272 THE LORE OF THE HONEY-BEE - 
country—these were to be had for nothing at all. 
And as for clothes—you never know, until you 
give over trying to keep up appearances, how very 
little appearances count in the world. At any 
rate, for them, the whole thing was a complete 
success. There were men round about that 
country-side who farmed whole provinces, and 
still grumbled ; but here was he, getting peace 
and plenty from half an acre; and as for the 
girls, they did nothing but laugh and sing all day 
long. 
Thus we wandered and talked; and I—feigning 
ignorance of bee-matters, lest he might think I was 
but carrying coals to Newcastle in ‘clumsy charity 
—bought honey, and asked many questions ; and 
slowly the entire meaning of what had been done 
by these emancipated slaves of City clerkdom was 
revealed. The bee-master pushed his old straw 
hat back over his clever forehead, and lit the most 
comfortable pipe I had ever set eyes on. He had 
evidently thought the whole thing out long ago, 
and got it down to its essential elements. 
‘‘What we are doing here,” he said, ‘could be 
done by hundreds of others who are still in London 
in what was once our old plight. Large bee-farms 
are all very well, but they are more or less a thing 
of the future—something that is still to be evolved 
out of twentieth-century needs. But the bee- 
garden has its immediate use and place in every 
district where there is an average population. 
