The Life of the Bee 
some day that there is no secret, or that 
the secret is monstrous, other duties will 
then arise that as yet, perhaps, have no 
name. Let our heart, if it will, in the 
meanwhile repeat “‘It is sad;” but let our 
reason be content to add, ‘‘ Thus it is.” At 
the present hour the duty before us is to 
seek out that which perhaps may be hiding 
behind these sorrows; and, urged on by this 
endeavour, we must not turn our eyes away, 
but must steadily, fixedly watch these sorrows 
and study them with a courage and interest as 
keen as though they were joys. It is right 
that before we judge nature, before we 
complain, we should at least ask every ques- 
tion that we can possibly ask. 
65 
We have seen that the workers, when free 
for the moment from the threatening fecun- 
dity of the queen, hasten to erect cells for 
provisions whose construction is more econo- 
mical and capacity greater. We have seen, 
too, that the queen prefers to lay in the 
smaller cells for which she is incessantly 
180 
