Can you not borrow ? And, in just return, 

 Afford them shelter from the wintry winds ; 

 Or, as the sharp year pinches, with their own 

 Again regale them on some smiling day ? 

 See where the stony bottom of their town 

 Looks desolate and wild, with here and there 

 A helpless number, who the ruln'd state 

 Survive, lamenting, weak, cast out to death." 



For Thomson's humane appeal he has 

 been thus apostrophized by Dr. Evans : 



" And thou, sweet Thomson, tremblingly alive 

 To pity's call has mourned the slaughter'd hive, 

 Cursing, with honest zeal, the coward hand 

 Which hid in night's dark veil the murd'rous brand, 

 In steam sulphurous wrapt the peaceful dome, 

 And bore the yellow spoil triumphant home." 



Were we speaking of clams, lobsters, 

 oysters or any of the lower orders of ani- 

 mated existence, these remarks might be re- 

 garded as mere sentimentalism, but the bee 

 stands high in the scale of animal intelli- 

 gence, and hence possesses an organism 

 susceptible of pleasure or pain to an intense 

 degree. Recognizing this fact, most of the 

 great minds of the past have leit on record 

 eloquent tributes to the bee. She has fur- 

 nished the political economist with models 

 of government, the architect with plans for 

 the strongest structures with the greatest 

 economy of materials and space. The theo- 

 logian has drawn on her for some of his best 

 illustrations of design in nature to demon- 

 strate the existence of an intelligent Creator. 

 Aristotle the high priest of ancient philoso- 

 phy, well acquainted with the habits of all 

 animals known in his day, pronounced the 

 bee a "magazine of the virtues," and Virgil, 

 Rome's most gifted poet, pronounced her a 

 " ray of the divinity." Modern investigators 

 have instituted many experiments to ascer- 

 tain the limits of bee-wisdom, yet in all of 

 them she has shown herself equal to the oc- 

 casion, and by her wonderful adaptation 

 of means to ends, in the various positions 

 she has been placed, convinced many that 

 she really takes cognizance of cause and 

 effect, exercises volition and does things so 

 closely allied to human reason that the line 

 of demarcation can scarcely be pointed out. 

 Such being the character of the honey bee, I 

 am not ashamed to espouse its cause and to 

 ask the aid of this Association in suppressing 

 the needless cruelties practiced upon it. 



To accomplish this we do not, I think, 

 need any additional legislation, but a vigor- 

 ous enforcement of laws already in exist- 

 ence. Parents are by law compelled to 

 educate their children and to treat them 

 humanely. Sportsmen are compelled to re- 

 frain from shooting birds except at certain 

 seasons of the year, and some species en- 

 tirely. Fishermen are compelled to fish 

 only until the season for spawning com- 

 mences, so that the increase of fish be not 

 interfered with, etc., etc. Twelve years 

 ago the American Society for the Prevention 

 of Cruelty to Animals was instituted and up 

 to the present time has prosecuted and con- 

 victed 7,000 offenders and prevented the 

 abuse of animals on 16,957 occasions. The 

 provisions of the laws of this Society are 

 ample to protect our little pets from the 

 cruelty of their masters in not caring for 

 them properly, or from consigning them to 

 the brimstone pit. 



These laws extend to every State in the 

 Union except four, and the result is a very 

 marked improvement in the treatment of 

 all animals except bees, but for these the 



563: 



protection of the law has never yet been 

 invoked. A prominent lawyer of Jersey 

 City, an amateur bee-keeper, offers to pros- 

 ecute any clear case of bee murder, free of 

 charge in order to furnish doubtful bee-keep- 

 ers a test case to inspire confidence in the 

 efficiency of our laws, if enforced, to protect 

 the bees from needless cruelty. Section 

 64 of the New Jersey law reads as follows : 



" Any person who shall * * * torture, torment,, 

 deprive of necessary sustenance * * * or other- 

 wise abuse, or needlessly mutilate or kill, or who shall 

 cause or procure * * to be tortured, * * * any 

 living animal or creature * * * shall be deemed 

 guilty of a misdemeanor, and for every such offense 

 shall, on conviction thereof, be punished by tine not 

 exceeding $250, or by imprisonment in the county jail 

 not exceeding six months, or both, in the discretion 

 of the court." 



For the purpose of more fully satisfying 

 myself that the manner in which bees are so 

 often treated, constitutes a crime within 

 the meaning of the law, I wrote Mr. Henry 

 Bergh, President of the Society for the Pre- 

 vention of Cruelty to Animals, detailing 

 the methods of treatment pursued by box- 

 hive bee-keepers of needlessly exposing 

 their bees to the severity of winter unpro- 

 tected and often with insufficient stores, &c. r 

 &c, ending with their cruel death by brim- 

 stone. 1 received the following reply, to- 

 gether with a copy of the law relating to 

 this subject : 



Society for the Prevent'n of Cruelty to Animals, ) 

 New York, Sept. 25th, 1879. » 



Mr. A. J. King— Dear Sir :— Yours of the 24th inst. 

 is received. The needless killing of bees by the 

 method you describe, is not only cruel in the ex- 

 treme, but is a violation of the laws of this State, 

 which prohibit the needless killing of any animal, 

 and infliction of unjustifiable physical pain and suf- 

 fering. Not being freely conversant with the manner 

 of treating the little busy bee, you will pardon my 

 not entering into the discussion, but take great pleas- 

 ure in sending you the laws with reference to their 

 protection from cruelty and death. 



Henry Bergh. 



A careful perusal of these laws fully con- 

 firms my previous convictions, and for the 

 purpose of bringing the subject to the atten- 

 tion of this Association in a more tangible 

 shape, I have transcribed a few of the many- 

 provisions of the law. The first reads : 



" Every person who shall by his act or neglect, ma- 

 liciously maim, poison, wound, injure, torture, starve, 

 cruelly beat or kill any horse, mule, ox, cattle, sheep 

 or other animal belonging t< > himself or another shall, 

 upon conviction, be adjudged guilty of a misde- 

 meanor." 



Section 46 reads : 



" Every person who shall be convicted of any mis- 

 demeanor, the punishment of which is not prescribed 

 in this or some other statute, shall be punished by 

 imprisonment in a county jail, not exceeding one 

 year, or by fine not exceeding $250, or by both fine 

 and imprisonment." 



The notes following this section and also 

 referring to other provisions of the law read 

 as follows : 



"The intent is assumed from the act itself. It need 

 not be averred or proven. When an act is in itself 

 illegal, the law presumes evil intention. ' It is a uni- 

 versal principle that when a man is charged with do- 

 ing an act (that is, a wrongful act without any legal 

 justification ) of which the probable consequence may 

 be highly injurious, the intention is an inference of 

 law resulting from the doing of the act. And al- 

 though he may have had another object in view, he 

 must be taken to have intended that which is the 

 natural consequence of the act. If he does an act 

 which is illegal, it does not make it legal that he did 

 it with some other object. That is not a legal excuse/ 

 Express malice need not be proven in eases of cru- 

 elty to animals." 



