Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-08-28

By the BOokl0ver.

That the modern concept OF nlStory
takes into account everything which
is of Importance to the average man
and is not an affair merely of politics
and wars. Of politicians and military
| leaders, is the contention Of Mark
| Sullivan in Our Times" The Great
War, he says, would probably be set
| down by most formal historians as
the most important event in Ameri
| can history after 1900, but "it is a
reasonable query whether there is not
equal Importance in the fact that dur
| ing this period the average mans
| tenure of life was increased by about
six years" Carrying on his theory,
| he suggests some other comparisons.
| Henry Ford, as the manufacturer
Of inexpensive automobiles, may have
had a more deep-reaching effect on
| the lives of average Americans than
| Warren G. Harding the dis
! covery Of the remedy for diabetes may
have done more for human happiness
| than the entire 81 years of Henry
| Cabot Lodge in the Senate
/ the perfecting of the vacuum cleaner
and the electric fiat iron may have
| meant as much to the average woman
as the bringing Of woman suffrage"
He also suggests that the popular
| novels from David Harum" and
"Eben Holden" in 1900 to Main
Street" and "Alice Adams" in
1920 were as interesting to as many
people and as important in their in
| f1uence on popular thought as the
same number Of Congressman" and
asks whether there were not more
Americans who took their political
fvIJi5o pCn from r1bj1OConhv Of Mr.
Dooley and the cartoons of Homer
Davenport. of John McCutcheon, of
Jay Darling, than from the more d.
dactic political teachings of Champ
Clark"
THE Home Town OF the Army
Ants" chapter title of William
Beebe's book, edge Of the Jungle"
| might be classified as a short story,
so full of plot and characterization
made it. In the jungle of British
Guiana, Beebe and two scientific
| friends, living in a bungalow, had
| erected a small open-faced Clubhouse
| for the storage of supplies. Without
any intention on his part, it became
for Beebe a most interesting labora-
| tory. One day, passing the entrance
Of the clubhouse, he observed mass
| Of something that looked like ''stringy.
| chocolate colored tow, studded with
hundreds Of tiny ivory buttons" He
had long been wishing for an oppor-
| tunity to study army ants in their
lair and now he realized that the OPP
portunity had come. THE chocolate
| colored mass with it's myriad ivory
| dots was the home, the nest, the
| hearth, the nursery, the bridal suite,
the kitchen, the bed and board Of the
army ants. It was the focus of all
the lines and files which ravaged the
jungle for food Of the battalions
which attacked every living creature
in their path. Of the unnumbered rank
and file, which made them known to
every Indian, to every inhabitant of
| these vast jungles." To enter the out.
house, unprotected. and stay long
enough to watch the ants would have
meant certain death, SO Beebe devised
a means of protection. He filled four
| cans with q tarry disinfectant and In
| five carefully timed ruSheS placed the
| four legs of a chair in the cans. Then
he hung a bag of Walls, notebook and
lens on the back of the chair and
made a final rush to establish him
self curled up on the chair. There
with the curious and angry ants
swarming around the cans, he watch
ed through his lens all the varied &C
| tivities of the community. He saw
the commissary department in contin
uous battalions bringing food supplies
and the street cleaning department
on the floor collecting and placing ir
! two neat piles all the debris of skins
| wings, insect skeletons and shells
| which fell from the nest. He saw
small workers giving a Turkish bath
| and massage to weary warriors who
arrived loaded at the nest, dropped
down and extended their legs for the
cleanup. He saw crippled citizens
crawl off to a place by themselves,
without attempting to return to the
nest, and await death; and when one
died he saw two others, both badly
| injured, tug the body to the edge OF
the board and push it over, to be
picked up by the cleanup squad on
| the floor. The time finally came when
| it was necessary to get at the sup
plies the scientists had stored in the
clubhouse and Beebe sprayed the place
| with so per cent solution OF
| formaline. This caused a panic in
| the ant community and a nasty move
! began. In the process the interior OF
the nest was revealed and thousands
| Of eggs and larvae, looking like
| heaps Of white rice grains" came
| into view. Each ant seized an egg
or a larva and tried to escape by the
nearest way. Great strings of ants
dropped in sections to the floor and
| in a few hours most of the colony
| had sought another home; but small
swarm remained to face whatever
danger might come, guided by the in
| stinct of protection Of the young
| Some Of the larvae had arrived al
| the critical time when they were
about to be transformed to pupae anc
could not safely be moved, so corps
of protectors remained with tnem &C
keep them warm and see them through
the change or die with them.
X 4 x
| Truth Is stranger than fiction,
Percival Christopher Wren tells us il
a foreword to his latest romance
BEAU Sabreur," a worthy successor
to Beau Geste." He steals weapon
| from his critics in advance by saying
(! that his only defense against the
criticism that certain of the events
chronicled in Beau Geste" were i'm
possible Is that, though impossible
| they actually happened; and that "th
deeds narrated. and the scenes ant
personalities pictured, in this bool
cBeau Sabreur') are not the vail
outpourings of film-fed imagination
but the Encouragement Of actual hap
| penings and the assembling Of rea
people who have actually lived. loved
| fought and suffered" There are TIVE
sheiks in the story, one Of them al
Emir, whose nationality is mattel
of mystery until toward the end. Mr.
| Wren INDUCES In considerable ridicul
of the sheik of sensational fiction
with obvious reference to best-selle!
Of several years ago. His own sheiks
with their mysteries, intrigues ant
love affairs, do not seem much NOR
plausible-but then we remember tina
they are real Maudie Atkinson, thu
i lis.l, rln b FOL