The Way of the Wild (Hawkes)/Wise Little Heads
Were not many of the little furred friends of field and forest almost as wise as man, some of them would go hungry during the winter months, even if they did not die from starvation.
Man understands that certain times of year are for seed time and harvest. Accordingly he plants his crops in the spring, tends them in the summer and in the autumn gathers in grain, vegetables, and fruit, and stores them away for use in the cold winter months. So the wild creatures, while they do not have to plant and water crops, yet they gather the bounty of Mother Nature into their pantries and granaries in the autumn so that they, too, may be fed in the cold months.
If you do not already know, you never could guess how the beaver feeds himself during the long winter. Mr. and Mrs. Beaver and all the kit beavers are bark eaters. In the late autumn the beaver repairs his dam, making it secure for winter, so that he will be sure of high water when the great freeze comes. After the dam has been attended to, Mr. Beaver puts in his winter supply of food. For this purpose he goes up-stream above his dam and cuts cords and cords of small trees, poplar, maple, alder, and other kinds. He always selects the kind of a tree that furnishes tender juicy bark. These trees he cuts up into logs about three feet long. These he floats down his lake and secures them in a large pile close to the dam.
Finally the great freeze comes and Mr. Beaver is frozen under the ice for the whole winter long, but his woodpile, on which he depends for bark, is also frozen under. So when he is hungry he simply goes to his woodpile and selects a stick. This he drags up into his house, which is situated on an island above the water line.
Here secure in their mud house, Mr. and Mrs. Beaver and all the kit beavers can eat their bark whenever they are hungry. The freeze which locked him under the ice has also frozen the mud house until it is as strong as though made of the strongest wood. This is very important, for the bear or the wildcat may try to break in. But when this house is frozen up they will find it burglar proof.
The muskrat, who is the little cousin of the beaver, also provides against the winter months. He makes his house of the roots and plants which he is in the habit of eating during the summer. Then, when the winter comes, he begins eating his house. He has made the house much larger than he really needs, so it does not matter if he does eat a part of it during the first of the winter. He is always sure to have a room or two left in which to live in the spring.
All the little field-mice who live in the grass roots under the snow have plentifully provided against the long winter. Every few feet in their runways under the ground they have builded a pantry. In these pantries are grass and weed seeds, and grain—all the things that make up a mouse larder. The fox often digs down under the snow to try and catch Mr. Mouse, but his runway is so long and winding that Mr. Fox does not often get him.
The chipmunk is also a wise little chap. He has made himself a winter sitting-room with a pantry near it, under the roots of an old beechnut tree at the edge of the woods. So when winter comes, all Chippy has to do is to sleep and eat. Thus eating and sleeping he dreams the winter away, warm and snug.
Even the insects such as the honey bees and the ants take thought for the future. We would not think that small creatures such as these would have this knowledge, but they do. Mother Nature has given all of her little creatures knowledge enough in each case to take care of themselves.
A beehive is one of the most interesting houses that I know of. The sky-scraper in the great city may hold a thousand people perhaps, but this little white house on Bee Street holds from five to ten thousand inhabitants, all ruled over by a queen. She is a most remarkable queen too. During the season while she is laying, she produces two or three thousand eggs each day. This is to keep the life of the hive going, for the old bees are always dying. The life of a bee is only about a month and a half. So the young bees have to be continually hatched.
But the greatest wisdom of the bee is shown in his ability to know that the winter will be long and cold. He also knows that all the flowers from which he gathers honey will be gone in the winter, so if he is not to die then he must lay up honey for the winter use.
Thus from the time that the first apple blossom comes in the early spring until the last goldenrod fades in the autumn, the bees are busy gathering honey. It is the lady bees that do all the work. The male bees are called drones and they do not gather honey. There are usually several hundred in each hive. When they get too lazy, the lady bees sting them and kill them. This is the way they are punished for their lack of prudence.
Perhaps you have wondered where there are half a dozen hives in a row how each bee knows which is his hive and where to go. This is the way:
There are very wise sentries stationed at the door of each hive and if a bee attempts to go into another beehive the sentry stings him and kills him. This is a terrible penalty, so the bees are careful to go into their own houses.
The ants also are very prudent. If you will notice an ant hill in the summer-time, you will find that the ants are very busy running to and fro laying up their winter store of food.
The ant hill is a small republic and is ruled over by wise ants, just as our country is ruled over by our president. So you see the bees and the ants had the first kingdom and the first republic. In this particular they were ahead of man.
Thus it is all through the wild life Mother Nature has given wisdom and foresight that often puts to shame the wisdom of man. Of course there are foolish animals just as there are foolish people. These sometimes neglect to provide against the coming of winter but they always have to pay the price, so usually they are very careful.
It would be well for man if in many ways he would copy the wisdom and the foresight of his wild kindred. Thus he would escape the day of want, and the passing months would always find him with his pantry-shelves and his bins full. Then he would not mind, though the winds howled and the storms beat, for his house would be well fortified against hunger and cold.