Genre:

Short Fiction

Subjects:

Entomology, Animal Behaviour, Endeavour, Piety

    Relates the history of three successive owners of Oakfield House. The last has an 'elegant aviary erected for his bees' which is 'a favorite spot with the young people' (422). Yet while the children of all three owners were in some respects 'busy bees', they were not busy with their Bibles. The narrator urges: 'You have heard of the busy bees; if you wish to be happy here, be busy at your work, and at your play; but if you desire to be happy here and hereafter, be especially busy with your Bibles' (423).