THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



365 



to exact toll from every bee-keeper in the 

 United States for the privilege of living 

 on the earth; and I stand ready to defend 

 that charge in a gentlemanly and loving 

 way. As Christ said to the accusers of 

 the sinful woman which was brought to 

 him, "Let him that is without sin among 

 you cast the first stone. ' ' 



Borodino, N. Y. Nov. 29, 1898. 



A Condensed View of Current 

 ^ Bee Writings. 



E. E. HASTY. 



"I'll trace the garden o'er and o'er, 

 And meditate on each sweet flower.' 



MO, comrade Miller, that apology to 

 Mrs. Bee will not be forthcoming. 

 Hasty wouldn't be Hasty unless he could 

 face the nearly unanimous company of 

 his fellow bee-keepers, and smoothly tell 

 them that they are wrong. The habit of 

 calling the worker bee "she" is a mere 

 fad, not well founded in the facts, not in 

 accord with the best usage of our lan- 

 guage; and the rest of the human race not 

 bee keepers neither follow nor like the 

 usage. Unless I mistake badly, Bible 

 usage, and literary usage, and household 

 usage are all three in accord in allowing 

 masculine forms to be used for real fe- 

 males, whenever the matter of sex is im- 

 material or inconspicuous (especially 

 when the writer desires his reader tp ig- 

 nore it) and still more is this the case with 

 bees, which are not practically females but 

 neuters. At our house they are raising a 

 nice calf. Its name is Dinah. The two 

 little boys of the house and their mother 

 are specially interested in the calf. Now 

 when Dinah's name is put in a sentence 

 the pronouns must of course be feminine; 

 l)ut otherwise masculine pronouns are 

 heard sometimes. "//f capers." "'He 

 has very small and quite sharp horns. " ' 

 "y/<? thinks it a solemn duty to drink up 



all that's offered him, no matter how 

 nmch there may be of it." If I am right, 

 this style of speaking is nearly or quite 

 universal; and popular usage, when found- 

 ed in reason, always defeats in the end 

 even the great grammarians of the langu- 

 age — and Hasty figures that you will be 

 defeated, ought to be if you are not. 



What are the absolute facts of the case ? 

 The worker bee (barring a few exception- 

 al ones) is atiatoinicaUy a female but 

 fimctioiially a. neuter. If we say "he" 

 we contradict the anatomical truth. If 

 we say "she" we contradict the function- 

 al truth. Can't help doing one or tother. 

 Which then, is the most important aspect 

 of the two, that we may contradict that ? 

 I think that we must say that the ana- 

 tomical aspect is usually less important. 

 The strictly logical result w^ould be the 

 use of neuter pronouns; but neuter pro- 

 nouns, used of living things, give a stiff- 

 ness to our discourse which i not agree- 

 able. Both speaker and hearer feel better 

 when the pronouns are thrown into the 

 masculine, which is perfectly admissible. 

 Though you paint an inch thick you can't 

 get rid of the ugly fact that readers will 

 feel that sex nmst be important in some 

 way if feminine pronouns, in non-figura- 

 tive discourse, are used of an insect; and 

 that is reall}^ the most important consid- 

 eration we have to meet in the case. Tell 

 you what ails you brethren. You are 

 proud of knowing more about the bee's 

 gender than the laity do; and therefore 

 you must needs be airing your wisdom be- 

 fore them, just as callow preachers air 

 their Hebrew. 



'; HE Progressive. 



In November '97 R. C. Aikin began a 

 series of papers on his experience and its 

 lessons which have continued to the pres- 

 ent date. Directly, Doolittle, who is the 

 big assistant editor of the Progressive, 

 responded with extended criticisms; and 

 this collocation of the views of two very 

 able apiarists has for some time been the 

 characteristic and leading feature of the 

 magazine. 



