harvest of his beloved
Selborne: "That locality is always richest which is most observed."

The arena of the events which I am about to describe and picture
comprised a spot of almost bare earth less than one yard square, which
lay at the base of the stone step to my studio door in the country.

The path leading to the studio lay through a tangle of tall grass and
weeds, with occasional worn patches showing the bare earth. As it
approached the door-step the surface of the ground was quite clean and
baked in the sun, and barely supported a few scattered, struggling
survivors of the sheep's-sorrel, silvery cinquefoil, ragweed, various
grasses, and tiny rushes which rimmed the border. Sitting upon this
threshold stone one morning in early summer, I permitted my eyes to scan
the tiny patch of bare ground at my feet, and what I observed during a
very few moments suggested the present article as a good piece of
missionary work in the cause of nature, and a suggestive tribute to the
glory of the commonplace. The episodes which I shall describe represent
the chronicle of a single day--in truth, of but a few hours in that
day--though the same events were seen in frequent repetition at
intervals for months. Perhaps the most conspicuous objects--if, indeed,
a hole can be considered an "object"--were those two ever-present
features of every trodden path and bare spot of earth anywhere,
ant-tunnels and that other circular burrow, about the size of a quill,
usually associated, and which is also commonly attributed to the ants.

As I sat upon my stone step that morning, I counted seven of these
smooth clean holes within close range, three of them hardly more than an
inch apart. They penetrated beyond the vision, and were evidently very
deep. Knowing from past experience the wary tenant which dwelt within
them, I adjusted myself to a comfortable attitude, and remaining
perfectly motionless, awaited developments. After a lapse of possibly
five minutes, I suddenly discovered that I could count but five holes;
and while recounting to make sure, moving my eyes as slowly as possible,
my numeration was cut short at four. In another moment two more had
disappeared, and the remaining two immediately followed in obscurity,
until no vestige of a hole of any kind was to be seen. The ground
appeared absolutely level and unbroken. Were it not for the circular
depression, or "door-yard," around each hole, their location would,
indeed, have been al