Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-08-08

The spiders in our gavin are hang
ing on the line; the spidaSs In our gar
den are feeling fat and fac: the spiders
in our garden are glad there is no dew.
for each little ny is nice and dry. and
here's the same to you!
It is a bad drought which does not
bring some good to something or other.
We refer to the ants, rather than TO
the spiders, although a rare poetic urge
compelled lis to the above.
This is swell year for the ants.
They appear in droves, herds, packs
and aggregations. They come in all
sizes, ranging from the big black fell
lows of hideous mien to the small red
dish-brown ones of intriguing aspect.
But an art is an ant, no matter
what its countenance. And that means
it d the most persistent, devilish insect
in the world, especially in q dry sum-
mer
All other insects are insects, but an
ant has mind Of its own: 1t Ia, In other
words, peculiarly human, perhaps
some might say womanish.
A Japanese beetle is simple sort OF
fellow. The damage he does Is ollnoly
done, the effect of mass instinct. as II
were. He does not operate maliciouSly.
Most insects are rather simple forces,
uncanny demonstrations OF the Will
to-power, which surges up in all NE
whether it walks. runs, craWlS or creeps.
One does not become angry at most
insects, or go into rage because they
invade the house. Even the ubiquitous
fly is received respectfully. albeit Win
a swatter.
But the ant. despite the ,encomiums
heaped upon his head by Solomon ana
others, remains personal. malicious
I'll,
enough sense to know he is doing wrong
when he feloniously enters house and
attempts to make off with everything
in the refrigerator.
Households which never before knew
inroads of ants this season are troubled
with them as the heat drives the IN
sects to furious invaSionS.
The thoughtful will pause to ask
themselves what is it the ants are
trying to do, and why do they do II?
The average person is not very we'll
read on ants, one may fear. Unless
one happens to have read several books,
a few of them comparatively recent. he
will know little more about them than
Solomon.
But he may feel that the fiendish
endeavors OF the ant tribes to get food
shows something or other. They have
been at 1t since the latter part Of June
SO Jney may Uc Sdlu W iAdfC ANO GA
vance news of the drought.
Perhaps the hot weather has COM
PEELED them to seek their food where
ordinarily they do not have to go, ow-
ing to various ant daintieS being plen-
tiful outdoors in ordinary weather.
One may rather suspect, however,
that there is something deeper than
that behind the tremendous activities
of the small black and brown creatures
Surely they know that bad Winter
is ahead for them and they are indulg-
ing in the old proverbial activity, max
ing hay while the sun shines"
They are storing away food for the
cold Winter which some experts" de-
clare invariably follows a severely hot
and dry Summer. The theory is, as
we understand it, that there is GER
tain seasonal weather average, running
through a year, year after year, and
that when a Summer overdoes 1t at one
end the Winter must do so. too in or
der TO make the average come out right.
x 4
So much for the theory. It may be
right, or it may not. but If one may
Judge from the rampant roamings OF
the ants. there must be something to it.
Big ants in lawns have caused much
havoc to careful houSeholders. These