CHAPTER XIV 



THE DRONE AND HIS STORY 



IT is true that all bee-keepers are enthusiasts, 

 and true that long years spent in the com- 

 panionship of the hives invariably create a fearless 

 fellowship, a prime understanding between the 

 bee-master and his legions. But it is equally true 

 that the longer you study the nature of the honey- 

 bee, the less enamoured you become of certain of 

 her ways. 



In the minds of old beemen there grows up, 

 as the years glide, a sort of awe of her. She is so 

 manifestly a power, supreme in her little world. 

 She is so courageous, resourceful, brainy. All 

 the weaknesses and compromises, and most of the 

 pleasures, have long ago been driven out of her 

 life, seemingly by her own act and will ; yet, in 

 doing this, she has but refined the science of citizen- 

 ship to its pure elements. Her entire unsel- 

 fishness, her readiness to sacrifice her individual 

 good for the good of the State, are as unquestion- 

 able as they are changeless. The hive-polity, 

 taken as a whole, is so admirable, and compares so 



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