Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1902-09-29
THE WRATH OF THE BEE.
when She Leaves the Present Defence
Iess 70 Eoya tba IIo,.,f,.r

iaWhen She Leaves the Present Defence
| less, to save the Hereafter.
The bee, essentially so pacific, SO
| long-suffering, the bee which never
stings (unless you crush herr when
looting among the flowers, once she
has returned to her kingdom with the
WaXen monuments, retains her mild
! and tolerant character, or grows ag-
gressive and deadly dangerous, accord
ing to whether her maternal city be
| opulent or poor. Here again, as Often
happens when we study the manners
of this spirited and mysterious little
people, the provisions of human logic
are utterly at fault. 1t would be nat
ual that the bees should defend des-
perately treasures SO laboriously
amassed city such as we find in
good apiaries, where the nectar, over
flowing the numberless cells that rep
resent thousands of casks piled from
cellar to garret, streams in golden sta
lactites along the rustling walls, and
sends far afield, in glad response to
the ephemeral perfumes of calyces
that are opening, the more lasting per-
fume of the honey that keeps alive the
memory of calyces that time has
closed. Now this is not the case. The
richer their abode the less eagerness
they display to- fight around it. Open
or turn over wealthy hive; if you
take care to drive the sentries from
the entrance with puff of smoke, it
will be extremely rare for the other
bees to contend with you for the liquid
booty conquered from the smiles, from
all the charms of the beautiful azure
months. Try the experiment; | prom
Use you impunity, if you touch only the
heaviest hives. You can turn them
over and handle them: those throb-
bing fagons are perfectly harmeless.
What does it mean? Have the fierce
amazons lost courage? Has abund-
ance unnerved them, and have they,
after the manner Of the too fortunate
inhabitants Of luxurious towns, dele
gated the dangerous duties to the I'M
happy mercenaries that keep watch
at the gates? No, it has never been
observed that the greatest good for
tune relaxes the valor of the bee. On
the contrary, the more the republic
prosperS the more harshly and severe
ly are it's laws applied, and the work.
er in hive where superfuity accu-
mulates labors much more Zealously
and much more pitilesly than her sis
ter in an INDECENT hive. There are
other reasons which we cannot wholly
fathom, but which are likely reasons,
if only we take into account the wild
Interpretation that the poor bee must
place on our inordinate doings. See
ing suddenly her huge dwelling-place
upheaved, overturned, half opened, she
probably imagines that an inevitable,
a natural catastrophe is occurring,
against which it were madness to
struggle. She no longer resists, but
neither does she flee. Admitting the
ruin, it looks as though already, in her
instinct, she saw the future dwelling
that she hopes to build with the ma
terials of the Quilted town. She leaves
the present defenceless to save the
hereafter Or else, perhaps does she
like the dog in the fable, "the dog that
carried his masters dinner round his
neck" knowing that all is irreparably
lost prefer to die taking her share of
the pillage, and to pass from life to
death in one prodigious orgy? We do
not know for certain. How should we
penetrate the motives of the bee, when
those of the simplest actions of our
brothers are beyond our ken?-Maur-
ice Maeterlinck, in Harper's Maga'
zine for August.