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I did smile, as he had observed, and wishing him success in his grand scheme of apiculture, I wandered back to the city.

boys are right in calling them bumble- -or even decked with many-colored bees), make their nests in turfy mounds bands?" and heaps of soft mould, and there deposit their waxen amphora, to be filled with the viscid sweetness which the smaller creatures can not reach. You apprehend me? Ah, yes. And the field-mouse only waits until the stock of nectar is fairly gathered, and then the cunning robber enters and despoils the subterranean store. If field-mice superabound, then no winter honey is left for bumble-bees; and if they starve, there will be next year no fertilization of clover.

"Yes, I am quoting Darwin, as you say. Away from towns the spoliation of the ground nests is more common. Near human dwellings it is less, because the predatory cats hunt and destroy the mice. Thus the chance for clover in its struggle for existence depends upon cats. Q.E.D." I ventured to observe that there was an opening for a man of a speculative turn; namely, to take cats away from roofs and sheds and the nocturnal temptations of city life-away, also, from the reach of old boots and blacking bottles-and turn their obvious talons to practical use.

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Ah, yes; I have thought of it," he replied. "Darwin is a great man. He has suggested a use for cats. You will find everything in Darwin. I must speak to my neighbor, and have some cats brought here for the protection of this clover field."

A moment later there was a nervous bound, and then a sudden gleam in his eyes, and he went on:

'Here is a new idea-and not in Darwin. As the greyhound has derived his stature and fleetness by the law of Natural Selection, and the Newfoundland his webbed toes from generations of aquatic experience, and as by careful attention almost any quality can be perpetuated and intensified, why not make the common bee, Apis mellifica, the subject of a grand experiment? Why not select those with longest feelers and snouts-I beg pardon: antennæ and proboscis-as parents of the future hive? Next year select again; and so on at every swarming-time, until at last we develop or create a bee that shall be master of the sweets of clover ?

"You smile; but it is within the reach of science. If a dog or sheep can be produced to any required pattern, why can not a bee be formed with stilted legs

A few days later, as I was passing by the clover field, there was a dreadful uproar. I saw a row of bee-hives near the wall, and near by the well-known figure of Mr. Thornbury. He wore kid gloves, and his head was enveloped in a green veil. A small boy, in a paroxysm of excitement, though at a reasonably safe distance, was ringing a dinner-bell with one hand and shaking a brass warming-pan with the other. I ventured near enough to see the angrily buzzing swarm. The living mass attached to a hive grew huge and unwieldy; then segments fell off, separated into single bodies, poised like humming-tops, or shooting here and there with vicious swiftness, like staff officers in a sham fight. The tumult grew, until the small boy suddenly ceased his performances, gave an agonized yell, shouted, "Gol darn 'em!" and ran away. At the same moment I saw by the nervous motions of Mr. Thornbury's hands that the bees had got under the folds of his veil, and were resenting his intrusion vigorously. Scientific observation was difficult under the circumstances, and the student of Nature beat a hurried retreat toward the road where I stood.

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Ah, she went off!" he exclaimed. "Furious creature, insane with passion, the only female in the enormous tribe! Shot upward like an arrow. No keeping her, though I had my duplex microscope ready. I am afraid I got things mixed; had forgotten to look over Huber. Enormously clever man, that Huber! Darwin often quotes him. Disastrous end to my great experiment."

While he spoke he was unwinding the veil from his head, and liberating from time to time some angry creature whose lively natural weapon was only too ready for offense. His pain was evidently sharp, and I could not laugh, although his notion of controlling the habits of bees was in itself sufficiently ludicrous. I walked to his house with him, and consoled him as well as I could.

A pert little bantam was strutting about his yard, and Mr. Thornbury for the moment forgot his pain, and his project for an improved race of bees.

"Odd, is it not," he said, "that Homer

makes no mention of the gallinaceous | in the grocery and provision stores of the

family? Such an observer, if he had ever heard a cock crow, or seen a hen with chickens, would have used the amusing creatures as illustrations. But there was no chanticleer to call Achilles to put on his armor, and Penelope had never a hen-coop to look after. At the time of the Christian era it was different. Our Saviour had noticed the maternal solicitude of the female, and we all know that the warning note of the male awoke Peter to a tardy repentance. Evidently, therefore, the family of gallina were brought from India to Asia Minor, and thence into Europe, by Alexander the Great."

South End that his phenomenal ornaments had excited great interest among savants. Joe had, moreover, expatiated upon his expected reward, and had promised to take his "girl" to the theatre on the strength of it.

When at length Joe made the capture, and started off with the prize in the grocer's wagon, he was followed by a curious crowd. I got the word, and started also. By the time I arrived there were a dozen persons in the front yard. Joe had alalready alighted with the box, and taken it in-doors.

Mr. Tooke Thornbury, in his best blue coat, and with eyes that gleamed behind his huge glasses, stood waiting for the trap to be opened.

There the pigeon was, as bright a creature as ever was seen, with purple tail, scarlet-tipped wings, and a coral comb. The bird ran about the room without fear, but did not choose to be handled.

It was a singular coincidence that, upon going home, the servant of my grocer, a sharp boy named Joe, told me he had lately seen in the streets a large and handsome pigeon with scarlet-tipped wings, purple tail-feathers, and a small wellshaped comb, like a cock's, upon his head. This was a staggerer—a pigeon with a Mr. Thornbury's emotion was extreme. cock's comb! The peaks of color in fea- "Shades of Hunter and Buffon, of Owen, thers might be accounted for, but the Agassiz, and Aristotle!" he ejaculated. comb! No, it was impossible; the colum- Am I too to be one of you-known to bae were too widely distinct from the gal-after-times as one of the great co-ordilina. I questioned the lad. He declared it was true, and that he had seen the bird often. He calculated he knew a pigeon, and he knew what a comb was. This was a fine sleek bird, with a knowing look, and not a bit skeery.

If this is true, thought I, I will knock the naturalists endwise. A pigeon with a comb! I must have that bird. I will give him to Mr. Thornbury as a subject for a lecture. He will go back of Darwin, even. I will write to Darwin myself. It will be a favorable opportunity to get an autograph letter; for, of course, the great man will acknowledge my service in the cause of science.

"Joe," said I, "if you can catch that bird in a trap-alive, I mean, and without injury-I will give you ten dollars."

The boy's face brightened with a keen intelligence, and he said, "I'll try."

I visited Mr. Thornbury, and gave him the news. Our discussion was animated and long, but it need not be reproduced here.

I had stipulated with Joe that in case he should catch the bird, he should take the trap direct to my friend's house.

Meanwhile the pigeon had been seen by many persons, and it was noised about

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nates in science? The Columba thornburyi shall mark a new era in classification. Now we will see if the director of the Stubbs Institute, who has refused to invite me to lecture, will delay longer the acknowledgment of my talents!"

Meanwhile the lively bird kept hopping about, gracefully eluding capture. Mr. Thornbury was unconscious of the gradually increasing audience, as he talked and meditated by turns. The entry and doorway were filled with eagerly curious folk.

There was a slight rustle, then a voice, and quick footstep. A buxom and saucy girl about twelve years of age, in a short dress, and wearing long braids of yellow hair, rushed in, saying, in a tone that was like scolding and crying at once: "I declare it's too bad! Billy, pretty Billy, come!"

She held out her hand, and the bird rose on his wings and alighted on her finger. "There! there!" she said, soothingly, "Pretty Billy, kiss me!"

The bird put his bill to the full red lips, and gave an audible coo of delight.

"Now, Joe Saunders," she said, turning to the grocer's boy, "you see if you don't catch it! My pa says there's a law

against setting traps for birds in the city. Yes, poor Billy!" she said, caressing the bird again, "they were going to cut you up" (giving a spiteful glance at Mr. Thornbury), "but they sha'n't-no, they sha'n't."

My feelings went through as many phases as the colors of a dying dolphin. There was a pathetic as well as a comic side to the scene. The face of Mr. Thornbury was a study for a picture of vacuity. He was at his wits' end.

I ventured to calm the girl's wrath by admiring her pet. "Those are very unusual colors," I said, pointing to the purple and scarlet tips.

"Oh, I did that," said the girl, gayly. "Papa's carmine ink on the wing feathers, and violet on the tail feathers. Aren't they pretty? Kiss me, Billy!" "But his extraordinary comb!" gasped Mr. Thornbury.

Here the girl laughed outright, while her merry eyes shone and her fresh color

came.

"Pretty nice, isn't it? I cut it out of red felt. See the nice smooth ridges-just like a real comb! It's stuck well, hasn't it? Fish-glue doesn't soak off. Nice

Billy!"

And the pretty fiend dandled the ornithological monster up and down, while he clung to his perch on her finger, and now and then fluttered his carmine-tinted wings and spread his violet tail.

"Say good-by to the gentlemen," said the girl, mischievously; and away she

went.

There was not much to be said (from a scientific point of view), and I was in haste to settle with the grocer's clever boy and be gone.

I feared that Mr. Thornbury would be prostrated with the shock, but it is singular to observe the elasticity of great minds.

I have an idea of raising these grandfatherlong-legs for the rich people down there on the Back Bay, and for the Southenders. In summer all these people who live on 'made land' are as pimply as a charity school coming down with measles. Further, I have a notion for the relief of the unfortunate literary class that are forced to eke out their income by lecturing. It is a numerous class, more numerous than their auditors. I propose a co-operative society. Since the director of the Stubbs Institute gives out that hẹ won't invite us if we apply-and how is any one to know you have goods to sell if you don't advertise them?-we must combine. We will draw for turns, and each will have his chance and his audience."

I thought the scheme had very little "money in it," but merely report it to show my neglected brothers that great minds are not unmindful of their welfare.

It is to be hoped that Mr. Thornbury may long be spared, and enabled to plan new schemes in the interests of science and philanthropy.

VERNAL FAITH.

WHEN heaven was stormy, earth was cold,
And sunlight shunned the wold and wave,
Thought burrowed in the church-yard mould,
And fed on dreams that haunt the grave.

But now that heaven is freed from strife,

And earth's full heart with rapture swells, Thought soars through fields of endless life Above the shining asphodels.

What flower that drinks the south wind's breath,

What sparkling leaf, what Hebe morn, But flonts the sullen gray-beard Death,

And laughs our arctic doubts to scorn?
Pale scientist, scant of healthful blood,

Your ghastly tomes one moment close;
Pluck freshness from a spring-time bud,
Find wisdom in the opening rose.
Mark the white lily, whose sweet core

Hath many a wild-bee swarm enticed,
And drew therefrom a honeyed lore

"It is not well," he said, "to allow one's self to be turned from the pursuit of truth by untoward accidents like this. 'Twas a clever deception; that is all. The great truth remains. And, by-thebye," he continued, "I have been thinking of doing a great service to the dwellers on the new lands-the new Venice, as some one calls it. You know the longlegged spider, the one whose little body, round as a shot, is mounted high on his curving spokes, like a bicycle rider; well, | A lovelier faith than yours unfolds, that is the great devourer of mosquitoes.

VOL. LXII.-No. 371.-48

Pure as the tender creed of Christ!

Yea, even the weed, which upward holds
Its tiny ear past bower and lawn,

Caught from the far faint winds of dawn.

LIFE-ASSURANCE DOES ASSURE.

RA

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ARE Ben Jonson used to say, "When I take the humor to a thing once, I am like your tailor's needle-I go through." As a policy-holder, who has taken "the humor" and has determined to 'go through," I am impelled by recent strictures upon life-insurance to reexamine the reasons of my confidence. Does life-assurance assure? The question in debate is the trustworthiness and economy of the science and the system. The examination that I now make is in the interest of no company, and in controversy with no critic. "Facts, sir, facts,' said old Gradgrind; all the attainable facts are the objects of my search.

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WHAT LIFE-INSURANCE HAS DONE.

The life-insurance system has been for two centuries a positive force in the progress of modern civilization and the accumulation of national wealth. It has been an important educational factor of every community which it has influenced, in habits of economy, prudence, and providence. And it stands to-day side by side with the savings-bank and the trust company, sharing the confidence with which men who seek the welfare of their fellows crown all three.

Its special plea is a provision against the unequal risks of life, and its peculiar feature is an interest-bearing fund, to which

EDITOR'S NOTE.-The subject of life-insurance is one involving so largely the interests of the community that its discussion in a popular magazine is eminently proper. The insurance companies, chartered by the State, cannot properly complain of public criticism directed against their methods of conducting the business. But the critic is also responsible to the public; and when a popular magazine is the vehicle of criticism, it is bound to present as fairly as possible all the facts involved in the discussion. Dr. T. M. Coan's article, "Does LifeInsurance Insure?" in the January number of this Magazine, directed attention to what the writer considered the weak points of life-insurance. We present in this number a further consideration of the subject, by the Rev. Stephen H. Tyng, Jun., undertaken at our request. It must be understood that this Magazine is not committed to either of the widely different conclusions reached by these writers. Its only concern is that all the facts bearing upon the discussion shall be laid before the public. The present article includes what the former did not-the statistics of life-insurance for 1879. The article has been reduced one-third since it was prepared. The limits of our space compelled the omission of the writer's treatment of some branches of the topic. The whole essay will, we understand, be published separately by the writer himself.

its prospective participants contribute each his share. The voices of critical inquiry which it hears are the echoes of its own appeals to a selfish and spendthrift society. There is a rebound upon itself of its own counsel of economy. Grave may yet be its defects, but the public owe it none the less a debt.

More than twenty-one millions of dollars were divided, in sums averaging about twenty-five hundred dollars, among widows and orphans by the companies which reported to the New York Insurance Department in 1879. Nearly nine millions of dollars in addition were paid on the maturity of endowment policies. Above twelve millions of dollars were returned to twenty thousand persons who have voluntarily withdrawn.

In all forms more than fifty-six millions were thus distributed in 1879. Since January 1, 1859, nearly $760,000,000 have been distributed by this system among policyholders for death claims, endowments, surrender values, and dividends, by the companies doing business in New York.

And yet, in the face of such facts, we are told that life-insurance has outlived its usefulness, and that a newer and better plan has been evolved from it.*

WHAT IS PROPOSED IN ITS PLACE.

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I once heard the sentiment from a distinguished civilian that there is no great working idea in history which does not carry its own caricature along with it." Innumerable illustrations of this truth will occur to every mind. The present one is not less pointed than the

rest.

The new system, which is really but the renewal of a discarded experience of the old, is assurance by assessments among survivors in a joint association. In many of the States the Insurance Commissioners+ have already pronounced both

*The New York Stock Exchange system is not really the exponent of the co-operative system of insurance, but is a gratuity fund. The assessments paid to the representatives of a deceased member are compulsory. Each seat (worth $30,000) is in pawn until the contribution is paid. The circumstances are in this case so exceptional that the plan can not be elsewhere reproduced.

+ Notably Hon. O. Pillsbury in New Hampshire, Hon. John W. Stedman in Connecticut, Hon. Joseph W. Wright in Ohio, Hon. Julius L. Clarke in Massachusetts, Hon. Henry C. Kelsey in New Jersey, Hon. A. R. McGill in Minnesota, Hon. T. B. Needles in Illinois, Hon. O. S. Welch in Kansas, Hon. P. B. Spooner in Wisconsin, Hon. W. S. Relfe in Missouri,

and others.

its fallaciousness and its doom. Such ex- | forceable by law, but dependent, perhaps pert testimony, of men to whose impartiality great commonwealths have confided the oversight of all companies dealing in technical insurance, will have great weight with practical men.

Examination will show that such written policies do not profess to insure, but

more than any other into which we enter, upon the integrity of the men with whom we covenant. The bargain is fair if we make it. Dry-goods, food, and insurance are worth their market price to the purchaser. What avails it to tell the buyer that the seller is either making or

only promise that a contribution, not ex-losing money by the operation? If he ceeding a certain sum, shall be solicited. As there is no contract for a definite amount, and no reserve fund from which the matured claim could be drawn, it follows that so far from developing prudence, this system tends to pauperize its associates. The payment of the assessment has been by the Circuit Court of the United States held to be purely optional, and incapable of enforcement by the company. Whatever is paid to the family of a deceased member of such a society must be credited to charity and supposed self-interest, not to justice.

That man is to be congratulated who, having been drawn into the net of this theory, has escaped; and after paying his contributions during a series of years, has allowed his policy to lapse, and counted his new wisdom a sufficient surrender value.

There can be no security for any one in such a system. It is a scheme which not only does not but can not insure.

THE LIFE-INSURANCE BARGAIN.

In judging any company, the order of criticism should be, first, the character of the men managing its affairs; second, the safeguards of the system accepted by them; third, the fact that it is firmly established, having successfully surmounted the diseases incident to youth; and fourth, the relation of its resources to its liabilities. These are the facts with which life-insurance agents deal. They have a merchandise for sale. In this aspect of their dual office they are drummers" for trade.* The policy is a contract en

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* In so widely diffused a population as ours, agents are an essential element of any successful system of commerce. The Equitable Company of London has never employed agents with their proper name, but it has district secretaries, with fixed salaries, instead of contingent commissions, to whom are intrusted local interests, and from whom is expected the increase of its business. To all intents they are the same as our solicitors. The real result of the policy of ignoring agents, and refusing to pay commissions, which has been adduced as the feature of this traditional champion and exponent of a wise economy, is easily shown. Originated in 1756, the company's funds had accumulated in 1839 to £10,689,932.

want the fabric or provision, he must and
he will pay the price. It is equally for-
eign to the argument to urge upon him,
after he has paid his money, that the sell-
er has paid large commissions to his drum-
mers, clerks, porters, besides an enormous
salary to himself, and that he has such
facilities to loan money that he has been
able to command a higher rate of interest
than is ruling generally. In the face of
all such counsels, purchasers and policy-
holders will, year after year, return to the
old stand, if they are satisfied with the
commodity, until they come to be called
customers. The law of supply and de-
mand will control in this as in all other
forms of barter or traffic.
THE SCIENTIFIC SECURITY OF THE SYSTEM.

The next question of interest to the buyer is the ability of the principal to deliver the goods sold by the agent. This is answered by the good repute of the house with which he deals, and the certified resources at its command. The examinations of the State, year after year, give him in assurance a more certain basis for his confidence than any mercantile agency can possibly furnish to the trade. He has not only a sworn certificate of the financial condition of the company with which he contracts, but the impartial testimony of experts deputed for the purpose of audit by the Insurance Department. What are the facts which the applicant in this year, 1881, may compare before he commits himself to this covenant? In all the companies reporting to the State in 1879, there were $328,224,

But from that time the decadence and depletion
have been rapid, without even a spasm of recovery.
In 1849, the fund had fallen to £8,858,047; in 1859,
to £6,564,671; in 1869, to £4,609,736; and in 1879,
to £4,246,474. Meanwhile its policy issues have
dropped to a minimum; for in 1879 the company is-
sued only 136 policies, insuring £185,050, the new
premium income of that year being but £6357,
while the management expenses were £8307, of
which directors' fees alone absorbed £2937, or 35
per cent.
So much for the vaunted value and econ-
omy of the non-agency, non-commission policy of
the Equitable of England.

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