140 ANTS AND CHILDREN OF THE GARDEN 



CECIL. No wonder women want to vote. 



ALBERT. Neither kings nor queens have an easy life. 

 At swarming time the wind often blows them into water. 

 Small lakes have been covered with their drowned bodies. 

 Kings live only a few months, generally, and queens that 

 try to start a new colony nearly all die. 



FLORENCE. With certain ants, the mother ant knows 

 enough to take some mushroom seed (spores) or stalks 

 with her when she leaves home to start a new colony. She 

 raises mushrooms to help her and the babies over the 

 starving time. 



Government. 



DOROTHY. Looks like we better find out something 

 about the government of ants. You see our government 

 defends us and sends us to school so we can learn some- 

 thing. 



ANT. Maybe man will be born so wise he won't have 

 to go to school after he has been on earth as long as we 

 have. Our ants go to work pretty young and do the work 

 well from the beginning. 



DOROTHY. Well, you've seen us children at work in 

 the bean patch, haven't you? Don't we do it well? 



FLORENCE. If you have such good government, I 

 should think so many ants wouldn't lose their lives. 



ANT. Maybe you don't know that, in some places, one 

 grown person in every eight that die meets death by 

 accident. That's as bad as ants. 



FLORENCE. Well, how about your government? 



ANT. We have a queen and you have a king for gov- 

 ernor. 



