Toilers and Idlers of the Shining Hours 



at the risk of raising questions as to my 

 dear old mother's reputation for ve- 

 racity I will here put on record the quite 

 unbelievable statement which I have 

 often heard her make: that as a tiny 

 urchin I had one certain summer day 

 seated myself in front of the hives, 

 where the bees had gathered thickly 

 on the outside of their box to escape 

 the heat, and played with handfuls of 

 them without being stung. . I have 

 been since, however, not always by 

 honey bees. 



And so we really gave the wild bees 

 welcome as they entered in the oak, 

 and throughout the long midsummer 

 days and well into the autumn the 

 busy droning of these thrifty little 

 workmen added a new element of 

 charm to our surroundings. And as 

 they gathered from the fields and 

 flowers their winter store of sweets, 

 their hapless brethren of the idle class 

 grasshoppers, crickets and the rest 

 were squandering the shining hours 



[115] 



