Dooryard Stories

by Clara Dillingham Pierson

  PLUCKY MRS. POLISTES

  Mrs. Polistes was a charming little widow, who had slept through thelong, cold winter, snugly tucked away in a crack in the barn belongingto the big house. She had married late in the fall, but her husbandwas a lazy fellow who had soon left her, and sat around in thesunshine with his brothers and the other fellows whom he knew. Eachsat in his own little spot, and at last died because he was so lazy.That is the way with many insects who will not work. They die, and themembers of their families who keep busy live to a good old age.

  Now it was spring, and Mrs. Polistes awakened happy and full of plans.You must not think her hard-hearted to be happy after her husband wasdead. If he had been a different sort of a fellow, you know, she wouldhave missed him more. As it was, she did not even think of marryingagain, but set to work to build her home and bring up her children tobe good and industrious Wasps like herself.

  She asked another young widow to work with her, and together they flewaround hunting for a good building-place. They talked first of hangingtheir nest from the branch of a bush, but both were very careful Waspsand preferred to be sheltered from rain-storms. (Some of their family,however, did choose to build on bushes). Next they flew into theice-house and tried several of the corners there. Mrs. Polistes didmost of the talking, being a Wasp of very decided opinions.

  "It is too chilly here," she said. "I should never feel like myself insuch a cold place. And you know perfectly well," she added, "that ifanybody should disturb us in here, we would not be warm enough tosting. Or if we did sting, we could never pump much poison in."

  There was nothing to be said after that, for everybody knows thatunless a Wasp can sting, and sting hard, he is not safe.

  Then they looked at the porch ceilings. Their cousins, the Vespae, hadstarted some nests there, and they preferred not to be too near them.The Vespae were very good Wasps, but, as Mrs. Polistes said, "We wishto bring our children up to be Polistes Wasps, and if they see the wayin which the Vespae live, they will get their ideas all mixed. I do notthink it wise to rear them within sight of covered nests, and you knowas well as I [this was to her friend] how the Vespae wall around theircells."

  After this they found what they thought a most delightful place. Itwas just inside the closed shutters of a bedroom window. The uppersash of the window was lowered, and inside of that was a fine wirenetting. "Excellent!" said the friend. "That is probably there to keepthe people inside from coming out this way."

  Mrs. Polistes was not quite sure that the netting was there for thatreason, but she liked the place, so they flew off together to thestump-fence which enclosed the great field back of the house. Thenthey looked for an old stump, sat down on one of its prongs, and beganto gnaw off wood fibre. They did not talk much, for they had to workso hard with their mouths. Each gnawed length-wise of the grain untilshe had a little bundle of wood fibre in her jaws. When these wereready, they flew off to their chosen spot and began to build. First ithad to be chewed for a long time, until it was soft and pulpy, then,working together and very carefully, they built a slender, stemlikething down from the top of the window casing.

  It took many trips to bring enough wood fibre for this, and betweentrips they had to stop for food. It took longer to find it so early inthe season than it would later, for Flies and insects of all kindswere scarce and there were not many flowers yet. Some of those whichlooked most tempting were for Bees, and not for Wasps. The Wasps, youknow, have such short tongues that they cannot get the honey from mostflowers. That is why they so like the flat-topped ones and the shallowones into which they can reach easily. Mrs. Polistes and her friend atlast found a bed of sweet clover which made them fine meals.

  That first day they only chose the place for their home and got thestem ready, but it was not long before they had three tiny cells begunand eggs in two of them. Mrs. Polistes and the homemakers of herfamily always insisted upon doing in this way.

  "It not only saves time," said Mrs. Polistes, "to have several kindsof work going at once, but it rests one, too. When my jaws are tiredof chewing wood fibre or shaping it into cells, I rest myself bylaying an egg. And when my sting is tired from that, I hunt food formyself and the babies. There is nothing like having a change of work."

  Mrs. Polistes spoke in this way about her sting, you understand,because it was her ovipositor, or egg-layer, as well. She really usedit in this way much more than the other. She did not wish to stingwith it any more than she had to. It tired her very much to pumppoison through it when she stung. There was always the danger, too, ifshe stung a large creature, like a boy, of getting it stuck in him andnot being able to pull it out without breaking. If it broke, she woulddie.

  Mrs. Polistes and her friends took turns in laying eggs, and soon hadto begin another row of cells around the first. They laid their oblongwhite eggs in them long before the cells were done, and had to stickthem up to the side walls to keep them from falling out of the openingat the bottom. Then, when they had time, they lowered the walls of thecells. When the babies hatched, which was only a few days after thelaying of the eggs, they brought food and fed them as they hung intheir cells.

  The Lady who lived in the big house watched this very often, and Mrs.Polistes and her friend became so used to it that they were not at allfrightened or disturbed. Wasps, you know, are very easily tamed by anyone who moves gently. The Lady stood on a chair just inside thewindow, and put her face close to the screen. She could see exactlyhow the mother Wasps bit the cell walls into shape, moving backwardall the time. She could see Mrs. Polistes and her friend bring nicelychewed-up Flies and other insects with which to feed the babies, andwatched them go quietly from cell to cell, giving a lunch to each.

  They were very interesting babies. Being still fastened to the cellwall by the tail end, only their heads showed, tiny white heads withtwo little eyes and brown, horny jaws. Sometimes, when Mrs. Polistesand her friend were away, the Lady would softly lower the screen fromthe top of the window and touch the nest very, very gently with herpencil. Then each baby thought it was his mother or his aunt, andthrust his tiny head out for food. Perhaps this was not kind to theWasp babies, but if the Lady made them and their mother amuse her, shewas also very careful about worrying them. The older Wasps never foundout that the screen had been moved, and the Lady told everybody in thehouse that the upper window sash must not be put up. She feared thatit would strike the outer cells and loosen the nest if raised.

  All would have gone well if it had not been for that dreadfulthunderstorm just before daylight one morning. The Gentleman found theraindrops blowing in through the bedroom window, and got it almostclosed before he remembered the Wasps' nest. Then he lowered the uppersash again and left it down, in spite of the rain.

  Sad to say, when morning came the dainty little nest lay on the topedge of the upper sash. It had been loosened but not crushed, and hadfallen on to the only place it could. Mrs. Polistes and her friendwere flying in and out with food for the babies, who were now alltilted up sidewise, instead of hanging head downward, as Wasp babiesshould.

  "I don't understand it at all," said the friend. "Everything isexactly as it was when we went to sleep, except that the nest hasfallen."

  "I was dreaming as I hung on the nest last night," replied Mrs.Polistes, "when suddenly I felt a great jar and was knocked off."

  "So was I," exclaimed her friend.

  "I flew around in the dark until I found it again," added Mrs.Polistes, "but I had to wait until daylight to see what had happened.Oh, dear! It is so upsetting to find one's home upside down, and twoof my children are just ready to spin their cocoons."

  "Your children?" asked her friends quite sharply, for it made hercross to have such misfortunes. "Your children? One of those childrenis mine."

  "Which one?" asked Mrs. Polistes, who thought she remembered her ownegg-laying.

  "I don't know which, now that the nest is all turned around," was theanswer. "It has mixed those babies up, and I can't pick out mine."

 
"Well, it doesn't really matter," said Mrs. Polistes kindly. "You maycall them both yours, if you want to. Just laying the egg doesn'tcount for much, and we have both fed and cared for them. I supposed wewould share babies as we have shared everything else."

  This made the friend ashamed of herself, and she said that she wassorry she was cross, and that Mrs. Polistes should call one of thecocoons hers.

  Then they put their heads together to decide what to do with the nest.When Wasps put their heads together, they stroke each other with theirlong feelers, or antennae, and in that way each is sure what the otheris thinking. They also smell with these feelers, you know, and somepeople say that they hear with them. A Wasp with broken antennae can dobut little, and as for not having any--why, a Wasp might as well dieat once as to lose his antennae.

  Poor Mrs. Polistes and her little friend! It looked now as though ifthey were to bring up those children at all, they would have to do itwrong side up. The right way, you know, is to raise them upside down,and here they were lying with their heads up in cells that were openat the top.

  Yet, even while they were thinking about it, something else happened.The window sash on which the nest lay began to move slowly andsteadily upward, not stopping until the nest almost touched the casingabove.

  Mrs. Polistes was so frightened! She thought that nest, children, andall were about to be crushed flat. She said afterward that she was soscared she could think of nothing but stinging, and there was nobodywhom she could sting. Of course, that would be so, for a Wasp who isfrightened always wants to sting, and it is a great comfort to him ifhe can. It gives him something new to think about, you know.

  The Lady was the one who slowly pushed the sash upward. She thought itmight help the poor little mothers somewhat. And it did. They began atonce to hunt food for their children and bring it in. The nest now layon the middle of the sash. Before it was knocked loose, it had hungover in one corner of the casing. It would now have been much nearerfor the little mothers to crawl through the middle of the shutters.But they were Wasps, and Wasps do not easily change their paths, sothey entered each time at precisely the old place, and then flew orcrawled to the nest. One who watches Wasps in the open air would neverexpect them to go by a roundabout way, for they fly so swiftly,strongly, and directly, yet they are easily puzzled by changes aroundthe nest.

  Mrs. Polistes had not fed more than half her share of children whenshe had an idea. She struck her antennae against those of her friendand told her about it. Then they walked all around the nest, looked atit, felt of it, and gave it little pushes. The Lady stood on her chairwatching them, but they were used to her and did not mind it.

  "I believe we can," said Mrs. Polistes.

  "It would be lovely if we could," answered her friend, "but I am surewe can't."

  "We can try it, anyway," said Mrs. Polistes.

  "What is the use?" said her friend. "It will just scare the babies andtire us out. We might better feed them where they are."

  "No," said Mrs. Polistes, and she spoke very positively. "No! Thereare worse things than being scared, and they must stand it. If weleave this nest as it is, the first hard wind will tumble it around,and a rolling nest raises no Wasps."

  "Mothers!" cried the children, in their weak little voices. "Mothers!What are you talking about?"

  "We are going to fix your nest up again," answered Mrs. Polistes. "Nowbe good children, and do not bother us with questions."

  Then she and her friend began pushing and pulling and rolling andtumbling the nest around to get it more nearly right side up. They gotit tipped so that all the cells slanted downward, and then they beganchewing wood-pulp and building a new stem toward it from the casingabove. Mrs. Polistes worked so hard that her friend was really worriedabout her. She would not take time to eat. At last her friend stoodright in front of her and unswallowed a drop of delicious honey. "Youmust eat it," she said. "When I swallowed it, I meant to keep it formyself, but I would much rather give it to you." Mrs. Polistes lappedit up and felt stronger at once.

  Such a stout stem as this one was! The cell walls also had to bestrengthened with more of the wood pulp and sticky saliva from theWasps' mouths, because the stem was to be fastened to them in a newplace. It was not until the next day that all this work was done, andthe mothers could begin living in the old way again. The babies wereglad when this time came, for they had not been fed so much whileextra building had to be done.

  The two children who were ready to do so had spun their cocoons intheir cells. They used the silky stuff which they had in their mouths,and which oozed out through a little hole in each child's lip. Theothers were growing finely, the nest was hanging from its new stem,the Lady had lowered the window sash once more, and Mrs. Polistes andher friend had a little time to rest. "I am going to give myself athorough cleaning," said she, licking her front feet off and thenrubbing her head with them. "And then I am going away for aplayspell."

  She cleaned herself all over with her legs, and was most particularabout her antennae. She had special cleaners for these, youknow--little prongs which grow in the bend of the fourth and fifthjoints of the forelegs and fit closely around the antennae, scrapingthem clean between the bent legs and the prongs. You can see she wouldneed to be particular, because she had to do her talking, hersmelling, part of her feeling, and perhaps some of her hearing withthem. When she was well scrubbed, she took a good look at the childrenand flew off for a fine time, while her friend took care of things athome.

  Such fun as she had! She caught and ate Cabbage Butterflies, Earwigs,and other food which will not be touched by most insects and birds.She supped a tiny bit of honey from the sweet clover, and then flewstraight to the cherry tree. A Catbird was already there, helpinghimself to the best in the tree-top, and laughing at the Lady when shetried to scare him away. He was never afraid of her throwing straightenough to hit him.

  Mrs. Polistes sipped juice from one ripe cherry after another, andthen, sad to say, she began to drink from one which was over-ripe. Shemay not have known that it was so, but not knowing made no differencewith her feelings. She was soon so weak in all her six legs that shecould not walk, and so weak in her wings that her big front and hersmall hind pairs would not stay hooked together as they should be. Itwas a long time before she could get home.

  When she _did_ go, she carried back some good things for the children,and then took care of them while her friend had a playspell. Afterall, when she was once rested, she enjoyed work better than play. Herchildren all grew finely, and so did those of her friend, which wasexceedingly fortunate. If one had died, you know, after the tumblingdown of the nest, each would have thought it her own.

  The little Wasps also grew up as well as could be expected. The sonsall took after their father, and were lazy, but, apart from that, theywere all right. The Queen daughters were exactly like their mothers,and the little Workers, of whom there were the most of all, were thegreatest of comforts. They did the work of the home as soon as theywere old enough. It was truly a family which paid for saving.

  When people asked Mrs. Polistes how she ever came to think of such athing as putting the nest up again, she simply flirted her wings andreplied: "Where else should I put it? I couldn't leave my childrenthere."