Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1902-07-31
TINE uRArH or THE BEE.
lurice Maeterlinck, in Harper's Magazine.

Maurice Maeterlinck, in Harper's Magazine.
The bee, essentially so pacific, 81
long suffering, the bee which neve.
stings (unless you crush herr wher
looting among the flowers, once she
has returned to her kingdom with ths
waxen monuments, retains her mild
and tolerent character, or grows ag-
gressiye 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
arc utterly at fault. Lit would be natural
that the bees should defend desperately
treasures so lahoriously amassed, u city
such as we find in good apiaries, whore
the nectar, overlooking the numberless
cells that represent thousands of casks
piled from cellar to garrett, streams in
golden stalactites along the rustling
walls, and sends far afield, in glad
response to the ephemeral perfumes OF
calyces that are opening, the more last
ing perfume 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 eager
ness they display to fight around it.
Open or turn over wealthy hive; ii
you take care to drive the sentries from.
the entrance with puff of smoke, il
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: promiy
you impnnity, if you touch only the
heaviest hives. You can turn them
over and handle them: those throbbinG
aoo ara t,arfantIxy har Whal
does it mean? Have the fierce amazons
lost courageP Has abundance unnerveG
them, and have they, after the manneI
of the too fortunate inhabitants Of
luxurious towns, delegated the danger
Gus duties to the unhappy mercenaries
that keep watch at the gates? No, it
has never been observed that the great
est good fortune relaXes the yalor OF
the bee. On the contrary, the more
the republic prospers the more harshly
and severely are its laws applied, and
the worker in hive where .superhuity
accumnlates labors much more zeal
ously and much more pitilessly than
her sister in an INDECENT hive. There
are other reasons which we cannot
wholly fathom, but which are likely
reasons, il only we take into account
the wild Interpretation that the poor
De9 Iflubb pldCb oH our lilDTulHhLe uOlHHSs
Seeing suddenly her huge dwelling
place upheaved, overturned, half opened,
she probably imagines that an newt
able, 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 dwell
ing that she hopes to build with tho
materials of the Quilted town. She
leaves tho 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
orgy2 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
yan9