Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1880-05-15
The Unreasonable Ant.

a Tramp ABROAD, by MARK 1WalQ.I
Now and then, while we rested, we watched
the laboriouS ant at his work. / found nothing
new in him-certa1nly nothing to change my
OF tniOn OF him. 1t seems to me that In the mat
ter OF intellect the ant must be strangely over
rated bird During many summers now have
watched him, when ought to have been in bet
ter business, and have not yet come across
living ant that seemed to have any more sense
than dead one refer to the ordinary ant, OF
course, | ave had no experience or those WON
deI1ul Swiss and African ones which vote, keeo
drilled armies, hold slaves, and dispute about
religion. Those particular ants may be all that
the naturalist paints them. but am persuaded
that the average ant is sham. / admit his in
dustry, OF course; he Is the hardest working
creature In the world-when anybody Is look
ing-but his leather headedness is the point l
make against him. He goes out fOraging he
makes capture, and then what does he do? Co
home? No; he goes anywhere but home. He
doesn't know where home Is. His home may
be only three feet away; no matter, he can't
find it.
He makes his capture, as 1 have said: it Is
generally something which can be of no sort OF
use to himself or anybody else; IL Is usually
seven times bigger than 1t ought TO be; he hunts
out the awkwardeSt place to take hold OF 1t; he
lifts 1t bodily up in the air by main force, and
starts-not toward home, but in the Opposite
direction; not calmly and wisely but with a
frantic haste which Is waSteful or his strength:
ne fetcheS up against pebble, and instead OF
going around 1t, he climbed over 1t backwards,
Dragging his booty after him, tumbles down
the other side, jumps up in a PASSION kicks the
dust of his ciothes moistens his hands, grabs
MS property viciously, yanks 1t this way, then
that, ShoveS 1t ahead of him a moment turns
tail and Jugs 1t after him another moment. gets
madder and maddeF, then presently HOSTS it
into the air and goes tearing away in an en-
tlrely new direction; comes TO weed; 1t never
occurs to him to go around it. No; he must
climb 1t, and he does climb it, dragging his
worthless property to the tOp-Which Is as
bright thing to do as 1T would be for me to
carry sack OF flour from Heidelberg to Paris
by way OF Strasburg steeple; when he gets up
there he finds that that is not the place. takes a
curSory glance at the scenery, and either climbs
down again or tumbleS down, and starts off once
more-aS usual, In new direction.
AT the end OF half an hour he fetches I'D
within six inches of the place he started from.
and lays his burden down. Meantime he has
and Climbed all the weeds and pebbles he came
across. Now he wipes the sweat from his brow.
strokes his limbs, and then marches aimlessly
on, IN as violent hurry as ever. He traverSes
stumbles on his same booty again. He does not
remember to have ever seen 1t before: he looks
around arc to see which IS not the way home, grabs
ms bundle and starts. He goes through the
same adventures he had before, finally stops to
rest, and friend comes along. Evidently the
MEND me 10 remarks that last years grasshopper
where he got 1t. Evidently the proprietor does
not remember exactly where he did get it, but
thinks he got it ''around here somewhere"
kvidentiy the friend contracts to help him
harly antic tpun not intentionaD, they take hold
OF opposite ends OF that grasshopper leg and
begin to tug with all their might In opposite d.
rections. Presently they take rest, and confer
together. They decide that something is wrong,
they can't make out what. Then they 60 at It
again, Just as before. Same result. Mutual re-
examinations follow. Evidently each accuses
the other of being an obstructionist They
warm up, and the dispute ends In a fight. They
lock themselves together and chew each others
Jaws for while; then they roll and tumble on
the ground TIL one loses horn or leg and has
to haul off for repairs They make up and 90
to to- work again In The same old insane way. but
may, the other one drags off the booty and him
at the end OF It, Instead OF giving up, he
every obstruction that comes in the way. BY
and-by, when that grasshopper leg has been
dragged all over the same old ground once more
1t Is nnally dumped at about the spot where it
originally lay. The two perspiring ants inspect
IL thoughtfully and decide that dried grasshop-
per legs are poor sort OF property after all and
tnen each starts OF in different direction to
see II he can't find an old nail or Something else
that is heavy enough to afford entertainment.
and at the same time valuele5s enough to make
an ant want to own 1t.