Solomon adds that the ants carry on their labours without "guide,
overseer, or ruler," and that is strictly the case. The ants are a
feeble people, but they are perfectly self-reliant. The bees, for
instance, have a royal personage in their hive. We call her the queen.
And thus we may speak of bees as we speak of ourselves, as living under
a monarchical government. But the ants have no king or queen. There is
no royal personage in their nest. They are rather to be regarded as
staunch republicans, who carry on their labours without any "ruler,"
guided simply by that unerring instinct which imitates the actings of
reason. The silly sheep may require a shepherd to take care of them,
but the sagacious ants can take care of themselves.
And all boys who are worth their salt must try to learn the same lesson.
They must learn to strike out a path for themselves, and not be content
to eat the bread of idleness. They must work for the good of the whole
community by learning to stand on their own feet. They must despise the
ignoble position of those who, having no mind of their own, are led like
a flock of sheep by the will of another. They must think and act for
themselves if ever they are to rise to a position of influence. In one
word, they must be self-reliant. No doubt there is a sense in which we
must be dependent on the labours of others. Every honest man is bound
to acknowledge the assistance which he has received from his parents,
his fellows, and his God. But the two things are not opposed. "These
two things, contradictory though they may seem, must go together--manly
dependence and manly independence, manly reliance and manly
self-reliance" (Wordsworth). The two things stand or fall together.
Self-reliance is not selfishness, manly independence is not ignorant
braggadocio. The ants toil for the common weal. They rely on one
another.