Anty,--when she was Godmother to any of the little ones her full name
was given as Anty Hill--well, to go on, Anty was in a great hurry. She
often preached against hurry, but she found that there was really so
much worth while doing in life and that life was so short, she had to
hurry once in a while to get it all done. This particular morning there
was more than ever to do. First she had milked the cows, you would call
them little white bugs, but they were really cows, which she drove into
a tiny pen. There, sitting on a milking stool Sandy Ant had whittled out
of a bit of straw for her, she milked as fast as she could make her
hands go. After that she went bustling into the house, and taking the
silkie tassel from a piece of Timothy Grass she swept the house out till
it was as clean and fresh as a May morning.

She was very happy; it was her nephew Sandy Ant's birthday and he was
coming of age, for he was just twenty-one hours old. She still had his
cake to bake, and candles to make from the waxy bayberries that grew
near the shore, and last but not least his presents to arrange. Sandy
had always been a very good boy and so to-day everybody had remembered
him and wished him well.

But what excited Anty Hill more than anything else was that the King and
Queen, for the Ant State was a monarchy, had sent a special messenger to
say that they would honor them with their royal presence on this
occasion. Anty Hill had been a hard working, honest ant all her life and
she felt that this honor was a reward for all that she had done to bring
Sandy up as a good and honest citizen of the kingdom.

She bustled about busily, and every time Sandy came in the house she