Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-04-05
Two Minutes of
Optimism
By HERMAN j. STITCH
The Old Bee.Keeper Says

There's a heap of humanness about
tne bee. much more than about many
humans I've known or come in contact
with. About all most folks know about
the bee is its sting, and after that, they
don't want to know anything more.
But 1t is as unfair to condemn the bee
on that account as 1t would be for
Hiram to call the city hive of crooks
because he was once well done by q slick
confidence man.
you know old King Solomon appre.
ciated the bee. lie was wise soul
and learned from everybody he could.
You remember once he was unable to
distinguish between the real and imi.
tati0n flowers brought by the Queen of
Sheba to test his wisdom, SO he called
II, a bee to help him out.
Like many of us. the bee Is a So
ciable creature, craving companionship
ana the crowd. But unlike most OF US II
is unselfsh, its entire life being, one
OF self sacrifice and self denial for the
good Of the community. OF which 1t
forms a tiniest part. II you want to
see an unparalleled example Of civic
consciousness and devotion to the COM
mon welfare. study a beehive.
I'VE pride ourselves upon this So
called age. Of specialization. but the bee
Pu'S tue uCsJ VI our InWcTH tmCltlCy
wizards to shame. Millions Of years
ago the bee began specializing, and
by the time man first learned to keep
MS balance on two legs. the bees had
developed into specialists Of the highest
order. There nre the nurses who look
after the eggs of the unborn bees. the
house bees who look after the airing and
heating of the hive, the architects,
masons. waxworkers and sculptors who
build the combs. the foragers VINO
bring home the bacon in the shape OF
nectar and pollen. Then there are the
chemists who preserve the freshness and
sweetness of the honey. the sweepcrs
who keep the thousands of streets in
know their business thoroughly.
The bee is an undauntable opti-
mist: 1t is in the real sense of the
word born optimist. and one who
puts to shame even the stanchcst Of
human pretenders. Drive the bee out
from It's home, break up its honey.
comb, take from it its magnificent store
of precious nourishment. and 1t will
shift all over again, it will get right
to work again, with never a tear or a
sigh:
Bees are brave. the bravest and the
meekest little beings in the world. They
nave the ii6ut luea uoout cdilooSheo..
In every possible way they try to avoid
many an insult. But their very meek
ness hides heart that is courage itself,
and 1t will fight with passionate fury
till the death when the need finally
arises.
Most people know in a general way
that bees are Industrious; but prob
ably not one man in hundred thou
sand really appreciates the prodigious
expenditure of labor and energy for
which the bee receives no reward save
scant bed and board. A red clover
blossom contains less than one-eighth Of
grain of sweetness. TO make one
pound of honey, the bee must gather
seven thousand grains from fifty y.six
clover heads. There are sixty blossoms
to each clover head, and into each BIOS
som the bee must insert its proboscis
separately. In order to accumulate one
pound Of honey, the bee must perform
this operation sixty times hfty'si
thousand. or three million three hun.
dred and sixty thousand times! And
vet there are n lot of men whose
name ought to be mnnikin who earn all
of hfe's comforts and many OF its
Injuries whose perpetual grievance is
that they are overworked! Drones--
that wnQt tney are Ane! W. "o Aho'e
work than they absolutely have to,
and we tolerate it, DO YOU know what
the bees do to drones? Talk about
the The slaughter Of the innocents! At the
proper time. each idler is seized BY a
sort Of retribution COMMITTEES which
hacks Of his legs. tears off his wings.
sting out his eyes, and finally puts him
completely out Of misery. How many
drones do you think there would be
among US humans if they got that kinu
! of ungentle treatment!
And last. but not least. the bee is
rcsourceful. 1t has that most human
and most rare quality-initiative. II
il cannot build the hive one way. it will
find another. The bee is no slave to
custom or tradition: 1t keeps trying.
searching. getting the thing done. 1t
never quits. Humans do, and humans
fail. perhaps because the man who quits
does not deserve to succeed