OF THE HONEY BEE. XV11 



good thing's of God," which everywhere greeted their first 

 morning stroll through the avenues of Paradise, 



It is certain that no song of birds in Eden's bower could 

 surpass the mellifluous hum of the bee ; no sportive gambol, 

 circling flight, or sudden dart, or graceful curve of sparrow OB 

 the wing, could equal the grace and beauty, the action and the 

 science of her aerial sports or daily duties; nor could the 

 combined aroma and symmetrical form of the thousand para- 

 disian flowers compare with the sweetness of her honey, and 

 the garniture of her store-house. Hence, no portion of the 

 garden, which Adam was directed to " keep and dress," could 

 have presented greater attractions to his attention, or stronger 

 claims upon his care and protection. 



Sugar, separated from its source, and prepared for tise by 

 the hand of man, is of recent origin ; but honey " was of old," 

 among the first of good things, among the best of first things 

 the one, a creation of God ; the other, an invention of man 

 the one had entire dominion for thousands of years ; the other 

 has enjoyed partial sway in very modern times. 



Nor was this busy collector of nature's sweetest products 

 left, like many of the other classes of unintelligent creatures, to- 

 withstand the changes of a precarious world alone. Man came 

 to her early protection from danger, and her aid in toil ; he 

 built her a house to exclude the cold, break the winds and 

 shelter from the storm. Thus, her divinely appointed protect- 

 or became at once her patron and a pensioner upon her bounty. 

 Man's early companion and blessing, she repaid his care by 

 soothing the sorrow of his apostacy, sweetening the cup of his 

 bitterest woe, and restoring the vigor of his toil-worn frame 



In view of her relations to human weal, she was furnished 



