AN IDYL OF THE HONEY-BEE. 77 



in defense of its all. This may seem singular, but 

 it has nearly always been my experience. When a 

 iwarm of bees are thus rudely assaulted with an ax 

 they evidently think the end of the world has come, 

 and, like true misers as they are, each one seizes as 

 much of the treasure as it can hold ; in other words, 

 they all fall to and gorge themselves with honey, and 

 calmly await the issue. While in this condition they 

 make no defense and will not sting unless taken hold 

 of. In fact they are as harmless as flies. Bees are 

 always to be managed with boldness and decision. 

 Any half-way measures, any timid poking about, any 

 feeble attempts to reach their honey, are sure to be 

 quickly resented. The popular notion that bees have 

 a special antipathy toward certain persons and a lik- 

 ing for certain others has only this fact at the bottom 

 of it : they will sting a person who is afraid of them 

 and goes skulking and dodging about, and they will 

 not sting a person who faces them boldly and has no 

 dread of them. They are like dogs. The way to 

 disarm a vicious dog is to show him you do not fear 

 him ; it is his turn to be afraid then. I never had 

 any dread of bees and am seldom stung by them. I 

 have climbed up into a large chestnut that contained 

 a swarm in one of its cavities and chopped them out 

 with an ax, being obliged at times to pause and brush 

 the bewildered bees from my hands and face, and not 

 been stung once. I have chopped a swarm out of 

 an apple-tree in June and taken out the cards of 

 and arranged them in a hive, and then dipped 



