Richard Seebohm liked our little bee story (Friend, 18 November). He tells us –'this quote from Tolstoy, which I got from the biography of B Seebohm Rowntree by Asa Briggs, has for a long time been inspirational to me – 'It all lies in the fact that men think there are circumstances when one may deal with human beings without love; and there are no such circumstances. One may cut down trees, make bricks and hammer iron without love; but you cannot deal with men without it, just as you cannot deal with bees without being careful. If you deal carelessly with bees, you will injure them and will yourself be injured. And so with men.'