PRUDENCE AND SLOTH 



" Go to the ant thou sluggard, consider her ways and be wise." 



jlHIS time memory scores the first point to 

 the beasts that perish, since few of us can 

 even think of thrift without a side glance 

 at an ant-hill. Or if, with Milton, we 

 define prudence as " the virtue by which 

 we discern what is proper to be done 

 under the various circumstances of time and place," there 

 is still a bee-hive hard by ready with ultimate example 

 of ever-varying forethought and discreet adaptation. 



Pages might be — have been — written regarding the 

 marvellous insight into future requirements which the 

 whole insect world displays, and its unremitting determina- 

 tion to secure future prosperity. 



And not only for the individual toiler. Every student 

 of the habits of the honey-bee stands with bated breath 

 before the altruism of its prudence. To endure hardly 

 through ever-present death in winter time, to feel at last 

 the spring-tide unstiffen the numb limbs, to sally forth 

 dutifully for pollen from the first purple crocus, to stem 

 the flow of honey with work, more work and yet more 

 and more work. To rise early and sleep late, to spend the 



