"Oh, I see!" said Tom. "Now, Auntie, what else did the bees say?"
"Heaps of things! But I did not learn all, nor should I have time to tell you, either."
"I thought that they taught me that there was great good in being busy—"
Rose nodded approvingly.
"They worked steadily and patiently; they went about their tasks with a will, and they gathered—what?"
Aunt Ruth turned round smiling on the four faces.
"Poison?" she asked. "Unkindness, quarrelling, selfishness, self-will? No, no! What did they gather as they hovered over the pretty flowers?"
"Sweetness!" said Jean, gently.
"Yes—that is a lovely word for it!" exclaimed Aunt Ruth.
"They gathered 'sweetness,' enough and to spare. They brought it home for those who did not go out; they stored it up for the rainy and dark days, when the flowers might not be there. God had been their Sun and Shield, and they had done their part in gathering the sweetness which He had provided, so that others might be blessed and cheered and comforted."