THE QUEEN BEE. 
17 
guard of workers. This service is taken in turn, 
and never neglected, and she receives every mark 
of attention and respect which human beings can 
give to a beloved monarch. 
An old writer, who in all his daily walks saw 
proof that the God of nature was also the God of 
the Bible, and whose “ Emblems ” are full of 
devout thoughts, observed this singular affection 
of the bees for their sovereign. He says, “ So 
strong is the attachment of the little honey birds 
to their king,* that they quit the hive with him, 
and follow and never leave him. When he flies, 
they do the same ; when he alights, they fasten 
to him ; if he remove, they hasten after him ; and 
if by some accident his wings be injured, and he 
fall to the ground, they fall upon and cover him, 
as I have seen with my own eyes.” He then 
says, “ It is the same with the church of the 
saints ; they have one only head, Jesus, and on 
him their whole heart is set, and their whole soul 
depends. Alas, Jesus ! when shall my love to 
thee equal that of the bees to their king 1 My 
* Gotthold wrote two centuries ago ; singularly enough, he 
speaks of the monarch of the hive as “ king.” 
2 
