The Stingless Bee.
I saw it in a newspaper, and I always take with a grain of salt what I see in a newspaper; but this piece of information seemed plausible.
The writer was discussing the stingless bee, which has been produced, it appears, much to the delight of bee-raisers and the small boys of the vicinity.
But this stingless bee, mild and model in character that it is from an ethical viewpoint, is not at all a success when regarded in a commercial light.
The trouble is with its honey. It is too tame. It lacks the tang that the well-armed bee's honey possesses. Just why there should be this relation between tameness of disposition and tameness of product has not been discovered, but it seems certainly to exist.
This bit of natural history serves as an illustration, if not an explanation, of a phenomenon often observed among human bees. Why should mildness of manner so often be associated with a flavorless output in life? Why should the men and women of forcible characters, those that are getting things accomplished in the world, so often carry stings and stick them into the luckless individuals around them? Is it not possible for a person to be at the same time masterful and meek?
If you think it is, prove it in your life, and all the world will exalt your fame.