CHAPTER XIX 

 BEE-KEEPERS AND BEE-KEEPING 



MOST business occupations lead to rivalry and all 

 the selfish emotions incident to competition; not 

 so is bee-keeping; quite the opposite, indeed, as 

 there is a freemasonry that holds bee-keepers to- 

 gether and renders their attitude toward each other 

 friendly and helpful. Bee-keeping is everywhere a 

 bond of brotherhood and a sign of congenial tastes. 

 One night at a dinner-party the gentleman on my 

 right was a stranger, known to me only by reputation 

 as a lawyer of high standing and great erudition. 

 He was reserved and silent, and evidently bored by 

 the trivialities of table-talk. Some one incidentally 

 spoke of our bees, when the face of my neighbour 

 became illumined with interest, and he said, " I am 

 sure that by becoming a lawyer I spoiled a good bee- 

 keeper. I have never found anything else so inter- 

 esting as bee-keeping;" and thus was swept away 

 the curtain of cold conventionalism which had hung 

 between us, and we began, from that moment, to be 

 friends. 



Nowhere is this brotherly interest more noticeable 



than in the bee-books and the bee-journals. The 



former bear evidence, on every page, of kindness and 



courtesy to all; while the latter are like friendly cor- 



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