LETTER XXVII.
WILLIAM to his MOTHER.
We went yesterday with Dr. Bartlett to visit a farm-house, where there are some bee-hives. I had often heard of bees, but I never saw them work before. What wonderful little creatures! but I will give you our conversation.
EMILIA.
Will not these bees hurt us, Sir?
DR. BARTLETT.
No. But we must not make any violent noise; we must approach them softly. Look, you may imagine you view a whole city, well peopled; where every one does his best to earn a subsistence in an honest way; none here stand idle. What a lesson for the sluggard who wastes his time in idleness, and is a burden to himself and others.
EMILIA.
Have they made those little holes entirely themselves?
DR. BARTLETT.
Yes. They are always employed; they take care in the summer to provide food for the winter; and build themselves little rooms in which they are preserved from the cold. They pay also a necessary attention to cleanliness; they carefully throw out any accidental dirt, and the dead bees.
WILLIAM.
But, Sir, if it should happen that a snail, or any other insect enters the hive, would they immediately drive it away?
When they find such an insect, after they have killed it, they enclose it in wax, so that no damage can arise from it.—Observe what harmony reigns in the hive; every one has his particular post. One flies out to gather honey; another takes care of the wax; and a third has his business in the hive. They who remain at home, come to the entrance of the hive, to take the load from those who fly abroad: and this way they relieve and help each other. We may then justly compare them to a virtuous family; where every one is diligently employed to make his companions happy.
CHARLES.
But I think I see one much larger than the rest.
You are quick-sighted, it is the queen you see, and they pay her all possible respect: there is never more than one queen in a swarm.
CHARLES.
Bees are of great use to us.
DR. BARTLETT.
Certainly. We should without them, have neither honey nor wax; which are both very useful for various purposes.
WILLIAM.
But, Sir, is it not hard that we should rob the bees of their honey, which they have so industriously gathered for themselves?
DR. BARTLETT.
It would be cruel, indeed, if we did not leave them a sufficient quantity. Providence, in the whole of creation, considered the wants of man; yet did not neglect to supply those of the meanest of his creatures. We are allowed to govern them, and partake of the dainties they procure; but the master must not degenerate into a tyrant—a cruel spoiler.
EMILIA.
I never could endure bees, because they sting; but for the future I will love them.
DR. BARTLETT.
Do so, and remember that there are many other things which you despise, only because you cannot discern their use, or have not thought about it.
EMILIA.
What kind of an understanding have the bees?
We distinguish it by the name of instinct. It is instilled at once; and does not grow gradually, and improve as our faculties, if properly employed, always will.
WILLIAM.
Are there no means to enable men to procure honey? for they see the bees collect it from the flowers and herbs.
DR. BARTLETT.
No certainly. We will look at a bee through the microscope, and then you will discover the instrument, with which they collect their treasure; an instrument which all the art of man cannot prepare.
Dr. Bartlett said very true; we took a bee home, and looked at it through our glass—I wish I could give you a description of it; but you shall see it in my microscope, when we meet in your little room, which I think of with more pleasure than the sight of the finest English house ever inspired.
WILLIAM.