Still, the
bee-hunter left the place with profound regret. He loved his
calling; he loved solitude to a morbid degree, perhaps; and he loved
the gentle excitement that naturally attended his "bee-lining," his
discoveries, and his gains. Of all the pursuits that are more or
less dependent on the chances of the hunt and the field, that of the
bee-hunter is of the most quiet and placid enjoyment. He has the
stirring motives of uncertainty and doubt, without the disturbing
qualities of bustle and fatigue; and, while his exercise is
sufficient for health, and for the pleasures of the open air, it is
seldom of a nature to weary or unnerve. Then the study of the little
animal that is to be watched, and, if the reader will, plundered, is
not without a charm for those who delight in looking into the
wonderful arcana of nature. So great was the interest that le
Bourdon sometimes felt in his little companions, that, on three
several occasions that very summer, he had spared hives after having
found them, because he had ascertained that they were composed of
young bees, and had not yet got sufficiently colonized to render a
new swarming more than a passing accident.
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