Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-08-27
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

are not necessary to illuminate the
! tragedy of undernourishment.
y y
| About this time Of the year, however,
! the wasps seem to do better, with grub.
/ From now on there Is every chance of
( some ugly duckling turning into a queen,
simply because there Is more food foI
/ ALL
The wasps are not the only inhabi-
! tants OF this neat little house, If we can
believe those who have investigated such
things, and, Of course, we can believe
| them all along the line.
Various parasites, ana small flies live
| on the debris which falls to the bottom
| OF the nest The regular inhabitants
live in combs, above, In hexagonal cells.
| Mostly wasp nests are built in more
secluded positions, often in trees. 1t is
somewhat unusual to see one occupy
! ing SO prominent place on the front
OF human habitation.
The sheer utility Of this busy hive.
and its adoption OF ways TO means, must
strike a responsive note in all careful
| observers.
There are many houses built by
human beings which leak, which do not
conform, as it were, to their surround
| ings, which are not insulated as well as
they might be, and which are In need
of constant repairs.
Here, in this dull gray tenement, is
room for thousands. CLet it be stated,
in passing, that we have not taken the
wasp census, personally, and have no
idea of doing so, even for the sake Of
| accuracy. WaSps, we suspect, are hostile
to census takers. But there are said to
be about 5000 in nest)
These fellows have no organizations,
with speeches, and so on, but we wager
that no wasp nest has leaked in 10000
| years. at least.
That roof is as solid looking as the
! rock of Gibraltar. Those little artisans
somehow know what they want, and
| they build 1t just that way. How they
have glued it to the window sill we
do not know, but there, it Is, defying all
the winds and rain that blow; and UNI
less the householder, in an unwary
moment, insists on attempting to lower
the upper sash, 1t will be there until
| Fail sets in, and the colony, as such,
comes to its inevitable end.
| The path of wasps, alas. as well as
Of human beings, leads but to the grave /;
all the inner sadness Of life applies to
them as well as to US. That they are
unconscious Of it, we may think in some
moods, is their gain.
They are all unknowing Of the fact
that the fate of their neat little house,
SO perfect IN ltS way, depends enLlrely
upon whether some one or other takes
the notion to wash windows!
Perhaps there is no better reason
assignable, in human affairs, for much
Of the misery which occurs every day.
The wasps function along q beaten
track which has been mapped out for
them so long that IT is more than second
nature to them--it IL themselves, this
beaten track which they follow 50 blind
ly. and so well.
How do they know how to make such
a perfect little house, so adapted to
rainfalls, so cleverly executed that its
roof puts many q man-made roof to
shame, with its round door always open,
but always closed?
1t is a mystery, the mystery Of the
universe, and 1t hangs on q window
sill OF a house in the suburbs. The
mystery is as near to one as hands and
feet, as close as ones own breathing.
The waSp's nest Is but symbol. tell
ing US forcibly that we, no more than
its inhabitants, do not know much. after
all. The best we can do is to do, and 10
think, and to venerate, and not to
despise the little creatures Of earth.