Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1880-12-14
Entirely lnexcusable.

New York Times.
AS is generally known, Sir John Lub-
book associates exclusively with ants.
This is, Of course, crcditlblc to him. Long
ago Solomon urged that large and influen-
tial class OF his subjects, the sluggards, to
cultivate the society of ants, and what is
good for d sluggard is good for other pcc-
pie. Ii Sir John has by honest and honor
able means obtained admission to the best
circle of ant society, inc is acting wisely to
keep up such intimacies with leading ants
as hc may have formed. When, however.
he proceeds to me;ldlc with the social and
private affairs of ants nc takes an unpar-
donable liberty. He would not 60 into 4
fellow British baronct's house and dismiss
his housekeeper Or in other ways interfere
with his domestic arrangements. Neither
would he dream of crossing over to France
and upsctting the republic and placing a
king or an emperor Oh the throne. His
sense of delicacy would prevent him from
thus meddlinS with British baronets or
neighboring nations, and he must know
that a man is bound by the laws of polite
ness whether he associates with ants or
human beings. Nevertheless. he has
taken it upon himself, to lneddle in the
most inexcuSable way in the private and
public affairs of ants, and is 50 insensible
of the indeccncy OF his course that he has
actually written a book describing his rude
and lawlcss conduct and mentioning his
habit Of eavesdropping in order to listen
to the conversation OF ants. This is
simply shameful, and one wonders if Sir
John has any human friends, and if so,
how the could permit him to publish SO
disgraceful book.
There really seems to be nothing which
Sir John Lubbock docs not consider him
self at liberty to do in connection with ants
He tells us that lie has repeatedly broken
into royal ant palace and kidnapped the
queen. This he had done merely in order to
see what the ants would DO without a queen.
He found that after the first excitement
following the discovery of their loss had
subsidcd the ants established a republic. In
every instance the republic proved success
ful, and the ants became warmly attached
to it. They found that queens were an ex-
pensive luxury, and were in no sense nec-
cssary, and they soon evinced hearty
dislike of effete monarcll:cal institutions.
Sir John, however, would not let them en-
Joy their republic in peace. He placed
foreign queens, kidnapped by him from
distant ant communities, in the heart of
his ant republics and evidently hoped
that their authority would be recognized.
The republican ants, however, never failed
to kill the invading queens, and 50 fierce
was the republican spirit displayed by
them that not a reactionary ant ventured
to show any sympathy with the royal
martyrs.
What could be more atrocious than Sir
Johns conduct in this matter Not only
did he wantOnly bring about revolutions in
quiet aud c,ntented kingdoms, but he also
tried to produce counter revolutions in
orderly republics. What can he say in
defense of his treatment of the innocent
queens whom he first dethrOned and kid.
mapped and afterward lurcd to a violent
death by inducing them to act the pa,t of
pretenders? If the man can find anv nos
sible excuse for himself, the sooner he nro.
duccs it the better it will be for his renu-
tation among upright and honorable men
Sir John has also forcibly cxiled renuhj;.
can anti, apparently for no other crime than
that of accepting republican institutions
after he himself had forced them to do so
On several occasions he removed COLONY
OF ants long distance from their original
home, and when they we-e dcmoralized by
their calamity he suddenly unfurled the
standard of royalty by placing queen
among them. In these circumstances the
demoralized ants instantly accepted the
royal pretender as saviour of society,
and lmplored her to rule them with
strong antenne. Thus, ants that
were republican by conviction were
LED to accept monarchical institu.
t!ons as the only alternative to anarchy.
Were Sir John to 60 over to Paris and Gre.
ate astate OF anarchy which would lead