The Life of the Bee 
the tedium of waiting. They fly much 
higher than is their wont, and the leaves 
of the mighty trees round about all quiver 
responsive. They have left trouble behind, 
and care. They no longer are meddling 
and fierce, aggressive, suspicious, untame- 
able, angry. Man—the unknown master 
whose sway they never acknowledge, who 
can subdue them only by conforming to 
their every law, to their habits of labour, 
and following step by step the path that 
is traced in their life by an intellect nothing 
can thwart or turn from its purpose, by a 
spirit whose aim is always the good of 
the morrow—on this day man can approach 
them, can divide the glittering curtain they 
form as they fly round and round in song- 
ful circles; he can take them up in his 
hand, and gather them as he would a 
bunch of grapes; for to-day, in their glad- 
ness, possessing nothing, but full of faith 
in the future, they will submit to every- 
thing and injure no one, provided only 
they be not separated from the queen who 
bears that future within her. 
64 
