THE SUMMIT OF THE YEARS 



The same day ill fortune overtook a queen bumble- 

 bee who had a nest somewhere about the barn. She 

 appeared abruptly upon the ground in front of my 

 door in a great state of excitement. She seemed sud- 

 denly to have discovered that she could not fly, and 

 she was making vain attempts to do so, in a state 

 of painful agitation. She buzzed and rushed about 

 amid the dry grass and loose straws like one beside 

 herself. I went to her to give her a lift ; she rushed up 

 the twig I proffered, then up my hand, shaking with 

 excitement. From this coign of vantage she tried 

 to launch herself into the air, but fell ingloriously 

 to the ground. I saw that her right wing was badly 

 mutilated; not more than half of it remained, and 

 flying was out of the question. But the poor queen 

 would not have it so; she could not be convinced that 

 she could not fly. The oftener she failed in her at- 

 tempts, the more desperate she became. She always 

 had flown, and now suddenly her wings failed her. 

 She would climb up the taller spears of grass and 

 make the attempt, and upon stems and sticks. She 

 could not accept her cruel fate. She finally rushed 

 into the stonework and I saw her no more. 



I am not certain that the queen bumblebee makes 

 a nuptial flight like the queen of the hive bees, but 

 probably she does, and this one may have left her 

 near-by colony for this purpose, only to flounder in- 

 gloriously among the weeds. Probably some an- 

 archist insect had frayed and clipped her wing in 

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