282 NATURE’S CRAFTSMEN 
the hornet has the strongest jaws of any living 
creature. 
“ She had only just begun on the job, but so 
steadily and to such purpose did she work that 
she soon had an opening that seemed to suit her 
needs. As she chiseled and rasped, she had taken 
the precaution to chew each piece to smithereens 
before she dropped it. I couldn’t understand the 
purpose of this; so I determined to wait and see. 
By the time her doorway was completed, she had 
quite a pile of this saliva-mixed pulp. But to all 
intents and purposes she had forgotten it; for 
now she plunged into a perfect frenzy of house¬ 
cleaning, popping in and out every now and then 
just as you girls do to shake dust-mop and duster. 
You might indeed have gleaned a few pointers 
from her; for she seemed especially particular 
about her own person, stopping frequently to set 
her dress right and wipe her hands and face. Just 
because she was cleaning house was no reason for 
allowing herself to get all messed up and untidy. 
“ I thought she would never get done, but I 
knew better than to make any offer of assistance, 
even though I suspected that the careful sweep¬ 
ing and overhauling of the walls was a job alto¬ 
gether too severe for one small housekeeper. 
Nor did she seem quite content with just getting 
the walls clean, but went on rasping and ridging, 
until suddenly I understood quite well what she 
