The Story of the Robins/Chapter 13
CHAPTER XIII.
THE PIGS AND BEES.
The farmer's wife next proposed (but with many apologies for offering to take them to such a place) to show them her pigsty. The name of a pigsty generally conveys an idea of nastiness; but whoever had seen those of Farmer Wilson would have had a very different one. They were neatly paved, and washed down every day; the troughs in which the pigs fed were scoured, and the water they drank was always sweet and wholesome. The pigs themselves had an appearance of neatness which no one could have expected in such kind of animals; and though they had not the ingenuity of the Learned Pig, there was really something intelligent in their gruntings, and a very droll expression in the eyes of some of them. They knew their benefactors, and found means of testifying their joy at seeing them, which was increased when a boy, whom Mrs. Wilson had ordered to bring some bean-shells, emptied his basket before them. Now a scramble took place, and each pig began pushing the other aside and stuffing as fast as he could, lest they should have more than himself.
Harriet said she could not bear to see such greediness.
"It is indeed very disagreeable, even in such creatures as these," replied Mrs. Benson, "but how much more so in the human species! and yet how frequent is this fault, among children in particular! Pray look at these pigs, Frederick, and tell me if you ever remember to have met with a little boy who ate strawberries as these pigs do bean-shells?" Frederick's cheeks, at this question, were covered with conscious blushes; on which his mamma kindly kissed him, and said she hoped he had seen enough of greediness to-day to serve him for a lesson as long as he lived.
In a separate sty was a sow with a Utter of young pigs. This was a very pleasing sight indeed to Frederick, who longed to have one of them to play with; but Mrs. Wilson told him it would make the sow very angry, and her gruntings would terrify him more than the turkey-cock had done; on which he withdrew his request, but said he should like to keep such a little creature.
"If it would always continue little, Frederick," said Mrs. Benson, "it would do very well; but it will perhaps grow as large as its mother, and what should we do then?"
"I fear, ladies," said Mrs. Wilson, "you will be tired with staying here; will it be agreeable to you to take a walk in the garden?" "With all my heart." said Mrs. Benson.
Mrs. Wilson then conducted her guests into a garden, which abounded with all kinds of vegetables for the table, quantities of fruit, and a variety of flowers. Frederick longed to taste some of the delicacies which presented themselves to his eye, but he had been taught never to gather fruit or flowers without leave, nor ask for any. However, Mrs. Wilson, with his mamma's permission, treated him and his sister with some fine cherries, which Betsy gathered and presented in cabbage-leaves, and then took them to a shady arbour, where they sat and enjoyed their feast; after which they went to see the bees, which were at work in glass hives. This was a great entertainment, not only to the children, but to Mrs. Benson also, who was excessively pleased with the ingenuity and industry with which these insects collect their honey and wax, form their cells, and deposit their store. She had, by books, acquired a knowledge of the natural history of bees, which enabled her to examine their work with much greater satisfaction than she would have received from the sight of them had she been only taught to consider them as little stinging creatures which it was dangerous to approach.
"This is quite a treat to me indeed," said she to Mrs. Wilson, "for I never before had an opportunity of seeing bees work in glass hives."
"I find my account," said Mrs. Wilson, "in keeping bees thus, even upon a principle of economy; for as I do not destroy them, I have great numbers to work for me, and more honey every year than the last, notwithstanding I feed my bees in the winter. I have made acquaintance with the queen of every hive, who will come to me whenever I call her, and you shall see one of them if you please."
On this she called in a manner which the inhabitants of the hive they were looking at were accustomed to, and a large bee soon settled on her hand; in an instant after she was covered from head to foot with bees.
Harriet was fearful lest they should sting, and Frederick was running away; but Mrs. Wilson assured them the little creatures would not do any mischief if no one attempted to catch them. "Bees are, in their natural dispositions, very harmless creatures, I assure you, Master Benson," said she; "though I own they will certainly sting little boys who endeavour to catch them in order to suck their bags of honey or take out their sting; but you see that though I have hundreds about me, and even on my face and arms, not one offers to do me an injury; and I believe wasps seldom sting but in their own defence." She then threw up her hand, on which the queen bee flew away in great state, surrounded by her guards, and followed by the rest of her subjects, each ready to lose his own life in defence of hers.
"There is something very wonderful," said Mrs. Benson, "in the strong attachment these little creatures have to their sovereign, and very instructive too. What say you, Frederick, would you fight for your Queen?"
"Yes, mamma, if papa would," replied Frederick.
"That I assure you, my dear, he certainly would do if there were occasion, as loyally as the best bee in the world: and I beg you will remember what I now tell you as long as you live, that it is your duty to love your Queen, for she is to be considered as the mother of her people. But before we take our leave of the bees, let me observe to you, my dears, that several instructive lessons may be taken from their example. If such little insects as these perform their daily tasks with so much alacrity, surely it must be a shame for children to be idle, and to fret because they are put to learn things which will be of the utmost consequence to them in the end, and which would indeed conduce to their present happiness, would they but apply to them with a willing mind. Remember the pretty hymn you have learnt,—
'How doth the little busy bee
Improve each shining hour!' &c.
But come, Mrs. Wilson," continued the lady, "we must, if you please, take leave of the bees, or we shall have no time to enjoy the other pleasures you have in reserve for us."
As they walked along, Frederick so far forget himself as to try to catch a moth, but his mamma obliged him to let it go immediately. "Don't you think, Mrs. Wilson," said she, "it is wrong to let children catch butterflies and moths?" "Indeed I do, madam," replied the good woman. "Poor little creatures! what injury can they do us by flying about? In that state, at least, they are harmless to us. Caterpillars and snails, it is true, we are obliged frequently to destroy, on account of their devouring fruit and vegetables; but unless they abound so as to be likely to do a real injury, I never suffer them to be meddled with. I often think on my good father's maxims, which were 'Never take away the life of any creature, unless it is necessary for the benefit of mankind. While there is food and room enough in the world for them and us, let them live and enjoy the blessings they were formed for,' he would say."
"When I was a little girl," said Mrs. Benson, "I had a great propensity to catch flies and other insects; but my father had an excellent microscope, in which he showed me a number of different objects; by this means I learnt that even the minutest creatures might be as susceptible of pain as myself. And so far from having a pleasure in killing even the disagreeable insects which are troublesome in houses, I assure you I cannot do it or see it done without pain; and yet they certainly may be considered as enemies, and as such we have a right to destroy them."
"To be sure, madam," said Mrs. Wilson, "for without cleanliness we could not enjoy health. It goes against me to demolish a fine spider's web, and yet they make a house look very dirty; but I seldom have any in mine, for I took care, when I first came to live in it, to destroy the nests, and the old spiders finding there was no security for their young ones here, have forsaken the house; and I am inclined to think the same vigilance in respect to other disagreeable insects would have the same effect."
"Doubtless," said Mrs. Benson; "but pray tell me, do you destroy the webs of garden spiders also?"
"Not unless there are so many as to be disagreeable," replied Mrs. Wilson. "I should not myself like to have the fruits of my industry demolished, nor my little ones taken out of my arms, or from their warm beds, and crushed to death."
"I am of opinion," said Mrs. Benson, "that it would be a good way to accustom one's self, before one kills anything, to change situations with it in imagination, and to suppose how we should feel were we bees, or ants, or birds, or kittens, and so on."
"Indeed, madam," said Mrs. Wilson, "I have often wished that poor dumb creatures had somebody to speak for them; many an innocent life would then be saved, which is now destroyed to no end."
"Well," said Harriet, "I am sure I shall never kill anything without first magnifying it in my mind, and thinking what it would say for itself if able to speak." "Then, my dear, I will engage for you," replied her mamma, "that you will put but very few creatures to death. But in order to have a proper notion of their form, you must study natural history, from whence you will learn how wonderful their construction is, how carefully and tenderly the inferior creatures provide for their young, how ingenious their various employments are, how far they are from harbouring malice against the human species, and how excellently they are informed and instructed by their great Creator for the enjoyment of happiness in their different classes of existence, which happiness we have certainly no right wantonly to disturb.
"Besides, it is really a meanness to destroy any creature merely because it is little, and, in children, particularly absurd to do so; for, upon this principle, they must themselves expect to be constantly ill-treated, though no animal stands more in need of tenderness than they do for many years from the time of their coming into the world: and even men and women might expect to be annihilated by the power of the great Creator, if everything that is little were to be destroyed. Neither do I know how we can precisely call anything great or little, since it is only so by comparing it with others. An ant or a fly may appear, to one of its own species, whose eyes are formed to see those parts which we cannot discover without glasses, as considerable as men and women do to each other; and to creatures of the dimensions of a mite, one of the size of an ant doubtless looks formidable and gigantic. I therefore think it but justice to view insects with microscopic eyes before we do anything to them that is likely to give them pain, or to destroy their works unnecessarily."
During this conversation Frederick kept running about, making choice of flowers, which Betsy Wilson formed into nosegays for his mamma, his sister, and himself.