The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1896-09-12
A DELUDED BEE.
M1stOOk the Flower Of Art for Those
ss. sE Of Nature. +.

4 S9z s&5. EE of Nature. 4
There is something provocative Of
much reflection in the incident commu-
nicated to us by correspondent. He
was sitting with a number Of other
| guests, upon the lawn at garden
party in London, when he observed a
large humble bee winging it's fight to-
ward the clusters Of many-colored
flowers upon the hat of a young lady
who was one Of the company. He does
not mention what especial flowers
were initiated upon the hat in ques-
tion, but the present fashion is to dis
play SO varied a collection Of forms
and hues that credulous bee might
easily think herself in a we'll furnished
country garden on alighting upon any
ut-of-door couture Of the present time.
nhe insect in this case was not only
deceived in the first instance by the
exact resemblance Of the work of the
modiste to that of Dame Nature, but
evidently found nothing on closer &C.
| qua1ntance to prevent her from ran
sacking the bloom in search of honey;
and, being disappointed in a first, Sec
ond, and even third essay, appeared to
| have gone on examining each bud Of
silk, satin or muslin until she was
seen to mediate disconsolately upon
the edge Of the last fallacious fow3r,
and then to fly away, honeyless, and,
| no doubt, extremely embarrassed by
the discovery that the world contained
such Illusions and receptions for hard
working bees. The innocent insect
ought not, we think, to be laughed at.
| Ono I,
| that humble bee was far too good a
judge of the products of the field and
the garden to be taken in by the very
| the fingers Of Partisan hat-dresser
could put together. The coarser tex
ture, the deficient fra GRANGE, the faulty
tint, the absence of proper stamens
and pistils ought one would have said,
to have made that London bee a little
ashamed of such an error. Yet, obvi-
ously, it is not so. The bee, accus-
| toned to find honey wherever she
spied certain sorts of blossoms, de-
tects her favorite species, and takes
the false for the true, as so many of
us also take it.
We can fancy the beguiled little
creature plunging into the first artifi-
| cial bloom with eager expectation, into
the second with surprise, into the third
with disappointment, into the fourth,
| fifth and sixth with dismay, disgust
and Indignation, until finally she
crawls out upon the Tuscan straw OF
the lady's headgear-an astonished,
angry and disillusioned being. "What"
we may imagine her exclaiming, "fow-
ers without honey, and of such color,
too, and such perfect shape!' Will not
that bee, too wise henceforth for it's
kind, wander over the flower beds and
hedgerows Of England misdoubting
everything-taking the red clover
globes for arch imposters, and the pur-
pie foxgloves for hypocrites; dibe-
lieving in the sweetness of honey
suckle, and not daring to trust herself
| in an umbel Of meadowsweet? Such
an experience must be as if we should
find the rain falling from the sky black
and bitter, or the river running salt
from the hills. The modern art of mil
linery has had no more magic tri-
umph-if we will just consider it-than
in this little passing story Of the bee
at the London garden party.-London
Telegraph.