The Life of the Bee 
bee warrants the belief that the swarming 
always takes place against the old sov- 
ereign’s will. For indeed the ascetic 
workers, her daughters, regard the queen 
above all as the organ of love, indispen- 
sable, certainly, and sacred, but in herself 
somewhat unconscious, and often of feeble 
mind. They treat her like a mother in 
her dotage. Their respect for her, their 
tenderness, is heroic and boundless. 
The purest honey, specially distilled and 
almost entirely assimilable, is reserved 
for her use alone. She has an escort that 
watches over her by day and by night, 
that. facilitates her maternal duties and 
gets ready the cells wherein the eggs 
shall be laid; she has loving attendants 
who pet and caress her, feed her and clean 
her, and even absorb her excrement. 
Should the least accident befall her the 
news will spread quickly from group to 
group, and the whole population will rush 
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