THE DRONE NOT AN IDLER. 
33 
There is nothing superfluous in creation. All 
animals, man himself included, are fitted for the 
work which God intended them to perform, and 
no more. Thus, in the hive, the queen is espe- 
cially adapted for her office, the worker has at 
command all the tools for the multiform labors 
expected of her, and the drone is no less perfectly 
fitted for his peculiar sphere. The beauty and 
perfection of system in the hive, which we so 
much admire, are thus preserved, and one har- 
monious whole tells of the wisdom so manifest in 
all the works of the Creator. Three or four hun- 
dred, and sometimes, although rarely, as many as 
two thousand drones, live in one hive, but in the 
early autumn they fall by a general massacre. 
Their purpose in life is accomplished, and by 
means of a wholesale slaughter the community is 
free from their useless mouths before the wintry 
frosts and snows seal up the flowery fields and 
imprison the little insects in their homes. 
Although we see the injustice of calling the 
drone an idler, yet we may profit from the les- 
sons which have been drawn from his supposed 
useless life. How many human “ drones ” do we 
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