94 FLOWER-FIELDS OF ALPINE SWITZERLAND 



colour the hives as they will ? It is beyond me ; 

 I imagine it is beyond my readers ; and I suspect 

 that if the truth were known it was even beyond 

 the American savant in his less imaginative 

 moments. Maybe things are not what they 

 seem, but can this be possible to the extent 

 implied by our Western cousin ? I know, of 

 course, that we do largely befool ourselves ; I 

 know that in part measure we are "All valiant 

 dust that builds on dust " ; but I cannot believe 

 we befool ourselves to the extent of painting 

 pictures every imaginable tint when, really and 

 truly, all this colour is in ourselves. I, personally, 

 am old-fashioned enough to think that when I 

 squeeze gamboge out upon my palette I un- 

 doubtedly have there a yellow, not a colourless 

 pigment. And I imagine that a bee thinks the 

 same when he flies, as frequently he will, head- 

 foremost into it, believing it to be a buttercup 

 or a marigold. 



Yes, I am presuming that we human beings, 

 endowed though we are with abundant powers of 

 which we are greatly unconscious, have little 

 enough to do with a flower's being mauve or 

 orange ; and it is upon this possibly antiquated 

 and false understanding that I ask myself. What 



