FLORENCE AND THE ANT 29 



ANT. No, but there were many there for thousands of 

 years before you plowed it. 



FLORENCE. The books say it was earthworms that 

 swallowed the surface of the earth many times and got it 

 ready for man. 



ANT. Yes, earthworms get all the credit, but we do 

 more than they do in a dry country like this to enrich the 

 soil. 



FLORENCE. But we can do so many things that you 

 can't do. 



ANT. We can take a baby and make either a beautiful 

 winged queen of it or a wingless, sturdy worker. 



FLORENCE. I guess that's so, even if I have heard it 

 denied. 



ANT. We can track an ant either by acid or foot. Can 

 you track a man across a grassy field? Why, I could name 

 a score of things I can do that you can't. 



FLORENCE. Smarty ! You are very stupid when alone. 

 You have to think in gangs or not at all. Your brain is 

 not as large as the fourth part of a small pinhead, so what 

 can be expected? 



ANT. If you could do in proportion to the size of your 

 brain, you'd be some animal. 



FLORENCE. Say, Ant, let's make up.. Maybe there's 

 room on earth for both of us. 



ANT. All right; shake. 



FLORENCE. I kind o' like you because you're never 

 discouraged. 



ANT. And it's a good thing it's so. Man's plow is 

 worse than an earthquake and sometimes he digs up our 

 nests or poisons a,nts on purpose whether they do "him any 

 harm or not. % Then think of the rain, the drouth, the wind, 

 the ant-eaters, and, worst of all, the robber ants. 



