A NATION OF WORKERS. 
253 
with which they dragged up such heavy materials. If one let go, 
exhausted, two or three others succeeded. And the joist or beam, full 
of animation, and apparently alive, gradually ascended. Skill and 
foresight supplied the want of strength. If checked at any particular 
point, they turned and advanced in a somewhat different direction, 
ascending a little higher than was necessary; then they let down the 
weight exactly over the opening which they wished to conceal; a quick 
light movement made the mass pirouette, and it fell into its place. 
Numerous problems in statics and mechanics were solved by a 
felicitous audacity and with a great economy of effort. By degrees 
all was secured. The vast dome, embracing with a soft and delicate 
curve a great nation of workers in its lawful repose, offered nothing to 
the sight, neither door nor window, and appeared to be a simple heap 
of tiny fragments of fir. Do I mean that all slumbered in full con¬ 
fidence ? It would be wrong to think so. A few sentinels wandered 
to and fro; at the lightest touch of a switch, or the rustle of a leaf, 
the guards would issue forth, perambulate the exterior of their city, 
and when reassured would re-enter, but, undoubtedly, to continue their 
watch, and remain upon duty. 
The most surprising scene at which any one can be present is a 
marriage of ants. 
Of all follies, as everybody knows, the worst are those of the wise. 
The honourable, economical, and respectable republic accordingly pre¬ 
sents (one single day yearly, it is true) a prodigious spectacle—of love ? 
