Page:The Way of the Wild (1923).pdf/115



the most wonderful little people in all nature are the ants. The bees are also wonderful, but I think that the ants are still more interesting. It takes a great deal of study, however, to understand the ants, and to know all their ways. So in this story I will simply tell a very little about them.

My first close acquaintance with a large colony of ants was not pleasant. It was an experience that I long remembered. I was a small boy at the time and had gone to the pasture to pick raspberries. My mother had promised me a quarter of a dollar if I filled my pail, so I was very intent on the berry-picking. This being the case I was not looking out for any ant hills.

I am sure that a city of human beings would