68 THE HIVE AND HONET-BEE. 



change would not be njore instantaneous than that pro- 

 duced when the bees received the brood-comb ! 



The Orientals call the honey-bee, '■'■Deborah: She that 

 speaketh." Would that this little insect might speak, in 

 words more eloquent than those of man's device, to those 

 who reject any of the doctrines of revealed religion, with 

 the assertion that they are so improbable, as to labor 

 under a fatal a priori objection. Do not all the steps in 

 the development of a queen from a worker-egg, labor 

 under the very same objection? and have they not, for 

 this reason been always regarded, by many bee-keepers, 

 as unworthy of belief? K the favorite argument of infi- 

 dels will not stand the test, when applied to the wonders 

 of the bee-hive, is it entitled to serious weight, when, by 

 objecting to religious truths, they arrogantly take to task 

 the Infinite Jehovah for what He has been pleased to do 

 or to teach ? With no more latitude than is claimed by 

 such objectors, it were easy to prove that a man is under 

 no obligation to believe any of the wonders of the bee-hive, 

 even although he is himself an intelligent eye-witness to 

 their substantial truth. 



