The Life of the Bee 



any interest, it is essential that they 

 should remain absolutely sincere. Had 

 the conclusion been forced upon me that 

 bees are incapable of communicating to 

 each other news of an event occurring 

 outside the hive, I should, I imagine, as 

 a set-off against the slight disappoint- 

 ment this discovery would have entailed, 

 have derived some degree of satisfaction 

 in recognising once more that man, after 

 all, is the only truly intelligent being who 

 inhabits our globe. And there comes 

 too a period of life when we have more 

 joy in saying the thing that is true than 

 in saying the thing that merely is wonder- 

 ful. Here as in every case the principle 

 holds that, should the naked truth appear 

 at the moment less interesting, less great 

 and noble than the imaginary embellish- 

 ment it lies In our power to bestow, the 

 fault must rest with ourselves who still 

 are unable to perceive the astonishing 



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