wolves out, and I'll have the ants for my 

 sheepses." 



Mrs. Farnum did not look as pleased 

 as the rest. 



"I don't want the ants crawling all 

 over you/' she said. 



"No, they won't ; I'll take my red chair 

 out and sit on it, like Rob does," he 

 answered, solemnly. 



The next day he set to work to build 

 a big circular fence around his ant hill, 

 working as perseveringly as ever any 

 real shepherd did to get his fold ready, 

 and accepting no help from Rob except 

 allowing him to shave up a board to fur 

 nish the "palings." Then, day after 

 day, while Lora swung in the hammock 

 reading aloud to Rob, little Jim sat 

 perched on his red chair herding his 

 ant-flock. 



"I feed them and they eat, but they 

 never drink a tiny bit," he said. 



"The ants find their drink away down 

 in the ground, dear/' replied his mother. 

 "Xow tell me what you have learned 

 about your sheep." 



"I learned a greedy lesson to-day," said 

 Baby Jim. "One ant had some food 

 and he met an ant who hadn't any, and 

 he-divided; then he went on some more 

 and met another ant with not any, and 

 he told him to come over to my chair- 

 leg where the cookie was." 



The family all laughed, and still more 

 at Rob, who asked, "Is Jim going to be 

 an ant-hropologist, papa?" 



"Perhaps," answered Mr. Farnum. 

 "Now, children, I have something nice 

 to tell you. I have hired a man to come 

 and help us improve the back-yard. He 

 will cut the weeds and trim up the trees 

 and bushes, and we can plan the walks 

 and flower-beds for next spring." 



"How lovely !" cried Lora. 



"I don't know about that," said Rob, 

 with an ugly pucker in his forehead. "It 

 will scare all my bugs away. They like 

 weeds and dirty peaces." 



"Yes," admitted his papa, "but next 

 spring you will have to go to the woods 

 for new specimens." 



"It won't scare my specimens away," 



laughed Lora. "I've been studying 

 birds lately. You see when I become 

 tired of reading I just lie back in the 

 hammock and watch the birds in the 

 tree-tops. They are so very smart, and 

 they do the queerest things !" 



So the plan to improve the yard suited 

 all but Baby Jim, who wailed long and 

 loud because his ant city would be de 

 stroyed. In vain did the family try to 

 comfort him. He could not be per 

 suaded to abandon his flock. 



That night, to Jim's distress, a cold 

 rainfall set in. "My sheeps will all be 

 dwounded," he wailed ! "I meant to 

 make a 'bwella over them !" 



"Look here," said Lora, drawing him 

 up to the sofa beside her. "This is the 

 picture of the inside of an ant-hill. 

 Here is the top door where you see the 

 ants go in, then they go down to this 

 large room, then sideways to this one, 

 then down, down, down." 



Baby Jim's eyes opened very wide. 

 He seized the book and studied the draw 

 ing long and earnestly. 



"Your sheep are all down in the rooms 

 now, having a nice Sunday, I think," con 

 tinued Lora. "When winter comes and 

 the snow is all over the ground they won't 

 come up at all. Haven't you seen them 

 carrying food in to pile up in one of their 

 rooms ?" 



"O, and my cookies are all down 

 there!" he cried in great delight. 



When the man appeared in the morn 

 ing Baby Jim marched out with an air 

 of importance, and, after surveying the 

 deserted ant-hill, he turned to the man 

 and said, "My sheeps are all gone into 

 the house to bed, so you can clean "up 

 their meadow if you want to." 



And thus it was that the Farnum chil 

 dren began a study which will interest 

 them as long as they live. There is no 

 longer any need to worry about their liv 

 ing at the neighbors ; and at last the 

 Farnum back-yard has become not only 

 respectable, but actually a "thing of 

 beauty and joy forever." 



Lee McCrae. 



215 



