The Life of the Bee 
any interest, it is essential that they 
should remain absolutely sincere. Had 
the conclusion been forced upon me that 
bees are incapable of communicating to 
each other news of an event occurring 
outside the hive, I should, I imagine, as 
a set-off against the slight disappoint- 
ment this discovery would have entailed, 
have derived some degree of satisfaction 
in recognising once more that man, after 
all, is the only truly intelligent being who 
inhabits our globe. And there comes 
too a period of life when we have more 
joy in saying the thing that is true than 
in saying the thing that merely is wonder- 
ful. Here as in every case the principle 
holds that, should the naked truth appear 
at the moment less interesting, less great 
and noble than the imaginary embellish- 
ment it lies in our power to bestow, the 
fault must rest with ourselves who still 
are unable to perceive the astonishing 
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