--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Talmage, James Edward collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 17 number: 11 published: 1914-09 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Talmage, James E., "The Parable of the Unwise Bee", *Improvement Era* 17, no. 11 (September 1914): 1008–1009.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera17011unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera17011unse start_page: 1008 end_page: 1009 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1914-09) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera17011unse publication_year: 1914 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1914, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # The Parable of the Unwise Bee The Parable of the Unwise Bee BY DR. JAMES E. TALMAGE Sometimes I find myself under obligations of work requiring quiet and seclusion such as neither my comfortable office nor the cozy study at home insures. My favorite retreat is an upper room in the tower of a large building, well removed from the noise and confusion of the city streets. The room is somewhat difficult of access, and relatively secure against human intrusion. Therein I have spent many peaceful and busy hours with books and pen. I am not always without visitors, however, especially in summertime for, when I sit with windows open, flying insects oc- ; casionally find entrance and share the place with me. These selfinvited guests are not unwelcome. Many a time I have laid down the pen, and, forgetful of my theme, have watched with interest the activities of these winged visitants, with an after-thought thai the time so spent had not been wasted, for, is it not true, that even a butterfly, a beetle, or a bee, may be a bearer of lessons to th? receptive student? A wild bee from the neighboring hills once flew into the room ; and at intervals during an hour or more I caught the pleasing hum of its flight.* The little creature realized that it was a prisoner, yet all its efforts to find the exit through the partly opened casement failed. When ready to close up the room an 1 leave, I threw the window wide, and tried at first to guide and then to drive the bee to liberty and safety, knowing well that if l?ft in the ropm it would die as other insects there entrapped had perished in the dry atmosphere of the enclosure. The more I tried to drive it out, the more determinedlv did it oppose and resist mv efforts. Its erstwhile peaceful hum developed into an angry roar its darting flight became hostile and threatening. Then it caught me off my guard and stung my hand, th" — hand that would have guided it to freedom. At last it alighted on a pendant attached to the ceiling, beyond my reach of help or injury. The sharp oain of its unkind sting aroused in me ratrrr pity than anger. I knew the inevitable penalty of its mistaken opposition and defiance and I had to leave the creature to its ; fate. Three days later I returned to the room and found the *For an earlier and briefer reference to this incident of the unwise bee, see the author's article "Lord of All" in the Improvement Era, Vol! XI, No. 10, August, 1908. THE PARABLE OF I'll E I'XWISI Kill') dried, lifeless body of the bee on the writing table. It had paid for itsstubbornness with its life. To the bee's short-sightedness and selfish misunderstanding I was a foe, a persistent persecutor, a mortal enemy bent on its destruction while in truth I was its friend, offering it ransom ; of the life it had put in forfeit through its own error, striving to redeem it, in spite of itself, from the prison-house of death and restore it to the outer air of liberty. Are we so much wiser than the bee that no analogy lies between its unwise course and our lives? We are pron.2 to contend, sometimes with vehemence and anger, against the adversity which after all may be the manifestation of superior wisdom and loving care, directed against our temporary comfort for our permanent blessing. In the tribulations and sufferings of mortality there is a divine ministry which only the godless soul can wholly fail to discern. To many the loss of wealth has been a boon, a providential means of leading or driving them from the confines of selfish indulgence to the sunshine and the open, where boundless opportunity waits on effort. Disappointment, sorrow, and affliction may be the expression of an all-wise Father's kindness. Consider the lesson of the unwise bee "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." Proverbs 3:?, 6). ( M. I. A. JUNIOR CHORUS SCOUTS SUGAR CITY, TDAHO