CHAPTER XIV 
THE DRONE AND HIS STORY 
T is true that all bee-keepers are enthusiasts, 
and true that long years spent in the com- 
panionship of the hives invariably create a fearless 
fellowship, a prime understanding between the 
bee-master and his legions. But it is equally true 
that the longer you study the nature of the honey- 
bee, the less enamoured you become of certain of 
her ways. 
In the minds of old beemen there grows up, 
as the years glide, a sort of awe of her. She is so 
manifestly a power, supreme in her little world. 
She is so courageous, resourceful, brainy. All 
the weaknesses and compromises, and most of the 
pleasures, have long ago been driven out of her 
life, seemingly by her own act and will; yet, in 
doing this, she has but refined the science of citizen- 
ship to its pure elements, Her entire unsel- 
fishness, her readiness to sacrifice her individual 
good for the good of the State, are as unquestion- 
able as they are changeless. The hive-polity, 
taken as a whole, is so admirable, and compares so 
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