neSs makes the hunming that is heard
in the hive day and night, Ii is the
tlutter of the wings of the tanners.
How in the world they do everything
in the dark is "A wonder 10 ME. WAS
talking 10 my friend, MIR. BuSSey,
about il on the train some time ago,
and he told me contidcutially that he
was experimenting 10 sea If he couldn't
CnN~S honey bees with lightning bugs
nd get up a bee that could seek how
to work at night or in the dark. He
has applied for a patent on the idea,
but whether he has succeeded or not
in his experiment | have not heard.
he was very sanguine, and the only
trouble, he said, was about the cross
finding roOm in the tail for the fire
works and the sting too. But Mr..
BuSScy Is an engineer on the State
road and knows what he is about.
The sting OF q bee is said 10 be the
most perfect war weapon ever invented.
Ii Is exquisite in its mechanism. Ii iS a
hollow tube, and Vet the point of the
finest cambric needle Is immense when
compared with it. Under the micro
scope the sting Is perfect in its shape
ana smooIhueSS, 80 much - that the
point Is almost invisible, whereas the
point of the needle under the same
glass looks like a great rough crowhar
with seams and rutS and ridges all owe;
il. This i the difference between the
works OF tod and man. And vet the
same Almighty hand that made the
little bee with his wonderful instincts
and attachments made the universe-
the Couudle>S, limitltSs universe where
there are stars to be seen by the Lord
Ross telescope, whose light takes 5000
years 10 reach u. Contemplate that
for q moment, We little c0ncei;ed minds
who think ii smart to say, Il don't be
.ieve in God; l am an agnoStic." Sixty I.
thousand Years for the light TO reach .
Us, aud Lord Ross said that the star
was in the near edge of the universe. .
Light travels through space about l30,-
~ miles in second Of time, which is .
more than ten billions Of mileS in day. .
Then count it for year and then for
5000 Wears, and give il up. We may
we'll eXclaim, Lord, what Is man. that .
Thou art mindful OF himr