Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1880-06-11

Now and then, while We rested. W.
watched the lahorious ant Mt his work. |
found nothing new in hini-certainly
nothing to change my opinion ofhim. 1t
seems to me that in the matter of intel
lect the ant must be strangely Ovarrated
bird. During many summers now | have
watched hlm, when | ought to nave been
in better business. and have not yet
come across 4 living ant that seemed 10
have any more sense than Il dead one. |
refer to the ordinary ant, oi course |
have had Eo experience Of those wonder
ful Swiss and African ones which vote,
keep drilled armies, hold slaves, and dis
pute about religion. These particular
ants may he all that the naturalist paints
them, but am persuaded that the average
ant is Il sham. admit his industry. of
course; he is th,. Understanding crea-
tire in the world when anybody is look
inG-but his leathcr-hc;l,lc,inJss Is the
point | make against him lie goes out
faragiug. he makes = capture. and then
what does he do? Go home? No; he
goes anywhere but home. He doesn't
know where hume is. His hone may be
only three feet away no matter he cant
find it.
He makes his capture, IS have said
it is generally something which can be Of
no sort of use to himself OF anybody else;
1t is usually seven times bigger than it
ought to be Lc hunts out the awhwardest
place to take hold of il: he lifts it bodily
up IN the air by main force, and starts
not towards home, bat in the opposite
direction; not calmly and wisely, but
with fragile haste, which is wasteful of
his strength he fetches up against apcb-
bic. and instead Of going around it, he
climbs over it backwards. dragging his
booty after him. tumbles down the other
side, jumps mp in Il passion, kicks the
dust oil his clothes. moisteGs his hand,
grabs his property vlciouslv, yanks 1t
this way. then that, shoves 1t ahead OF
HIM n moment turns his tail and luGs 1t
after him another moment, gets maddor
and tlai-lsr then ,.rasnrtiy hnis's It .ntc
the air and goes tearing away III an en-
tirel7 new direction ; comes to weed 1t
never occurs to him to go around 1t.
No &: he must climb it, and lie does climb
it, dragging his worthless property to the
top-whch is as bright thing to do rs
it would be for me 90 carry 4 sIck Of Hour
from Heidelberg TO Paris by way Of
Strasburg stcepie; when lie gets up there
he finds that is not the plac" : takes
cursory glance ut the scenery. and either
climbs down again or tumbl, down, and
starts off once morc-as usUal, IN 4 new
direction.
At the end of half an hour he ictches
up within six inches OF tie Place lie start
ed from, and LAYS his buruien down.
Meantime lie has he, n all over the ground
for two yards around, and climbed all the
weeds and pebbles he came Gcrcss. Now
he wipes the sweat from his brow, strokes
his limbs, and then marches aimlcsSly off,
in IA violent a hurry rs ever. He
traver6s good deal OF zig zag country,
and by-and by stumi.les on his same
booty again. He does not remember to
have ever seen it before he looks around
to see which ia not the way home, grabs
his bundle and starts. He goes through
the same adventures he had before,
finally stops to rest, and 4 friend comes
along. Evidently the fliend remarks
that Il hast wear grasshoppcr leg Is a
very noble acquisition. and inquiries
where lac got it. Evidently the proprie-
| tor does not Remember exactly where lie
dill get it, hut THINKS ir got it ''around
/ here somewhere" Evidently the friend
contracts la help him freiGl.: it home.
Then, with Il Judgment peculiarly nniir
/ u.nm not internationally. they take hold of
/ opposite ends OF that grasshnppcr leg and
| begin t. tug with all their might i'll OPP
positc directions. Presently they take Il
rest anlconfer together. Thcydrcide that
something is wrong, they can't make out
what. Then they 20 at i, again, just us
before. sam" result. Mutual recrmina-
tiuns follow. Evidently each accuses the
other uf being an "bstruciionist. They
warm up. and the dispute ends III 81 fight.
They lnck Themselves together ami chew
each others jaws for u while; then they
roll and tumble on the ground till one
loses 81 horn ar Il leg and has to liaiii oil
for repairs. They make up ami go to
work again III the same Old insane way.
but the crippled ant is Il. Il Disadvantage !;
tug aa he may. the other drags of the
booty and him at the end of 1t. Instead
of giving up. he hangs on and gets his
shinS bruised against every obstruction
that comes in the way. By-and-bv, when
TIM. grasshopper leg has been dragged
all over the same old ground once more.
it is finally dumped at about the spot
where it originally lay. The two per-
spiring ants inspect it thouGhtfully. and
decide that dried Srassnoppcr legs are II
poor sort Of property after all, and then
each starts oil in Il different direction to
sec if he cant find an old nail or sore-
thing else that i, heavy enonSll to afford
entertainment. and al the same time
valucloss enough tn make AN ant want to
Owl il.