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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44377 ***
+
+[Illustration: UNCLE PHILIP TALKING TO THE BOYS.
+
+_J.&J. Harper. New-York._]
+
+
+
+
+  UNCLE PHILIP'S
+
+  CONVERSATIONS
+
+  with Young Persons.
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+  NEW YORK
+  J. & J. HARPER 82 CLIFF ST^T.
+  1833.
+
+
+
+
+  NATURAL HISTORY;
+  OR,
+  UNCLE PHILIP'S
+  CONVERSATIONS WITH THE CHILDREN
+  ABOUT
+  TOOLS AND TRADES
+  AMONG
+  INFERIOR ANIMALS.
+
+  WITH NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS.
+
+
+  NEW-YORK:
+  PUBLISHED BY HARPER & BROTHERS.,
+  NO. 82 CLIFF-STREET.
+
+  1835.
+
+
+
+
+  Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1835,
+  By Harper & Brothers,
+  In the Clerk's Office of the Southern District of New-York.
+
+
+
+
+ADVERTISEMENT.
+
+
+We must tell our little readers something about this number of their
+Library. It was sent to us by a very kind old uncle of ours, who, when
+we were young, was so much from home, visiting various places in the
+world, that we do not remember seeing him very often at that period. At
+last, the old man, finding that he could not bear fatigue as he had done
+when young, determined to come home; and we had heard so much about him
+that we were quite anxious to see him. He came to our house one evening,
+and appeared rather odd to us; but he was so good-natured, and told us
+so many curious things, that we soon forgot his odd appearance.
+
+The old gentleman brought home with him a very large number of books,
+and a great many strange things which he had gathered in his travels,
+such as stones, and dried insects, and leaves, and flowers, and stuffed
+birds, and animals. He did not stay with us long, but went to the
+village where he was born, and built a small house to which he carried
+all his books and curiosities, and said that he should spend the rest of
+his days there.
+
+We sometimes pay him a visit. The last time we were there, we found him
+talking to several children around him. In the beginning of the book
+there is a picture of the old gentleman. After you have looked at it,
+you may read the letter which he sent us, and learn how he came to write
+this book.
+
+  Your friends,
+            The Publishers.
+
+
+
+
+UNCLE PHILIP'S LETTER.
+
+
+  My dear Nephews,
+
+I was very much pleased to receive the numbers of your Library for
+Boys and Girls which you sent to me. You know I am now an old man,
+and have travelled a great deal, and seen a great many strange things
+in the course of my life. I am too old to travel any more, and so I
+am quietly living in the cottage I built by the side of that pleasant
+and shady little stream where I played when I was a boy. I read my
+books, and especially that best of all of them, my Bible; and so am
+patiently waiting till my Heavenly Father shall call me to take my last
+journey; when I hope, for the sake of the blessed Saviour, to go to Him.
+Sometimes I walk out into the village, and meet the children and have
+a long talk with them. They all know me; and very often, some of them
+will come to my house, and ask me to tell them about things which I have
+seen in my travels or read of in books: and so I spend many happy hours
+with the little creatures; for you know how much I love children. When
+I had read the books you sent to me, I lent them to the children, who
+were delighted; and I thought that if I should sometimes write down what
+we here talked about, it might please the little boys and girls for whom
+you print your books, and perhaps they might learn something from our
+conversations which would be useful: and so I determined to send them to
+you, from time to time, to print, if you pleased.
+
+If you think fit to print what I send, just tell your little readers who
+I am; an aged and quiet old man, who is very fond of little boys and
+girls, and wishes them to be wise and good here, and happy hereafter,
+and that I am your
+
+                                          Uncle Philip.
+  _Newtown, Feb_. 1833.
+
+P.S. If you print what I send now, please to print the Preface to
+Parents, which I also send; in order that they may, by reading it,
+see what sort of a book Uncle Philip has been making for their dear
+children, and may be satisfied that it will not harm them to read it.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE TO PARENTS.
+
+
+The author of the following book avails himself of the opportunity
+afforded by its publication, to address a word to those who sustain the
+delightful and responsible relation of parents.
+
+To such of that class as may honour by a perusal this humble attempt
+to interest and instruct their offspring, the author need not say that
+the subject of his book possesses for himself peculiar attractions: it
+will readily be perceived that he has found a charm in the pursuits of
+the naturalist. The votary of a favourite science would anticipate too
+much, should he expect every one to partake of the enthusiasm which is
+apt to stimulate him; it is wisely and kindly ordered that we shall
+not all be enthusiasts in the same direction. The author, however,
+still ventures to hope, that in his subject there is enough to attract,
+though it may fail to fascinate. He hopes, too, that it will be found
+not attractive merely, but profitable also to his young countrymen.
+There are many reasons on which to found such a hope. If to entertain
+reverence for our Maker, to admire and adore his wisdom and goodness
+in the illustrations of nature, thankfully to acknowledge and duly to
+improve the superiority which mind confers, be exercises in which a wise
+parent would desire to train a child,--the study of natural science
+is admirably adapted to the attainment of these objects. Again, if it
+be desirable to encourage habits of patient observation, accuracy of
+investigation, and soundness of thought; let the volume of nature be
+opened before the youthful mind. If to learn _things_ be better than
+to learn _words_, it is important to place things before the growing
+intellects of the young. Let it not be supposed that to present matters
+of science intelligibly to the minds of children is a hopeless task. It
+requires not learning or maturity of understanding to perceive a _fact_;
+it needs only the ordinary senses which God has bestowed alike upon
+children and their parents. Natural science is emphatically the science
+of _facts_; built upon any other foundation it becomes conjecture
+merely: and he knows but little of the mind of a child who is not aware
+of the facility with which a fact is impressed upon it. The secret of
+instructing the young will be found to consist more in the mode of
+communication than in the nature of the subject.
+
+As to the style of this work a word may be said; not, of course, for
+the purpose of disarming criticism (for truly the writer has never
+supposed his trifle worth the critic's labour or notice), but simply to
+remark, that the object has been to write for the minds of _children_;
+if the book be intelligible to them, the utmost ambition of Uncle Philip
+will be attained. Truth and plainness were all he sought. The first he
+believes he has attained; and to determine his success in attempting
+the last, he turns from the parents, and looks for the decision of the
+question to the suffrages of the children. He would rather hear the
+expression of satisfaction from the lips of one intelligent little
+reader, than receive the words of approbation from many who are elders;
+the first is testimony derived from experience, the last is but opinion.
+Children always know better than any one else does what books they
+understand.
+
+In conclusion, the author owes it to himself to say to the parents
+of his young countrymen, and to the patrons of the "Boy's and Girl's
+Library," that what he has written will be found on the side of religion
+and morals. So far as these important points are concerned, the writer
+is not ashamed to avow himself a Christian; nor yet does he mean to make
+it the subject of boasting. In his simple view, Christianity is a very
+quiet and gentle thing, which eschews strife, and promotes practical
+goodness; and truly can he say, that he has indulged in some of his
+happiest and, as he trusts, his holiest musings when, in the solitary
+pursuit of his favourite science,--to use the language of good old
+Izaak Walton, that simple-hearted lover of God, and all his works,--"he
+has looked upon the wonders of nature with admiration, or found some
+harmless insect to content him, and pass away a little time, without
+offence to God, or injury to man."
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+                                                                    Page
+  CONVERSATION I.
+  About a Fly that can work with a Saw and a Rasp, like the Carpenter 13
+
+  CONVERSATION II.
+  About Grasshoppers and Bees that bore Holes with a Gimlet           19
+
+  CONVERSATION III.
+  About Animals that are Tailors                                      27
+
+  CONVERSATION IV.
+  About the first Paper in the World made by Wasps                    41
+
+  CONVERSATION V.
+  A Story about Tom Smith, and of Bees with Brushes and Baskets, and
+  of a Bird with a Chisel, and a Gnat with a Lancet                   53
+
+  CONVERSATION VI.
+  About Animals that can do Mason's Work                              66
+
+  CONVERSATION VII.
+  About Animals that throw Dirt with a Spade; and about an Animal
+  with a Hook; and about one that is a Wire-drawer                    80
+
+  CONVERSATION VIII.
+  About a Door, with a Hinge and Spring to it, made by a Spider; and
+  the Difference between God's Work and Man's                         94
+
+  CONVERSATION IX.
+  A Story about a Philosopher and his Kite; and about Ants that
+  have Awls, and build Cities, and Stairs, and Bridges, and many
+  other Things                                                       104
+
+  CONVERSATION X.
+  More about the white Ants                                          120
+
+  CONVERSATION XI.
+  About some other Ants that are very good Masons, and build Walls
+  and Ceilings; and a Story about a very sensible Ant which seemed
+  to think a little                                                  129
+
+  CONVERSATION XII.
+  About Ants that go to War, and fight Battles; and about some that
+  are Thieves, and have Slaves                                       138
+
+  CONVERSATION XIII.
+  A Voyage; and an Animal that makes itself into a Ship; and of an
+  Insect that builds a Boat, and floats about in a Canoe; and of
+  another that pumps Water, and wears a Mask; and of a Spider that
+  builds a Raft, and floats upon it                                  151
+
+  CONVERSATION XIV.
+  About an Insect with Tweezers, and another with Pincers; and how
+  a Fly's Foot is made, so as to stick to the Wall                   167
+
+  CONVERSATION XV.
+  How Hats are made; and about Animals that can make Felt
+  like the Hatter                                                    181
+
+  CONVERSATION XVI.
+  About Birds that are Weavers, and the Politician Bird; a
+  Story about some Philosophers; and what may be learned
+  from these Conversations                                           202
+
+
+
+
+NATURAL HISTORY.
+
+
+
+
+CONVERSATION I.
+
+     _Uncle Philip tells the Children about a Fly that can work
+     with a Saw and a Rasp, like the Carpenter._
+
+
+"Well, boys, this is a beautiful day. The sun is shining brightly, and
+the birds are singing, and the insects are flying about, and the grass
+is green, and every thing appears pleasant, and you feel happy too, and
+have come, I suppose, to see old Uncle Philip."
+
+"Yes, Uncle Philip, we are tired of playing now, and so we have come to
+ask you to talk with us, and tell us about some of the curious things
+you know."
+
+"Well, boys, I will tell you about some very strange things. I will talk
+to you about animals that know how to work with tools like a man."
+
+"Work with tools, Uncle Philip! That is strange; but we know it is so,
+if you say so; because you will not tell us any stories but true ones.
+But where do they get the tools?"
+
+"Ah, boys, 'the hand that made them is _divine_!' They get them where we
+get all that is useful and good,--from God. The Bible says that He '_is
+wise in heart, and wonderful in working_;' and he has made many a poor
+little insect, and given it tools to work with for its comfort, as good
+and perfect as any that man can make. Yes, these poor little creatures
+had tools long before man had. God cares for the insects, boys, as well
+as for us."
+
+"But, Uncle Philip, what sort of tools do you mean? Tell us about them."
+
+"Very well, I will; do you think of some kind of tools that men use:
+think of the carpenter and his tools, and let us see if we cannot find
+some of them among the insects."
+
+"Why, the carpenter has a saw. Is there any saw among these little
+fellows?"
+
+"Yes indeed, there is; and a capital saw it is. Now listen, and I will
+tell you all about it. There is a kind of fly called the _saw-fly_; it
+has four wings, and commonly its body is yellow, and its head is black;
+but the most curious part of it is the saw. The young ones feed upon the
+leaves of rose-bushes, and gooseberries, and raspberries, and currants,
+and several other kinds of bushes; and the old ones always lay their
+eggs on the branches of these bushes, so that the young ones may have
+something to eat as soon as they come out. It uses its saw to make a
+place in the branch to put its egg in."
+
+"Uncle Philip, what is the saw made of?"
+
+"It is made of something like horn, and is fixed very nicely in a case;
+it resembles what the cabinet-makers call a _tenon-saw_ more than it
+does the carpenter's common saw. The tenon-saw is made of a thin plate
+of steel, and has a stiff brass back, to keep it from bending. The brass
+back has a groove in it, and the saw is put in that groove, and then it
+is fastened to it. But the fly's saw is fixed in another way: there is
+a back to it too, but that back is not fastened to the saw. The groove
+is in the saw, and there is a ridge all along the back-piece, which
+just fits in the groove, and so the saw slides backwards and forwards,
+and the ridge always keeps it in its place. Besides all this, boys, the
+fly is better off than the cabinet-maker, for he uses only one saw at
+a time; but our little workman has two exactly alike, and they are so
+fixed that the creature first pushes out one, and when it is drawing
+that back, pushes out the other; so that it is all the time cutting, and
+does double work. I think the fly's saw is the best, too, for another
+reason. The saws of the carpenter and cabinet-maker have their teeth
+bent; first, one a little on one side, and then the next to it a little
+on the other side, and so on to the end of the saw; so that when sawing,
+the cut may be wide enough for the blade to move easily. Now the fly's
+saw has the teeth a little bent, or twisted, too; but it has something
+else: on the outside of every tooth there are a great many very small
+teeth, so that the outside of every one is just like a _rasp_, or
+_file_."
+
+"But, Uncle Philip, it must take them a great while to saw a very little
+cut; they are so small."
+
+"Yes, it does; but they persevere. It takes them more than an hour and a
+half to make one groove, and sometimes they will go on and make as many
+as six without stopping. That shows, boys, what perseverance will do."
+
+"And when it is done sawing, Uncle Philip, where does it keep its saws?"
+
+"Oh, I told you they fitted in a case; but when the fly is done sawing,
+it uses the saws to put the egg in the place cut for it, and then it
+draws the saws almost entirely into the case, and drops upon the egg a
+sort of frothy stuff like a drop of soap-lather."
+
+"What is that for?"
+
+"I suppose it is to glue the egg fast, or else to keep the juices in the
+bush from hurting it."
+
+"Well, this is a curious fly, Uncle Philip."
+
+"It is strange, boys, because you never heard of it before; but it is a
+cunning fly, as well as a curious one."
+
+"What does it do, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"Why, when it is frightened, it will fold up its case and saws under its
+body, and draw up its legs, and pretend to be dead; and then it will not
+move, even if you stick a pin through it."
+
+"Can you tell us any thing more about this fly?"
+
+"Nothing very strange, boys; but we have found out _two_ tools, I think,
+a saw and a rasp, and that is enough for one poor little fly to give us.
+Here, boys, are pictures of these saws; I have made them a great deal
+larger than they are in the fly, so that you can see them plainly."
+
+[Illustration: Saw of the Saw-fly, with Rasps shown in the Cross-lines.]
+
+[Illustration: Portion of the Saw-fly's comb-toothed Rasp, and Saw.]
+
+
+
+
+CONVERSATION II.
+
+     _Uncle Philip tells the Children about Grasshoppers and Bees,
+     that bore Holes with a Gimlet._
+
+
+"Well, Uncle Philip, here we are again, to hear more about the tools
+that animals work with; we have seen in the bark of trees, and old
+wooden posts, little holes as round as a gimlet could make, and we
+have been thinking whether any of these little creatures have augers
+and gimlets, as well as saws. Do you know of any of them that can bore
+holes?"
+
+"Oh yes, boys; I know of more than one that can bore as smooth and round
+a hole as any carpenter you ever saw. There are some of the grasshoppers
+that have an excellent gimlet. The contrivance has five pieces in it;
+two of the pieces make a case to keep the augers in, two more are the
+augers or borers, and the other is a piece between the two borers on
+which they slide; this piece has a ridge on each side of it, and the
+augers have a groove which exactly fits the ridge. Besides this, each
+auger ends in a knob, and that knob has teeth all around it. Here is a
+picture of it."
+
+[Illustration: Ovipositors, with files, of the Grasshopper, magnified.]
+
+"But, Uncle Philip, what is the piece with the ridge for?"
+
+"Ah, boys, that piece shows the wisdom and the goodness of God. '_His
+tender mercies are over all his works_:' he has placed that piece there
+to keep the borers stiff, so that they cannot get out of joint, or be
+broken, when the little workman is boring."
+
+"Well, this is very curious."
+
+"Yes; but there are some of these insect workmen more curious still.
+Did you ever see a spy-glass? You know it is a round, hollow piece of
+wood, with brass tubes in it, which are made smaller and smaller, so
+as to slide into one another, when the glass is not used. Now there
+is a sort of gadfly (she is a little creature, too) which has exactly
+such a contrivance to keep her gimlet in. It is in four pieces, and the
+smallest piece ends in five sharp points, three of which are longer than
+the other two: she twists these five sharp points into one piece, and
+as some are longer and some shorter, when they are all put together,
+they make a sharp edge running all around, and are almost exactly like
+an auger or gimlet. When she wants to use it, she just shoots out the
+different tubes, so as to make a stem for the gimlet; and when she is
+done, she puts all back into its case again.
+
+"Here is a drawing of it, and I think that by looking at it you will
+understand what I have been telling you: I do not know whether men
+learned from this part of the fly how to make the case of a spy-glass;
+but I know they might have learned.
+
+[Illustration: Ovipositor or Gimlet of the Gadfly, greatly magnified,
+with a claw and part of the tube, distinct.]
+
+"There is also a bee, boys, which is called the _carpenter-bee_, because
+it is such an excellent wood-borer. It commonly looks for some old post,
+or dry plank, or withered part of a tree, to work in. It never works in
+wood that is green and has the sap or juices in it; for the bee knows,
+just as well as any carpenter does, that it is very hard to get tools
+through such wood. I expect that you have seen sometimes, when an old
+post or dry board was split, a long hollow groove in the middle of it,
+with little round thin pieces of something like paper, about as thick as
+a wafer, fastened in it by their edges, one above the other, all the way
+through. These show the work of the carpenter-bee: she bored the hole,
+and she put those little partitions like paper in it, to separate the
+cells; and more than that, she made the partitions out of the dust she
+got by boring. She always likes, too, to get a piece of wood in a place
+where the sun can shine on it; and when she has made her choice, she
+begins to bore at first into the post in a slanting direction, and as
+soon as she has gone far enough in, she then turns and bores straight,
+with the grain of the wood."
+
+"Does she do it quickly, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"Not very quickly, for sometimes the wood is very hard; I have seen
+one of these holes nearly twelve inches long in a very hard oak board.
+Sometimes she has to work at it for months; but she works steadily,
+boys, and that does a great deal. What makes it more tiresome is, that
+the poor little creature has to bring out all the dust she makes by
+boring."
+
+"How large is the hole?"
+
+"Oh, large enough to put my forefinger in, and sometimes fifteen inches
+long. After she has bored it as deep as is necessary, she begins to
+divide it into separate cells. So she commences at the bottom, and puts
+in a quantity of what is called bee-bread, until it reaches about an
+inch in height; on the top of this she lays an egg, and the bread is put
+there to feed the young one as soon as it comes out of the egg. She then
+makes a floor over it out of the dust, as I told you; she knows how to
+glue this dust together, and she brings it grain by grain from the heap
+in which she put it when she first brought it out: and she always begins
+by gluing the dust around the outside of the hole she has bored, and
+then glues another ring to that, and then another, and another, making
+each ring smaller and smaller, until she has it all filled; so that her
+floor, when it is done, appears like a parcel of rings of smaller and
+smaller sizes placed within each other. On the top of this floor she
+puts bee-bread, as before, and places another egg on it, and then covers
+it with a floor again; and so she goes on making cells and filling them
+with bread, and covering each with a floor, until she has filled up the
+hole."
+
+"Uncle Philip, how do the young bees get out when the egg is hatched? It
+seems as if they were shut up for ever in prison."
+
+"No, boys; there is a way for them to get out, and it shows the
+wonderful wisdom of God in teaching this poor bee how to contrive the
+matter. The egg which is put in the lowest cell being the oldest, the
+little worm that is afterward to be a bee will come out of that one
+first: now, you know, he never could get through all the cells over his
+head, filled as they are with bee-bread, so as to come out at the top
+of the hole. If he gets out at all, then, it must be at the bottom. The
+old bee knows this, and she so arranges these eggs that when the worm
+comes out it will be with his head pointed downwards; he falls to eating
+his bread, and so eats himself down to the bottom of his cell, and there
+he finds that his mother has bored a hole from his cell to the outside,
+and through that he comes out. When his brother in the cell above him
+has eaten his way down to the bottom of his cell, he just eats through
+the floor and gets into the cell below, which is then empty, you know,
+and walks out at the same hole which his older brother used before him.
+And so all the rest one after another eat their way downwards into the
+empty cells below them, and get out at the same back-door, which their
+mother made by what we call her _instinct_, which just means the share
+of wisdom which God gives to the lower animals to show them how to take
+care of themselves."
+
+[Illustration: =A=, represents a part of a post, tunnelled in several
+places by the violet carpenter-bee; the stick is split, and shows the
+nests and passages by which they are approached. =C=, a piece of thin
+stick, pierced by the carpenter-bee, and split, to show the nests. =D=,
+perspective view of one of the partitions. =E=, carpenter-bee. =F=,
+teeth of the carpenter-bee, greatly magnified; _a_, the upper side; _b_,
+lower side.]
+
+"Why, that instinct, as you call it, Uncle Philip, is a curious thing."
+
+"Very curious, very curious indeed, boys; and at some other time, if
+you wish, we will talk more about it, and I will tell you a great many
+stories of animals, which will show you their instinct. But for this
+time I have told you enough to keep you thinking until we meet again. So
+now just look at this picture of the carpenter-bee's house, and then you
+may go home."
+
+
+
+
+CONVERSATION III.
+
+     _Uncle Philip tells the Children about Animals that are
+     Tailors._
+
+
+"Uncle Philip, we are very glad to see you, and we think we have found
+out something to ask you, about a kind of work which men do, that no
+other animal can accomplish. As we came along this morning to visit
+you, and were talking of what you had told us of insects that, like
+carpenters, could saw wood and bore holes in it, we passed by the
+tailor's shop, near the church; 'and now,' said we, 'we have found out
+something which will puzzle good Uncle Philip: there are surely no
+tailors among the lower animals; so we will ask him to-day to talk about
+creatures that can cut out cloth and sew it up with a needle.'"
+
+"Ah, my dear children, there are a great many things which would puzzle
+Uncle Philip. I do not know every thing; nor do I suppose that I can
+find _every_ trade in the world among the dumb creatures which God has
+made. But you have made a bad choice of a puzzle this morning, my boys;
+for there are tailors among the inferior creatures, and some pretty nice
+ones, too; at any rate, they always cut so as to fit exactly."
+
+"Why, Uncle Philip! You do not mean to say that they can cut out
+_cloth_, and then sew it up again with a needle and thread!"
+
+"No, boys; I do not think it is to be expected that they should take
+a pair of shears and cut a piece of cloth, or put a piece of thread
+through the eye of a steel needle; any more than we expect the insect
+that saws, to go to the cabinet-maker, and borrow his tool to work
+with. But with the instruments which God has given to them, they will
+cut what is cloth to them, the leaves of trees and flowers, and will sew
+them together too: and, now I think of it, there is one that will cut
+his garments out of our cloth."
+
+"Pray let us hear about them, Uncle Philip."
+
+"Softly, boys, softly. I have two things to say to you before I begin.
+In the first place, I am very glad to hear that you think and talk among
+yourselves about the things which I tell you: and in the next place, I
+know that you love _me_, and, therefore would not wish, by _puzzling_
+me, as you call it, to produce mortification or vexation; nor do I
+think that I should have felt either vexed or mortified had I not been
+able to find tailors among the lower animals; but I do not wish you to
+take pleasure in puzzling people; for it is very apt to produce in you
+a feeling of triumph, and to make you vain: and you must remember that
+for _one_ of your questions which cannot be answered, a _thousand_ might
+be put to you, of the answer to which you would be ignorant. No man, my
+dear boys, knows every thing. Wise men talk with each other, that they
+may learn from each other; and the wisest are not ashamed to acknowledge
+their ignorance of some things; and I believe they take very little
+pleasure in puzzling. It is our duty to learn all that we can, and to be
+always willing at a proper time to teach others what we know."
+
+"Thank you, dear Uncle Philip, for your advice. We did not mean to
+triumph over _you_, if you had not been able to tell us of tailors among
+the animals. But we see that you are right. We might get a foolish
+habit, which would do us harm."
+
+"Exactly what I meant, boys; and now let us begin. And first we will
+talk of the cutting out, as the tailor always does that before he sews.
+There is a kind of bee[1] which, like some of the insects we have
+already spoken of, is furnished with a borer. With this she forms a
+round hole, like that made with an auger or gimlet, in a hard-trodden
+path, or sometimes in a piece of soft decayed wood. It is in making her
+nest in this hole that she plays the part of a tailor, for the nest is
+made of leaves, sometimes taken from the rose, at others from the birch,
+ash, or other trees. The little creature cuts them commonly, and I
+believe always, into two shapes. They are either half-oval, that is,
+half the shape of the bowl of a spoon, or round, and are of different
+sizes. Sometimes she makes a mistake in the size, and when she finds it
+out, she alters it. These leaves are prepared to line the hole which
+she has bored, and she begins with the largest pieces; taking them into
+the hole, she winds around in it, until she has spread very smoothly a
+tube of leaves the whole length of it; she then closes up one end of it
+by rounding it off and doubling the pieces of leaf one over another.
+In this case she sets about making her _cells_. She takes three of her
+half-oval pieces which have been cut to fit, and contrives to roll them,
+so that the edge of one piece will just lap over the edge of the next;
+these, when she has finished rolling them, make the hollow of the cell,
+which is not quite an inch high. She next turns up the ends of these
+pieces, which are cut to fit, so as to form the bottom: she then sets to
+work with three other pieces rolled in the same way inside of the cell
+just finished, turning up their ends as before to form the bottom; and
+within these she again works three others, so that her cell, when it is
+done, is of nine thicknesses of leaves. And you see why, though she cuts
+the pieces of the same shape, they are not all of one size: they are
+of three sizes, so as to make the cells within each other smaller and
+smaller."
+
+"But, Uncle Philip, you have not said any thing about the round pieces
+which she cuts; how does she use them?"
+
+"I will tell you: after she has finished one cell she lays an egg in it,
+and fills it all round with food nearly liquid; now as the cell is lying
+down on its side, all this liquid food would run out if it were not
+corked up, and the bee therefore uses her circular pieces to stop up the
+cells."
+
+"And does she really make these round pieces to fit the cell?"
+
+"Yes, boys, exactly; and they are cut too as regularly as if they had
+been first measured and marked with a pair of compasses. And, more than
+this, the little creature will fit one in in less than a minute. But the
+most curious thing is, that sometimes she will fly off to a distance
+to get this round piece, and bring back one which will exactly suit;
+so that it really seems as if she carried the size in her head. After
+finishing one cell she will make another, until she has completed as
+many as she wants; and then, as she always builds them one upon another,
+they appear like a parcel of thimbles stuck into each other and put into
+a case: and here is a picture of it."
+
+[Illustration: Rose-leaf-cutter Bees, and Nest lined with Rose-leaves]
+
+"This is very wonderful, Uncle Philip; and it does seem like cutting out
+pieces to fit."
+
+"Very true: but this is not the only cutter-out of leaves among the
+bees. There is another kind, called the poppy-bee,[2] because it uses
+the scarlet leaves of the poppy-flower to line its cell. It makes its
+hole in the ground, as smooth and regular and polished as can be, and
+then proceeds to line it all around with pieces of the leaves, and cuts
+them to fit as she goes on. If a piece is too large she will trim it
+down to the proper size and shape, and always carries away the scraps.
+Now if you should take a pair of scissors and try to cut the leaf of a
+poppy-flower, you would wrinkle it, but this little workman will spread
+out what she cuts as smooth as glass. When she has lined this hole
+throughout, and carried the lining out beyond the entrance, she fills it
+with honey and _pollen_, or bee-bread, as it is called, about half an
+inch high, lays an egg, then folds down the leaves on it, and finally
+fills the upper part with earth."
+
+"Then she was not working for herself?"
+
+"No; she was providing a house for her young, and God has taught her
+thus to take care of it.
+
+"I will now tell you of another little workman, which I have heard
+called the cloak-maker, because it makes for itself a mantle which
+really appears very much like a cloak; and, stranger still, this cloak
+is lined throughout with silk."
+
+"Can it be possible, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"Listen, and you shall hear. These mantle-looking cases are made by
+the _larva_, as it is called, or grub of a little moth which forms a
+covering of pure silk; this silk it spins from itself; it is not woven
+so as to appear like our silk, but still it is real silk, and is worked
+into a great many thin scales, which lap over one another like the
+scales of a fish. But this is only the lining of the cloak. This little
+tailor is the field-moth, which first eats what it wants from a green
+leaf, and then, from the thin membranes left, sets about making its
+mantle: and it makes it of two pieces cut out and joined together with a
+seam, just as a tailor would make it."
+
+"How does it go to work, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"Why, I will give you the account as it was given by a gentleman[3] who
+was very fond of observing insects, and who watched one of these little
+creatures. He says that from the thin membrane of the leaf it first
+cut two pieces just equal in size and of exactly the same shape; each
+of these pieces was to form one-half of the cloak, and this he says was
+done wonderfully fast. He noticed, too, that one end of each piece, that
+which was meant for the bottom of the cloak, was just twice as long as
+the other end, which was the top. The insect then placed itself between
+the two pieces while they were lying flat; it afterward brought the two
+sides where the seam was to be, together, and fastened them at certain
+places, still leaving, however, considerable spaces open. It then began
+to turn and twist its body about in all directions, until it moulded
+the pieces into a hollow form to fit. When it found that it would fit
+its body, it brought the edges of the seam close together through the
+whole length, and contrived to sew or fasten them so neatly together,
+that when the gentleman looked, even with a magnifying-glass, he said he
+could hardly find the seam. The whole was lined with the silk spun from
+itself, and was finished in about twelve hours."
+
+"Why, this little workman is the strangest of all: but, Uncle Philip,
+you said there was one of these animal tailors that cut his garment out
+of _cloth_: pray tell us of him."
+
+"When I said that, boys, I was thinking of the clothes-moth.[4] They
+make their coats of wool commonly taken from our cloth, and silk drawn
+from their own mouths; and the strangest thing concerning them is,
+that when they outgrow their clothes they will piece them to make them
+larger. Suppose the insect wants it longer, it adds a new ring of wool
+to the end: suppose it wants it wider, it slits the case or garment, not
+from one end to the other, for this would leave it naked, but it splits
+it half-way down the sides, and when it has filled it in with proper
+pieces, it splits the remaining half, and puts other pieces in them.
+There is another curious thing about this tailor: it always makes its
+coat of the same colour with the cloth from which it takes the wool; so
+that if it has first made its garment of a piece of blue cloth, and is
+placed on a bit of red cloth when it wishes to enlarge it, you will see
+its work exactly, for the pieces which it puts in will be red. This is
+the little fellow, boys, which does so much mischief to our clothes."
+
+"Well, Uncle Philip, one can almost forgive his mischief for the sake
+of his ingenuity. But you have said nothing yet about _needles_; how do
+these little creatures sew?"
+
+"Why, they have what serves as a needle to them: but I can tell you of
+another animal which sews with a needle a great deal plainer to be seen
+than that of these little insects."
+
+"Pray let us hear of him, Uncle Philip."
+
+"I must go among the birds to find this workman. There is a kind of
+starling, called the orchard starling,[5] about which, Mr. Wilson, a
+gentleman who has written a great deal concerning the birds of our
+country, gives a very curious account. He says that this bird commonly
+hangs its nest from the twigs of an apple-tree, and makes it in a very
+singular manner. The outside is made of a particular kind of long
+tough grass, that will bend without breaking, and this grass is knit
+or sewed through and through in a thousand directions, just as if done
+with a needle. The little creature does it with its feet and bill. Mr.
+Wilson says that he one day showed one of these nests to an old lady,
+and she was so much struck with the work that she asked him, half in
+earnest, if he did not think that these birds could be taught to _darn
+stockings_? Mr. Wilson took the pains too to draw out one of these
+grass threads, and found that it measured thirteen inches, and in that
+distance the bird who used it had passed it in and out thirty-four
+times."
+
+"Why, this was sewing, sure enough."
+
+"Yes; and I saw, when I was in the West Indies, another kind of
+starling[6] which will cut leaves into a shape like the quarter of
+an orange-rind, and sew the whole very neatly to the under side of a
+banana-leaf, so as to make one side of the nest. But, boys, there is
+another most beautiful little bird, which is called the tailor-bird,
+because it sews so well.[7] It first picks out a plant with large
+leaves, then it gathers cotton from the shrub, and with the help of
+its fine long bill and slender little feet it spins this cotton into a
+thread, and then using its bill for a needle, it will sew these large
+leaves together to hide its nest, and sew them very neatly, too."
+
+"Why, dear Uncle Philip, this is the most wonderful tailor of them all."
+
+"He is, indeed: but, my children, what do we learn from all that I have
+been telling you? Who made these little creatures with such curious
+skill, and taught them to work so well? It was the same God who made us;
+for such wonderful things never came from what people call _chance_.
+Chance, boys, never made any thing: and how very wise he must be to
+form such nice little workmen; and how very good thus to teach them how
+to take care of themselves. The Bible says, truly, that '_his tender
+mercies are over all his works_.' And I think, boys, we may learn
+another thing: it is, not to be so very proud of what we know; for I
+rather suppose that we shall often find that the lower creatures around
+us understood many of our trades long before we found them out."
+
+"Yes, Uncle Philip, it is likely that these little fellows you have been
+telling us of this morning were the first tailors in the world."
+
+"Very likely, very likely indeed, boys. But now I must bid you good
+morning; for here comes our good clergyman, and I am going with him to
+see a poor sick woman."
+
+"Good morning, Uncle Philip; we will come again on Saturday."
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] Megachile centuncularis.
+
+[2] Osmia papaveris.
+
+[3] Reaumur.
+
+[4] Tinea sarcitella.
+
+[5] Icterus mutatus.
+
+[6] Icterus bonana.
+
+[7] Sylvia sutoria.
+
+
+
+
+CONVERSATION IV.
+
+     _Uncle Philip tells the Children about the first Paper in the
+     World, made by Wasps._
+
+
+"Ah, boys! how do you do? This is Saturday, and I have been expecting to
+see you come for some time."
+
+"Why, Uncle Philip, we should have been here sooner, but we went round
+by the old mill; because we thought that perhaps we might find in some
+of the old timbers, holes bored by some of those industrious little
+carpenters you told us about."
+
+"Well; and did you find any?"
+
+"No; but we found something else, which we have brought to show you: and
+we have been talking about it all the way. We have not discovered any
+new _tools_ among the animals, but we think we have found out a _trade_
+that some of them work at; and we wish you to tell us if we are right."
+
+"Oh, that I will do, with pleasure, if I can. What is the trade that
+you think you have discovered?"
+
+"It is paper-making, Uncle Philip. We have found this part of a wasp's
+nest, which we have brought along; and as you told us it was always best
+to notice every thing closely, we examined this, and it appeared so much
+like coarse paper that we thought (for we knew it was made by wasps)
+that man did not make the first paper in the world."
+
+"Well, boys, that was not a bad thought. Now you see the advantage of
+taking notice of things, and of thinking about what you see. You are
+perfectly right in supposing that wasps make paper; and, if you please,
+we will talk this morning about the wasps."
+
+"Oh yes, yes, by all means, Uncle Philip; and we will thank you, too."
+
+"I must first tell you, then, that of the wasps there are several kinds.
+Some build their nests under ground, and some hang theirs in the air to
+the limb of a tree. This part of a nest which you have found belonged to
+the last kind; but I will tell you something about both. But before I
+begin let me get some drawings I have, which will help us to understand
+better. I have them. And now, of the wasps which build under ground.
+As soon as the warm season begins, the first care of the mother-wasp
+is to look for a fit place in which to build; and in the spring of the
+year she may very often be seen flying about a hole in the bank of a
+ditch, and looking into it. These holes which she examines are the old
+houses of field-mice or moles, and some persons have thought, what I
+expect is true, that she likes to take such old holes, because they save
+her a great deal of hard work. But still, as the holes are not large
+enough for her use, she has a great deal of labour to make them do. So
+she goes at once to work, digging in the hole she has chosen, and makes
+a winding, zigzag gallery, about two feet long, and about an inch in
+width. She digs out the earth, and carries it out, or pushes it out
+behind her as she goes on. This gallery ends in a large chamber or hole
+from one to two feet across when it is done: and now she is ready to
+begin her nest."
+
+"Now then, Uncle Philip, she will begin to make paper, will she not?"
+
+"Yes; but here I ought to tell you that it was a long time before men
+found out what she made it of. Do you remember my telling you of a
+gentleman who watched the little cloak-maker to see how he made his
+garment? Well, this gentleman, whose name was Reaumur, was trying for
+twenty years, he says, to find out how the wasp made paper, before he
+succeeded. At last, one day, he saw a female wasp alight on the sash
+of his window and begin to gnaw the wood; he watched her, and saw that
+she pulled off from the wood fibre after fibre, about the tenth part of
+an inch long, and not so large as a hair. She gathered these up into a
+knot with her feet, and then flew to another part of the sash, and went
+to work, stripping off more fibres or threads, and putting them to the
+bundle she had already. At last he caught her, to examine the bundle,
+and found that its colour was exactly like that of a wasp's nest; but
+the little ball was dry; she had not yet wetted it to make a pulp of it
+which could be spread out. He noticed another thing, that this bundle
+was not at all like wood gnawed by other insects; it was not sawdust,
+but threads of some little length bruised into lint. He then set to work
+himself with his penknife, and very soon scraped and bruised some of the
+wood of the same window-sash, so as to make a little ball exactly like
+the wasp's. Mr. Reaumur thought that this was the stuff out of which the
+wasp made paper, and it has since been found out that he was right. The
+animal wets its little bundle of bruised wooden fibres or threads with
+a kind of glue that it has, and this makes it stick together like pulp
+or paste; and while it is soft, the wasp walks backwards, and spreads it
+out with her feet and her tongue, until she has made it almost as thin
+as the thinnest paper. With this she lines the top of the hole in which
+she is going to build her nest, for she always begins at the top. But
+this is so thin that it would be too weak to keep the dirt from falling
+in; and therefore she goes on spreading her papers one upon the other
+until she has made the wall nearly two inches thick. These pieces are
+not laid exactly flat on each other like two pieces of pasteboard, but
+with little open spaces between, being joined at the edges only. This
+is the ceiling; and when it is finished she begins to build what may be
+called the highest floor of the nest; this she makes of the same paper
+in a great number of little cells all joined together at the sides; and
+instead of fastening this floor to the sides of the nest, she hangs it
+to the ceiling by rods made also out of this paper: these rods are small
+in the middle, and grow larger towards the ends, so as to be stronger.
+Here is a drawing of one.
+
+[Illustration: The Cut represents one of the Rods from which the Floors
+are suspended.]
+
+She then makes a second floor, and hangs it under the first by rods as
+before; and the whole of it, when finished, if it should be cut straight
+through the middle, would appear something like the following picture of
+one which I made some years ago."
+
+[Illustration: _Section of the Social-Wasp's Nest._--_aa_, the outer
+wall; _b_, _cc_, five small terraces of cells for the neuter wasps;
+_dd_, _ee_, three rows of large cells for the males and females.]
+
+"This is a very ingenious little paper-maker. Uncle Philip."
+
+"Yes, boys, it is so. This of which I have been telling you is the
+ground-wasp. The tree-wasp makes its nest of paper prepared in the same
+way; and the nests are of different shapes. One makes it in a round
+flattened ball, not much larger than a rose, and when cut open it shows
+layer upon layer of leaves of the same thin grayish-looking paper. This
+kind is not so common, however. Here is one of their nests.
+
+[Illustration: Wasp's Nest.]
+
+"Another makes its nest of cells placed in separate floors, but without
+any outer wall to keep off the rain; and the most curious thing in this
+nest is, that it is not placed in a horizontal way; that is, it is not
+placed with the floors level, because then the cells would catch the
+rain, and the nest would be spoiled; but it is always placed slanting,
+so that the rain may run off. It is always placed, too, so as to face
+the north or the west, and I suppose it is because the wasp knows that
+it is in more danger of rain from the south and the east. Here is a nest
+of this kind."
+
+[Illustration: Wasp's Cells attached to a branch.]
+
+"Ah, Uncle Philip! this must be a kind of lazy wasp. It does not choose
+to take the trouble to cover up the house, and so it hangs it slanting,
+to make the rain run off."
+
+"It may be so, boys; but I think that in making this wasp lazy, you make
+it a very sensible wasp; else how should it know that water would run
+down a slanting surface? But I cannot believe that it is so lazy; for,
+though it does not cover up the whole house in a paper shell, yet it
+does what no other wasp does, it covers its nest with a complete coat of
+shining, water-proof varnish, to prevent the rain from soaking into the
+cells. And putting on this varnish, I can tell you, is no trifling work.
+It forms a pretty large part of the labour of the whole swarm belonging
+to the nest; and sometimes you may see some of them at work for hours at
+a time, spreading it on with their tongues. No, my lads, he who wants an
+example of laziness, will not find it among the wasps.
+
+"But let us come back to the paper. Hornets make paper for their nests
+much in the same manner as the wasps do, only it is coarser. There is,
+however, one kind of wasp which makes a sort of paper more curious than
+this which you have found. It is not a wasp found in this country at
+all. It is the Cayenne wasp, and so smooth, strong, and white is the
+outside of his nest that it appears like a card, and he is for that
+reason sometimes called the card-maker wasp. He hangs his nest on the
+branch of a tree, and it is so hard and polished on the outside that
+the rain rolls off from it, as if it were glass. A little hole in the
+lower end is left for the animal to pass in and out; and in this picture
+of it, which I have, a piece is left out of the side to show how the
+cells within are fixed."
+
+[Illustration: Nest of the Card-maker Wasp, with part removed to show
+the arrangement of the Cells.]
+
+"Well, then, Uncle Philip, we were right in thinking that wasps were the
+first paper-makers; and very glad we are that we saw this old piece of
+a wasp's nest. Who would have thought that so much could be learned by
+picking up this old scrap of a wasp's work!"
+
+"Very good sense, boys, in that thought. A wise man will learn something
+from almost any thing. Use your eyes, and think of what you see. Now in
+this very trade of paper-making. I think that man would have found it
+out a great deal sooner if he had watched the wasps at their work. They
+have been excellent workmen at this business from the beginning; and man
+has gone on learning little by little of this very trade, as I will tell
+you at some other time, when he might have made a long step at once,
+had he but noticed wasps and hornets. We go on very slowly sometimes in
+learning to make a trade as perfect as it can be: the poor animal, with
+its knowledge such as God gave it, is often our superior. These dumb
+creatures cannot teach us every thing; there is a point to which they
+can go, and no further: but as far as they do know, their knowledge is
+perfect; and I make no doubt that a great many useful things not now
+known will hereafter be found out by watching dumb animals."
+
+
+
+
+CONVERSATION V.
+
+     _Uncle Philip tells the Children a Story about Tom Smith; and
+     of Bees with Brushes and Baskets, and of a Bird with a Chisel, and
+     a Gnat with a Lancet._
+
+
+"Uncle Philip, as the day is fine, instead of sitting here, will you
+walk with us, this morning?"
+
+"Yes, boys; let me get my cane and hat, and we will take a ramble;
+perhaps we may see something, if we will use our eyes. Where do you wish
+to go?"
+
+"Oh, we do not care much, if you are with us, which way we walk; any
+course will be pleasant."
+
+"Come on, then; we will cross the river, and go down on the other side
+beyond the old mill, where you found the wasp's paper. And now, such of
+you as will, may keep a look-out for curious things, while the rest of
+us will talk together.--Boys, do any of you know Tom Smith?"
+
+"Know him! Why, Uncle Philip, everybody in this part of the country
+knows him; he is such a shocking drunkard, and swears so horribly, that
+nobody can forget him; and what makes it worse, he is an old man, too.
+His hair is almost as white as yours, Uncle Philip."
+
+"Yes; he is just about my age. We were both born here, and I have known
+him ever since we were boys; and when we played together as children,
+over this very field which we are now crossing, or caught fish in
+the river down yonder by the rocks, there was not a more decent,
+well-behaved, handsome boy among us than was Tom Smith. Poor Tom lost
+his father when he was about twelve years old, and his mother, having
+no other child, indulged him, until he was sent to the city to go into
+a store. But Tom then, boys, had good principles; he neither swore nor
+got drunk. In a little time he fell into bad company, and they led him
+astray by degrees. He was so good-natured (as they call it), boys,
+that he had never the firmness to say _no_ to the proposals of his
+companions. He went with them to places of amusement; and instead of
+spending his evenings in his own room, reading, he was at the theatre,
+or dancing in some place, or at a supper with his young companions;
+and finally he began to play cards and billiards with them; while the
+inside of the church was a place which he never saw. He was cheated by
+his companions; and too honest he was then not to pay what he lost by
+gaming: he wrote to his poor mother, and told her the truth, as to his
+losses, and she sent him money to pay his debts, and told him to come
+home. He did come home; and even after all that had happened, poor Tom
+might have been respectable and happy; for his friends were all willing
+to forget the past, and encourage him for the future. For a time he went
+on pretty well, and married an affectionate and good young woman, and
+his prospects were bright enough: but one thing, boys--one single thing,
+ruined his comfort for ever. In the city he had learned _to drink strong
+liquors_.
+
+"I remember, too, soon after he came home and married, that a man was
+hung not far from here for murdering his wife. The man was a drunkard,
+though he was quite sober when he killed the poor woman; and drunkenness
+had hardened his heart. I have no doubt, as it will the heart of any
+man. Tom was talking to me about that man, and I remember he said then
+that when a man _began_ to drink, he could never say where it would end,
+nor what he would do: 'therefore,' said Tom, 'beware of the _first_
+drink.' But Tom, though he talked like a Christian and a man about it,
+did not act like one: for it was not long before he began to follow his
+bad habit, and he soon killed his poor mother; for she died of grief
+and sorrow, I think. His excellent wife speedily followed her to the
+grave; and Tom Smith left the village, a perfect vagabond, whom no one
+cared for. Where he went, or what he did for a long time, no person
+here knows. I went to other countries, and neither heard of nor saw Tom
+Smith until my return home, when I found him wandering about here, a
+gray-headed swearer and drunkard. He did not know me, and I never should
+have known him, had not some one told me who he was. And last night I
+received a letter from one of my nephews in the city, which informed
+me that Tom Smith had been tried in the court, and found guilty of
+stealing, and was sent to the state prison for ten years to hard work.
+There I suppose he will die for he is now old; and it is awful to think
+of what is then to become of his soul. Ah, my dear boys! I could not
+help thinking, when I read my letter, of what that man said to me years
+ago--and I have told you his story, hoping that you will remember his
+words, 'Beware of the _first_ drink.' The man who does that will never
+be a drunkard. And when old Uncle Philip is laid in the grave, boys,
+which must be before many years, remember, as you look upon the place,
+that he told you the story of Tom Smith, and charged you to 'beware of
+the _first_ drink.'
+
+"But here come some of the boys, running towards us; I suppose they have
+found something."
+
+"Oh, Uncle Philip! Uncle Philip! Do come with the boys this way. Under
+that fence yonder there are a great many beautiful wild flowers, and a
+number of bees are as busy as they can be about them; pray come and see
+them."
+
+"Well, I will; but not so fast, boys; you forget that I am an old
+man, and cannot run as you do.--So, here are, indeed, a great many
+industrious little workmen."
+
+"What are they doing, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"These are _workers_ among the bees, and they are gathering the dust out
+of the flowers, to work it up into what is commonly called bee-bread.
+More tools here, boys!"
+
+"Tools, Uncle Philip! Ah, we like that: pray let us hear of them; what
+are they?"
+
+"Why, there is a brush and a basket in the legs of these little fellows;
+but they are so small that you cannot see them without a microscope."
+
+"What is a microscope?"
+
+"It is an instrument, made by fixing glasses in such a way to look
+through, that small things will seem to be very large. Do you not see
+how some of these little fellows are rolling themselves over in the
+inside of the flowers, so that the yellow dust is sticking to them?
+Now their breasts, and legs, and many other parts of their bodies are
+covered with very short hairs, which catch the dust. The last joint but
+one of each leg is made exactly like a brush, the hairs being longer
+there than on any other part; and with these they brush off the dust,
+and get it into two little heaps. The bags into which they put it, or
+rather the baskets, are in the thighs of the last pair of legs. These
+are hollow, so as to form a three-sided basket. The bottom of it is
+smooth and shining, and appears like horn, and all around the edges are
+placed very strong, thick-set hairs, like bristles."
+
+"What are these for?"
+
+"To keep things from falling out of the basket; and these bristles are
+so strong that even if they heap up more than the basket will hold, the
+bristles will keep it from falling. Here is a drawing of these legs.
+
+[Illustration: Structure of the legs of the Bee for carrying propolis
+and pollen, magnified.]
+
+Besides carrying this dust, they also carry what is called _propolis_."
+
+"What is propolis, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"It is a gum which is found upon some trees. This they work up into
+little balls, and knead it until it is a little dry, so as not to stick.
+This takes the bee sometimes as much as half an hour. When the balls
+are ready, she passes them backwards with her feet to the basket, puts
+them in, and gives them a pat or two to make them lie close; and when
+she adds more, she pats it still harder, and when the basket is full,
+away she goes to the hive. But there is another curious instrument about
+the bee. I mean its sting: this is like the head of a barbed or bearded
+arrow. There is a sheath for it when the bee does not wish to use it;
+and here is a picture of it.
+
+[Illustration: _a_, The sting of a Bee, magnified to show the barbed
+darts; _b_, the last ring of the abdomen of a Bee opened, showing the
+sting in its sheath.]
+
+But let us now continue our walk."
+
+"Well, Uncle Philip, it is really very pleasant to walk with you: it
+seems as if you met nothing which could not teach us things worth
+knowing."
+
+"Why, my dear boys, there are, as I told you once before, a great many
+things which I do not know; and what I do know I am very willing to tell
+you. But you may learn just as I did,--by reading, by taking notice of
+things around you, and by thinking for yourselves. And I do not know any
+thing more pleasant to notice than the works of God. I see his wisdom
+and his goodness in every thing which he has made. I see them in the
+insects, and the birds, and the larger animals; I see them in the grass,
+and the flowers, and the trees; and I see them in the rocks and the
+stones upon the ground. All these things are well worth our attention,
+boys; the study of all these things around us is called the study of
+'Natural History;' and I think it is apt to make him who loves it a
+better man; at any rate, I believe that there have been very few who
+have been fond of it, who have not been amiable and benevolent men. But,
+hark! Do you hear that noise?"
+
+"Yes, Uncle Philip; it is the sound of men chopping wood in that clump
+of trees."
+
+"No, boys; it is like the sound of a wood-cutter; and it is a
+wood-cutter, but he does not use one of our hatchets."
+
+"What is it that he uses, then?"
+
+"He uses the tool which God gave him. It is a bird, boys, which you
+hear: it is the woodpecker. See, there it is on yonder tree, and look,
+at the foot of it, there is something like a bushel of the bird's chips
+or dust. Its bill is a complete chisel; it is straight, hard, and sharp,
+with edges too upon the sides. It is not a very broad chisel, but still
+it is one, and used as we use ours. But the chisel is not the only
+instrument of that workman. Its tongue is worth examining. It bores a
+hole into a tree that is dead or decaying, to look for insects whose
+nests are in the tree; and when it reaches the cell where the young
+insect is, it uses its tongue to get it out, and it suits exactly for
+the business. In the first place, it is so long that the bird can shoot
+it out three or four inches longer than the bill is; in the next place
+the end of it is tipped with a stiff, sharp, long thorn; and in the
+last place, that thorn has little teeth on both sides of it, like that
+which you see on the point of a fish-hook: these teeth are to keep the
+insect from falling off when it puts its tongue in the hole and sticks
+its sharp point into it to draw it out for food. So that besides the
+chisel, the woodpecker has a spear, or lance, or arrow, barbed (as it is
+called) or bearded at the point.
+
+"But we are some distance, boys, beyond the old mill: suppose we now
+turn back towards home; I find the gnats rather troublesome."
+
+"So do we, Uncle Philip; they have been biting us for some time: it
+would be well if there were no such tormenting things in the world."
+
+"I am not sure of that, boys. We may not always be able to find out the
+exact use of some of these little animals; but that only shows that we
+are ignorant, not that they are of no use. God would never have made
+them if he had not some wise purpose in doing so: I do not believe he
+ever wastes his power in making useless things. But what will you say
+about gnats, when I tell you that they have a tool to work with, and a
+very perfect one, too?"
+
+"Why, we will almost forgive them for biting us."
+
+"Biting you! They have not been biting with teeth: they are doctors,
+boys; they have only been bleeding you, and cupping you."
+
+"And what have they been bleeding us with?"
+
+"Why, with a lancet, to be sure; what should a doctor use but a lancet
+to let blood?"
+
+"And has the gnat really a lancet?"
+
+"Yes, it has: this instrument forms a part of what you may call the
+tongue of the gnat: it is made up of five pieces, which are shut up in
+a case, split from one end to the other; these give steadiness to the
+lancet when it is used. But the reason of the pain is not so much the
+wound of the lancet, as it is the fluid or poisonous juice which the
+gnat puts into the wound to make the blood thin enough for the insect to
+suck it up through a tube or case, which makes part of its mouth. Here
+is a drawing of part of a gnat's mouth.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+And here is a picture of the lancet or knife of a horse-fly.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"We have now reached the bridge,--and here we must part; your homes are
+in one direction, and mine is in the opposite. I hope, however, that you
+have learned something in our morning's walk."
+
+"We have, Uncle Philip, and we thank you much, and bid you, good day."
+
+"Good day, boys."
+
+
+
+
+CONVERSATION VI.
+
+     _Uncle Philip tells the Children about Animals that can do
+     Mason's Work._
+
+
+"Uncle Philip, we saw a very strange thing just now; as we were coming,
+we saw a great many bees flying by us, and each one was carrying a
+little stone."
+
+"That was strange, indeed. Did you find out any thing about them?"
+
+"We asked a man who was near what they did it for, and he said that they
+carried the stones to prevent the wind, which is blowing pretty fresh,
+from tossing them about too much."
+
+"That is a very silly story, boys, though it is a very old one: for I
+have seen them carrying what you call stones when it was quite calm, and
+there was no wind to blow them away. The man was very ignorant, or he
+would have told you another story, which would have been both strange
+and true."
+
+"Will you have the goodness, Uncle Philip, to tell us what it meant?"
+
+"Very willingly, boys. What you saw I presume were bees. You remember
+that I told you there were several kinds of bees; and this one is called
+the mason-bee. This kind builds his nest of mortar, and was therefore
+called the mason-bee by Mr. Reaumur first, I believe."
+
+"Where does it get the mortar, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"It makes it, boys. This kind of bee may be seen flying about, picking
+up sand, grain by grain, putting it into a heap, gluing them together
+with a sort of gum out of her own mouth, and building with them a
+foundation for her house. This little workman commonly builds against
+the side of a wall between two bricks where the mortar has fallen out;
+and if you should see one of the nests, it appears exactly like a lump
+of dry mud which has been thrown wet upon the wall out of a cart-rut:
+but when you examine it closely, you may see a great many small stones
+in it, more than is common in mud: a hundred people, though, might pass
+by it, and never think it was any thing more than a lump of dirt, which
+had been thrown upon the wall when it was wet, and had afterward dried
+there. Here is a picture of one of these nests.
+
+[Illustration: Exterior wall of Mason-bee's Nest.]
+
+You see there is a small hole in it; this leads to a cell inside about
+an inch deep, and shaped exactly like a lady's thimble; the inside of
+this cell is polished smooth, and appears like a wall of plaster, except
+that it has little yellow stains upon it. Here is the bee that makes it.
+
+[Illustration: Mason-bee.--Natural size.]
+
+In making this mortar to build with, the bee will sometimes add earth
+that is soft to its grains of sand, and when the lump is about the size
+of a small shot, it takes it up and flies away with it, to work it into
+the wall."
+
+"Does it always use sand, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"Not always: sometimes it takes wet clay, and will dig into a bank of
+clay baked hard by the sun on the outside, so as to get that which is
+wet.
+
+"Mr. Rennie, a gentleman in England who is very fond of watching
+insects, and has found out a great many curious things about them, has
+given an account of some of these bees which he noticed at work. Every
+one was carrying out of a hole in the clay-bank a small lump of clay;
+and on catching one of them, he found that this lump was wetter than
+the clay in the hole, so that the bee had moistened it, and worked it
+together, to make it stick like good mortar. These lumps too were larger
+than a shot; they were as large as a garden-pea."
+
+"How long did it take them to work up the lump?"
+
+"About half a minute, Mr. Rennie says. He watched one of these little
+creatures, and found that she was building on the inside wall of a
+coal-house, where the bricks and mortar were left rough: she was at work
+between two of the bricks where the mortar had fallen out, or where the
+bee had taken it out. And the conduct of the bee at her house was very
+different from what it was at the clay-bank. She was not frightened,
+but went on working when any one came near the clay-bank; but at her
+house she seemed afraid that it should be found out where it was. She
+would alight first on the roof outside, as if she merely wished to rest
+herself; and when she flew into the coal-house she would not go directly
+to her nest, but would settle on a shelf, and sometimes pretend to be
+examining a great many places in the wall between different bricks; and
+at last, when she supposed there was no risk, or when there was nothing
+to alarm her, she would fly to her nest, and go to work with all her
+might in fixing her piece of clay to the wall."
+
+"Why did she wish her house not to be found out, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"Mr. Rennie supposed it was her instinct: she had seen probably some of
+the insects which would destroy her young, watching her to see where
+she was building; and sometimes after flying nearly to her nest with a
+load, she would turn back and fly towards the clay-bank, or take a large
+sweep off in another direction, and so come to her house.
+
+"Besides the mason-bee, boys, there is the mason-wasp, which I have
+heard some persons call the _dirt-dauber_: it is very common, especially
+in the southern part of the United States. It works very much like the
+mason-bee, only it is apt to fix its nest under the eaves of old houses,
+which I think the mason-bee never does.
+
+"There is also another kind of mason-wasp which will actually break a
+hard brick. Mr. Rennie says that he saw one at work on a brick of a hard
+yellow kind. Whether the wasp found a hole in the brick to begin with,
+he did not know; but if he did he was hard at work making it larger: he
+would break off a piece as large as a mustard-seed at a time. Here is
+a drawing of that kind of wasp; and the insect is no larger than the
+picture.
+
+[Illustration: Mason-wasp.--Natural size.]
+
+It seems wonderful that so small an insect should have so much strength.
+Here is a picture of its jaws, seen through a microscope, so as to
+appear a great deal larger than they really are.
+
+[Illustration: Jaws of Mason-wasp.--Greatly magnified.]
+
+"I do not know, boys, that the masons we have been talking of, show us
+any _tools_ like those with which men who are masons work; but they show
+us, at any rate, how to make mortar by kneading or working it together;
+and they certainly show us that we were not the first who built walls.
+But there is another kind of mason who works in stone. He picks out
+the stones which are of proper size, and he fastens them together with
+mortar really as men do."
+
+"Pray tell us of him, Uncle Philip."
+
+"I will. The insect I mean is the caddis-worm, which is to be found
+sometimes in ponds, and very often in springs of fresh water. There
+are several sorts of them, but the one I am thinking of now, builds a
+stone house to live in. These worms are in the habit of making a little
+tube, sometimes of sand, or shell, or wood, or leaves, or stones, to
+live in; and their skill consists in joining these perfectly, and
+making them stick together. But we are talking now of the caddis-worm
+that uses stone. What the worm has to do is to make a tube out of small
+stones, that shall have a hollow about as large as a wheat straw, and be
+perfectly smooth inside. This is a pretty hard task--at least it would
+be very hard to us. When the stone-mason wishes a stone of a particular
+size or shape, and cannot find it, he takes his hammer and breaks one
+until it will suit; but the caddis-worm has no hammer, and must take
+the stones just as it finds them. The little insect then has to pick
+out a great many stones before he gets the right one, because they have
+so many little rough points about them that it is very difficult to
+get those which will make the tube perfectly smooth inside. Remember,
+too, that the bottom or lower side of this stone case has to be pretty
+nearly smooth, so that the worm can drag it along on the bottom of the
+spring or pond (for it never comes out of it), and you will see that the
+picking out of the stones alone is no trifle. But besides this, it has
+to fasten them together with mortar."
+
+"And can the worm really do this, Uncle Philip? Will not the water wash
+the mortar all away?"
+
+"It certainly would if it were like common mortar. It was a long time
+that men lived before they found out a mortar that would remain, and
+grow hard under water. When they want to build a wall that is to be
+under the water, they use a cement which is called pozzolana; it is
+made of lava out of a volcano, and is water-proof. Our caddis-worm has
+a cement too, which is better than pozzolana, and though it has been
+tried, it cannot be melted or dissolved in water. Here is a drawing of
+the stone nest of a caddis-worm."
+
+[Illustration: Stone Nest of Caddis-worm.]
+
+"Uncle Philip, you said that sometimes these worms built their nests
+of other things besides stones; let us hear something of them, if you
+please."
+
+"Very willingly, boys. Some build of shells: here are pictures of their
+nests.
+
+[Illustration: Shell Nests of Caddis-worms.]
+
+Some build of leaves, and others of pieces of reed or light bark.
+
+[Illustration: Reed Nest of Caddis-worm.]
+
+And a curious thing about those which build of light pieces of bark
+or reed is this, that they will make the top-piece come over so as to
+hide their heads, and prevent you from seeing them. Some build of sand;
+and then as the house would be so light that the water running from
+the spring might wash it down and carry it away, the wonderful little
+creature takes care to anchor it by fastening a pretty large stone to it
+when it has nearly finished it. And as the worm anchors it when it is
+too light, so it lightens it when it is too heavy, by fixing a bit of
+light wood or hollow straw to it to buoy it up."
+
+[Illustration: Sand Nest, balanced with a Stone.]
+
+[Illustration: Nest of Caddis-worm, balanced with Straws.]
+
+"Well, this is truly a wonderful insect. Uncle Philip."
+
+"Truly so indeed, boys. In all these cases it uses its water-proof
+cement, and if you break its house to pieces, and will patiently watch,
+you may see it build another. The insect always lives with its head out
+of doors, and its body inside; so that its head is firm and hard, while
+its body is soft."
+
+"Uncle Philip," said one of the larger boys, "there is one thing I have
+been thinking about, as you have been talking: these little masons have
+no trowel, but I believe I know of one animal that uses something like
+that tool."
+
+"Ah! What animal is it?"
+
+"Why, I was reading the other day something about the beavers building
+their dams and their houses, and the book said that they built their
+houses of logs first, and then plastered them with mud, and that they
+used their tails for trowels."
+
+"I am very glad to find that you remember what you read; but I am sorry
+that your book did not tell you the truth. There have been very strange
+stories told about the beaver; and these stories have been taken from
+one book and printed in another, so that an untrue account has gone down
+for a great many years. The beaver is very ingenious, but is not quite
+so much of a mason as you suppose."
+
+"Well, Uncle Philip, will you tell us the truth about it?"
+
+"Yes, boys, I will, so far as I know it myself. I have seen these
+animals, for they were once a great deal more common in our country than
+they are now; and many of the stories told of them are not true. But
+before I begin, let me tell you of one book which I think does tell the
+plain truth about them; and the truth is curious enough."
+
+"What book is it, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"It is a book written on American Natural History, by Doctor John
+Godman. I knew him, boys, and a most excellent man he was. He is now
+dead--and he died a Christian. The book he wrote you will find worth
+reading, when you get old enough to understand it. But now for the
+beaver.
+
+"His tail is very broad and flat at the end, and might be used very well
+for a trowel; but when he builds his house he does not cut down trees,
+and place them first, and then fill up the cracks with mud-mortar; but
+all the sticks and mud (and stones too when the beaver can get them),
+are first mixed up together, and the beaver builds his house with this
+from the very foundation. As soon as he has placed a lump of this stuff
+upon the wall, he turns round and gives it a blow with his flat tail;
+and that, boys, is all he does with his tail for a trowel. Sometimes
+he slaps his tail upon the water when he is swimming; and some persons
+have supposed that this was done by the king, or ruler, to call his
+workmen. It may be so, but I do not believe it, because they almost
+always dive as soon as they have slapped the water; and I think it is
+probably a part of their motion in diving. In the autumn they cover the
+outside of their houses with mud, and they walk over it as they are at
+work, and their tails drag along upon it; and this I expect made persons
+first suppose that they were plastering it, with the tail for a trowel.
+When they are caught and kept, boys, they still keep up this fashion of
+slapping with the tail; so that I rather think it is part of the nature
+of the animal.
+
+"At another time, perhaps, I will tell you more about the beaver; but it
+is now late, and I must bid you good morning."
+
+"Good day, Uncle Philip."
+
+
+
+
+CONVERSATION VII.
+
+     _Uncle Philip talks to the Children about Animals that throw
+     Dirt with a Spade; and about an Animal with a Hook; and about one
+     that is a Wire-drawer._
+
+
+"Boys, I have some men at work digging a small ditch for me, and I wish
+to see them; will you go with me?"
+
+"Oh, yes--very gladly, Uncle Philip; for you will be sure to tell us of
+something curious before we come home."
+
+"Come on, then: yonder are the men at work; they have been very
+industrious, I see."
+
+"But, Uncle Philip, look! There is one of the men putting a bottle to
+his mouth. Is that right?"
+
+"Yes, boys, right enough; for the bottle has nothing but molasses and
+water in it; and the man is thirsty, I suppose. I would not employ him
+if he brought a bottle of spirits out with him, for two reasons. In the
+first place, I think that I ought not to encourage a man who gets drunk,
+by employing him; for I would rather give my money to a sober man who
+will not spend it for rum and brandy, but will take care of his family:
+and, in the second place, a drunkard would not work faithfully without
+being watched all the time. I never knew a drunkard who was really and
+honestly an industrious man."
+
+"See, Uncle Philip, how strong that man is; what a large spadeful of
+dirt he throws out!"
+
+"Yes, I see, boys: do you think that men had the first spades in the
+world?"
+
+"Ah! now you are going to tell us something about tools among animals:
+that is good; we like to hear of that. What animal is it that has a
+spade?"
+
+"Oh, a very common animal indeed in some parts of our country. The
+country people call it a _woodchuk_, and sometimes a _ground-hog_:
+its right name is the marmot; and as there are several sorts, ours is
+called the Maryland marmot, to distinguish it; but it is in New-York,
+Connecticut, New-Jersey. Pennsylvania, Virginia, and some of the other
+states, as well as in Maryland. This is rather a mischievous animal,
+and does harm to the clover-fields; but it is in making his house that
+he uses his spade."
+
+"Then he digs his house in the ground. Uncle Philip?"
+
+"Yes; he burrows, or digs his nest in banks of earth, or on the sides
+of hills; and he has sense enough to make the passage to the inside
+upwards, instead of downwards, so that water cannot run in. In digging
+soft earth he uses his fore-paws to loosen the dirt, for his fore-legs
+are very strong; and if the ground is hard he will use his teeth too.
+As he gets farther in, he throws the dirt with his fore-paws under his
+belly, and when he has a heap gathered, he balances himself on his
+fore-feet, and begins to throw it out with his spades."
+
+"What are his spades, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"His hinder feet, boys, which are very broad, and just fit to take up
+the dirt as a spade does, and to throw it from him: there is a skin
+which grows between the toes of his hinder feet, so that he can spread
+them out when he chooses, like a duck's foot."
+
+"But, Uncle Philip, perhaps they are made so for the sake of _swimming_;
+the duck's are."
+
+"That is a sensible thought, boys. Always think for yourselves; and when
+you make a mistake, try again: everybody is mistaken sometimes. Let it
+teach you to be modest and humble; but do not be afraid to think again.
+A person who is always thinking cannot _always_ think wrong. Now you
+suppose the marmot's feet may be made like a duck's for swimming: let me
+tell you something else, and we shall see what you will think then. The
+marmot hates a rain as much as you would if you had no umbrella; he very
+seldom even drinks water, and then only a little; and you cannot drive
+him into a stream or pond; he is afraid of it. What do you think now?"
+
+"Why, Uncle Philip, we think that he is no swimmer."
+
+"Very true, boys: so his feet, then, you now think, were made for
+spades, and not for paddles?"
+
+"We do. Can you tell us any thing more about this animal, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"Oh yes. The burrows or holes of the marmot run a great distance under
+ground, and end in several chambers or rooms, according to the number
+that is to live in them. They make beds in them of dry leaves, or
+grass, or any thing soft and dry which they can find. They cram their
+mouths full of it to carry, when they are making their nests. As soon as
+cold weather begins, the animal goes into his house, and stops up the
+hole on the inside; and there he stays till the warm weather has come
+again.
+
+"He is quite a thief at times. I saw one once which a gentleman had
+tamed, and he played about the yard; but every thing that he could get
+hold of which was fit to make his bed of, he was sure to steal, and
+carry into his hole under ground. When clothes were hung out to dry
+he would take them off the line, and as soon as any were missed the
+washerwoman knew very well where they were. She kept a long stick with
+a hook at the end of it, and with this she drew them out of the burrow.
+He soon found out what it meant, and whenever she used the stick, it was
+necessary first to tie him up; for he did not choose to have his bed
+spoiled, and would run to the hole and try to get in, and prevent the
+clothes from being drawn out. One day he stole eight pairs of stockings,
+a towel, and a little girl's frock; and he carried them into his burrow
+as far as six feet from the entrance.
+
+"But, boys, as we have begun this morning upon the old subject of tools
+among animals. I will tell you of something which, though not exactly
+a tool, is a very useful instrument, and is found belonging to a very
+common creature. Did you ever take notice of a bat?"
+
+"Oh yes, Uncle Philip, often, as they were flying about in a room at
+night, but not nearer."
+
+"Then you never saw what I mean, I expect. Our common bat, boys, has
+two very excellent hooks; one on each of what you call its wings: I
+say what you call its wings, because the bat is not really a bird, but
+a quadruped; that is, an animal with four feet: and when it is on the
+ground, any one may see that it is a four-footed animal. If a monkey's
+paw should be flattened out very much, it would be something like a
+bat's paw or hand. The long finger-bones are just like the sticks of an
+umbrella; there is a thin skin between them, and they stretch it out, so
+that the air underneath will keep them up. When they are on the ground
+all this is folded up. Their hinder feet have five toes, all small, and
+ending in sharp claws. On the fore-feet there is but one finger which
+the bat can use much, because the others are like umbrella-sticks, as I
+told you; and the end of that one is a hook. Here is a picture, in which
+you can see it plainly.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+When the bat is on the ground, it is hard work for it to get along. At
+first it will reach forward a little to one side the hooked end of its
+fore-leg, and stick it in the ground; then it draws its hind-legs under
+its belly, and raising itself up, just tumbles forward its whole body.
+At the next step it stretches out the other fore-leg, and hooks it, as
+it did before, and drawing itself up, tumbles forward again. The bat
+does not like a level place, because it cannot raise itself in the air
+from it. When they rest, they hang by the hooks; and here is a drawing
+of one, resting. In the other picture which I showed you just now the
+bat was flying."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"Uncle Philip, we did not know before that bats were such curious
+things; we always thought that they were birds; but if these pictures
+are like them, these hooks are as good as fish-hooks."
+
+"The pictures, boys, are very much like the animal, and the hooks are
+just as plain as they seem to be in the drawings. But how often do you
+suppose that you have seen a bat?"
+
+"Oh, many hundreds of times; for they are very common."
+
+"True, boys; and yet you never knew before that they had hooks about
+them. Suppose that everybody had done as you have, just passed by the
+bats, without taking notice of them; I could not have told you then
+what strange creatures they are, for no person would have known any
+thing about them. You see, then, that men may have eyes, and yet not see
+things; because they will not look for them. Use your eyes, boys; God
+made them to be used."
+
+"But, Uncle Philip, bats are such ugly things! and they can bite, too.
+We are afraid of them."
+
+"Ugly, boys! And what of that? Will you look at nothing but what is
+handsome? If the bat could think and speak, I expect he would call
+you very ugly. But it is foolish, boys, to be afraid of these smaller
+animals. There are many creatures which might hurt you, and I would
+advise you to keep out of their way: but it is silly to be afraid of
+every poor little insect or animal which you see. I have seen a large
+boy cry when he saw a poor little caterpillar or bug near him. Now
+there are very few insects, indeed, which can or will hurt you; and a
+great many of them you may watch without touching them at all. And I
+think that he is a wicked and cruel boy who kills every poor bug that he
+sees, merely because he is stronger than the bug. It would be a great
+deal kinder and wiser in the boy to notice what the bug was doing, for
+then he might learn something worth knowing."
+
+"But, Uncle Philip, is it wrong to kill _spiders_?"
+
+"Spiders! Why, boys, the spider is one of the very last of these little
+creatures that I should wish to kill. There is not a more curious little
+animal in the world, nor one that will pay a man better for watching its
+motions. At some other time I will tell you all about spiders and ants,
+for I have noticed them a great deal: but now, just to show you how much
+you would lose if you should kill all the spiders, I will talk with you
+about a tool which man uses, and which he might have learned to make
+from a spider."
+
+"Oh, do tell us; what is it?"
+
+"The next time you go to Mr. Brown's, the silversmith, ask him to show
+you his plate for drawing out wire. Tell him that I told you to ask
+him, and he will show it to you. You will see a flat piece of steel with
+holes made through it in regular lines, beginning with a large size, and
+growing smaller and smaller until the last is very small indeed.
+
+"Now the wire is drawn through these holes; beginning at the larger
+ones, and passing every time through the next smaller one, it stretches
+the wire out, until it becomes as small as the workman wishes it to be.
+
+"The spider is a wire-drawer, too; for it has a contrivance to draw
+out its threads, and make them smaller or larger, as it pleases. If
+you will look at a very large spider, you can see with your naked eye,
+just at the end of its body, four, and sometimes six, little knobs like
+teats, with a circle around them. These are its spinners. Each one of
+these small knobs, inside of that circle, is so full of little holes or
+tubes, that Mr. Reaumur (of whom I told you before, you will recollect)
+calculated that a place no larger than the point of a pin had a thousand
+of these little holes in it. These holes are sometimes so very small,
+that another gentleman,[8] who looked at spiders through a microscope
+very often, thought it would take four millions of the threads which
+came through those holes to make one thread as thick as a hair of his
+beard. Here is a picture of a spider hanging by a thread coming out of
+its spinner, or, as it is sometimes called, its spinneret."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"Then, Uncle Philip, the spider does not spin its thread all at once?"
+
+"No, boys. Fine as you see that thread to be, it is not one single line,
+but it is made of many thousands joined together. The spiders have
+little bags of gum within their bodies, near their spinners, and out of
+these they draw the threads: when they have come out about the tenth
+part of an inch, they join them all into one with their claws; and they
+can shut their spinners when they please, so as to make the threads
+longer or shorter; and they can break them off, too, when they wish."
+
+"But, Uncle Philip, we do not see why there should be so many threads to
+make up one."
+
+"I cannot exactly tell you, boys, why there are so many; but probably
+to make the thread dry quicker, by letting the air touch so many parts
+of it: and I expect, too, the thread is stronger, because we know that
+in two pieces of cord of one size, if one is made of several smaller
+cords put together, it will be stronger than the other, which was spun
+all at once. The following is a picture of the spider's spinnerets, and
+some of the threads as it appears through the microscope; only you must
+recollect that _all_ the threads are not drawn: there are a great many
+more than you see in the picture."
+
+[Illustration: Spider's Threads coming from the Spinnerets.]
+
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[8] Leuwenhoek.
+
+
+
+
+CONVERSATION VIII.
+
+     _Uncle Philip tells the Children of a Door, with a Hinge and
+     Spring to it, made by a Spider; and shows them Pictures to let them
+     see the Difference between God's Work and Man's._
+
+
+"I was thinking, boys, last night, of what you said about killing the
+poor spiders; and I was sorry that I did not then recollect one thing
+about a spider which I could have told you, and which would have made
+you like the poor little creatures better. However, I determined that
+when you came to see me again, it should be the first thing I would tell
+you, if you wished to hear it."
+
+"Wish to hear it! Why, Uncle Philip, we always wish to hear you tell us
+of any thing that you please to talk about. You have told us of a great
+many strange things, about which we knew nothing before; and we will
+thank you to tell us the story about the spider."
+
+"Very well, boys; you shall hear it. Pray, do you not think that it is
+a piece of difficult work to make a door to a house, and to make hinges
+to hang it with, and to fit it so nicely that when it is done you cannot
+see the joints where the door is shut?"
+
+"Indeed it is a piece of very hard work. Uncle Philip, and it takes
+the carpenter a long time to do it; and it is hard work, too, for the
+blacksmith to make the hinges. But what has that to do with the story
+about the spider?"
+
+"Patience, boys, patience: you shall know presently. Never be in too
+great a hurry: it is a bad plan. I have always noticed that those
+persons who hurried most, went slowest in the end. Another question I
+wish to ask you is this,--do you not think it was hard work for the
+first man who ever made a spring, and put it on a door, to make it shut
+itself again when it had been opened?"
+
+"Yes, it was so: and the man who does it now gets well paid for it."
+
+"Very good, boys. And now what will you say when I tell you that a poor
+little spider did all these things long before man did?"
+
+"What, Uncle Philip! A spider make a door with a hinge and a spring to
+make it shut itself!"
+
+"Yes, boys; a spider. Do you think he deserves to be killed for doing
+it?"
+
+"Oh no, no! But pray tell us all about it. Uncle Philip."
+
+"This kind of spider, then, boys, I saw in Jamaica, and I saw its house,
+too. It is called the mason-spider. The nest or house which I saw was a
+tube made of very hard clay, about six inches long, and an inch across,
+and was a little bent at one end. The inside of this tube was lined
+all the way through with a kind of soft silky stuff, something like
+silk-paper, but stronger, and it was of a yellowish colour; but the
+curious part was the door. I never saw any thing which an insect had
+made more strange than that. This door was round, about as large as a
+quarter of a dollar, and was a little hollowed on the upper side like
+a saucer; the inside of it was rounded like the outside of the saucer.
+It was of the same stuff with the lining of the nest, and seemed to be
+made of more than a dozen pieces of that lining, put one on the top of
+another: it was shaped so, too, that the inside layers or pieces were
+the broadest, and the outside ones became smaller and smaller, except
+at the hinge, which was about an inch long. All the pieces in the door
+were joined into this hinge, and then the hinge was joined and worked
+into the lining in the tube. That made the hinge the thickest and
+strongest part of the whole work. How the spider made it so, boys, I
+cannot tell; but so it was, that this hinge not only was a hinge, but
+was so good a spring, that whenever the door was opened it would shut
+itself immediately: and when shut, it fitted so nicely that it was very
+difficult to see the place of joining."
+
+"Well, Uncle Philip, this is most wonderful! But will not the hinge wear
+out at last?"
+
+"Wonderful as it is, boys, it is all true. As to its wearing out, I
+cannot tell you; but I know that a gentleman who had one, said that his
+friends were very anxious to see it; and there were so many of them,
+that he had to open the door and let it shut itself many hundreds of
+times to satisfy them; and it did not hurt the spring at all."
+
+"Uncle Philip, we shall not kill the poor spiders any more."
+
+"A good resolution, boys: only let them alone, and they will not hurt
+you. There is another kind of mason-spider, which I never saw, but I
+have read of it. It is found in the south of France; I did not happen,
+however, to meet with one while I was in that beautiful country. This
+kind digs a gallery or hole under ground as much as a foot deep. She
+lines it with a sort of silk glued to the walls, and makes her door,
+which is round also, with many layers of mud or earth all kneaded and
+bound together with some of her silk. On the outside, the door is flat
+and rough, to make it appear like the dirt around it, and hide it; on
+the inside it is shaped like the inside of the door of the other spider
+I have told you about; and all covered with a coat of fine silk. The
+threads of this silk are left long on one side, and fastened to the
+upper part of the hole; and these make the hinge. There is no spring to
+this; but when the spider pushes its door open and comes out, it shuts
+again by its own weight. If this door is forced open by any one when
+the spider is at home, she will catch hold of it and pull it in; and
+sometimes even when it is half-opened; she will snatch it out of the
+hand. Here is a picture which shows the nest open, and another of it
+shut; and there is a drawing of the spider, too.
+
+[Illustration: A, the Nest shut; B, the Nest open; C, the Spider; D, the
+Eyes, magnified; E, F, Parts of the Foot and Claw magnified.]
+
+A gentleman says, in a book which he wrote about insects, that he once
+broke one of these doors off, to see what the spider would do."
+
+"And what did she do, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"She made another door; but took very good care not to put any hinge
+to it, for fear she should be disturbed again. But when she thought
+all danger was gone, she could then put a hinge to it, you know; and
+probably she did."
+
+"Well, Uncle Philip, we thank you again for this account of the spiders,
+and shall always look at them hereafter with more pleasure. Who would
+have thought that we should ever find doors and hinges among such little
+creatures, and these too so very well made and fitted!"
+
+"Why, boys, I have noticed the works of God very often; and I will now
+tell you one thing which I always found. It is this: a piece of the very
+best work which man can make is really coarse when you compare it with
+the work of God. The poor spider that we have talked about, when she
+makes her door, makes it to fit perfectly; because in doing that one
+thing, God made her to know perfectly how to do it. The knowledge is
+God's, boys; but the work is the spider's: but in making any thing else,
+except about her house, the spider knows nothing."
+
+"Uncle Philip, you told us once that you were very fond of watching all
+sorts of dumb animals, and we think now that we know the reason."
+
+"Well, what is it?"
+
+"It is because you see so much of God's knowledge in them; is it not?"
+
+"Yes, my dear boys, it is. When I look at many things which man makes
+or does, I think to myself, 'Now this thing is likely to have a mixture
+of sense and nonsense in it; the sense is God's, and the nonsense is
+man's.' But when I look at a thing made by one of the dumb creatures for
+its own comfort and safety, like the spider's house, with its door and
+hinge, for instance, I say to myself, 'Now here is the wisdom of God,
+without any of man's nonsense.' And yet, boys, men are far wiser than
+any other animal in this world."
+
+"But, Uncle Philip, you said that a piece of man's best work was really
+coarse: some things must be neat, we should think. Is the point of a
+needle coarse? It does not seem so."
+
+"Boys, you have mentioned the very thing which was in my mind when I
+spoke. The point of the smallest needle is very coarse. You have heard
+me talk of the microscope. I told you it was a set of glasses, so
+fixed that when you looked through them, it made small things appear
+very large: on some other day, perhaps, I will let you look through
+my microscope for yourselves; but now, I just wish to show you the
+difference between the work of God and that of man. Let us go home,
+and I will show you some pictures I made, and you can see in them the
+difference. Last winter, you know, was very cold, and there was a great
+deal of snow: one day, while the snow was falling pretty fast, I was
+obliged to go out; and as the flakes of snow fell upon the sleeve of my
+coat (which was black), I thought they had a curious shape, and did not
+all appear alike; so when I returned home I caught some of the flakes,
+and looked at them through my microscope. They were so beautiful that I
+made pictures of them; and as we have now reached home, just let me step
+into my study, and I will bring them to you. Here they are, boys."
+
+[Illustration: Snow-flakes, seen through a Microscope.]
+
+"Oh, Uncle Philip! these are very pretty; they are all so different,
+too!"
+
+"Yes, boys, I picked out different ones to draw: when I was done, I
+began to look into my books to find out what others had written about
+this thing; and I found that a gentleman named Dr. Hook had seen more
+than a hundred different shapes and sizes of these flakes. This is God's
+work, boys.
+
+"Now I have brought you out another picture: it is the point of a very
+small needle, seen through the very same microscope which showed me the
+snow-flakes. Just look at it, boys. This is _man's_ work."
+
+[Illustration: The Point of a very small Needle, seen through the
+Microscope.]
+
+
+
+
+CONVERSATION IX.
+
+     _Uncle Phillip tells the Boys a Story about a Philosopher and
+     his Kite.--He tells them, too, about Ants that have Awls, and build
+     Cities, and Stairs, and Bridges, and many other things._
+
+
+"So, boys, you have come again to see me. I am very glad of it; for as
+this is a leisure day, we shall have time enough to talk: but what is
+that you have there? Oh, I see now; it is a kite."
+
+"Yes, Uncle Philip; it is a French kite that we have been making, and we
+have come to ask you to go out with us this morning and see us fly it."
+
+"Very good, boys; I will go. I am an old man now; but I remember that I
+was a boy once, and loved to make a kite sail. It always makes me happy
+to see boys and girls playing about in health, provided they are not
+wasting time, and their play is not to do harm to anybody or any thing.
+So come on; we will go out upon the green common yonder, behind the
+church, and I think we shall have a grand kite-flying, for the wind is
+about right.
+
+"There, boys! up she goes! Let out the string. I think she behaves very
+well; there, she is done pitching about: now she is steady; see how she
+mounts. Ah, that is a very good kite."
+
+"Uncle Philip, I was reading a book yesterday which said, 'A philosopher
+once found great help from a kite.' What did it mean?"
+
+"Do you know what a philosopher is?"
+
+"Yes, Uncle Philip; a philosopher is the same thing with a very wise
+man, is it not?"
+
+"That is pretty near the meaning. Philosopher means a person who loves
+wisdom; and such a person, you know, will always be trying to get
+knowledge; and a person who is always trying to get knowledge is apt to
+be a wise and learned man."
+
+"Well, how could a kite help a man to get learning? Did he read the old
+newspapers it was made of? I cannot see any other way."
+
+"But there may be another way without your seeing it, you know. The
+philosopher whom your book meant was Dr. Franklin. Did you ever hear of
+him?"
+
+"Oh, yes; he was born in Boston, and was a printer, and afterward became
+a very great man."
+
+"That is true. He was a man of excellent sense, who both read and
+thought a great deal; and in the war which the people of this country
+had with England to get their freedom. Dr. Franklin's sound sense was of
+great use to his countrymen."
+
+"But, Uncle Philip, how did the kite help him?"
+
+"I will tell you. If you take a proper piece of glass, or sulphur, or
+sealing-wax, or rosin, and rub it for some time, and then hold it near
+to small bits of thread or paper, the thread or paper will fly towards
+the glass or sealing-wax, and stick to it for a short time. That which
+makes them fly to the glass and stick there, is called _electricity_.
+After this was found out, men went on slowly finding out more and more,
+until at last a man named Hawksbee made a large machine with a glass
+barrel, which could be turned around by a handle like that which you see
+to a grindstone; and with this machine (which I will show you at some
+other time) he managed to get a great deal of this electricity, and it
+would shoot off in sparks, which appeared like little lightning.
+
+"And now, boys, what I am going to tell you will show you the use of a
+man's eyes. Dr. Franklin knew all about the electrical machine, and was
+very fond of drawing off the sparks from it, to see what he could find
+out about it. And when he saw it appeared so much like lightning, and
+could feel too a spark strike his hand a smart blow, he began to think
+that perhaps it was exactly the same thing with the lightning which came
+from the clouds; so he determined, if he could, to find out whether it
+was or not. He was a great deal troubled for some time to know how he
+should get down any of the lightning from the clouds; until at last,
+one day, he saw a boy flying a kite; and that showed him the way. So
+he took a large silk handkerchief, and stretching it upon sticks, soon
+made his kite; and not long afterward, when he saw a black thunder-cloud
+coming up, he took his kite and walked out of Philadelphia (where he
+then lived) into the fields, and sent his kite up. He had a string like
+yours, made of hemp, and to the end of this he tied an iron key, and
+then fastening it to the post of a shed by a silk cord, which he tied
+to the end of the hemp string, he got under the shed, and waited a long
+time. Now, boys, if he had been impatient, all his work would have been
+of no use. But he even waited, after a very heavy cloud had passed over
+his kite without giving it any of its lightning. At last, when he was
+almost ready to give it up and go home, he saw some loose threads on the
+hemp string rise and stand up straight, just as he knew the electrical
+machine would make them do. He directly put his knuckle to the iron key,
+and off came the spark, which he knew at once was exactly like the spark
+which he could get from the machine. And so, boys, he found out what
+he wished to know; and this was the way in which the kite helped the
+philosopher."
+
+"Well, Uncle Philip, this is really a very pretty story about Dr.
+Franklin and his kite. Was anybody with him?"
+
+"Nobody but his son; he took him out to help him raise the kite. But,
+boys, I see the other lads are walking on towards the bridge with our
+kite; let us follow them, and as we go, I will tell you of an electric
+_animal_."
+
+"Oh, we shall be very glad to hear of him."
+
+"Listen, then. There is a kind of eel, which when it is touched will
+give a very hard blow, just like an electric shock, to the person who
+touches it."
+
+"Is there any spark, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"No, boys; there is no spark,--but the blow is tremendous. I remember
+reading of one of these fish which was caught in a net, and a foolish
+sailor would take it up, though he was told it would hurt him. The fish
+shocked him so violently that he fell down in a fit, and it was a long
+time before he came to his senses; and his story was, that the moment he
+touched the fish, 'the cold ran swiftly up his arm into his body, and
+pierced him to the heart.' The fish has this power to defend itself, and
+to kill other fish for food."
+
+"But, Uncle Philip, how do they ever manage to catch them alive? I
+should think they would be shocked to death."
+
+"I will tell you. A very sensible traveller and learned man[9] gives an
+account of the manner in which they catch them, by a way called, by the
+South American Indians, 'fishing with horses.'"
+
+"Fishing with horses! What does that mean?"
+
+"The savannas, or large open plains, in South America have a great many
+wild horses and mules running over them. M. Humboldt says that the
+Indians caught about thirty of these, and drove them into the pond where
+the electrical eels were. The horses made a great noise, and stirred up
+the mud with their hoofs, and this brought up the eels from the bottom
+in a great rage. They were very large, and looked more like water-snakes
+than like eels; and rising to the top of the water, they crowded under
+the bellies of the horses and mules, and began to shock them. The poor
+horses would try to get out of the pond; but the Indians, with spears
+and long reeds, would stand around to hinder them from coming out: some
+of them, too, would climb upon the trees around the banks, and get out
+upon the branches which were over the pond, and by crying out aloud,
+and using their long reeds, kept the horses in the pond. The eels would
+continue to shock them with tremendous blows, and a great many of the
+poor creatures were either stunned or killed, and would sink. Those not
+killed would pant and raise their heads, while their eyes would show
+their pain, and they would try to get out. The Indians still drove them
+back, but some few escaped, and reached the shore, stumbling at every
+step, and would stretch themselves on the bank, tired out, and benumbed
+in their limbs by the shocks they had received. M. Humboldt says that in
+less than five minutes after the fight began, two horses were drowned;
+and he thought that the end of it would be, that every horse which did
+not get out of the water would be killed: but at last the eels became
+tired, and began to disperse. This is just what the Indians wish. They
+know that the eels have spent so much of their electrical power that
+they will need a long rest. It takes them a great while to get back
+their strength; so that if, the next day after such a fight, you send in
+more horses, they cannot kill one. When the eels, tired out in this way,
+begin to separate, they will swim to the edge of the pond, and there the
+Indians take them with small harpoons fastened to long cords. When the
+cords are dry, the Indian feels no shock in raising the eel out of the
+water. In this way M. Humboldt got five, all alive, and very little
+hurt. But here we are at the bridge."
+
+"Uncle Philip, suppose we sit down under the shade of this tree, and
+rest."
+
+"I am willing, boys; but take care of the damp ground: there is an old
+piece of timber that the men have taken out of the bridge, for I see
+they have been mending it; we will sit on that."
+
+"But, Uncle Philip, what shall we do with the kite? shall we draw it
+down?"
+
+"Do with it! Why, just tie the end of your string to that root, and it
+will take care of itself in this wind."
+
+"What a monstrous piece of timber this is. Uncle Philip! It must have
+taken a great many men to move it; and see--there are some larger ones
+still in the bridge. It must be a difficult work to build a bridge."
+
+"Yes, it is so: but there are bridges much harder to build than our
+little wooden one here. Some are built of stone, and it takes years to
+finish them. None but a good workman can plan and build a good stone
+bridge: but I know a little fellow that can make as good a bridge as
+anybody; and yet no man ever taught him the trade."
+
+"Ah! now we know what is coming. You are going to tell us of a dumb
+animal that can make a bridge."
+
+"Yes, I am: and a small animal it is, too, for it is an ant."
+
+"What sort of an ant is it?"
+
+"It is called the white ant; and as there is a great deal that is very
+curious about this insect. I think that I had better tell you all about
+it at once."
+
+"Pray do, Uncle Philip; you know you promised to tell us about ants."
+
+"True, boys; and I like to keep my promises. In my story about these
+ants, I think, if you attend, you will find more tools; and besides
+that, you will hear of a great many things which man makes, and which
+show matters quite as strange as any of which I have yet told you."
+
+"What are they, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"They are the building of something like a city, and bridges, and
+stairs, and roads, and tunnels under ground, and--"
+
+"Oh, let us hear--let us hear! We have heard nothing equal to this yet."
+
+"Well, then, I begin by telling you that these insects are very common
+in Africa, and in the East Indies, and are troublesome enough, for they
+eat almost every thing but metal and glass. They love wood, though,
+better than any thing else; and they are so numerous that they destroy
+it wonderfully fast. They are very cunning, too; they never eat the
+outside of the wood first, but will work upon the inside, so as to leave
+the outer part not thicker than a piece of pasteboard. But the curious
+things I meant to tell you were about their city; so I will go on to
+that. When they first begin to build you will see little hills shaped
+like a sugar-loaf, and rising up above the ground about a foot, or a
+little more. Here is a picture of them.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+The highest of these little hills is always in the middle; and they go
+on building more and more, and making them all higher, still keeping
+the tallest one in the centre. When they have made them as high as
+they wish, then they fill in the spaces between the tops of all these
+sugar-loaf hills, so as to make one roof over all. Here is a picture of
+one finished.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+After this is done, they take down nearly all of the little sugar-loaf
+hills inside; for they only wanted them for a scaffold to support the
+top while they were building it."
+
+"Uncle Philip, what is all this built of?"
+
+"It is built of clay, which the ant makes almost as hard as stone."
+
+"Are they strong, Uncle Philip?
+
+"So strong, boys, that five men may stand on them; and it is a common
+thing for the wild bulls to get upon them and look out, while the rest
+of the herd are feeding below."
+
+"Why, how high are they?"
+
+"Oh, of different heights; some as many as five or six feet, others are
+twelve, and the largest are as high as twenty feet, and would easily
+hold a dozen men."
+
+"And how large are the ants, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"Not above a quarter of an inch high as they stand. Now, boys, just
+compare the size of one of these nests with the size of the ant that
+made it; and it is quite as large in proportion as the city of New-York
+is when compared to a man's size; yes, it is a great deal larger in
+proportion. These nests are sometimes five hundred times as high as the
+ants which build them: now suppose that men built their houses five
+hundred times as high as themselves, and as large at the foundation in
+proportion to their height, what monstrous buildings they would be! But
+let me go on. This outside shell, which I have been telling you how they
+make, is nothing but the wall of the city; the buildings are all inside
+of that."
+
+"But, Uncle Philip, there is one thing I have been thinking of which
+would make it more like a city still. But I hardly think they can have
+that."
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"Why in a city, you know, where there are a great many people, there are
+a great many trades: some do one thing and some do another to get money."
+
+"Yes, that is true; and I am glad that you mentioned it, because it
+reminds me of one thing I intended to tell you about these ants. Now,
+it would not be reasonable, you know, to expect the ants to have many
+different kinds of business to do, as the people in New-York have; but
+still, boys, they are not all alike, and they do have work of different
+kinds. There are in the city of the white ants a king and a queen, and
+soldiers, and labourers, or workmen, and all these are different. Here
+are pictures which will show them all to you. This is the king.
+
+[Illustration: King of the Termites.]
+
+At first he has four wings, but soon loses them. He never grows any
+larger after he loses them. The king may be known by his having two
+large eyes. Here is the queen. She is the mother of the whole city;
+and you see what a large body she has. It is full of eggs, and eighty
+thousand will come from her in twenty-four hours. She also has two eyes.
+
+[Illustration: Queen of the Termites.]
+
+"Here is a soldier: he has a large head, armed with two hooks, shaped
+like a crooked awl, and very sharp.
+
+[Illustration: Soldier of the Termites.]
+
+"For every one of these soldiers there are about one hundred labourers.
+The soldiers do the fighting; and though they are perfectly blind, they
+fight well, and are very brave. The following is a picture, too, of the
+soldiers' awls, seen through the microscope, to show you how sharp they
+are.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"And here is a picture of the labourer; the largest part of the city is
+made up of the labourers,--which shows us, I think, boys, that there is
+more need of working than there is of fighting.
+
+[Illustration: Labourer of the Termites.]
+
+This class, like the soldiers, is blind, and scarcely ever go into the
+open air; their work is mostly under ground or in the inside of wood.
+Both, however, do come out when their city is attacked and broken: but I
+will tell you of that presently."
+
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[9] M. Humboldt.
+
+
+
+
+CONVERSATION X.
+
+     _Uncle Philip tells the Children more about the White Ants._
+
+
+"Now, boys, as I have told you about the kinds of different work which
+these ants do, we will go on, and I will tell you about the inside
+of the city. The first thing to be done is to build a house for the
+king and queen. This is the first house built in the city, and always
+stands in the centre, directly under the point of the roof or top of
+the outside wall. It is built nearly on a level with the ground, and is
+shaped very much like a long oven, or the half of an egg split through
+the long way. The floor is exactly level, and about an inch thick; the
+roof is about the same thickness. The doors are on a level with the
+floor, and just large enough to let one of the labourers go in."
+
+"Why, Uncle Philip, how do the king and queen ever get out then."
+
+"They never do get out, boys; they live in that house always, and they
+are not the first kings and queens who have found that a palace is
+sometimes a prison. Just around this house of the king and queen are
+other houses built of clay, arched at the top, and of different shapes.
+These are for the servants or labouring ants, who remove the eggs of
+the queen as fast as she discharges them. The soldiers also live in
+these houses. Next to these are the magazines, that is, the houses where
+they keep their food, such as dry juices of trees and gums; and mixed
+up with these are the nurseries. These are made by the labourers, and
+are different from all the other buildings, for they are made of wood
+gnawed or broken into fine threads, and joined together with some kind
+of gum, and around each of them there is a case of clay. These nurseries
+are to carry the eggs into for the young ants to be hatched. Between
+all these different houses or parts there are thousands of galleries
+or ways, which run among them and separate them from each other, and
+these may be called the streets of the city. These streets run in all
+directions, and extend as far as the outside wall; and houses are built
+on top of houses, and streets run over streets, until they reach up
+as high as two-thirds of the inside wall. But under the top of their
+outside case they always leave a large open place that is never filled
+up with houses. And around this space they will build three or four
+large arches, sometimes two or three feet high; these I suppose are to
+prevent the houses from falling in towards the centre of the city, which
+is an open space, and on the other side they are fastened to the outside
+walls, so that these houses are very firm."
+
+"And what is all this made of, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"All of clay, except the nurseries, which I told you were made of wood
+and gum. Over the house of the king and queen there is a sort of flat
+floor, some distance above it, with nurseries and magazines between the
+under side of it and the top of the queen's house. This floor will not
+let the water through it, so as to wet the palace where the king and
+queen live, but will turn it off into large trenches or gutters under
+ground, of which I will speak directly. The bridge I told you of they
+build from this floor in the open space, directly under the top or dome
+of the outside wall; it rises up and is joined to some hole in the side
+wall of the houses above it."
+
+"How large is it, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"Why, sometimes it is half an inch broad, a quarter of an inch thick,
+and ten inches long; all made of clay, so that it is very strange how
+they manage to join it to the wall without its falling down by its own
+weight while they were building it."
+
+"And what do you suppose this bridge is for, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"Why, I think there can be no doubt what it is for. When the city has
+been growing for some time, some of the nurseries will be very high up
+above the queen's house; but the labourers have to carry her eggs into
+them, no matter how far off they may be. If they carry them through all
+the streets, they will have to walk as many as fifteen or twenty feet,
+for it would be five or six feet in a perfectly straight line, and these
+streets are very crooked; but if they make a bridge in the open space
+in the centre, they can then go from the queen's house over the bridge,
+and get to the upper nurseries without travelling more than two feet. So
+they made the bridge to shorten the way, to be sure."
+
+"This is very wonderful: but you said something about large trenches or
+gutters underground; what are they, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"These galleries lead from the city under ground, and are as large as
+the bore of a large cannon; they are thirteen inches across, and more
+than a hundred yards long. I have already told you that the labourers
+never come out into the light, when they can help it; and these
+underground ways are the great roads to the city, to fetch in clay, or
+wood, or water, or provisions: and now I will tell you another thing
+which shows a great deal of sense. As some of their houses are very high
+up, you know they would find it very hard to climb up through all the
+streets with a heavy load in a straight line; so when these large ways
+underground reach the outside wall, they just come through and keep on
+winding around the inside of it like a corkscrew all the way to the top;
+and there are other galleries opening from it at different places into
+the city. One thing has been noticed about these ants; they can scarcely
+climb at all up a perpendicular wall. Therefore on the upright side of
+any part of the city you may see a road made, standing out from the wall
+like a ledge; it is flat on the top, and half an inch wide, and goes
+up gradually like a stair-case, or like a road cut out on the side of a
+mountain.
+
+"Here is a picture of one of their cities cut straight down through the
+middle. At the bottom, in the centre, is the queen's house; over it is a
+floor, and the two crooked things you see rising up from the floor, are
+bridges."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"But, Uncle Philip, you said you would tell us about the soldiers and
+labourers coming out when the city is attacked."
+
+"Yes, I did. As soon as a hole is made in the outside wall, you will
+see a soldier run out, and walk about as if to look around; but as he
+is blind, it cannot be to see what the danger is. He may have some way
+though of finding out without seeing. Presently he will go in, as if
+to tell the others, and then out pour the soldiers in great numbers,
+as fast as the hole will let them; and just as long as you strike the
+outside wall, they will continue to rush out. They seem to be in a
+terrible passion. They are in such a hurry that sometimes they slip, and
+roll down the outside of the hill; but they jump up again instantly,
+and begin to bite every thing they run against, for they are blind and
+cannot tell a friend from an enemy."
+
+"Do they bite hard, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"Very hard indeed. They make their hooked jaws, which are like awls, you
+know, meet at every bite; and if it should happen to be a man's leg they
+get hold of, you would see upon his stocking a spot of blood an inch
+long. At every bite too you may hear their jaws snapping together and
+making quite a noise. Some of them too (perhaps they are the officers)
+are constantly beating with their awls upon the outside wall, and make a
+sound something quicker and sharper than the ticking of a watch. You may
+hear it at a distance of three or four feet. When these biters lay hold,
+nothing will make them let go; you must tear them away by pieces. After
+you stop striking the wall, in about half an hour they seem to get over
+their rage and go back into the city, and then out come the labourers.
+While the noise continues you will not see one of them; they all fled
+at the first appearance of danger. But now they come, each one with a
+bundle of mortar in his mouth, ready made; and they stick it on the hole
+so fast, and with such order, that though thousands and thousands are at
+work they never interrupt each other. And while the labourers are busy,
+if you look you may commonly see a soldier or two walking about; but
+they never touch the mortar, nor help in any way to mend the hole. One
+of these soldiers always stands near the spot where the labourers are at
+work, and every now and then turns slowly around, and frequently lifts
+up his head, and with his awls beats upon the building, and makes a
+sort of hissing noise. As soon as that is done you may hear a loud hiss
+from all the labourers, both on the outside of the wall and from the
+inside of the city, and then the labourers run faster, and work as quick
+again. If you attack the nest again, away run all the labourers as fast
+as their legs will carry them, and out pour the soldiers as before; and
+the same thing is always seen upon every attack, of soldiers to fight
+and labourers to work."
+
+"Well, Uncle Philip, this is a very strange story; much more interesting
+than any we have yet heard."
+
+"I thought it would please you, boys; but there are still stranger
+things among animals, and perhaps you will say so when you know more.
+
+"But it is now time to return home; so take in the kite and let us be
+going."
+
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[10] Mr. Huber the younger.
+
+
+
+
+CONVERSATION XI.
+
+     _Uncle Philip tells the Children about some other Ants, that
+     are very good Masons, and build Walls and Ceilings; and a Story
+     about a very sensible Ant, which seemed to think a little._
+
+
+"Good morning, good morning, Uncle Philip; we have been so much
+delighted with the stories about the white ants, that we hope you have
+more of the same kind to tell us."
+
+"Why, as to that matter, boys, I can tell you much more about ants, for
+there are many kinds of them; but I am not sure that I can show you any
+of the _tools_ with which they work, though a large portion of their
+work is like that of man; and they have, too, several customs which our
+fellow-creatures have. I can tell you, however, of several other animals
+which do use tools shaped like those used by men, if you would rather
+hear of them."
+
+"If you please, Uncle Philip, we will hear of them at another time; but
+now we would rather have you tell us of the other kinds of ants."
+
+"Oh, very well, boys; it shall be as you wish. All that I desire is to
+instruct and amuse you, and I am sure that the ants can furnish a good
+lesson to us. I shall begin with the mason ants. They always build their
+nests either of clay which is damp, and dug from the inside of their
+city under ground, or which has been made wet by the rain; and a part of
+their building is always above the ground, so that you can easily see
+it. There is no fixed rule for the ants to build by. Their cities are
+not all alike in the inside. Sometimes the walls are larger and coarser,
+and the ways and galleries are higher, than at other times. The rooms,
+too, are different in shape and size, so that this industrious little
+insect seems to have sense enough to work in the best way according to
+circumstances. There is only one general rule which they seem to have,
+and that is always to build in a number of different stories, one above
+the other. If you examine one of these stories you may see a number
+of large places or halls, some smaller rooms, and some long galleries
+which serve as passage-ways. The tops of these large halls are covered
+with an arched ceiling, and this ceiling is held up, sometimes by little
+columns, sometimes by very thin walls, or by props built against the
+side walls, just like buttresses. There are also chambers which have but
+one door, which opens into the lower story, and large open places in the
+centre of the nest something like a cross road, and all these little
+galleries or streets come into that open place."
+
+"Any bridges, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"No, boys; no bridges among these ants, so far as I know. There will
+sometimes be as many as twenty stories above ground in the ant-hill, and
+as many below. The best time to see these little fellows at work is in a
+gentle shower of rain, or directly after."
+
+"Why do they work in the rain, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"I suppose, boys, it is because the earth is then better for them; and
+one thing that has been noticed about their work is, that the rain, when
+it is not too violent, seems to make it solid, for these ants have no
+gum or glue about them like some other insects, to make the earth stick
+together. As soon as the rain begins, if you watch the brown ants, you
+may see them come out of the ground in great numbers; and then running
+in again, they will soon return, each one with a little piece of dirt
+in his mouth, which he puts down upon the roof of the nest. A gentleman
+who watched them very closely[10] says, that at first he could not think
+what this was done for, but at last he saw little walls begin to rise up
+with spaces left between them. In some places pillars were begun, placed
+at regular distances, and he knew that these were to support ceilings;
+so he found out that they were going to build another story to their
+house, and they were laying the foundations."
+
+"How I should have liked to see them. Uncle Philip. I would not have
+cared for the rain."
+
+"Ah, I see you are fit to be a naturalist. You know what that word
+means, do you not?"
+
+"It means, Uncle Philip, a man who loves to study about the animals and
+insects, does it not?"
+
+"It means a man or a woman either, boys, who loves to study the things
+in nature no matter whether they are animals, or stones, or grass, or
+flowers, or any of the things which God has made. Mark, boys, I said
+to study the things, and you said to study _about_ the things. Now a
+person may read a great deal that is interesting and true about all
+these things in books; and it is very well to do so; but I think that
+the real naturalist will never be satisfied with books only; he will
+be looking to see things for himself. And I said a woman might be a
+naturalist, because some ladies have been fond of natural history, and
+have proved themselves to be very good naturalists. But let us go back
+to the ants. Mr. Huber, in the account which he gives of his having
+watched these little workmen, never thought of telling us whether he
+got wet or not, because he was too busy to think or care much about it.
+He had an opportunity of seeing what he might never see again, and a
+little rain was not to spoil it. He says that each ant, as it brought
+out its little lump of dirt, would place it on the spot where it wished
+it to be, and press against it with its teeth, so as to make it fit
+closely. It then rubbed its feelers all over it, and after that pressed
+upon it lightly with its fore-feet. The walls went on very rapidly, and
+it often happened that two little walls, which were to make a passage
+or gallery, would be raised opposite and at a small distance from each
+other. When they were about a quarter of an inch high, the ants would
+set to work and cover them with an arched ceiling. After they had raised
+all the walls as high as they wished, on the inside of each wall at the
+top they began to put in pieces of wet dirt almost level, and in such a
+way as to make a ledge; and by joining on more dirt to it, it would meet
+the ledge made from the opposite wall so as to make a roof: these roofs
+over the galleries were about a quarter of an inch across. The ceilings
+over the large halls were sometimes as much as two inches in breadth,
+and to support these they raised pillars; and beginning in the corner
+where two walls joined, they would commence the ceiling with a ledge,
+while from the top of each pillar they would also build out a layer of
+earth a little rounded on the top; these they continued to add to until
+all met and made a complete cover for the hall."
+
+"I wonder it did not fall, Uncle Philip, before they could join it
+together."
+
+"Mr. Huber says that he thought several times it would fall, from the
+rain which was dropping upon it all the time; but he found that the
+pieces held together, and that the rain, instead of hurting it, only
+made it more solid. All that it wants, when the ants have done, is a
+little heat from the sun to bake it hard, and then it appears like a
+piece of solid dirt. Sometimes, if the rain be violent, the apartments
+will be destroyed, especially if the arches are not built strongly; and
+when this happens, the little creatures go to work very patiently and
+rebuild them."
+
+"And how long, Uncle Philip, did it take the ants to put another story
+on their house?"
+
+"Between seven and eight hours; and they had hardly finished one before
+they began another, but they had not time to finish it, for the rain
+stopped before they had built much: however, they kept on, taking
+advantage of the wet earth; but a cold drying wind soon sprang up, and
+the earth would not stick; so they stopped: but what do you think they
+did with the new story which they had not time to finish?"
+
+"What _did_ they do, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"Pulled every part of it to pieces, and scattered the dirt here and
+there over the roof of the story which they had finished.
+
+"I will tell you another story about these ants, boys, which I think is
+most wonderful, because it appears so much like reason. These insects
+all seem to work separately,--I mean without attending to the work of
+others: of course sometimes the work done by different ants on opposite
+sides of the same gallery or hall will not suit: one wall will be higher
+than the other, so that the ceilings will not meet. Mr. Huber saw just
+such a case; the ceiling which was begun from one wall would just have
+reached the other wall about half-way up; and while he was wondering
+how the ants would cure the fault, one of them came, and looking at the
+work, seemed to know that it was wrong, and immediately began by taking
+down the ceiling from the lower wall; he then raised it to the same
+height with the opposite wall, and made a new ceiling in Mr. Huber's
+presence with the pieces of the old one."
+
+"Uncle Philip, if that ant did not know how to think, I am mistaken."
+
+"I must confess, boys, it does seem very much like thinking; and if it
+was not thinking, we must at any rate own that it was something which,
+_in this case_, did quite as well; for no thought of man could have hit
+upon a better plan. But if the ant knew how to think as a man does, do
+you suppose it would ever have made the mistake? Would not the workmen
+have all agreed beforehand what they were to do, and how it should be
+done, so that there might be no need of pulling down any of the work
+because it would not suit? I think that this story, boys, while it shows
+us something like reason in _one_ particular instance, shows us also
+that _in general_ the ant has not reason like ours. But I am tired now,
+and can tell you no more this morning. When you come again I shall be
+ready to talk with you about some other kinds of ants. But before you
+go, tell me--can any of you inform me what the Bible says about the ant?"
+
+"Oh yes, Uncle Philip: it says, 'Go to the ant, thou sluggard, consider
+her ways, and be wise.'"
+
+"Well, another question. Have you any lessons to say when you go into
+school on Monday?"
+
+"Yes, Uncle Philip; we have."
+
+"Have you learned them, boys?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"Then remember what the Bible says to the sluggard, and go and learn
+them at once. Good-by, children."
+
+"Good-by, Uncle Philip: we will learn our lessons."
+
+
+
+
+CONVERSATION XII.
+
+     _Uncle Philip tells the Boys about Ants that go to War and
+     fight Battles; and about some that are Thieves, and have Slaves._
+
+
+"Well, my lads, how do you do to-day?"
+
+"Very well, Uncle Philip, we thank you. And we wish to let you know that
+we kept our promise to learn our lessons. Our teacher was very well
+satisfied with every one of us."
+
+"That is well, boys. I am truly glad to hear this from you: and I make
+no doubt that you also felt a great deal happier than you would have
+done had you neglected to learn your lessons. Did you not?"
+
+"Oh yes, Uncle Philip, much happier; and far more cheerful and
+good-natured."
+
+"Such are apt to be the feelings, boys, of those who have done their
+_duty_. I am verily persuaded that there is no such thing as real, solid
+happiness in this world, but in that man who acts from a sense of duty.
+His is true peace, because it is 'the peace of God.' I do not say, boys,
+that a man, even when he does his duty, _always_ feels comfortable or
+happy _at once_; but he will be more apt to feel so than if he did not
+do his duty: and I do say that no man who does not act from a sense of
+duty, is likely to feel any thing like happiness very often or very
+long."
+
+"Then, Uncle Philip, a man who wishes to be happy will try in the first
+place to find out what his duty is."
+
+"To be sure, he will; and he need not try very long either, if he really
+wishes to know it. The will of God, boys, is at the bottom of all our
+duties; and an honest man, yes, or boy either, can commonly tell what
+God will think to be right or wrong in his conduct. You know where a
+great many of our duties are very plainly written down for us; do you
+not?"
+
+"Oh yes, sir; in the New Testament, which tells us of what our Saviour
+said and did."
+
+"True. And what our Saviour commanded, boys, God commanded; for He is
+God. But besides this, when it is not exactly written down in the New
+Testament what we should do, still if we will think, we shall very often
+find out what to do, from what is written."
+
+"Uncle Philip, we almost always know what you mean; but now, we do not
+quite understand you."
+
+"Thank you, boys, for telling me that you do not know what I mean:
+always tell any person who is trying to teach you something, when you
+do not understand what is said to you. Now I will try to make what I
+said plainer to you. The New Testament does not say any thing about your
+going to school; does it?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"Who sends you to school, boys, and pays your teachers for instructing
+you?"
+
+"Our parents, Uncle Philip."
+
+"Very well. Now suppose that John Carter here, should wish, instead of
+going to school, to do, what I am very sure he never did do: suppose he
+should determine to play the truant. The Bible does not say a boy shall
+not play the truant, does it?"
+
+"No, Uncle Philip."
+
+"But if John Carter should play the truant, he would, in doing so,
+disobey what God has commanded in the Bible just as much as if the Bible
+did say 'A boy shall not play the truant;' for the Bible does say,
+'_Children obey your parents_,' and he could not be a truant without
+disobeying his parents, who bade him go to school."
+
+"Uncle Philip, we understand you very well now."
+
+"There is another thing I wish you to understand, boys. John Carter, as
+you see, would not only disobey his parents, which is wicked, but he
+would also commit a _sin_ against God. That is always the thing to look
+at first. When we are going to do something that we are not very sure
+is right, we should always stop to ask ourselves whether God will be
+pleased with it. But I have said enough to you about our duty for this
+time. Now for the ants I promised to tell you of. And the first sort I
+shall mention are great fighters."
+
+"Fighters, Uncle Philip! What do they fight about?"
+
+"About trifles, boys, just as men do. They have terrible wars, and
+will dispute with and kill each other for a few inches of dirt, when
+certainly this world is large enough for them all. But animals wiser
+than ants, boys, act in the same foolish way. Men sometimes go to war
+and kill each other to determine who shall have a river, or a small
+town, or a fort, or some little spot of ground; while the poor creatures
+who do the fighting, and get all the wounds, and lose their lives, had
+they been let alone, would have lived on in peace, and never cared a
+straw who had the miserable little spot they fight for. But let me go
+on with the account of these ants. In the forests, where the fallow
+ants live, you may see these wars. The battle will be between the ants
+of different hills, but they are all ants of the same sort. Thousands
+and thousands of them will meet on the ground between their hills, and
+the battle begins by two ants, who seize each other by the claws (or
+_mandibles_, as they are called), and rising up on their hind-legs,
+they bring their bodies near together, and spirt a sort of venomous or
+poisonous juice upon each other. These will be followed by thousands of
+others on both sides, who seize each other in the same way, and fight
+in pairs--ant to ant. Sometimes they will get so wedged together that
+they fall down upon their sides, but they do not let go on that account;
+they keep on fighting in the dust until they rise on their feet again.
+Sometimes, too, a third ant will come in, and joining whichever of
+them belongs to his nest, the two will begin to drag the third, until
+some of his friends come to his help; and in this way, others joining
+on both sides, they will form strings of six, or eight, or ten on a
+side, pulling with all their strength. And while some are fighting,
+you will see others leading off prisoners towards their hills, while
+the prisoners are trying to escape. The field of battle is not more,
+perhaps, than three feet square; multitudes of dead ants covered with
+venom may be seen upon it, and there is a very strong scent which comes
+from it. When night comes they go off to their hills. Before dawn the
+next day they are at it again in still larger numbers, and they fight
+with greater fury than before, until at last one side or the other
+gives way. They are so busy that even if you stand near them they take
+no notice of you, and not one stops fighting, or crawls up your legs."
+
+"Do all of them that belong to the hill go out to fight, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"No; near the hills all is peace and order, and work seems to be going
+on as usual. Only on the side next to the battle, crowds may be seen
+running backwards and forwards from both hills; some as messengers, I
+suppose, and some to fight, or carry back prisoners."
+
+"But, Uncle Philip, you said that these ants were all of one sort; how
+then do they know one another so as to tell which party each one belongs
+to? I should think that sometimes they would make a mistake, and fight a
+friend instead of an enemy."
+
+"This, boys, is one of the most wonderful things concerning them. They
+are alike in form, and size, and weapons, and strength; and sometimes
+it happens that they do make a mistake, but it is very seldom; and when
+they do, Mr. Huber, who watched one of their battles, says that they
+find it out directly, and caress each other with their feelers, and
+make up the difficulty at once.
+
+"Are you tired, boys, or do you wish to hear more?"
+
+"Oh, let us hear more, by all means: we are not at all tired."
+
+"I will then tell you of another kind of ants called legionary ants,
+and sometimes amazons; but I am sorry to say that they are unlike other
+ants, for they are lazy; and yet they live very comfortably."
+
+"How is that, Uncle Philip? Can they be comfortable without working?"
+
+"Yes, boys, if they can get others to work for them; and these have
+their work mostly done by their slaves."
+
+"By their slaves! what are their slaves, and where did they get them?"
+
+"As to your first question, boys, their slaves are ants of another kind;
+as to the second question--where they get them--they _stole_ them when
+they were young."
+
+"Why you surprise us, Uncle Philip."
+
+"I dare say I do. There are persons much older than you are who have
+never attended at all to the doings of insects, who would be very much
+astonished by the history of the legionary ants; and probably would
+laugh at the whole account as an idle story; and yet it is all true,
+and those who have read and seen, know it to be true; and they know,
+too, that to deny it shows nothing but ignorance. However, I always let
+such persons alone. I can do them no good; for they are apt to be very
+conceited, and will not be convinced. And now for the legionary ant.
+This is a fighting ant, as well as the last I mentioned; and it actually
+steals the young of another kind, rears them, and puts all the work on
+them, so as to be idle itself. This curious fact was first found out
+by Mr. Huber; another gentleman, named Latreille, afterward saw the
+same thing; and now a great many naturalists know it, because they have
+sought for and seen it. The ant which it steals is of a dark ash colour;
+the legionary is of light colour. The dark-coloured ant is now called
+the negro ant, and is a very industrious, peaceable insect, without any
+sting. The legionary is a strong, brave ant, with a sting, but very
+lazy. I shall relate to you the account which Mr. Huber gives of the
+legionary. He was walking near the city of Geneva during an afternoon
+in the summer of 1804, when he saw quite an army of these legionary
+ants crossing the road; they passed through a thick hedge, entered a
+pasture, and kept on through the grass without separating; and Mr. Huber
+followed them until he saw them come near a nest of negro ants. Some of
+these negro ants seemed to be guarding the holes into their nest; but as
+soon as they saw the legionaries, they, with a great many more from the
+inside of the nest, attacked the thieves. The legionary ants, however,
+were too powerful for them, and after a short but severe fight they
+conquered the negroes, who ran into the lower part of their nests. The
+legionaries then mounted their ant-hill, some entered it by the holes
+already made, and others began with their teeth to break other holes,
+so that all the army might get into the hill. They went in and remained
+but a few minutes, when they came out, each one having in his mouth a
+young negro ant, and off they scampered, without any order among them,
+every one going his own way, until Mr. Huber lost sight of them. The
+next day he set out to go back and examine further, and on his way he
+found a large ant-hill full of legionaries, and saw an army start from
+it, which he followed. They made the attack as before, and each one
+came off with a young negro ant in his mouth, and on going back to their
+hill, from which Mr. Huber saw them start, he had an opportunity of
+seeing them return, and was very much surprised to find all around the
+nest of the legionaries a great many full-grown negro ants. At first he
+thought that perhaps they had gone there to fight the legionaries, but
+he soon saw that instead of fighting, the negro ants went out to meet
+the legionaries returning, and would caress them, and give them food,
+and finally take the young negro ants and carry them within the nest."
+
+"But, Uncle Philip, why do the legionaries always take the young ones?"
+
+"Because, boys, they know, I suppose, that the old ants would never be
+satisfied to remove from their homes; and therefore they take the young.
+These legionaries could work if they would, I think, but they depend
+upon the negro ants for house and home, and food too; and nothing can be
+more faithful and affectionate than these poor slaves are. To try them,
+Mr. Huber took thirty of the legionaries, and put them with some of
+the larvæ, or grubs of their own young, into a glass box with a thick
+coat of earth at the bottom of it, and he put honey also in the box,
+that they might not want food. At first the legionaries paid a little
+attention to their young; but they soon stopped; and they neither tried
+to make a house, nor took any food, so that in two days half of them
+died. Mr. Huber then put in _one_ negro ant, and this little creature
+set to work alone, made a chamber of the earth in the box, gathered the
+young together, fed the old, and put every thing into complete order.
+
+"At another time Mr. Huber broke one of the ant-hills of these
+legionaries, to see how they would act, and in doing it, he, of course,
+altered their galleries and chambers. The legionaries seemed to be
+lost, and went wandering about, without knowing where to go; but the
+negro ants appeared to understand very well where they were: they could
+find such of the galleries as were not broken, and would take up the
+legionaries in their mouths and carry them into them. If the negro
+sometimes seemed for a short time to be lost, and not to know where it
+was, it laid down its master, ran round and examined until it knew, and
+then would come back, and pick up the legionary ant, and carry it off.
+In one case Mr. Huber saw that the entrance to a gallery was stopped up
+by a small lump of earth; the negro ant laid his master down, took away
+the piece of earth, and then carried him in."
+
+"Why, these poor negro ants are sensible as well as faithful, Uncle
+Philip."
+
+"Yes, boys, they are so; and I think it is likely that both kinds depend
+in some way upon each other, but we have not yet found all about it. I
+expect that in some things the legionary does for the negro ant what it
+could not do for itself. God has made them necessary to each other, and
+this is the reason they live together so kindly.
+
+"But I think it is time now to leave the ants, and go back to our
+business of seeking for something like man's inventions and tools among
+the lower animals. Perhaps hereafter I may tell you more about ants; but
+at present I must bid you good morning."
+
+"Good morning, Uncle Philip."
+
+
+
+
+CONVERSATION XIII.
+
+     _Uncle Philip and the Boys make a Voyage, and he tells them
+     of an Animal that makes itself into a Ship; and of an Insect that
+     builds a Boat, and floats about in a Canoe; and of another that
+     pumps Water, and wears a Mask; and of a Spider that builds a Raft,
+     and floats upon it._
+
+
+"Well, boys, I have a most delightful plan for us to-day."
+
+"What is it, what is it, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"Why, I have a little voyage to make, and my boat is on the river just
+above the mill. I have the men there to row it, and every thing is
+ready."
+
+"Oh! dear Uncle Philip, this is charming! we shall be so happy!
+But--but--"
+
+"But what, boys?"
+
+"Why, Uncle Philip, we have not asked leave at home. Now our parents are
+very happy to have us visit you, and say that they are very much obliged
+to you for telling us so many things; but they have told us, too, never
+to get into a boat without asking their permission first. Uncle Philip,
+we are sure they will let us go, if they know that you are going; only
+let us run home and ask them."
+
+"My dear boys, I am very much pleased with your conduct; and, what
+is far better, my children, God is pleased; for he has commanded you
+to honour your father and mother: but you need not go home to ask
+permission, for you may depend upon it I would not take one of you upon
+the water without the consent of your parents: so I went yesterday,
+while you were all at school, and have got permission from your friends
+for every one of you to go--only I asked them to tell you nothing about
+it."
+
+"Oh dear, Uncle Philip, you are so very, very good: thank you, thank
+you, a thousand times over."
+
+"Once is enough, boys. There is but one Being who deserves a thousand
+thanks, and he, in truth, deserves a great many more than a thousand;
+but I fear that from a great many he is just the Being who gets the
+fewest,--it is our Heavenly Father: but come on, boys, let us be going
+to the boat. We shall soon reach her. Ah, yonder she is; I see her
+through the trees."
+
+"Oh, what a beauty she is, Uncle Philip, with her green sides and white
+belt near the top. We shall have a charming voyage."
+
+"Come, then; get in, my little sailors, and seat yourselves yonder in
+the stern. Now we are all ready; shove off, men, and use your oars. I
+will take care of the helm."
+
+"Oh, Uncle Philip, how smoothly we go along! this is charming. Is this
+the way a ship goes, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"A ship floats, boys, just as the boat does; but she is not rowed with
+oars; she has sails, and the wind blowing upon them sends her along."
+
+"Uncle Philip, there are no ships among animals, are there?"
+
+"Oh no; but there is a very curious little animal which lives in the
+water, and manages to rig out something like a ship, and to sail."
+
+"What is it, Uncle Philip? pray let us hear of it."
+
+"It is called the nautilus, and I saw a great many of them in the
+Mediterranean sea. The shell is nearly round, and six or eight inches
+across, not much thicker than paper, and of a whitish colour: it
+has, too, a keel or ridge upon each side. When it wishes to sail, it
+stretches upwards two of its legs: these have a very thin skin at the
+end, which the nautilus spreads out for sails, and the other legs hang
+over on each side of the shell for oars or rudders. When the sea is
+calm, a great many of them may be seen playing about; but as soon as a
+storm arises, or they are disturbed, they take in their sails and sink
+to the bottom. But, boys, the most curious boat that I know, made by one
+of the dumb creatures, is the work of the little insect that played the
+doctor the other day, and stuck his lancet into us. Do you remember what
+insect that was?"
+
+"Oh yes, very well, Uncle Philip, it was the gnat."
+
+"True, boys, it was the gnat, which is an insect that spends the first
+part of its life in the water, and the latter part in the air. The grub
+of the gnat lives in water, and I will give you the whole history of
+this curious insect. We will first speak of the eggs, for out of these
+it is that the boat is made. In order to see this boat made, you must
+go early in the morning, between five and six o'clock, to a bucket, or
+pond of stagnant water, where gnats are to be found: if you go later
+you will not see it. The gnat's eggs are shaped something like a pocket
+powder-flask, and it is by putting a great many of these together that
+she makes the boat. To do this, the mother gnat stands by her fore-legs
+upon the side of the bucket, or on a leaf or stick in the pond, and her
+body is on a level with the water, and rests upon it, except the last
+ring of her tail, which she raises a little. She then crosses her two
+hind-legs in the shape of the letter X, and begins to put her eggs in
+that part of the X nearest to her body. So she brings her legs, crossed
+in this way, near to her body, and puts an egg in the angle, covered
+with a kind of glue, which will make the eggs stick together. On each
+side of the first egg she puts another in this shape .*., and here is a
+drawing of the insect at this part of her work.
+
+[Illustration: A Gnat making her Boat of Eggs.]
+
+"She then goes on adding eggs, which are all put in the water with their
+ends downwards, until she has got her boat half-finished; she then
+uncrosses her legs, and just keeps one on each side of the boat as she
+goes on, until she has completed it."
+
+"And how many eggs, Uncle Philip, will she put together in this way?"
+
+"From two hundred and fifty to three hundred and fifty, and when all are
+laid they make quite a good boat, sharp, and raised at both ends, and
+floating on the water. Then the mother gnat leaves it. Here is a picture
+of one of these boats.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"Now I will tell you of what becomes of the young ones in these eggs.
+They come out of the lower part of the egg, and commonly swim, with
+their heads downward, near to the top of the water."
+
+"With their heads downward, Uncle Philip! what is that for?"
+
+"Why, they have a tube at the end of their bodies, near the tail,
+through which they breathe; and that part must, you know, be at the top
+to get air. Besides this, its tail and its breathing tube both end in a
+sort of funnel, made up of hairs placed somewhat in the form of a star,
+and covered with oil, so as to keep off water, and these buoy or float
+it up. When it wishes to sink, it just folds up its funnels, and shuts
+up in them a little bubble of air, which it breathes under the water;
+and when it wishes to rise, it opens its funnels, and they float it to
+the top again. Here is a drawing which will show it to you.
+
+[Illustration: Larva of the common Gnat floating in water, greatly
+magnified. _aa_, the body and head of the larva; _b_, the respiratory
+apparatus, situated in the tail; _c_, the larva, not magnified.]
+
+"They are hatched in a few days, and then the boat of empty eggs floats
+about until it is destroyed by the weather. And to show you how good a
+boat it is, I will tell you what a gentleman did to prove it. Mr. Kirby,
+who is very fond of natural history, and has written a great deal about
+insects, says that he put half a dozen of these gnat-boats in a tumbler
+half full of water, and then poured upon them a stream from the mouth of
+a quart bottle, held up a foot above them, and he could not sink them.
+More than that, the water would not stay in them. If you push one to the
+bottom with your finger, it will come up to the top directly, and you
+cannot see any water in it."
+
+"Why, this is a noble boat, Uncle Philip, that will never sink."
+
+"True, boys; but listen, and you will find that before it can use its
+wings the gnat has to sail in another boat still, much more dangerous
+than this is. After it is hatched, it has to pass through several shapes
+before it gets to be such an insect as you see. Here is a picture which
+will show you its different shapes.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"The first is the same which you saw in the last picture, only in this
+drawing the head is uppermost. But its last change, when it becomes
+an insect with wings, is the most curious part of the whole. When it
+is about to get its wings, and become a perfect gnat, it raises its
+shoulders just above the top of the water, and its skin cracks, so that
+the head of the gnat immediately comes through. The shoulders come next,
+and make the crack larger; but it has yet all its body to get out, and
+its legs and wings are as yet all shut up in its case. Now is the time
+of danger for the gnat. It raises itself nearly straight out of the
+crack, and by wriggling works its body along: and if a particle of water
+should get upon the case, or touch its wings, it would be overset, and
+must perish. Thousands and thousands die in this way. It is so very
+light, too, that the wind will drive it about, and whirl it round and
+round upon the top of the water; and when it is almost out, the insect
+is tossed about in a canoe or boat of the very weakest sort, while its
+body is a mast, which appears much too large for so small a boat. At
+last it gets far enough out of the case to stretch its fore-legs, and
+put them down upon the water (which will bear a gnat's weight), and then
+it is safe; it spreads its wings, and soon leaves the little boat which
+was so dangerous. Here is a picture of the gnat getting out of its case."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"Well, Uncle Philip, all this is very strange; we never knew before that
+the gnat was a sailor."
+
+"I suppose that you did not, boys. But as we are talking of boats, pray
+can you think of any way of making a boat move through water without
+oars, or paddles, or sails, or something to pull it along?"
+
+"No indeed.--Oh yes, Uncle Philip, by steam."
+
+"Ah, I mentioned paddles, boys, and a steamboat is forced along by them."
+
+"No; Uncle Philip, we do not know."
+
+"Well, I will tell you then of another way in which I have no doubt a
+boat might be made to move. If there were any contrivance by which a
+large quantity of water could be kept in the boat, and if this water
+were forced out of tubes or holes at one end very violently, it would
+push against the water in which the boat was floating, and force her
+along. Some years ago a plan was thought of to make a steam engine throw
+the water out of the stern of the boat, and thus to force her along; and
+before that, Dr. Franklin tried some schemes for the same purpose, but
+they never succeeded. Now there is an insect which adopts precisely this
+plan, and perhaps some of those who thought of it got the notion from
+the insect."
+
+"What insect is it, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"It is the grub of the dragon-fly. If you catch one of these grubs and
+put it into a saucer of water with some of the dead leaves or sticks
+it had for a covering, you will see these leaves or sticks floating
+towards the tail of the grub, and afterward driven off again. This is
+because the insect is pumping in water, and then throwing it out. If you
+take one of them out of the water, and hold it with its head down, and
+let a drop of water fall upon its tail, it instantly sucks it in, and
+you can see it grow larger; and when it throws it out again it becomes
+smaller."
+
+"But, Uncle Philip, how can you see it suck the water in?"
+
+"Very easily, boys. When it is in the water, if you will colour some
+other water with indigo, or ink, or any thing else, and then hold a
+glass tube just over the tail of the insect, and very carefully put some
+of the coloured water into the tube, you will soon see the grub spirt
+out a stream of it to the distance of several inches: or if you will put
+the insect in a saucer of coloured water, and then suddenly move it, and
+put it into one of clean water, you will see it spirt out the coloured
+stream plainer still."
+
+"Why, Uncle Philip, it must have a pump inside of it."
+
+"It has, boys, something very like one. This stream of water is forced
+out to help the insect along; for though it has six feet, it uses
+them very little except for catching food. It drives the water out so
+strongly against the still water behind it, that it sends it forward,
+with a dart, very rapidly. Here are two pictures; one shows the pump
+open, and the other shows it shut."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"Uncle Philip, is there any thing else curious about this insect?"
+
+"There is, boys, something well worth attention; did you ever see a
+mask?"
+
+"Do you mean, Uncle Philip, a face made of pasteboard, very frightful
+commonly, which you can wear over your own face?"
+
+"That is a mask, boys; but so is any thing which is made to wear over
+the face, and hide it. Now this little insect has a mask, not made
+like a man's face, but which completely hides its mouth, and it is
+exceedingly curious."
+
+"How is it made, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"Why, boys, I am not sure that I can tell you, so that you will
+understand me; but I will try. Suppose your under-lip was horn, instead
+of being flesh; and suppose it hung straight down until it reached the
+bottom of your chin, so as to cover the whole of it, and that at the
+bottom there was a large three-sided plate which was hollowed out, and
+fastened by a joint or hinge to the bottom of your long lip, so that it
+could turn up on the hinge and cover your face as high up as your nose,
+and hide your long lip and your mouth and part of your cheeks: suppose,
+too, that at the upper end of this long face-cover there were two other
+pieces, so broad that they would cover all your nose and your temples,
+and could open sidewise like jaws, and show your nose and mouth, so that
+when they were opened they would appear like the blinders to a horse's
+bridle; and then suppose that these jaws, upon their inner edges, were
+cut into a great many sharp teeth, which fitted into each other, and you
+will have some notion of this curious mask. Do you think you understand
+me?"
+
+"Why, pretty well, Uncle Philip, we think."
+
+"Well, boys, here are some pictures, and with their help I hope what I
+have been saying will be plain enough. In one picture the mask is shut;
+and in the other, one of the jaws, like a blinder to a bridle, is open.
+While the insect is at rest, it keeps the mask over its face; when it
+wishes to use it, it unfolds it, and catches its food, and holds it to
+its mouth. A gentleman once saw one of them holding and eating a large
+tadpole."
+
+[Illustration: Mask of the Dragon-fly, shut and open.]
+
+"Uncle Philip, this mask is any thing but handsome."
+
+"Very true; but you know we agreed when we were talking about the bats
+to look at animals even if they were not handsome. And there is your
+poor little ugly insect that you thought it right to kill, the spider;
+did you know that the spider was a sailor, too?"
+
+"No, indeed, Uncle Philip! Pray tell us of it, will you?"
+
+"Yes; but wait a little, until we bring the boat's head right, for we
+are near the landing-place. So--now, boys, I am ready. There is a very
+large spider, about which not much is yet known, which actually builds
+a _raft_, for the purpose of getting its food more easily. You may see
+it sailing about upon the water, on a ball of weeds about three inches
+across, which is held together probably by small silk cords spun from
+itself; and the moment it sees an insect drowning, it leaves the raft,
+gets the insect, and then returns to eat it at leisure. If you frighten
+it, or it thinks danger is near, in an instant it is under the raft out
+of sight."
+
+"Ah, this is a cunning spider, Uncle Philip."
+
+"Not half so cunning, boys, as the one we talked of which built a door
+to its house. But here we are at land. Jump ashore, my lads, and give my
+respects to your fathers and mothers, when you get home."
+
+"We will. Good day, Uncle Philip."
+
+"Good day, boys. I shall be glad to see you next Saturday."
+
+
+
+
+CONVERSATION XIV.
+
+     _Uncle Philip tells the Boys about an Insect with Tweezers,
+     and another with Pincers; and shows them how a Fly's Foot is made,
+     so as to stick to the Wall._
+
+
+"How do you do, Uncle Philip, this morning?"
+
+"Very well, boys, I thank you. You are all well, I suppose, or I should
+not see you here."
+
+"Yes, we are all well, thank you, Uncle Philip. But one of us would be
+very glad to have your help."
+
+"Why, what is the matter?"
+
+"Charles Walker has run a splinter into his hand, and he wishes you to
+get it out for him."
+
+"Oh, certainly, I will do that, if I can. Let me see: but stay--I must
+first put on my spectacles. Ah, now I see it; I can get it out, but I
+must take my tweezers to it. There, it is out."
+
+"Uncle Philip, those tweezers are very useful. If you had not had them,
+you could not have taken hold of the splinter with your fingers; and
+what would you have done then?"
+
+"Tried to cut it out with the point of my penknife; but the tweezers are
+better for such work; and that reminds me, boys, to tell you that there
+are insects with tweezers."
+
+"Why, what tool is it that you cannot find among them, Uncle Philip? It
+really seems as if you found almost every kind among the lower animals."
+
+"Oh, no--no, boys. There are a great many which I cannot find; but there
+are several, too, which, as you know, we have discovered."
+
+"And, Uncle Philip, we suppose that men learned to make their tools and
+work at many of their trades from these dumb creatures."
+
+"Stay, boys--I never said that, because I think that it is not true. We
+know that in some things men did not learn from the insects, though they
+might have done so. There is paper, for instance. How could men learn
+to make it from the wasps, when it was a thins: in common use a long
+time before Mr. Reaumur, of whom I told you, found out how the wasp made
+it? So, too, with a great many tools; men invented them, and afterward,
+perhaps, it was found out that insects had instruments like them:
+and at other times the insects did show men how to make some things.
+I will tell you of one which I think of just now. The city of London,
+in England, is on the river Thames. Some time since a plan was adopted
+to make what is called a tunnel under the river. This tunnel is a road
+dug out of the earth, under the bottom of the river, across it; and of
+course to keep the water from pressing in the earth as fast as it was
+hollowed out, it was propped up by walls built on each side, with a very
+strong arch at the top. The work has now stopped; but about half of it
+was made. In building this arched road under the water, the workmen used
+what they called a shield, to keep the water from coming through upon
+them: and the gentleman who invented it, says that he first thought of
+it, from examining a little animal named Taret, which will bore holes in
+large pieces of timber under the water. This little animal has upon its
+head a kind of shield, by which it keeps off the force of the water, and
+works without being disturbed. So here was a case in which the insect
+taught the man."
+
+"Uncle Philip, that gentleman was a sensible man, in the first place to
+watch the Taret and examine its head, and in the next place not to be
+too proud to learn from it. I expect he was a naturalist; was he, Uncle
+Philip?"
+
+"I do not know, boys; but I should think his discovery of the shield
+would make him an attentive observer, if he was not so before."
+
+"Now, Uncle Philip, will you tell us of the tweezers?"
+
+"Very willingly, boys. This instrument or tool belongs to the moths
+which you see flying about at times. The tails are covered with a down,
+which grows in the form of a thick brush or tuft, and has a shining
+silky gloss, different in colour from the short hair upon the rest
+of the body. The moth pulls off this hair to cover its eggs, and the
+tweezers are used for that purpose. Here is a picture of the moths."
+
+[Illustration: Females of the brown and gold-tailed Moths, showing the
+bunch of down on the tails.]
+
+"Uncle Philip, you said that the moth pulled this hair off to cover its
+eggs; are they easily frozen?"
+
+"Not very easily, boys; but you are mistaken in thinking that the moth
+covers these eggs to keep off the cold; for as she lays them in July and
+August, and covers them at that time, it cannot be to keep off the cold."
+
+"What is it for, then, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"To keep off the summer heat, boys."
+
+"Why, Uncle Philip! who ever heard of covering a thing up in hair or
+wool to keep off heat?"
+
+"I have heard of it, and seen it too, boys. It may seem strange, but
+it is true, that down and wool, and such things, are nearly as good to
+protect an animal from very great outward heat as they are to keep off
+very severe cold. When I was at Naples, in Italy, it was summer;--the
+climate is a very warm one.--The country people were in the habit of
+bringing snow into the city from Mount Vesuvius, and every morning I
+could see them coming in with their snow, which they sell to the rich
+to use for cooling things: and they kept it from melting with straw
+and wool. And in our own country, especially at the south, it is very
+common when a large lump of ice is brought to the house to be used
+through the day in midsummer, to wrap it up in a thick blanket until it
+is wanted.
+
+"But I have not yet told you of the tweezers. The moth has no jaws, like
+bees and wasps, so that it cannot pull off these hairs as the bee would;
+but, as I told you, it performs the work with its tweezers, which are
+placed in its tail, and are like the points of a pair of sugar-tongs.
+The insects, too, will use them very rapidly, and pull off a little of
+the down, spread the egg upon it, and then cover it with more down, and
+smooth it very neatly. Here are pictures of these tweezers."
+
+[Illustration: Tweezers of the brown and gold-tailed Moths, magnified.]
+
+"This is a curious instrument for the insect to have, Uncle Philip."
+
+"True, boys, but a very useful one. I will tell you, however, of another
+strange thing concerning moths with their tweezers; I mean the way
+in which they will sometimes place their eggs. The kind of moth that
+does this work is not exactly known, but naturalists think that the
+eggs are moth's eggs, because they are covered with the down, exactly
+like those which are known to be moth's eggs. These eggs are twisted
+round a branch, like the thread of a screw, or like the curled end of
+a corkscrew put over a small stick. Here is a picture of some of these
+eggs."
+
+[Illustration: Spiral group of Eggs of an unknown Moth.]
+
+"Ah, this is wonderful work indeed for a moth, Uncle Philip."
+
+"As you seem to like this, boys, I will just mention to you that there
+is another moth, called the lackey-moth, which winds its eggs also
+around a branch. They are hard, however, and not covered with any down,
+and are put on in the strongest possible way. If men wish to make an
+arch of stone, you know that the stones will be more narrow at the
+bottom than at the top, so that the bottom of the arch may make a small
+circle, and the top a larger one: thus--
+
+[Illustration: A, Key-stone of an arch; B, Arch completed.]
+
+Now the moth goes on this principle. Its eggs are shaped like the bowl
+of a wine-glass, and the smaller end is put next to the branch. They are
+all glued together, too, with a kind of gum, which will not dissolve or
+melt in water; so that the rain cannot injure them. Here is a picture of
+these eggs.
+
+[Illustration: Eggs of the Lackey-moth, wound spirally round a twig of
+hawthorn; natural size, and magnified.]
+
+"There is another insect, boys, which has something like tweezers;
+though I think they resemble pincers most."
+
+"What is it, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"The boys call it father long-legs, and I dare say you have often seen
+it. It is the crane-fly, and its pincers are used for putting its egg in
+the hole it has made for it."
+
+"Where does it put its eggs, Uncle Philip?"
+
+[Illustration: Ovipositor and Eggs of the Crane-fly.]
+
+"In the earth, boys; and to enable the insect to do this, the female has
+the pincers I spoke of: they are made of something like horn, and are
+sharp at the point. With these she first bores a hole in the ground, and
+then puts the egg in. The egg is like a grain of gunpowder, and she puts
+herself in a very curious posture to bore the hole. Here, boys, you may
+see a picture of the pincers as they appear through a microscope, for
+they are not near as large as the picture. And here is a drawing of one
+boring."
+
+[Illustration: Crane-fly ovipositing, and the larva beneath, in the
+earth, feeding upon grass roots.]
+
+"What good pincers those are, Uncle Philip: but will you tell us one
+thing which we wish to know? Talking about the crane-fly has put me in
+mind of it: the other day we were sitting together in school, and the
+wall over our heads was covered with common flies; and when we came out,
+we were talking about the way in which the fly stuck to the wall without
+falling down; and as we could not tell what kept him up, we agreed to
+ask you about it."
+
+"I will tell you, boys, very willingly. I do not wonder that you were
+unable to tell how the fly stuck to the wall; for you never tried to
+find out, and therefore could only guess at it."
+
+"And that is not a good way to find out any thing, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"No, boys; though some persons much older than you are, did nothing but
+guess about this very thing, and guessed very far from the truth too.
+Some thought that the fly had a sponge in its foot, and squeezed a sort
+of glue out of it which made it stick fast; others said that the glass
+or wall was so rough that the fly's feet would catch hold of the little
+points upon it; but both were wrong."
+
+"How does it hold on, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"Did you ever see what the boys call a sucker, made of a piece of soft
+sole leather? That will show you how the fly's foot sticks fast. This
+leather is cut round, and has a string through the centre; the boys wet
+it, and then put it upon a board or something smooth, and stamp on it,
+and try to raise it up from the board by the string; and it requires
+some strength to pull it up: sometimes they put it on a small smooth
+stone, and then lift up the stone by it. The reason why the leather
+sticks so fast is because the air is pressing on it upon the outside,
+and there is very little or no air between it and the board, to press
+the other way."
+
+"Why, Uncle Philip, is the air heavy?"
+
+"Oh yes, boys, when there is so much of it as there is above the earth,
+it presses down very heavily. Now the fly's foot is like the sucker;
+when he puts it down he has a contrivance to drive out the air from
+under it, so that there will be little or none between it and the wall;
+and then the outer air presses upon it, and holds it fast."
+
+"But, Uncle Philip, how does he get it up again?"
+
+"Why, boys, by another contrivance, he can let air in under his foot
+again, and then he can easily move it; for we do not feel the weight of
+air when it presses upon both sides of us. The reason why you stand up
+straight is because the air is pressing all around you; if it were on
+one side of you only, it would press you down on the other side. Here is
+a picture of the fly's foot, as it appears through the microscope. You
+will see it has three suckers with the edges all like saws; these are
+to make it stick the closer. This picture, boys, is sixty-four hundred
+times as large as the fly's foot is."
+
+[Illustration: Fly's foot magnified.]
+
+"But, Uncle Philip, there is one thing yet hard to understand."
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"Why, the fly walks on the wall over our heads; now the air cannot press
+down upon his feet there."
+
+"Very true, boys: it cannot press _down_, but it can and does press
+_up_ against his feet; for the air presses up and down and sidewise all
+alike."
+
+"Ah, now it is plain enough, and we are much obliged to you, Uncle
+Philip, for telling us what we wished to know."
+
+"You are quite welcome, my dear boys, to all that I can teach you: if it
+makes you to be wiser and better men when you grow up, I shall be very
+thankful to God that I have been able to do you any good."
+
+"Good morning, Uncle Philip."
+
+"Good day, boys; I shall expect to see you all in church to-morrow."
+
+"We shall be there, Uncle Philip."
+
+
+
+
+CONVERSATION XV.
+
+     _Uncle Philip tells the Boys how Hats are made; and then talks
+     to them about Animals that can make Felt like the Hatter._
+
+
+"Boys, do you remember my telling you of a remarkable bird, called the
+tailor-bird, which sews very neatly?"
+
+"Oh yes, Uncle Philip; it is not easy to forget such an excellent little
+workman; but why do you ask--have you any thing more to tell us about
+that bird?"
+
+"No, boys, not any thing of that bird; but I was thinking last night
+of the work done by several other kinds of birds, some of them quite
+as good workmen as our little tailor; and I thought that, perhaps, you
+might like to hear of them."
+
+"We would, Uncle Philip, be very happy to hear of them, if you will have
+the kindness to tell us about them. But what kind of work is it they do?"
+
+"Various kinds, boys. There are some which make what is called _felt_,
+just as the hat-maker does; and some are weavers, others basket-makers;
+some build platforms to live on; and I assure you some birds' nests are
+as curious as any of the things of which I have yet told you."
+
+"Pray let us hear of them, Uncle Philip."
+
+"Very well, you shall. I will begin with birds that make felt like the
+hatter. Do you know how a hat is made?"
+
+"Not exactly, Uncle Philip; but we know what it is made of."
+
+"What is it, boys?"
+
+"Of sheep's wool, and the hair of other animals: is it not?"
+
+"Yes, commonly of these things; and to understand what I am going to
+tell you, I think it will be necessary first to say something about the
+hatter's trade. The business of the man who makes a hat is to mix up
+wool or hair in such a way that it will stick together and make felt;
+or something like a piece of thick, strong cloth. To do this, he does
+not weave the hairs together, for they are of different kinds, and of
+different lengths, and it would be endless work to weave every one in;
+besides the cloth or felt would not be thick enough when it was done."
+
+"How do they stick together then, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"Why, boys, their sticking together is owing to something in the hairs
+themselves. I will show you. Pull a hair out of your head; now hold it
+just between the ends of your two fore-fingers, and rub the fingers
+gently against each other."
+
+"Why, Uncle Philip! see, the hair is moving towards my body."
+
+"Very true; and if you will turn it with the other end towards you, and
+rub your fingers as before, you will see it move from your body."
+
+"This is very strange, Uncle Philip: the hair is smooth; how can my
+fingers make it move so?"
+
+"No, that is a mistake, boys, the hair is not smooth. If some kinds of
+coarse hair are seen through the microscope, each one will seem to be,
+not one hair, but ten or twelve smaller ones, which are joined at the
+root, and form a hollow tube, like a straw; and sometimes it will have
+joints just like some kinds of grass or straw. In some sorts of finer
+hair you cannot see this even with the microscope; but you can feel it,
+as you did just now when you moved your fingers. These joints overlap
+one another, just as if you should take several pieces of straw and
+stick them into each other. I will show you some pictures of hairs as
+seen through the microscope, and then these joints will be plain enough."
+
+[Illustration: Hairs of (_a_) the Bat, (_b_) the Mole, and (_c_) the
+Mouse.]
+
+"These are strange-looking hairs, Uncle Philip."
+
+"Yes, they are curious; but now you may see why, when hairs are worked
+together, they may be made to stick to each other. These rough parts
+catch into each other, and hook themselves; and the more you press them
+or move them, the more closely you work them into one solid mass, which
+you cannot easily pull to pieces. Besides, you must remember that the
+hairs will work only one way, as you found out just now when your finger
+ends caught upon the little joints and moved them along. Now, suppose
+that a very large heap of hairs, or wool, or fur, after it is made
+ready, should be put upon a table, and covered with a linen cloth, and
+pressed down in different directions. Each hair would begin to move in
+the direction of its root, just as it did between your fingers, and so
+all would be joined together at last into one solid piece."
+
+"We understand you, Uncle Philip."
+
+"Then you understand, boys, the way in which a hat is made. These hairs
+are all worked together by the hands of the hat-maker, and to make them
+work more easily (for curled hair, such as wool, does not move easily)
+the hatter uses hot water, and dips his hat in it while he is working
+it. After it is done, it is died, and then put upon a wooden block to
+give it shape, and is ironed smooth."
+
+"And this is the way, then, Uncle Philip, to make hats: it is curious,
+is it not?"
+
+"Yes, boys; but plain enough when you come to examine into it. And the
+best stuff for the hatters is such hair as has most joints ready to
+catch into each other: the rabbit's hair is very good, and for that
+reason."
+
+"And is it possible, Uncle Philip, that any bird can do such work as
+this?"
+
+"Not only possible, boys, but true. There are several birds very expert
+at making felt, and their nest appears like a piece of hatter's felt, or
+double-milled woollen cloth. I do not mean to say that it is as close
+and solid as the hat or cloth; it would feel in your fingers looser than
+either, still it is quite close; and when you examine it, you will find
+it put together in the same way; it is all carded into one mass, and not
+woven together thread by thread, or hair by hair."
+
+"And are there many birds able to do such work, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"I told you, boys, that there were several. The chief article which
+they use is wool, but with this many other things will be found
+mixed--sometimes, upon the outside, fine moss--sometimes pieces of a
+spider's web rolled up into a little bundle--sometimes, when cotton can
+be had, they will use small bunches of cotton-wool; but sheep's wool
+they must have, and by means of that, they contrive to make, with the
+other things I have mentioned, a felt wonderfully smooth."
+
+"Is it smooth on the outside, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"Sometimes quite so; but always as smooth on the inside, when it is
+first made, as if it had been felted together by the hat-maker. There
+is another thing curious enough in some of these nests. The hatter, you
+know, binds the rim of his hat to make it stronger; and some of these
+felt-making birds will make their nests stronger by a binding all around
+them of dry grass stems, and sometimes of slender roots, and they take
+care to cover these grass stems, or roots, with their felt-work of moss
+and wool. But there is something else not less strange, I think, than
+the binding. It is this: they will build their nests in the fork of a
+shrub or tree; and to keep them from falling, they will work bands of
+this felt round all the branches which touch the nest, both below and at
+the sides. And those parts of the nest which touch the large branches
+are always thinner than the other parts, which have no support; in those
+parts the nest is nothing but a thin wall of felt, fixed around to
+fit the shape of the branch, and that is enough to make that part of
+the nest warm and soft. Here is a picture of one of these felt-nests,
+fastened in the way of which I have been telling you."
+
+[Illustration: Chaffinch's Nest on an Elder-tree.]
+
+"This, boys, is the nest of the chaffinch. The goldfinch makes a nest
+of the same kind, only rather neater and smoother than that of the
+chaffinch; for it takes pains to show nothing but the wool, and covers
+up all the other materials which it uses."
+
+"Uncle Philip, do these birds all use the same things to make their
+nests?"
+
+"All use wool, boys; but the truth is, that birds will commonly take
+for their nests that article which they can get most easily, if it will
+suit. A gentleman, named Bolton, tried this with some goldfinches. He
+saw a pair of these birds beginning to build in his garden; they had
+laid the foundation of their nest with moss, and grass, and such things,
+as they commonly use: he scattered some wool about in different parts of
+the garden; the birds took the wool: afterward he scattered cotton; they
+took the cotton: on the next day he gave them some very fine down; they
+took that, and finished the nest with it, and a very handsome nest it
+was."
+
+"How long were they in making it, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"Three days. The canary-bird, boys, which you sometimes see in cages,
+when free, builds a nest of the same kind. But the most curious
+felt-makers among the birds, are in Africa. There is the Cape-tit,
+a bird in the southern part of Africa, which builds a very strange
+nest: it is shaped like a bottle of India-rubber, as thick as a coarse
+worsted stocking, and made of cotton, and down, and other things felted
+together. On one side of the nest there is something like a pocket, and
+here is a picture of it."
+
+[Illustration: Nest of the Cape-tit, from Sonnerat.]
+
+"Uncle Philip, what is that pocket for?"
+
+"Why, boys, some have supposed that it was for the male bird to sit on
+and keep watch, while the female was inside of the nest sitting on the
+eggs; but I think this is a mistake. And some have said, that when the
+female leaves the nest, and the male wishes to go too, he sits in this
+pocket, and beats against the side of the nest with his wing until he
+has made the edges of the top meet, and thus shuts up the mouth of the
+nest, and keeps off insects and other animals that would eat the young
+ones; but I do not believe this story."
+
+"Then what do you think the pocket is for. Uncle Philip?"
+
+"I think, boys, that it is nothing but a perch, or place for the bird
+to sit on before going into the nest. If the bird had no such place for
+stopping, it might be troubled to get into its nest. The mouth is small,
+and the bird could not enter it with its wings spread; and if it should
+alight on the edge of the nest constantly, it would injure it, for it is
+but slightly made. And I will tell you another reason why I think this
+is the use of the pocket. There is another bird in South Africa, called
+the pinc-pinc, which is the same species of bird as the Cape-tit; and
+this bird we know uses its little nest built upon the side of the other
+merely as a resting-place before going into the nest."
+
+"Uncle Philip, does the pinc-pinc build its nest like a bottle, as the
+Cape-tit does?"
+
+"No, boys, not so smooth, but felted in the same way. The nest is
+made mostly of the down of plants, and is either snowy white or
+brownish, according to the colour of the down. On the outside it is a
+clumsy-looking thing, but fastened, like the nest of the chaffinch,
+very firmly to the branches near it, so that you cannot take it away
+without breaking it to pieces. But rough as the outside is, you would be
+astonished, if you were to look at the inside, and see how a bird, and a
+small one too, with nothing but its wings, and tail, and feet, and bill
+for tools, could ever have worked the down of plants together, so as to
+make of it a piece of fine cloth. It has a narrow neck, something like
+a chimney, at the top of it. This is the entrance; and at the lower end
+of it there is a lump, which appears something like a small nest stuck
+on to the larger one; sometimes there will be three or four of these
+small-looking nests, and sometimes when there is a branch near the mouth
+of the nest which makes a good resting-place, there will be none. Here
+is a picture, boys, of the outside of one of these nests.
+
+[Illustration: Nest of the Pinc-pinc.]
+
+These birds are easily watched; and a French gentleman, who has written
+the best account of the birds of Africa,[11] says that he has found
+at least a hundred of these nests, and watched the birds for a whole
+morning together, and never saw one sitting on the small nest as a
+watch-bird; but has seen both the male and female arrive at the nest
+together, perch upon the nearest branch, hop from this upon the edge of
+the little nest, and then putting their heads into the hole, dart into
+the large nest. And now, boys, what do you think about the use of these
+little pockets?"
+
+"Oh, Uncle Philip, we think that what you tell us is always right,
+because you know a great deal more than we do."
+
+"But, boys, you do not understand me. I may be mistaken, though I do
+know more than you. I have been telling you my reasons for thinking
+these little pockets are nothing but perches. Do you think the reasons
+are good ones?"
+
+"Why, yes, Uncle Philip, we do. The French gentleman who watched the
+birds so much would have seen some of them using the pockets for a place
+to keep watch in, if they were made for that."
+
+"Right, boys. What I wish to teach you is to think for yourselves.
+Whenever any one gives you a reason for a thing, just ask yourselves,
+'Is this a good reason?'"
+
+"But, Uncle Philip, how did it happen that the other people who saw
+these birds should have said that these pockets were for the male bird
+to sit in and watch?"
+
+"I suppose, boys, that they really thought so; but then they had not
+noticed the birds enough to find out the truth. It requires a great
+deal of time and patience to find out the truth about animals: and this
+is the reason why so many mistakes have been printed about them. It is
+a pity that such mistakes have been made; for really there is enough
+that is very curious about them, without men's making stories to appear
+strange. But I think that there will be fewer mistakes made in future."
+
+"Why so, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"Because, boys, men are taking more pains to see for themselves. There
+are more naturalists now than there were formerly; and I hope there
+will be more still, especially in our own large and beautiful country,
+where there have not yet been many. I hope that natural history will be
+studied in all our schools before a great while. But let us go back to
+our African birds.
+
+"There is another kind which Mr. Vaillant speaks of, and I will tell you
+of that. He calls it the capocier, and he had a very fine opportunity to
+watch two of them. It is a bird easily made gentle, and he had managed
+by feeding two of them to make them so tame that they would come into
+his tent and hop about several times in a day, though he never had them
+in a cage. When it became time for them to build a nest, they staid away
+for some time, and would come to the tent once only in four or five
+days. At last they began to come regularly, as before, and Mr. Vaillant
+soon found out what they came for. They had seen upon his table cotton
+and moss and flax, which he used to stuff the skins of birds, and which
+were always lying there; and the capociers had come for these things,
+to build their nest of them. They would take up large bunches of them
+in their bills and fly away. Mr. Vaillant followed and watched them to
+see the nest built, and found them at work in the corner of a garden, by
+the side of a spring, in a large plant which grew under the shade of a
+tree. They were building in the fork of the branches, and had laid the
+foundation, which was about four inches high and six inches across. This
+part was made of moss and flax, mixed with grass and tufts of cotton.
+The next day this gentleman never left the side of the nest: the female
+was at work building, and the male brought the materials. In the morning
+the male bird made twenty-nine journeys to Mr. Vaillant's table for flax
+and cotton and moss; and in the afternoon he made seventeen. He would
+help his mate to trample down and press the cotton with his body, so
+as to make it into felt. Whenever he came with a load, he would put it
+either upon the edge of the nest or upon some branch within reach of the
+female.
+
+"After he began to help the female at her work, he would often break
+off, and begin to play; and sometimes, as if in mischief, he would pull
+down a little of her work. She would get angry, and peck him with her
+bill: but he still continued to vex her, until at last, to save her work
+from being pulled down, she would stop working, and fly off from bush
+to bush, to tease him. They would then make up the quarrel, and she
+set about her work, while he would sing most delightfully for several
+minutes. After his song was finished, he would go to work again, until
+he got into a new fit of mischief and frolic, and then he would torment
+her as before.
+
+"On the third day the birds began to build the walls, after having
+repeatedly pressed the bottom, and turned themselves round upon it in
+all directions, to make the nest solid. They first made a plain border
+all around; this they trimmed, and on it they piled up tufts of cotton,
+which they felted in by beating and pressing with their breasts and
+wings; and if any part stuck out, they worked it in with their bills,
+so as to make all perfectly smooth and firm. And they worked their nest
+round the branches near it, just as the chaffinch does.
+
+"In seven days they finished it. It was as white as snow, and on the
+outside it was nine inches high, and not smooth or regular in its shape;
+but in the inside it was shaped exactly like a hen's egg, with the small
+end up: the hollow was five inches high, and between four and five
+inches across; and it was so neatly felted together that it might have
+been taken for a piece of fine cloth a little worn; and so close that
+you could not take away any part without tearing the nest in pieces.
+Here is a picture of the nest, boys, and it is wonderful work for a
+small bird."
+
+[Illustration: Nest of the Capocier, from Vaillant's figure.]
+
+"Oh, Uncle Philip! we like the capociers very much. When they were tired
+of working, they were ready to play; and when they had played enough,
+they went back to work. Do not you think there was good sense in that?"
+
+"Yes, boys, I do: it will not do, either to work all the time or to play
+all the time. All that we have to do is to take care that we do not
+spend more time than we should at either. But there is a sweet little
+bird, boys, quite common in our own country, which makes felt: would you
+like to hear of it?"
+
+"Oh yes, Uncle Philip. What bird is it?"
+
+[Illustration: Nest of the Humming-bird.]
+
+"It is the humming-bird. Here is a drawing of its nest. It is about an
+inch deep, and an inch across; and from a little distance, appears more
+like a small knot upon the branch than like a bird's nest. The outside
+of the nest from which this picture is made, was covered with a kind of
+bluish-gray lichen, that grows in scales upon old trees and fences: this
+seemed to be glued on by the bird in some way or other. The inside was
+the felt, and was made of the fine down from seeds that float about in
+the air, mixed with the down from mullein-weed and stalks of fine grass.
+This, boys, is the smallest nest made by a bird, I believe; and some
+insects make larger houses for themselves than this bird does.
+
+"But I have not time at present to talk with you any longer, as I have
+letters to write; and therefore I must bid you good morning."
+
+"Farewell, Uncle Philip."
+
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[11] M. Vaillant.
+
+
+
+
+CONVERSATION XVI.
+
+     _Uncle Philip tells the Boys about Birds that are Weavers; and
+     about the Politician-bird; and a Story about some Philosophers; and
+     what may be learned from these Conversations._
+
+
+"Well, boys, were you pleased enough with our last conversation to wish
+to hear more about birds' nests?"
+
+"Yes, if you please, Uncle Philip. You said something about birds that
+were weavers; we should like to hear something of them."
+
+"Very well, then; I will talk about the weavers this morning. And the
+first thing I have to say is that this is no uncommon trade among birds.
+Take the nest of any of the common small birds that use hair for a
+lining, and you will be apt to find some part of it woven."
+
+"But, Uncle Philip, you do not mean that birds weave as smoothly and
+regularly as people do!"
+
+"Not quite, boys; but still it is very fair weaving, and done as our
+weaving is, by working a hair or thread in and out between other hairs
+and threads, or roots, or bits of stick and grass. The best way to see
+it, is to remove the outside work of hay or roots very carefully, or to
+take away the felt-work of wool or moss, and you may see a round piece
+of hair-cloth, sometimes finer, and sometimes coarser, according to the
+bird that made it, and the things of which it is made. In the common
+sparrow's nest the hair-cloth is very thin, so that you can see through
+it easily; but still every hair is woven in singly, and always bent,
+so as to lie smooth in the bottom of the nest. And there are no ends
+of hairs left sticking out; they are always worked into the moss which
+makes the outside of the nest."
+
+"Uncle Philip, how do the birds make the hairs lie smooth in their
+places?"
+
+"About that, boys, there is some uncertainty. Some persons think that
+the birds have a kind of glue in their mouths by which they make them
+stick; and others suppose that they wet the hairs, so as to make them
+bend. But there are much better weavers than the common sparrow. The
+red-breast and the yellow-hammer are both better workmen."
+
+"Where do they get hairs. Uncle Philip?"
+
+"They find bunches of them sticking in the cracks of a fence or post
+where a horse or cow has been rubbing; and some of these little
+creatures, when they find such a bunch, will pull it to pieces, and work
+it in, hair by hair."
+
+"Are there many of these weaver-birds. Uncle Philip?"
+
+"Yes, boys, a great many: our country is quite full of them. There is
+the mountain ant-catcher,[12] which will weave a nest of dry grass, and
+wind the blades round the branches of a tree; and the king-bird,[13]
+which first makes a basket frame-work of slender sticks, and afterward
+weaves in wool and tow, and lines it with hairs and dry grass. There is
+another, too, the white-eyed fly-catcher, which some have called the
+politician. This bird builds its nest and hangs it up by the upper edge
+of the two sides on a vine. The outside is made of pieces of rotten
+wood, threads of dry stalks or weeds, pieces of paper, commonly old
+newspapers; and all these are woven together with caterpillar's silk,
+and lined with fine dry grass and hair."
+
+"Uncle Philip, why do they call it the politician? What is a politician?"
+
+"What is commonly called a politician, boys, is a person who is always
+reading in newspapers about the government of the country, and talking
+a great deal about the President and Congress, and the laws that are
+made, and all such things: but the real politician is one who studies
+the different kinds of government which have been in the world, and
+endeavours to find out which is good and which is bad, and why they are
+good or bad. He reads, too, a great deal of history, to learn how other
+nations have done, what kind of laws they made, and why they made them,
+how they became great nations, or how they became very poor; and he
+_thinks_, too, a great deal, that he may find out what will be best for
+his own nation. It requires hard study and thought, boys, to make a good
+politician."
+
+"Then, Uncle Philip, a man cannot learn how to be one out of the
+newspapers."
+
+"No, boys; not out of newspapers alone: but still he will read them,
+and very often learn from them things very useful to him in his
+business. Newspapers are valuable things, and I think it is always best
+for a country to have a great many of them spread about in it. But they
+will not, of themselves, make a man a politician; and if you should ask
+the persons who print them, whether they expect them to teach men all
+about governments, they will tell you, No: but they will teach people
+what is doing in all the governments in the world. No good government,
+boys, will ever be afraid to let the people have newspapers. They are
+always fewest where the government is hardest upon the people. But let
+us go back to the birds. Can you tell me now why some people call the
+fly-catcher a politician?"
+
+"Oh, yes; because he has so many bits of old newspapers about his nest."
+
+"That is the reason, boys. There is another kind of fly-catcher, called
+the hooded fly-catcher, and it weaves its nest of flax and strings
+pulled from the stalks of hemp: but the best weaver in this country
+is the Baltimore starling. This bird chooses the ends of high bending
+branches for his nest, and he begins in a forked twig, by fastening
+strong strings of hemp or flax around both branches of the fork, just
+as far apart as he means the width of his nest to be: he then with
+the same kind of strings, mixed in with pieces of loose tow, weaves
+a strong, firm kind of cloth, which is like the hatter's felt in
+appearance, only that you can see that the nest is woven, not felted.
+In this way he makes a pouch, or purse, six or seven inches deep, and
+lines it on the inside with several soft things, which he weaves into
+the outside netting, and finishes the whole with horse-hair. Mr. Wilson
+describes one of these nests which he had. He says that it was round
+like a cylinder. Do you know what a cylinder is?"
+
+"No, Uncle Philip."
+
+"A smooth round pillar to hold up a porch is a cylinder; my walking-cane
+is a cylinder; so is the straight body of a tree. When these are of the
+same size all through their whole length, they are perfect cylinders;
+and any thing in that shape is a cylinder."
+
+"We understand you, Uncle Philip; a gun-barrel is a cylinder, and there
+is a cylinder in your garden."
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"The heavy stone roller that you let us pull over the walks."
+
+[Illustration: Baltimore Starling, and Nest.]
+
+"Right. Well, this nest was like a cylinder, about five inches across,
+and seven inches long. At the top the bird had worked a level cover, so
+as to leave a hole only two inches and a half across; at the bottom it
+was round. It was made of flax, tow, hemp, hair, and wool, and was woven
+into a complete cloth; it was also tightly sewed through and through
+with long horse-hairs, some of which when drawn out measured two feet.
+Here is a picture of this nest. In the bottom it had bunches of cows'
+hair, and these were also sewed down with horse-hairs. This bird, boys,
+is a thief."
+
+"A thief, Uncle Philip! What does it steal?"
+
+"When I say it is a thief, boys, I mean that it takes what does not
+belong to it: but it is not a thief as man is. When a man takes
+something which belongs to another person, he _knows_ that it is not
+his; and therefore he steals: but the poor bird does not know, and that
+makes a difference. You asked me what it steals: I will tell you. At
+the time for building its nest, it will take whatever suits for that
+purpose; and therefore the country women are obliged to watch their
+thread that they have put out to bleach: the farmer, too, who has cut
+off young grafts from his fruit-trees and tied them up in bundles, must
+be careful, or the bird will pull at the string till he gets it off; and
+sometimes, when the bunch is not too large, he will fly off with the
+whole. In autumn, when the leaves have fallen, you may sometimes see
+skeins of silk and hanks of thread hanging about the starling's nest,
+but so woven up and entangled in it that they are good for nothing. Now,
+boys, before this country was settled by people from Europe, where do
+you suppose the starling got silk and thread for his nest?"
+
+"Why, Uncle Philip, are you sure he got them at all?"
+
+"A very sensible question, boys. When you are asked _why_ a thing is so,
+it is always well, first to be satisfied that it is so, before you begin
+to look for a reason. I have read a story about this very thing: would
+you like to hear it?"
+
+"Oh yes, Uncle Philip."
+
+"Well, then, I have read that there were once several philosophers
+(I told you what a philosopher is, you know), who were in the habit
+of meeting together to put questions to each other, and to make new
+discoveries. At one of these meetings, one of them asked the others,
+'_Why_ a fish weighed more _in_ the water than he did _out_ of it?'
+Several of them gave very wise reasons, as they thought; and all the
+reasons were different: so they could not agree. There was among them,
+however, a very sensible old gentleman, who listened to them all, but
+said nothing. When he went home, he got a fish and weighed it, out of
+the water, and wrote down its weight; he then took a bucket of water,
+and weighed that; and when he dropped the fish in the bucket, he found
+that it increased the weight of the whole, precisely as many pounds as
+the fish had weighed out of the water; so he found out that there was
+no reason why a fish weighed more in the water than he did out of it,
+because it was not true: his weight was the same either in or out of it."
+
+"Ah, Uncle Philip, that is a pleasant story: he was a sensible old
+gentleman."
+
+"Yes, boys, he was; and it was sensible in you to ask first whether the
+starling _did use_ silk and thread before Europeans came here; and after
+that is answered, it is time enough to ask where he got such things. Now
+the truth is, that he _did not_ use them until after Europeans brought
+them here; because there were no such things in this country: for the
+Indians who lived here could not make thread. I think; and I am sure
+they could not spin silk: but I will tell you, boys, what it shows us;
+and it is that I wish you to notice."
+
+"What is it, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"It is the wisdom of this bird in taking advantage of circumstances. No
+doubt he built very good nests long before silk and thread were in the
+country; but he had sense enough to know that they were exactly what
+suited him, and he used them as soon as he could get them."
+
+"Then, Uncle Philip, you think that the bird has reason?"
+
+"No, boys, I do not: but you have reason, and I have something to say
+to you about it. It is this: as God has given you reason, and so made
+you better than the poor dumb animals, he expects more from you. That is
+fair, is it not?"
+
+"Yes, Uncle Philip; very fair."
+
+"Then what I wish you to remember is this: that you must use your reason
+in such way as to glorify God. He gave it to you to learn his will and
+his commandments, and to live accordingly. So now you see the things
+which our conversations about the animals can teach us. In the first
+place, we see the goodness of God; in the second place, we see the
+power of God; in the third place, we see the wisdom of God: and we see
+in ourselves that God has done more for us than he has done for them,
+and therefore we ought to love and serve him: we ought to believe what
+he says in his Word; we ought to pray to him for his blessed help; we
+ought, _first of all_, to seek the salvation of our souls, through our
+Lord Jesus Christ.
+
+"Now, my dear children, to-morrow I must leave home for a few weeks; but
+when I come back we will talk together again: and as I am going to see
+my nephews, I will get a book which they printed about insects; it is
+called the History of Insects,[14]--and I will bring it to you; and some
+of the largest boys among you may read it aloud, and I will explain to
+you what you cannot understand. If you are pleased with what I have been
+telling you, that book will tell you a great deal more."
+
+"Oh, thank you, Uncle Philip. We shall like it very much."
+
+"Farewell, boys."
+
+"Good-by, dear Uncle Philip."
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[12] Myiothera obsoleta of Bonaparte.
+
+[13] Tyrannus intrepidus.
+
+[14] Family Library, No. VIII.--_Publishers._
+
+
+
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+  _Now republishing, on good paper and large type, in 18mo. volumes_,
+
+
+  SOCIAL EVILS
+  AND
+  THEIR REMEDY.
+
+  A SERIES OF NARRATIVES TO BE PUBLISHED QUARTERLY.
+
+  BY THE
+  REV. CHARLES B. TAYLER, M.A.
+
+  No. I.
+
+  THE MECHANIC.
+
+  IS NOW REPUBLISHED, AND FOR SALE BY THE BOOKSELLERS.
+
+  "Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid,
+  which is Jesus Christ."
+
+AUTHOR'S ADDRESS
+
+No doubt can be felt as to the fact, that there are at present many
+crying evils in all ranks of society--perhaps there never was a time
+when more remedies were proposed. It is, however, a melancholy truth,
+that the only remedy is too generally over-looked, or despised.
+Remedies, selfish in principle, and selfish in their proposed end, are
+held forth and confided in by those who profess to be Christians, and,
+as such, dependent on the Great Head of the church. Man is taught how
+to live in time, and to be wise for time; but it has become unusual
+to refer to that fine old scriptural prayer, "So teach us to number
+our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom." Indeed, the
+wisdom desired by too many is that which is so forcibly described by
+an apostle's pen, as "earthly, sensual, devilish;" not that wisdom
+the attributes of which form the graces of man's new and regenerate
+character, which is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to
+be entreated; "full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and
+without hypocrisy."
+
+It is intended, in the series of narratives now advertised, to set
+forth, faithfully and simply, the one great principle on which
+Christians profess to act. This principle should never be lost sight
+of, in any publication addressed by a Christian author to Christian
+readers. "Other foundation can no man lay, than that is laid," laid by
+Infinite Wisdom himself--"which is Christ Jesus." My illustrations will
+extend to every class of society; from the highest to the lowest. When
+it is found necessary to introduce the subject of political economy, I
+shall endeavour to give what seem to me the right views of the subject;
+and I shall take care to show, that when political economy cannot be
+identified with Christian economy, it ought to occupy a subordinate
+place. If it enters society as the servant of Christian principle, it
+may be very useful as a servant; but, if it is to teach a man to walk in
+the counsel of the ungodly, to speak of its usefulness in a Christian
+community is absurd.
+
+False principles, however taking they may be, for a while, with the
+ignorant, or with those who are not deep thinkers, can never stand for
+any length of time; and as for the ungodly, we know _Who_ has told us
+they are "like the chaff which the wind driveth away." I have undertaken
+this work in a spirit of prayer to God for His assistance, and His
+blessing. Many of my readers. I am sure, will unite their prayers to
+mine, that it may be continued in the same spirit. Some few may object
+to this address from a minister of Christ to a Christian community,
+and say that it is according to the puritanical cant of the day. I
+answer, that such cant (if mere cant) is quite as offensive to me as to
+themselves; almost as offensive as the cant of ungodliness; but I cannot
+forget those words of solemn warning, from One who, alas, is still the
+despised and rejected of many men: "Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and
+of my words, in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him shall the
+Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with
+the holy angels."
+
+The second number of "Social Evils," entitled "_The Lady and the Lady's
+Maid_," will be republished about the 1st of February, 1834.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+THEOLOGICAL LIBRARY.
+
+No. I. The Life of Wiclif. By Charles Webb Le Bas, A.M.
+
+II. The Consistency of the whole Scheme of Revelation with Itself and
+with Human Reason. By Philip Nicholas Shuttleworth, D.D.
+
+III., IV. Luther and the Lutheran Reformation. By John Scott, A.M.
+
+V., VI. The Life of Archbishop Cranmer. By Charles Webb Le Bas, A.M.
+
+VII., VIII. History of the Reformed Religion in France. By Rev. Edward
+Smedley, M.A. _In Press._
+
+
+
+
+  +----------------------------------------------------------------- +
+  | Transcriber's Note:                                              |
+  |                                                                  |
+  | * Obvious punctuation and spelling errors repaired.              |
+  |                                                                  |
+  | * Original spelling and its variations were not standardized.    |
+  |                                                                  |
+  | * Original use of quotation marks was left unchanged.            |
+  |                                                                  |
+  | * The word "scattered is missing between pages 135 and 136.      |
+  |                                                                  |
+  | * "... have got permission from your friends...."  This should   |
+  |   be "permission from parents," as the context suggests.         |
+  |                                                                  |
+  | * Italicized words are surrounded by underline characters, _like |
+  |   this_. Words in bold characters are surrounded by equal signs, |
+  |   =like this=.                                                   |
+  |                                                                  |
+  | * Footnotes were moved to the end of the paragraphs to which     |
+  |   they applied and numbered in one continuous sequence.          |
+  +------------------------------------------------------------------+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Natural History, by Anonymous
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44377 ***
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+<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44377 ***</div>
+
+<div class="transnote covernote">
+   <p> The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in
+      the public domain.</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<div class="figcenter bord"><a name="i_002.jpg" id="i_002.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_002.jpg"
+  alt="Uncle Philip Talking to the Boys" />
+  <div class="caption">UNCLE PHILIP TALKING TO THE BOYS.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="center margin-top1"><i>J.&amp;J. Harper. New-York.</i></p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p class="center">UNCLE PHILIP'S CONVERSATIONS<br />
+<br />
+with Young Persons.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter2"><a name="i_003.jpg" id="i_003.jpg"></a>
+<img src="images/i_003.jpg"
+alt="Uncle Philip's Conversations" />
+</div>
+
+<p class="center margin-top4">NEW YORK<br />
+J. &amp; J. HARPER 82 CLIFF ST&#7788;.<br />
+1833.
+</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<h1><big>NATURAL HISTORY;</big><br /><br />
+<small>OR,</small><br /><br />
+UNCLE PHILIP'S<br /><br />
+CONVERSATIONS WITH THE CHILDREN<br /><br />
+<small>ABOUT</small><br /><br />
+TOOLS AND TRADES<br /><br />
+<small>AMONG</small><br /><br />
+INFERIOR ANIMALS.</h1>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p class="center">WITH NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS.</p>
+
+<hr class="r50" />
+
+<p class="center margin-top1">NEW-YORK:<br /><br />
+PUBLISHED BY HARPER &amp; BROTHERS,<br /><br />
+NO. 82 CLIFF-STREET.</p>
+
+<hr class="r5" />
+
+<p class="center">1835.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+
+<p class="center margin-top1">
+Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1835,<br />
+By <span class="smcap">Harper &amp; Brothers</span>,<br />
+In the Clerk's Office of the Southern District of New-York.<br />
+</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a name="ADVERTISEMENT" id="ADVERTISEMENT"></a>ADVERTISEMENT.</h2>
+
+
+<p>We must tell our little readers something about
+this number of their Library. It was sent to us by
+a very kind old uncle of ours, who, when we were
+young, was so much from home, visiting various
+places in the world, that we do not remember seeing
+him very often at that period. At last, the old man,
+finding that he could not bear fatigue as he had
+done when young, determined to come home; and
+we had heard so much about him that we were quite
+anxious to see him. He came to our house one
+evening, and appeared rather odd to us; but he was
+so good-natured, and told us so many curious things,
+that we soon forgot his odd appearance.</p>
+
+<p>The old gentleman brought home with him a very
+large number of books, and a great many strange
+things which he had gathered in his travels, such as
+stones, and dried insects, and leaves, and flowers,
+and stuffed birds, and animals. He did not stay
+with us long, but went to the village where he was
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span>
+born, and built a small house to which he carried all
+his books and curiosities, and said that he should
+spend the rest of his days there.</p>
+
+<p>We sometimes pay him a visit. The last time
+we were there, we found him talking to several children
+around him. In the beginning of the book
+there is a picture of the old gentleman. After you
+have looked at it, you may read the letter which he
+sent us, and learn how he came to write this book.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 40%;">Your friends,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 55%;"><span class="smcap">The Publishers</span>.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a name="UNCLE_PHILIPS_LETTER" id="UNCLE_PHILIPS_LETTER"></a>UNCLE PHILIP'S LETTER.</h2>
+
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="smcap">My dear Nephews,</span></span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>I was very much pleased to receive the numbers
+of your Library for Boys and Girls which you sent
+to me. You know I am now an old man, and have
+travelled a great deal, and seen a great many strange
+things in the course of my life. I am too old to travel
+any more, and so I am quietly living in the cottage I
+built by the side of that pleasant and shady little
+stream where I played when I was a boy. I read
+my books, and especially that best of all of them,
+my Bible; and so am patiently waiting till my
+Heavenly Father shall call me to take my last journey;
+when I hope, for the sake of the blessed
+Saviour, to go to Him. Sometimes I walk out
+into the village, and meet the children and have a
+long talk with them. They all know me; and very
+often, some of them will come to my house, and
+ask me to tell them about things which I have seen
+in my travels or read of in books: and so I spend
+many happy hours with the little creatures; for you
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span>
+know how much I love children. When I had
+read the books you sent to me, I lent them to
+the children, who were delighted; and I thought
+that if I should sometimes write down what we here
+talked about, it might please the little boys and girls
+for whom you print your books, and perhaps they
+might learn something from our conversations which
+would be useful: and so I determined to send them
+to you, from time to time, to print, if you pleased.</p>
+
+<p>If you think fit to print what I send, just tell your
+little readers who I am; an aged and quiet old man,
+who is very fond of little boys and girls, and wishes
+them to be wise and good here, and happy hereafter,
+and that I am your</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 70%;"><span class="smcap">Uncle Philip</span>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>Newtown, Feb</i>. 1833.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="margin-top1">P.S. If you print what I send now, please to print
+the Preface to Parents, which I also send; in order
+that they may, by reading it, see what sort of a book
+Uncle Philip has been making for their dear children,
+and may be satisfied that it will not harm them to
+read it.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a name="PREFACE_TO_PARENTS" id="PREFACE_TO_PARENTS"></a>PREFACE TO PARENTS.</h2>
+
+<p>The author of the following book avails himself
+of the opportunity afforded by its publication,
+to address a word to those who sustain the delightful
+and responsible relation of parents.</p>
+
+<p>To such of that class as may honour by a perusal
+this humble attempt to interest and instruct their
+offspring, the author need not say that the subject
+of his book possesses for himself peculiar attractions:
+it will readily be perceived that he has found
+a charm in the pursuits of the naturalist. The
+votary of a favourite science would anticipate too
+much, should he expect every one to partake of the
+enthusiasm which is apt to stimulate him; it is
+wisely and kindly ordered that we shall not all be
+enthusiasts in the same direction. The author, however,
+still ventures to hope, that in his subject there
+is enough to attract, though it may fail to fascinate.
+He hopes, too, that it will be found not attractive
+merely, but profitable also to his young countrymen.
+There are many reasons on which to found such
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span>
+a hope. If to entertain reverence for our Maker,
+to admire and adore his wisdom and goodness in
+the illustrations of nature, thankfully to acknowledge
+and duly to improve the superiority which
+mind confers, be exercises in which a wise parent
+would desire to train a child,&mdash;the study of natural
+science is admirably adapted to the attainment
+of these objects. Again, if it be desirable to encourage
+habits of patient observation, accuracy of
+investigation, and soundness of thought; let the volume
+of nature be opened before the youthful mind.
+If to learn <i>things</i> be better than to learn <i>words</i>, it
+is important to place things before the growing
+intellects of the young. Let it not be supposed that
+to present matters of science intelligibly to the minds
+of children is a hopeless task. It requires not
+learning or maturity of understanding to perceive
+a <i>fact</i>; it needs only the ordinary senses which God
+has bestowed alike upon children and their parents.
+Natural science is emphatically the science of
+<i>facts</i>; built upon any other foundation it becomes
+conjecture merely: and he knows but little of the
+mind of a child who is not aware of the facility with
+which a fact is impressed upon it. The secret of
+instructing the young will be found to consist more
+in the mode of communication than in the nature
+of the subject.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>As to the style of this work a word may be said;
+not, of course, for the purpose of disarming criticism
+(for truly the writer has never supposed his trifle worth
+the critic's labour or notice), but simply to remark,
+that the object has been to write for the minds of <i>children</i>;
+if the book be intelligible to them, the utmost
+ambition of Uncle Philip will be attained. Truth
+and plainness were all he sought. The first he believes
+he has attained; and to determine his success
+in attempting the last, he turns from the parents, and
+looks for the decision of the question to the suffrages
+of the children. He would rather hear the expression
+of satisfaction from the lips of one intelligent
+little reader, than receive the words of approbation
+from many who are elders; the first is testimony
+derived from experience, the last is but opinion.
+Children always know better than any one else does
+what books they understand.</p>
+
+<p>In conclusion, the author owes it to himself to
+say to the parents of his young countrymen, and to
+the patrons of the "Boy's and Girl's Library,"
+that what he has written will be found on the side
+of religion and morals. So far as these important
+points are concerned, the writer is not ashamed
+to avow himself a Christian; nor yet does he mean
+to make it the subject of boasting. In his simple
+view, Christianity is a very quiet and gentle thing,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span>
+which eschews strife, and promotes practical goodness;
+and truly can he say, that he has indulged
+in some of his happiest and, as he trusts, his holiest
+musings when, in the solitary pursuit of his
+favourite science,&mdash;to use the language of good old
+Izaak Walton, that simple-hearted lover of God, and
+all his works,&mdash;"he has looked upon the wonders
+of nature with admiration, or found some harmless
+insect to content him, and pass away a little time,
+without offence to God, or injury to man."</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS.</h2>
+
+<table class="toctable" id="TOC" summary="CONTENTS">
+  <tr>
+    <td class="chap-no"><a href="#CONVERSATION_I" style="text-decoration: none;">
+	  CONVERSATION I.</a></td>
+      <td class="page">Page</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tocsum">About a Fly that can work with a Saw and a Rasp,
+	  like the Carpenter</td>
+    <td class="page">13</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="chap-no"><a href="#CONVERSATION_II" style="text-decoration: none;">
+	  CONVERSATION II.</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tocsum">About Grasshoppers and Bees that bore Holes with a Gimlet</td>
+    <td class="page">19</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="chap-no"><a href="#CONVERSATION_III" style="text-decoration: none;">
+	  CONVERSATION III.</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tocsum">About Animals that are Tailors</td>
+    <td class="page">27</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="chap-no"><a href="#CONVERSATION_IV" style="text-decoration: none;">
+	  CONVERSATION IV.</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tocsum">About the first Paper in the World made by Wasps</td>
+    <td class="page">41</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="chap-no"><a href="#CONVERSATION_V" style="text-decoration: none;">
+	  CONVERSATION V.</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tocsum">A Story about Tom Smith, and of Bees with Brushes and Baskets,
+	  and of a Bird with a Chisel, and a Gnat with a Lancet</td>
+    <td class="page">53</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="chap-no"><a href="#CONVERSATION_VI" style="text-decoration: none;">
+	  CONVERSATION VI.</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tocsum">About Animals that can do Mason's Work</td>
+    <td class="page">66</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="chap-no"><a href="#CONVERSATION_VII" style="text-decoration: none;">
+	  CONVERSATION VII.</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tocsum">About Animals that throw Dirt with a Spade; and about an
+	  Animal with a Hook; and about one that is a Wire-drawer</td>
+    <td class="page">80</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="chap-no"><a href="#CONVERSATION_VIII" style="text-decoration: none;">
+	  CONVERSATION VIII.</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tocsum">About a Door, with a Hinge and Spring to it, made by a Spider;
+	  and the Difference between God's Work and Man's</td>
+    <td class="page">94</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="chap-no">
+	  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span>
+	  <a href="#CONVERSATION_IX" style="text-decoration: none;">
+	  CONVERSATION IX.</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tocsum">A Story about a Philosopher and his Kite; and about Ants that
+	have Awls, and build Cities, and Stairs, and Bridges, and many other Things</td>
+    <td class="page">104</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="chap-no"><a href="#CONVERSATION_X" style="text-decoration: none;">
+	  CONVERSATION X.</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tocsum">More about the white Ants</td>
+    <td class="page">120</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="chap-no"><a href="#CONVERSATION_XI" style="text-decoration: none;">
+	  CONVERSATION XI.</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tocsum">About some other Ants that are very good Masons, and build
+	  Walls and Ceilings; and a Story about a very sensible Ant which seemed
+	   to think a little</td>
+    <td class="page">129</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="chap-no"><a href="#CONVERSATION_XII" style="text-decoration: none;">
+	  CONVERSATION XII.</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tocsum">About Ants that go to War, and fight Battles; and about some
+	  that are Thieves, and have Slaves</td>
+    <td class="page">138</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="chap-no"><a href="#CONVERSATION_XIII" style="text-decoration: none;">
+	  CONVERSATION XIII.</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tocsum">A Voyage; and an Animal that makes itself into a Ship;
+	  and of Insect that builds a Boat, and floats about in a Canoe; and of
+	  another that pumps Water, and wears a Mask; and of a Spider that
+	   builds a Raft, and floats upon it</td>
+    <td class="page">151</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="chap-no"><a href="#CONVERSATION_XIV" style="text-decoration: none;">
+	  CONVERSATION XIV.</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tocsum">About an Insect with Tweezers, and another with Pincers;
+	  and how a Fly's Foot is made, so as to stick to the Wall</td>
+    <td class="page">167</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="chap-no"><a href="#CONVERSATION_XV" style="text-decoration: none;">
+	  CONVERSATION XV.</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tocsum">How Hats are made; and about Animals that can make Felt
+	  like the Hatter</td>
+    <td class="page">181</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="chap-no"><a href="#CONVERSATION_XVI" style="text-decoration: none;">
+	  CONVERSATION XVI.</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tocsum">About Birds that are Weavers, and the Politician Bird;
+	  a Story about some Philosophers; and what may be learned
+	  from these Conversations</td>
+    <td class="page">202</td>
+  </tr>
+</table>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="NATURAL_HISTORY" id="NATURAL_HISTORY"></a>NATURAL HISTORY.</h2>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2><a name="CONVERSATION_I" id="CONVERSATION_I"></a>CONVERSATION I.</h2>
+
+<div class="chapsum"><i>Uncle Philip tells the Children about a Fly
+that can work with a Saw and a Rasp, like the Carpenter.</i></div>
+
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">Well</span>, boys, this is a beautiful day. The
+sun is shining brightly, and the birds are
+singing, and the insects are flying about, and
+the grass is green, and every thing appears
+pleasant, and you feel happy too, and have
+come, I suppose, to see old Uncle Philip."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Uncle Philip, we are tired of playing
+now, and so we have come to ask you to talk
+with us, and tell us about some of the
+curious things you know."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, boys, I will tell you about some
+very strange things. I will talk to you about
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span>
+animals that know how to work with tools
+like a man."</p>
+
+<p>"Work with tools, Uncle Philip! That
+is strange; but we know it is so, if you say
+so; because you will not tell us any stories
+but true ones. But where do they get the
+tools?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, boys, 'the hand that made them is
+<i>divine</i>!' They get them where we get all
+that is useful and good,&mdash;from God. The
+Bible says that He '<i>is wise in heart, and wonderful
+in working</i>;' and he has made many
+a poor little insect, and given it tools to work
+with for its comfort, as good and perfect as
+any that man can make. Yes, these poor
+little creatures had tools long before man had.
+God cares for the insects, boys, as well as
+for us."</p>
+
+<p>"But, Uncle Philip, what sort of tools do
+you mean? Tell us about them."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, I will; do you think of some
+kind of tools that men use: think of the carpenter
+and his tools, and let us see if we cannot
+find some of them among the insects."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, the carpenter has a saw. Is there
+any saw among these little fellows?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes indeed, there is; and a capital saw
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span>
+it is. Now listen, and I will tell you all about
+it. There is a kind of fly called the <i>saw-fly</i>;
+it has four wings, and commonly its body is
+yellow, and its head is black; but the most
+curious part of it is the saw. The young
+ones feed upon the leaves of rose-bushes, and
+gooseberries, and raspberries, and currants,
+and several other kinds of bushes; and the
+old ones always lay their eggs on the branches
+of these bushes, so that the young ones may
+have something to eat as soon as they come
+out. It uses its saw to make a place in the
+branch to put its egg in."</p>
+
+<p>"Uncle Philip, what is the saw made of?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is made of something like horn, and
+is fixed very nicely in a case; it resembles
+what the cabinet-makers call a <i>tenon-saw</i> more
+than it does the carpenter's common saw.
+The tenon-saw is made of a thin plate of
+steel, and has a stiff brass back, to keep it from
+bending. The brass back has a groove in it,
+and the saw is put in that groove, and then
+it is fastened to it. But the fly's saw is fixed
+in another way: there is a back to it too, but
+that back is not fastened to the saw. The
+groove is in the saw, and there is a ridge all
+along the back-piece, which just fits in the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span>
+groove, and so the saw slides backwards and
+forwards, and the ridge always keeps it in its
+place. Besides all this, boys, the fly is better
+off than the cabinet-maker, for he uses only
+one saw at a time; but our little workman
+has two exactly alike, and they are so fixed
+that the creature first pushes out one, and
+when it is drawing that back, pushes out
+the other; so that it is all the time cutting,
+and does double work. I think the fly's saw
+is the best, too, for another reason. The
+saws of the carpenter and cabinet-maker
+have their teeth bent; first, one a little on
+one side, and then the next to it a little on the
+other side, and so on to the end of the saw;
+so that when sawing, the cut may be wide
+enough for the blade to move easily. Now
+the fly's saw has the teeth a little bent, or
+twisted, too; but it has something else: on
+the outside of every tooth there are a great
+many very small teeth, so that the outside of
+every one is just like a <i>rasp</i>, or <i>file</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"But, Uncle Philip, it must take them a
+great while to saw a very little cut; they are
+so small."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, it does; but they persevere. It takes
+them more than an hour and a half to make
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span>
+one groove, and sometimes they will go on
+and make as many as six without stopping.
+That shows, boys, what perseverance will do."</p>
+
+<p>"And when it is done sawing, Uncle Philip,
+where does it keep its saws?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I told you they fitted in a case; but
+when the fly is done sawing, it uses the saws
+to put the egg in the place cut for it, and then
+it draws the saws almost entirely into the
+case, and drops upon the egg a sort of frothy
+stuff like a drop of soap-lather."</p>
+
+<p>"What is that for?"</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose it is to glue the egg fast, or else
+to keep the juices in the bush from hurting
+it."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, this is a curious fly, Uncle Philip."</p>
+
+<p>"It is strange, boys, because you never
+heard of it before; but it is a cunning fly, as
+well as a curious one."</p>
+
+<p>"What does it do, Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, when it is frightened, it will fold
+up its case and saws under its body, and draw
+up its legs, and pretend to be dead; and then
+it will not move, even if you stick a pin
+through it."</p>
+
+<p>"Can you tell us any thing more about
+this fly?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Nothing very strange, boys; but we have
+found out <i>two</i> tools, I think, a saw and a rasp,
+and that is enough for one poor little fly to
+give us. Here, boys, are pictures of these
+saws; I have made them a great deal larger
+than they are in the fly, so that you can see
+them plainly."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_022a.jpg" id="i_022a.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_022a.jpg"
+  alt="Saw of the Saw-fly" />
+  <div class="caption">Saw of the Saw-fly, with Rasps shown in the Cross-lines.</div>
+</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_022b.jpg" id="i_022b.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_022b.jpg"
+  alt="Saw-fly's comb-toothed Rasp" />
+  <div class="caption">Portion of the Saw-fly's comb-toothed Rasp, and Saw.</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h2><a name="CONVERSATION_II" id="CONVERSATION_II"></a>CONVERSATION II.</h2>
+
+<div class="chapsum"><i>Uncle Philip tells the Children about Grasshoppers
+and Bees, that bore Holes with a Gimlet.</i></div>
+
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">Well</span>, Uncle Philip, here we are again, to
+hear more about the tools that animals work
+with; we have seen in the bark of trees, and
+old wooden posts, little holes as round as a
+gimlet could make, and we have been thinking
+whether any of these little creatures have
+augers and gimlets, as well as saws. Do
+you know of any of them that can bore
+holes?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, boys; I know of more than one
+that can bore as smooth and round a hole as
+any carpenter you ever saw. There are some
+of the grasshoppers that have an excellent
+gimlet. The contrivance has five pieces in
+it; two of the pieces make a case to keep the
+augers in, two more are the augers or borers,
+and the other is a piece between the two borers
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span>
+on which they slide; this piece has a ridge on
+each side of it, and the augers have a groove
+which exactly fits the ridge. Besides this,
+each auger ends in a knob, and that knob has
+teeth all around it. Here is a picture of it."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_024.jpg" id="i_024.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_024.jpg"
+  alt="Ovipositors, with files" />
+  <div class="caption">Ovipositors, with files, of the Grasshopper, magnified.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>"But, Uncle Philip, what is the piece with
+the ridge for?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, boys, that piece shows the wisdom
+and the goodness of God. '<i>His tender mercies
+are over all his works</i>:' he has placed
+that piece there to keep the borers stiff, so that
+they cannot get out of joint, or be broken,
+when the little workman is boring."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Well, this is very curious."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; but there are some of these insect
+workmen more curious still. Did you ever
+see a spy-glass? You know it is a round,
+hollow piece of wood, with brass tubes in it,
+which are made smaller and smaller, so as to
+slide into one another, when the glass is not
+used. Now there is a sort of gadfly (she is a
+little creature, too) which has exactly such a
+contrivance to keep her gimlet in. It is in
+four pieces, and the smallest piece ends in
+five sharp points, three of which are longer
+than the other two: she twists these five sharp
+points into one piece, and as some are longer
+and some shorter, when they are all put together,
+they make a sharp edge running all
+around, and are almost exactly like an auger
+or gimlet. When she wants to use it,
+she just shoots out the different tubes, so as
+to make a stem for the gimlet; and when she
+is done, she puts all back into its case again.</p>
+
+<p>"Here is a drawing of it, and I think that
+by looking at it you will understand what
+I have been telling you: I do not know
+whether men learned from this part of the fly
+how to make the case of a spy-glass; but I
+know they might have learned.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_026.jpg" id="i_026.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_026.jpg"
+  alt="Ovipositor or Gimlet of the Gadfly" />
+  <div class="caption">Ovipositor or Gimlet of the Gadfly, greatly magnified, with
+    a claw and part of the tube, distinct.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>"There is also a bee, boys, which is called
+the <i>carpenter-bee</i>, because it is such an excellent
+wood-borer. It commonly looks for some
+old post, or dry plank, or withered part of a
+tree, to work in. It never works in wood that
+is green and has the sap or juices in it; for
+the bee knows, just as well as any carpenter
+does, that it is very hard to get tools through
+such wood. I expect that you have seen
+sometimes, when an old post or dry board was
+split, a long hollow groove in the middle of it,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span>
+with little round thin pieces of something like
+paper, about as thick as a wafer, fastened in
+it by their edges, one above the other, all the
+way through. These show the work of the
+carpenter-bee: she bored the hole, and she put
+those little partitions like paper in it, to separate
+the cells; and more than that, she made
+the partitions out of the dust she got by boring.
+She always likes, too, to get a piece of
+wood in a place where the sun can shine on
+it; and when she has made her choice, she
+begins to bore at first into the post in a slanting
+direction, and as soon as she has gone
+far enough in, she then turns and bores
+straight, with the grain of the wood."</p>
+
+<p>"Does she do it quickly, Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not very quickly, for sometimes the wood
+is very hard; I have seen one of these holes
+nearly twelve inches long in a very hard oak
+board. Sometimes she has to work at it for
+months; but she works steadily, boys, and
+that does a great deal. What makes it more
+tiresome is, that the poor little creature has to
+bring out all the dust she makes by boring."</p>
+
+<p>"How large is the hole?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, large enough to put my forefinger in,
+and sometimes fifteen inches long. After she
+has bored it as deep as is necessary, she begins
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span>
+to divide it into separate cells. So she commences
+at the bottom, and puts in a quantity of
+what is called bee-bread, until it reaches about
+an inch in height; on the top of this she lays
+an egg, and the bread is put there to feed the
+young one as soon as it comes out of the egg.
+She then makes a floor over it out of the dust,
+as I told you; she knows how to glue this
+dust together, and she brings it grain by grain
+from the heap in which she put it when she
+first brought it out: and she always begins
+by gluing the dust around the outside of the
+hole she has bored, and then glues another
+ring to that, and then another, and another,
+making each ring smaller and smaller, until
+she has it all filled; so that her floor, when it
+is done, appears like a parcel of rings of
+smaller and smaller sizes placed within each
+other. On the top of this floor she puts bee-bread,
+as before, and places another egg on it,
+and then covers it with a floor again; and so
+she goes on making cells and filling them with
+bread, and covering each with a floor, until
+she has filled up the hole."</p>
+
+<p>"Uncle Philip, how do the young bees get
+out when the egg is hatched? It seems as if
+they were shut up for ever in prison."</p>
+
+<p>"No, boys; there is a way for them to get
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span>
+out, and it shows the wonderful wisdom of
+God in teaching this poor bee how to contrive
+the matter. The egg which is put in the
+lowest cell being the oldest, the little worm
+that is afterward to be a bee will come out
+of that one first: now, you know, he never
+could get through all the cells over his head,
+filled as they are with bee-bread, so as to come
+out at the top of the hole. If he gets out at
+all, then, it must be at the bottom. The old
+bee knows this, and she so arranges these
+eggs that when the worm comes out it will be
+with his head pointed downwards; he falls to
+eating his bread, and so eats himself down to
+the bottom of his cell, and there he finds that
+his mother has bored a hole from his cell to
+the outside, and through that he comes out.
+When his brother in the cell above him has
+eaten his way down to the bottom of his cell,
+he just eats through the floor and gets into
+the cell below, which is then empty, you
+know, and walks out at the same hole which
+his older brother used before him. And so all
+the rest one after another eat their way downwards
+into the empty cells below them, and
+get out at the same back-door, which their
+mother made by what we call her <i>instinct</i>,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span>
+which just means the share of wisdom which
+God gives to the lower animals to show them
+how to take care of themselves."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_030.jpg" id="i_030.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_030.jpg"
+  alt="Post tunnelled by carpenter-bees" />
+  <div class="caption"><b>A</b>, represents a part of a post, tunnelled in several
+    places by the violet carpenter-bee; the stick is split, and shows the nests and
+	passages by which they are approached. <b>C</b>, a piece of thin stick, pierced
+	by the carpenter-bee, and split, to show the nests. <b>D</b>, perspective view of
+	one of the partitions. <b>E</b>, carpenter-bee. <b>F</b>, teeth of the carpenter-bee,
+	greatly magnified; <i>a</i>, the upper side; <i>b</i>, lower side.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Why, that instinct, as you call it, Uncle
+Philip, is a curious thing."</p>
+
+<p>"Very curious, very curious indeed, boys;
+and at some other time, if you wish, we will
+talk more about it, and I will tell you a great
+many stories of animals, which will show you
+their instinct. But for this time I have told
+you enough to keep you thinking until we
+meet again. So now just look at this picture
+of the carpenter-bee's house, and then you
+may go home."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2><a name="CONVERSATION_III" id="CONVERSATION_III"></a>CONVERSATION III.</h2>
+
+<div class="chapsum"><i>Uncle Philip tells the Children about Animals
+  that are Tailors.</i></div>
+
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">Uncle Philip</span>, we are very glad to see
+you, and we think we have found out something
+to ask you, about a kind of work which
+men do, that no other animal can accomplish.
+As we came along this morning to visit you,
+and were talking of what you had told us of
+insects that, like carpenters, could saw wood
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span>
+and bore holes in it, we passed by the tailor's
+shop, near the church; 'and now,' said we,
+'we have found out something which will
+puzzle good Uncle Philip: there are surely no
+tailors among the lower animals; so we will
+ask him to-day to talk about creatures that
+can cut out cloth and sew it up with a
+needle.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, my dear children, there are a great
+many things which would puzzle Uncle Philip.
+I do not know every thing; nor do I suppose
+that I can find <i>every</i> trade in the world among
+the dumb creatures which God has made.
+But you have made a bad choice of a puzzle
+this morning, my boys; for there are tailors
+among the inferior creatures, and some pretty
+nice ones, too; at any rate, they always cut
+so as to fit exactly."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Uncle Philip! You do not mean
+to say that they can cut out <i>cloth</i>, and then
+sew it up again with a needle and thread!"</p>
+
+<p>"No, boys; I do not think it is to be expected
+that they should take a pair of shears
+and cut a piece of cloth, or put a piece of
+thread through the eye of a steel needle; any
+more than we expect the insect that saws, to
+go to the cabinet-maker, and borrow his tool
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span>
+to work with. But with the instruments
+which God has given to them, they will cut
+what is cloth to them, the leaves of trees and
+flowers, and will sew them together too: and,
+now I think of it, there is one that will cut
+his garments out of our cloth."</p>
+
+<p>"Pray let us hear about them, Uncle
+Philip."</p>
+
+<p>"Softly, boys, softly. I have two things to
+say to you before I begin. In the first place, I
+am very glad to hear that you think and talk
+among yourselves about the things which I
+tell you: and in the next place, I know that
+you love <i>me</i>, and, therefore would not wish,
+by <i>puzzling</i> me, as you call it, to produce
+mortification or vexation; nor do I think that
+I should have felt either vexed or mortified
+had I not been able to find tailors among the
+lower animals; but I do not wish you to take
+pleasure in puzzling people; for it is very apt
+to produce in you a feeling of triumph, and to
+make you vain: and you must remember
+that for <i>one</i> of your questions which cannot
+be answered, a <i>thousand</i> might be put to you,
+of the answer to which you would be ignorant.
+No man, my dear boys, knows every
+thing. Wise men talk with each other, that
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span>
+they may learn from each other; and the
+wisest are not ashamed to acknowledge their
+ignorance of some things; and I believe they
+take very little pleasure in puzzling. It is
+our duty to learn all that we can, and to be
+always willing at a proper time to teach
+others what we know."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, dear Uncle Philip, for your
+advice. We did not mean to triumph over
+<i>you</i>, if you had not been able to tell us of
+tailors among the animals. But we see that
+you are right. We might get a foolish habit,
+which would do us harm."</p>
+
+<p>"Exactly what I meant, boys; and now
+let us begin. And first we will talk of the
+cutting out, as the tailor always does that before
+he sews. There is a kind of bee
+<a name="FNanchor_1" id="FNanchor_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> which,
+like some of the insects we have already
+spoken of, is furnished with a borer. With
+this she forms a round hole, like that made
+with an auger or gimlet, in a hard-trodden
+path, or sometimes in a piece of soft decayed
+wood. It is in making her nest in this hole
+that she plays the part of a tailor, for the nest
+is made of leaves, sometimes taken from the
+rose, at others from the birch, ash, or other
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span>
+trees. The little creature cuts them commonly,
+and I believe always, into two shapes.
+They are either half-oval, that is, half the
+shape of the bowl of a spoon, or round, and
+are of different sizes. Sometimes she makes
+a mistake in the size, and when she finds it
+out, she alters it. These leaves are prepared
+to line the hole which she has bored, and she
+begins with the largest pieces; taking them
+into the hole, she winds around in it, until
+she has spread very smoothly a tube of leaves
+the whole length of it; she then closes up
+one end of it by rounding it off and doubling
+the pieces of leaf one over another. In this
+case she sets about making her <i>cells</i>. She
+takes three of her half-oval pieces which have
+been cut to fit, and contrives to roll them, so
+that the edge of one piece will just lap over
+the edge of the next; these, when she has finished
+rolling them, make the hollow of the
+cell, which is not quite an inch high. She
+next turns up the ends of these pieces, which
+are cut to fit, so as to form the bottom: she
+then sets to work with three other pieces
+rolled in the same way inside of the cell just
+finished, turning up their ends as before to
+form the bottom; and within these she again
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span>
+works three others, so that her cell, when it is
+done, is of nine thicknesses of leaves. And
+you see why, though she cuts the pieces of the
+same shape, they are not all of one size: they
+are of three sizes, so as to make the cells
+within each other smaller and smaller."</p>
+
+<p>"But, Uncle Philip, you have not said any
+thing about the round pieces which she cuts;
+how does she use them?"</p>
+
+<p>"I will tell you: after she has finished one
+cell she lays an egg in it, and fills it all round
+with food nearly liquid; now as the cell is
+lying down on its side, all this liquid food
+would run out if it were not corked up, and
+the bee therefore uses her circular pieces to
+stop up the cells."</p>
+
+<p>"And does she really make these round
+pieces to fit the cell?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, boys, exactly; and they are cut too as
+regularly as if they had been first measured
+and marked with a pair of compasses. And,
+more than this, the little creature will fit one in
+in less than a minute. But the most curious
+thing is, that sometimes she will fly off to a
+distance to get this round piece, and bring
+back one which will exactly suit; so that it
+really seems as if she carried the size in her
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span>
+head. After finishing one cell she will make
+another, until she has completed as many as
+she wants; and then, as she always builds
+them one upon another, they appear like a
+parcel of thimbles stuck into each other and
+put into a case: and here is a picture of it."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_037.jpg" id="i_037.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_037.jpg"
+  alt="Rose-leaf-cutter Bees" />
+  <div class="caption">Rose-leaf-cutter Bees, and Nest lined with Rose-leaves</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>"This is very wonderful, Uncle Philip;
+and it does seem like cutting out pieces to fit."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Very true: but this is not the only cutter-out
+of leaves among the bees. There is another
+kind, called the poppy-bee,
+<a name="FNanchor_2" id="FNanchor_2"></a>
+<a href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> because it
+uses the scarlet leaves of the poppy-flower to
+line its cell. It makes its hole in the ground,
+as smooth and regular and polished as can be,
+and then proceeds to line it all around with
+pieces of the leaves, and cuts them to fit as
+she goes on. If a piece is too large she will
+trim it down to the proper size and shape, and
+always carries away the scraps. Now if you
+should take a pair of scissors and try to cut
+the leaf of a poppy-flower, you would wrinkle
+it, but this little workman will spread out what
+she cuts as smooth as glass. When she has
+lined this hole throughout, and carried the
+lining out beyond the entrance, she fills it with
+honey and <i>pollen</i>, or bee-bread, as it is called,
+about half an inch high, lays an egg, then
+folds down the leaves on it, and finally fills
+the upper part with earth."</p>
+
+<p>"Then she was not working for herself?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; she was providing a house for her
+young, and God has taught her thus to take
+care of it.</p>
+
+<p>"I will now tell you of another little workman,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span>
+which I have heard called the cloak-maker,
+because it makes for itself a mantle
+which really appears very much like a cloak;
+and, stranger still, this cloak is lined throughout
+with silk."</p>
+
+<p>"Can it be possible, Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"Listen, and you shall hear. These mantle-looking
+cases are made by the <i>larva</i>, as it
+is called, or grub of a little moth which forms
+a covering of pure silk; this silk it spins
+from itself; it is not woven so as to appear
+like our silk, but still it is real silk, and
+is worked into a great many thin scales,
+which lap over one another like the scales
+of a fish. But this is only the lining of
+the cloak. This little tailor is the field-moth,
+which first eats what it wants from a green
+leaf, and then, from the thin membranes left,
+sets about making its mantle: and it makes
+it of two pieces cut out and joined together
+with a seam, just as a tailor would make it."</p>
+
+<p>"How does it go to work, Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, I will give you the account as it
+was given by a gentleman<a name="FNanchor_3" id="FNanchor_3"></a>
+<a href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> who was very fond
+of observing insects, and who watched one of
+these little creatures. He says that from the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span>
+thin membrane of the leaf it first cut two
+pieces just equal in size and of exactly the
+same shape; each of these pieces was to form
+one-half of the cloak, and this he says was
+done wonderfully fast. He noticed, too, that
+one end of each piece, that which was meant
+for the bottom of the cloak, was just twice as
+long as the other end, which was the top.
+The insect then placed itself between the two
+pieces while they were lying flat; it afterward
+brought the two sides where the seam was to
+be, together, and fastened them at certain
+places, still leaving, however, considerable
+spaces open. It then began to turn and twist
+its body about in all directions, until it
+moulded the pieces into a hollow form to fit.
+When it found that it would fit its body, it
+brought the edges of the seam close together
+through the whole length, and contrived to
+sew or fasten them so neatly together, that
+when the gentleman looked, even with a magnifying-glass,
+he said he could hardly find the
+seam. The whole was lined with the silk
+spun from itself, and was finished in about
+twelve hours."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, this little workman is the strangest
+of all: but, Uncle Philip, you said there was
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span>
+one of these animal tailors that cut his garment
+out of <i>cloth</i>: pray tell us of him."</p>
+
+<p>"When I said that, boys, I was thinking of
+the clothes-moth.<a name="FNanchor_4" id="FNanchor_4"></a>
+<a href="#Footnote_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> They make their coats
+of wool commonly taken from our cloth, and
+silk drawn from their own mouths; and the
+strangest thing concerning them is, that when
+they outgrow their clothes they will piece
+them to make them larger. Suppose the insect
+wants it longer, it adds a new ring of
+wool to the end: suppose it wants it wider, it
+slits the case or garment, not from one end to
+the other, for this would leave it naked, but it
+splits it half-way down the sides, and when it
+has filled it in with proper pieces, it splits the
+remaining half, and puts other pieces in them.
+There is another curious thing about this
+tailor: it always makes its coat of the same
+colour with the cloth from which it takes the
+wool; so that if it has first made its garment
+of a piece of blue cloth, and is placed on a
+bit of red cloth when it wishes to enlarge it,
+you will see its work exactly, for the pieces
+which it puts in will be red. This is the little
+fellow, boys, which does so much mischief to
+our clothes."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Well, Uncle Philip, one can almost forgive
+his mischief for the sake of his ingenuity.
+But you have said nothing yet about <i>needles</i>;
+how do these little creatures sew?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, they have what serves as a needle
+to them: but I can tell you of another animal
+which sews with a needle a great deal plainer
+to be seen than that of these little insects."</p>
+
+<p>"Pray let us hear of him, Uncle Philip."</p>
+
+<p>"I must go among the birds to find this
+workman. There is a kind of starling, called
+the orchard starling,<a name="FNanchor_5" id="FNanchor_5"></a>
+<a href="#Footnote_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> about which, Mr. Wilson,
+a gentleman who has written a great deal concerning
+the birds of our country, gives a very
+curious account. He says that this bird commonly
+hangs its nest from the twigs of an apple-tree,
+and makes it in a very singular manner.
+The outside is made of a particular kind
+of long tough grass, that will bend without
+breaking, and this grass is knit or sewed
+through and through in a thousand directions,
+just as if done with a needle. The little
+creature does it with its feet and bill. Mr.
+Wilson says that he one day showed one of
+these nests to an old lady, and she was so
+much struck with the work that she asked
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span>
+him, half in earnest, if he did not think that
+these birds could be taught to <i>darn stockings</i>?
+Mr. Wilson took the pains too to draw out one
+of these grass threads, and found that it measured
+thirteen inches, and in that distance the
+bird who used it had passed it in and out
+thirty-four times."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, this was sewing, sure enough."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; and I saw, when I was in the West
+Indies, another kind of starling <a name="FNanchor_6" id="FNanchor_6"></a>
+<a href="#Footnote_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> which will
+cut leaves into a shape like the quarter of an
+orange-rind, and sew the whole very neatly to
+the under side of a banana-leaf, so as to
+make one side of the nest. But, boys, there
+is another most beautiful little bird, which is
+called the tailor-bird, because it sews so well.<a name="FNanchor_7" id="FNanchor_7"></a>
+<a href="#Footnote_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a>
+It first picks out a plant with large leaves, then
+it gathers cotton from the shrub, and with the
+help of its fine long bill and slender little feet
+it spins this cotton into a thread, and then
+using its bill for a needle, it will sew these
+large leaves together to hide its nest, and sew
+them very neatly, too."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, dear Uncle Philip, this is the most
+wonderful tailor of them all."</p>
+
+<p>"He is, indeed: but, my children, what do
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span>
+we learn from all that I have been telling you?
+Who made these little creatures with such
+curious skill, and taught them to work so
+well? It was the same God who made us;
+for such wonderful things never came from
+what people call <i>chance</i>. Chance, boys, never
+made any thing: and how very wise he must
+be to form such nice little workmen; and how
+very good thus to teach them how to take care
+of themselves. The Bible says, truly, that
+'<i>his tender mercies are over all his works</i>.'
+And I think, boys, we may learn another
+thing: it is, not to be so very proud of what
+we know; for I rather suppose that we shall
+often find that the lower creatures around us
+understood many of our trades long before we
+found them out."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Uncle Philip, it is likely that these
+little fellows you have been telling us of this
+morning were the first tailors in the world."</p>
+
+<p>"Very likely, very likely indeed, boys.
+But now I must bid you good morning; for
+here comes our good clergyman, and I am
+going with him to see a poor sick woman."</p>
+
+<p>"Good morning, Uncle Philip; we will
+come again on Saturday."</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+  <a name="Footnote_1" id="Footnote_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1">
+    <span class="label">[1]</span></a> Megachile centuncularis.
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+  <a name="Footnote_2" id="Footnote_2"></a>
+    <a href="#FNanchor_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Osmia papaveris.
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+  <a name="Footnote_3" id="Footnote_3"></a>
+    <a href="#FNanchor_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Reaumur.
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<a name="Footnote_4" id="Footnote_4"></a>
+  <a href="#FNanchor_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> Tinea sarcitella.
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+  <a name="Footnote_5" id="Footnote_5"></a>
+    <a href="#FNanchor_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> Icterus mutatus.
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+  <a name="Footnote_6" id="Footnote_6"></a>
+    <a href="#FNanchor_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> Icterus bonana.
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+  <a name="Footnote_7" id="Footnote_7"></a>
+    <a href="#FNanchor_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> Sylvia sutoria.
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h2><a name="CONVERSATION_IV" id="CONVERSATION_IV"></a>CONVERSATION IV.</h2>
+
+<div class="chapsum"><i>Uncle Philip tells the Children about the first
+Paper in the World, made by Wasps.</i></div>
+
+
+<p>"Ah, boys! how do you do? This is Saturday,
+and I have been expecting to see you
+come for some time."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Uncle Philip, we should have been
+here sooner, but we went round by the old
+mill; because we thought that perhaps we
+might find in some of the old timbers, holes
+bored by some of those industrious little carpenters
+you told us about."</p>
+
+<p>"Well; and did you find any?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; but we found something else, which
+we have brought to show you: and we have
+been talking about it all the way. We have
+not discovered any new <i>tools</i> among the animals,
+but we think we have found out a <i>trade</i>
+that some of them work at; and we wish you
+to tell us if we are right."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, that I will do, with pleasure, if I can.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span>
+What is the trade that you think you have
+discovered?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is paper-making, Uncle Philip. We
+have found this part of a wasp's nest, which
+we have brought along; and as you told us
+it was always best to notice every thing
+closely, we examined this, and it appeared so
+much like coarse paper that we thought (for
+we knew it was made by wasps) that man did
+not make the first paper in the world."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, boys, that was not a bad thought.
+Now you see the advantage of taking notice
+of things, and of thinking about what you
+see. You are perfectly right in supposing
+that wasps make paper; and, if you please, we
+will talk this morning about the wasps."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, yes, by all means, Uncle Philip;
+and we will thank you, too."</p>
+
+<p>"I must first tell you, then, that of the
+wasps there are several kinds. Some build
+their nests under ground, and some hang
+theirs in the air to the limb of a tree. This
+part of a nest which you have found belonged
+to the last kind; but I will tell you
+something about both. But before I begin let
+me get some drawings I have, which will help
+us to understand better. I have them. And
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span>
+now, of the wasps which build under ground.
+As soon as the warm season begins, the first
+care of the mother-wasp is to look for a fit
+place in which to build; and in the spring of
+the year she may very often be seen flying
+about a hole in the bank of a ditch, and looking
+into it. These holes which she examines
+are the old houses of field-mice or moles, and
+some persons have thought, what I expect is
+true, that she likes to take such old holes, because
+they save her a great deal of hard work.
+But still, as the holes are not large enough for
+her use, she has a great deal of labour to
+make them do. So she goes at once to work,
+digging in the hole she has chosen, and
+makes a winding, zigzag gallery, about two
+feet long, and about an inch in width. She
+digs out the earth, and carries it out, or
+pushes it out behind her as she goes on.
+This gallery ends in a large chamber or hole
+from one to two feet across when it is done:
+and now she is ready to begin her nest."</p>
+
+<p>"Now then, Uncle Philip, she will begin to
+make paper, will she not?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; but here I ought to tell you that it
+was a long time before men found out what
+she made it of. Do you remember my telling
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span>
+you of a gentleman who watched the
+little cloak-maker to see how he made his
+garment? Well, this gentleman, whose name
+was Reaumur, was trying for twenty years,
+he says, to find out how the wasp made
+paper, before he succeeded. At last, one day,
+he saw a female wasp alight on the sash of
+his window and begin to gnaw the wood; he
+watched her, and saw that she pulled off from
+the wood fibre after fibre, about the tenth part
+of an inch long, and not so large as a hair.
+She gathered these up into a knot with her
+feet, and then flew to another part of the sash,
+and went to work, stripping off more fibres or
+threads, and putting them to the bundle she
+had already. At last he caught her, to examine
+the bundle, and found that its colour
+was exactly like that of a wasp's nest; but
+the little ball was dry; she had not yet
+wetted it to make a pulp of it which could
+be spread out. He noticed another thing,
+that this bundle was not at all like wood
+gnawed by other insects; it was not sawdust,
+but threads of some little length bruised into
+lint. He then set to work himself with his
+penknife, and very soon scraped and bruised
+some of the wood of the same window-sash,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span>
+so as to make a little ball exactly like the
+wasp's. Mr. Reaumur thought that this was
+the stuff out of which the wasp made paper, and
+it has since been found out that he was right.
+The animal wets its little bundle of bruised
+wooden fibres or threads with a kind of glue
+that it has, and this makes it stick together
+like pulp or paste; and while it is soft, the
+wasp walks backwards, and spreads it out
+with her feet and her tongue, until she has
+made it almost as thin as the thinnest paper.
+With this she lines the top of the hole in
+which she is going to build her nest, for she
+always begins at the top. But this is so thin
+that it would be too weak to keep the dirt
+from falling in; and therefore she goes on
+spreading her papers one upon the other
+until she has made the wall nearly two inches
+thick. These pieces are not laid exactly flat
+on each other like two pieces of pasteboard,
+but with little open spaces between, being
+joined at the edges only. This is the ceiling;
+and when it is finished she begins to build
+what may be called the highest floor of the
+nest; this she makes of the same paper in a
+great number of little cells all joined together
+at the sides; and instead of fastening this
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>
+floor to the sides of the nest, she hangs it to
+the ceiling by rods made also out of this
+paper: these rods are small in the middle,
+and grow larger towards the ends, so as to be
+stronger. Here is a drawing of one.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_050.jpg" id="i_050.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_050.jpg"
+  alt="Rods from which the Floors are suspended" />
+  <div class="caption">The Cut represents one of the Rods from which
+     the Floors are suspended.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>She then makes a second floor, and hangs
+it under the first by rods as before; and the
+whole of it, when finished, if it should be cut
+straight through the middle, would appear
+something like the following picture of one
+which I made some years ago."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_051.jpg" id="i_051.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_051.jpg"
+  alt="Section of Social-Wasp's Nest" />
+  <div class="caption"><i>Section of the Social-Wasp's Nest.</i>&mdash;<i>aa</i>,
+    the outer wall; <i>b</i>, <i>cc</i>, five small terraces of cells for the
+	neuter wasps; <i>dd</i>, <i>ee</i>, three rows of large cells for the males
+	and females.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>"This is a very ingenious little paper-maker.
+Uncle Philip."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, boys, it is so. This of which I
+have been telling you is the ground-wasp.
+The tree-wasp makes its nest of paper prepared
+in the same way; and the nests are
+of different shapes. One makes it in a round
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span>
+flattened ball, not much larger than a rose,
+and when cut open it shows layer upon layer
+of leaves of the same thin grayish-looking
+paper. This kind is not so common, however.
+Here is one of their nests.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_052.jpg" id="i_052.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_052.jpg"
+  alt="Wasp's Nest" />
+  <div class="caption">Wasp's Nest.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>"Another makes its nest of cells placed in
+separate floors, but without any outer wall to
+keep off the rain; and the most curious thing
+in this nest is, that it is not placed in a horizontal
+way; that is, it is not placed with the
+floors level, because then the cells would catch
+the rain, and the nest would be spoiled; but
+it is always placed slanting, so that the rain
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span>
+may run off. It is always placed, too, so as
+to face the north or the west, and I suppose it
+is because the wasp knows that it is in more
+danger of rain from the south and the east.
+Here is a nest of this kind."</p>
+
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_053.jpg" id="i_053.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_053.jpg"
+  alt="Wasp's cells" />
+  <div class="caption">Wasp's Cells attached to a branch.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>"Ah, Uncle Philip! this must be a kind
+of lazy wasp. It does not choose to take the
+trouble to cover up the house, and so it hangs
+it slanting, to make the rain run off."</p>
+
+<p>"It may be so, boys; but I think that in
+making this wasp lazy, you make it a very
+sensible wasp; else how should it know that
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span>
+water would run down a slanting surface?
+But I cannot believe that it is so lazy; for,
+though it does not cover up the whole house
+in a paper shell, yet it does what no other
+wasp does, it covers its nest with a complete
+coat of shining, water-proof varnish, to prevent
+the rain from soaking into the cells.
+And putting on this varnish, I can tell
+you, is no trifling work. It forms a pretty
+large part of the labour of the whole swarm
+belonging to the nest; and sometimes you
+may see some of them at work for hours at a
+time, spreading it on with their tongues. No,
+my lads, he who wants an example of laziness,
+will not find it among the wasps.</p>
+
+<p>"But let us come back to the paper. Hornets
+make paper for their nests much in the
+same manner as the wasps do, only it is
+coarser. There is, however, one kind of wasp
+which makes a sort of paper more curious
+than this which you have found. It is not a
+wasp found in this country at all. It is the
+Cayenne wasp, and so smooth, strong, and
+white is the outside of his nest that it appears
+like a card, and he is for that reason sometimes
+called the card-maker wasp. He hangs
+his nest on the branch of a tree, and it is so
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span>
+hard and polished on the outside that the rain
+rolls off from it, as if it were glass. A little hole
+in the lower end is left for the animal to pass
+in and out; and in this picture of it, which I
+have, a piece is left out of the side to show
+how the cells within are fixed."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_055.jpg" id="i_055.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_055.jpg"
+  alt="Nest of the Card-maker Wasp" />
+  <div class="caption">Nest of the Card-maker Wasp, with part removed to show the
+    arrangement of the Cells.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>"Well, then, Uncle Philip, we were right in
+thinking that wasps were the first paper-makers;
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span>
+and very glad we are that we saw
+this old piece of a wasp's nest. Who would
+have thought that so much could be learned
+by picking up this old scrap of a wasp's
+work!"</p>
+
+<p>"Very good sense, boys, in that thought.
+A wise man will learn something from almost
+any thing. Use your eyes, and think of what
+you see. Now in this very trade of paper-making.
+I think that man would have found
+it out a great deal sooner if he had watched
+the wasps at their work. They have been
+excellent workmen at this business from the beginning;
+and man has gone on learning little
+by little of this very trade, as I will tell you at
+some other time, when he might have made a
+long step at once, had he but noticed wasps
+and hornets. We go on very slowly sometimes
+in learning to make a trade as perfect
+as it can be: the poor animal, with its knowledge
+such as God gave it, is often our superior.
+These dumb creatures cannot teach us
+every thing; there is a point to which they
+can go, and no further: but as far as they do
+know, their knowledge is perfect; and I make
+no doubt that a great many useful things not
+now known will hereafter be found out by
+watching dumb animals."</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CONVERSATION_V" id="CONVERSATION_V"></a>CONVERSATION V.</h2>
+
+<div class="chapsum"><i>Uncle Philip tells the Children a Story about
+Tom Smith; and of Bees with Brushes
+and Baskets, and of a Bird with a Chisel,
+and a Gnat with a Lancet.</i></div>
+
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">Uncle Philip</span>, as the day is fine, instead
+of sitting here, will you walk with us, this
+morning?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, boys; let me get my cane and hat,
+and we will take a ramble; perhaps we may
+see something, if we will use our eyes.
+Where do you wish to go?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, we do not care much, if you are with
+us, which way we walk; any course will be
+pleasant."</p>
+
+<p>"Come on, then; we will cross the river,
+and go down on the other side beyond the old
+mill, where you found the wasp's paper. And
+now, such of you as will, may keep a look-out
+for curious things, while the rest of us will
+talk together.&mdash;Boys, do any of you know
+Tom Smith?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span>
+"Know him! Why, Uncle Philip, everybody
+in this part of the country knows him;
+he is such a shocking drunkard, and swears
+so horribly, that nobody can forget him; and
+what makes it worse, he is an old man, too.
+His hair is almost as white as yours, Uncle
+Philip."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; he is just about my age. We were
+both born here, and I have known him ever
+since we were boys; and when we played together
+as children, over this very field which
+we are now crossing, or caught fish in the
+river down yonder by the rocks, there was not
+a more decent, well-behaved, handsome boy
+among us than was Tom Smith. Poor Tom
+lost his father when he was about twelve years
+old, and his mother, having no other child,
+indulged him, until he was sent to the city to
+go into a store. But Tom then, boys, had
+good principles; he neither swore nor got
+drunk. In a little time he fell into bad company,
+and they led him astray by degrees.
+He was so good-natured (as they call it), boys,
+that he had never the firmness to say <i>no</i> to
+the proposals of his companions. He went
+with them to places of amusement; and instead
+of spending his evenings in his own
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span>
+room, reading, he was at the theatre, or dancing
+in some place, or at a supper with his young
+companions; and finally he began to play
+cards and billiards with them; while the inside
+of the church was a place which he never
+saw. He was cheated by his companions;
+and too honest he was then not to pay what
+he lost by gaming: he wrote to his poor
+mother, and told her the truth, as to his losses,
+and she sent him money to pay his debts, and
+told him to come home. He did come home;
+and even after all that had happened, poor
+Tom might have been respectable and happy;
+for his friends were all willing to forget the
+past, and encourage him for the future. For
+a time he went on pretty well, and married
+an affectionate and good young woman, and
+his prospects were bright enough: but one
+thing, boys&mdash;one single thing, ruined his comfort
+for ever. In the city he had learned <i>to drink
+strong liquors</i>.</p>
+
+<p>"I remember, too, soon after he came
+home and married, that a man was hung
+not far from here for murdering his wife.
+The man was a drunkard, though he was
+quite sober when he killed the poor woman;
+and drunkenness had hardened his heart.
+I have no doubt, as it will the heart of
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span>
+any man. Tom was talking to me about that
+man, and I remember he said then that when
+a man <i>began</i> to drink, he could never say
+where it would end, nor what he would do:
+'therefore,' said Tom, 'beware of the <i>first</i>
+drink.' But Tom, though he talked like a
+Christian and a man about it, did not act like
+one: for it was not long before he began to follow
+his bad habit, and he soon killed his poor
+mother; for she died of grief and sorrow, I think.
+His excellent wife speedily followed her to the
+grave; and Tom Smith left the village, a
+perfect vagabond, whom no one cared for.
+Where he went, or what he did for a long
+time, no person here knows. I went to other
+countries, and neither heard of nor saw Tom
+Smith until my return home, when I found
+him wandering about here, a gray-headed
+swearer and drunkard. He did not know me,
+and I never should have known him, had not
+some one told me who he was. And last night
+I received a letter from one of my nephews
+in the city, which informed me that Tom
+Smith had been tried in the court, and found
+guilty of stealing, and was sent to the state
+prison for ten years to hard work. There I
+suppose he will die for he is now old; and it
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span>
+is awful to think of what is then to become
+of his soul. Ah, my dear boys! I could not
+help thinking, when I read my letter, of what
+that man said to me years ago&mdash;and I have
+told you his story, hoping that you will remember
+his words, 'Beware of the <i>first</i> drink.'
+The man who does that will never be a
+drunkard. And when old Uncle Philip is
+laid in the grave, boys, which must be before
+many years, remember, as you look upon the
+place, that he told you the story of Tom
+Smith, and charged you to 'beware of the <i>first</i>
+drink.'</p>
+
+<p>"But here come some of the boys, running
+towards us; I suppose they have found something."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Uncle Philip! Uncle Philip! Do
+come with the boys this way. Under that
+fence yonder there are a great many beautiful
+wild flowers, and a number of bees are as
+busy as they can be about them; pray come
+and see them."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I will; but not so fast, boys; you
+forget that I am an old man, and cannot run
+as you do.&mdash;So, here are, indeed, a great many
+industrious little workmen."</p>
+
+<p>"What are they doing, Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"These are <i>workers</i> among the bees, and
+they are gathering the dust out of the flowers,
+to work it up into what is commonly called
+bee-bread. More tools here, boys!"</p>
+
+<p>"Tools, Uncle Philip! Ah, we like that:
+pray let us hear of them; what are they?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, there is a brush and a basket in the
+legs of these little fellows; but they are so
+small that you cannot see them without a
+microscope."</p>
+
+<p>"What is a microscope?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is an instrument, made by fixing glasses
+in such a way to look through, that small
+things will seem to be very large. Do you
+not see how some of these little fellows are
+rolling themselves over in the inside of the
+flowers, so that the yellow dust is sticking to
+them? Now their breasts, and legs, and
+many other parts of their bodies are covered
+with very short hairs, which catch the dust.
+The last joint but one of each leg is made
+exactly like a brush, the hairs being longer
+there than on any other part; and with these
+they brush off the dust, and get it into two
+little heaps. The bags into which they put it,
+or rather the baskets, are in the thighs of the
+last pair of legs. These are hollow, so as to
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span>
+form a three-sided basket. The bottom of it
+is smooth and shining, and appears like horn,
+and all around the edges are placed very
+strong, thick-set hairs, like bristles."</p>
+
+<p>"What are these for?"</p>
+
+<p>"To keep things from falling out of the
+basket; and these bristles are so strong that
+even if they heap up more than the basket
+will hold, the bristles will keep it from falling.
+Here is a drawing of these legs.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_063.jpg" id="i_063.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_063.jpg"
+  alt="Structure of the legs of the Bee for carrying propolis and pollen" />
+  <div class="caption">Structure of the legs of the Bee for carrying propolis
+    and pollen, magnified.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>Besides carrying this dust, they also carry
+what is called <i>propolis</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"What is propolis, Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is a gum which is found upon some
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span>
+trees. This they work up into little balls,
+and knead it until it is a little dry, so as not
+to stick. This takes the bee sometimes as
+much as half an hour. When the balls are
+ready, she passes them backwards with her
+feet to the basket, puts them in, and gives
+them a pat or two to make them lie close;
+and when she adds more, she pats it still
+harder, and when the basket is full, away she
+goes to the hive. But there is another curious
+instrument about the bee. I mean its
+sting: this is like the head of a barbed or
+bearded arrow. There is a sheath for it when
+the bee does not wish to use it; and here is a
+picture of it.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_064.jpg" id="i_064.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_064.jpg"
+  alt="sting of a Bee" />
+  <div class="caption"><i>a</i>, The sting of a Bee, magnified to show the barbed
+    darts; <i>b</i>, the last ring of the abdomen of a Bee opened, showing the
+	sting in its sheath.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>But let us now continue our walk."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Uncle Philip, it is really very pleasant
+to walk with you: it seems as if you met
+nothing which could not teach us things
+worth knowing."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Why, my dear boys, there are, as I told
+you once before, a great many things which I
+do not know; and what I do know I am very
+willing to tell you. But you may learn just
+as I did,&mdash;by reading, by taking notice of
+things around you, and by thinking for yourselves.
+And I do not know any thing more
+pleasant to notice than the works of God. I
+see his wisdom and his goodness in every
+thing which he has made. I see them in the
+insects, and the birds, and the larger animals;
+I see them in the grass, and the flowers, and
+the trees; and I see them in the rocks and
+the stones upon the ground. All these things
+are well worth our attention, boys; the study of
+all these things around us is called the study
+of 'Natural History;' and I think it is apt to
+make him who loves it a better man; at any
+rate, I believe that there have been very few
+who have been fond of it, who have not been
+amiable and benevolent men. But, hark! Do
+you hear that noise?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Uncle Philip; it is the sound of men
+chopping wood in that clump of trees."</p>
+
+<p>"No, boys; it is like the sound of a wood-cutter;
+and it is a wood-cutter, but he does
+not use one of our hatchets."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"What is it that he uses, then?"</p>
+
+<p>"He uses the tool which God gave him.
+It is a bird, boys, which you hear: it is the
+woodpecker. See, there it is on yonder tree,
+and look, at the foot of it, there is something
+like a bushel of the bird's chips or dust.
+Its bill is a complete chisel; it is straight,
+hard, and sharp, with edges too upon the
+sides. It is not a very broad chisel, but still it
+is one, and used as we use ours. But the
+chisel is not the only instrument of that
+workman. Its tongue is worth examining.
+It bores a hole into a tree that is dead or decaying,
+to look for insects whose nests are in
+the tree; and when it reaches the cell where
+the young insect is, it uses its tongue to get
+it out, and it suits exactly for the business.
+In the first place, it is so long that the bird
+can shoot it out three or four inches longer
+than the bill is; in the next place the end of
+it is tipped with a stiff, sharp, long thorn;
+and in the last place, that thorn has little
+teeth on both sides of it, like that which you
+see on the point of a fish-hook: these teeth
+are to keep the insect from falling off when
+it puts its tongue in the hole and sticks its
+sharp point into it to draw it out for food. So
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span>
+that besides the chisel, the woodpecker has a
+spear, or lance, or arrow, barbed (as it is
+called) or bearded at the point.</p>
+
+<p>"But we are some distance, boys, beyond
+the old mill: suppose we now turn back towards
+home; I find the gnats rather troublesome."</p>
+
+<p>"So do we, Uncle Philip; they have been
+biting us for some time: it would be well if
+there were no such tormenting things in the
+world."</p>
+
+<p>"I am not sure of that, boys. We may not
+always be able to find out the exact use of
+some of these little animals; but that only
+shows that we are ignorant, not that they are
+of no use. God would never have made them
+if he had not some wise purpose in doing so:
+I do not believe he ever wastes his power in
+making useless things. But what will you
+say about gnats, when I tell you that they have
+a tool to work with, and a very perfect one,
+too?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, we will almost forgive them for
+biting us."</p>
+
+<p>"Biting you! They have not been biting
+with teeth: they are doctors, boys; they have
+only been bleeding you, and cupping you."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"And what have they been bleeding us
+with?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, with a lancet, to be sure; what
+should a doctor use but a lancet to let blood?"</p>
+
+<p>"And has the gnat really a lancet?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, it has: this instrument forms a part
+of what you may call the tongue of the gnat:
+it is made up of five pieces, which are shut up
+in a case, split from one end to the other;
+these give steadiness to the lancet when it is
+used. But the reason of the pain is not so
+much the wound of the lancet, as it is the
+fluid or poisonous juice which the gnat puts
+into the wound to make the blood thin enough
+for the insect to suck it up through a tube or
+case, which makes part of its mouth. Here
+is a drawing of part of a gnat's mouth.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_068.jpg" id="i_068.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_068.jpg"
+  alt="Part of a gnat's mouth" />
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>And here is a picture of the lancet or knife
+of a horse-fly.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_069.jpg" id="i_069.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_069.jpg"
+  alt="Lancet of a horse-fly" />
+</div>
+
+<p>"We have now reached the bridge,&mdash;and
+here we must part; your homes are in one
+direction, and mine is in the opposite. I hope,
+however, that you have learned something in
+our morning's walk."</p>
+
+<p>"We have, Uncle Philip, and we thank you
+much, and bid you, good day."</p>
+
+<p>"Good day, boys."</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="CONVERSATION_VI" id="CONVERSATION_VI"></a>CONVERSATION VI.</h2>
+
+<div class="chapsum"><i>Uncle Philip tells the Children about Animals
+that can do Mason's Work.</i></div>
+
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">Uncle Philip</span>, we saw a very strange
+thing just now; as we were coming, we saw a
+great many bees flying by us, and each one
+was carrying a little stone."</p>
+
+<p>"That was strange, indeed. Did you find
+out any thing about them?"</p>
+
+<p>"We asked a man who was near what they
+did it for, and he said that they carried the
+stones to prevent the wind, which is blowing
+pretty fresh, from tossing them about too
+much."</p>
+
+<p>"That is a very silly story, boys, though it
+is a very old one: for I have seen them carrying
+what you call stones when it was quite
+calm, and there was no wind to blow them
+away. The man was very ignorant, or he
+would have told you another story, which
+would have been both strange and true."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Will you have the goodness, Uncle Philip,
+to tell us what it meant?"</p>
+
+<p>"Very willingly, boys. What you saw I
+presume were bees. You remember that I
+told you there were several kinds of bees;
+and this one is called the mason-bee. This
+kind builds his nest of mortar, and was therefore
+called the mason-bee by Mr. Reaumur
+first, I believe."</p>
+
+<p>"Where does it get the mortar, Uncle
+Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"It makes it, boys. This kind of bee may
+be seen flying about, picking up sand, grain
+by grain, putting it into a heap, gluing them
+together with a sort of gum out of her own
+mouth, and building with them a foundation
+for her house. This little workman commonly
+builds against the side of a wall between two
+bricks where the mortar has fallen out; and
+if you should see one of the nests, it appears
+exactly like a lump of dry mud which has
+been thrown wet upon the wall out of a cart-rut:
+but when you examine it closely, you
+may see a great many small stones in it, more
+than is common in mud: a hundred people,
+though, might pass by it, and never think it
+was any thing more than a lump of dirt, which
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span>
+had been thrown upon the wall when it was
+wet, and had afterward dried there. Here is
+a picture of one of these nests.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_072a.jpg" id="i_072a.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_072a.jpg"
+  alt="Exterior wall of Mason-bee's Nest" />
+  <div class="caption">Exterior wall of Mason-bee's Nest.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>You see there is a small hole in it; this leads
+to a cell inside about an inch deep, and shaped
+exactly like a lady's thimble; the inside of
+this cell is polished smooth, and appears like
+a wall of plaster, except that it has little yellow
+stains upon it. Here is the bee that
+makes it.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_072b.jpg" id="i_072b.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_072b.jpg"
+  alt="Mason-bee" />
+  <div class="caption">Mason-bee.&mdash;Natural size.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>In making this mortar to build with, the bee
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span>
+will sometimes add earth that is soft to its
+grains of sand, and when the lump is about
+the size of a small shot, it takes it up and flies
+away with it, to work it into the wall."</p>
+
+<p>"Does it always use sand, Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not always: sometimes it takes wet clay,
+and will dig into a bank of clay baked hard
+by the sun on the outside, so as to get that
+which is wet.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Rennie, a gentleman in England who
+is very fond of watching insects, and has found
+out a great many curious things about them,
+has given an account of some of these bees
+which he noticed at work. Every one was
+carrying out of a hole in the clay-bank a small
+lump of clay; and on catching one of them, he
+found that this lump was wetter than the clay
+in the hole, so that the bee had moistened it,
+and worked it together, to make it stick like
+good mortar. These lumps too were larger
+than a shot; they were as large as a garden-pea."</p>
+
+<p>"How long did it take them to work up the
+lump?"</p>
+
+<p>"About half a minute, Mr. Rennie says.
+He watched one of these little creatures, and
+found that she was building on the inside
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span>
+wall of a coal-house, where the bricks and
+mortar were left rough: she was at work between
+two of the bricks where the mortar
+had fallen out, or where the bee had taken it
+out. And the conduct of the bee at her house
+was very different from what it was at the
+clay-bank. She was not frightened, but went
+on working when any one came near the
+clay-bank; but at her house she seemed afraid
+that it should be found out where it was.
+She would alight first on the roof outside, as
+if she merely wished to rest herself; and
+when she flew into the coal-house she would
+not go directly to her nest, but would settle
+on a shelf, and sometimes pretend to be
+examining a great many places in the wall
+between different bricks; and at last, when
+she supposed there was no risk, or when there
+was nothing to alarm her, she would fly to
+her nest, and go to work with all her might
+in fixing her piece of clay to the wall."</p>
+
+<p>"Why did she wish her house not to be
+found out, Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Rennie supposed it was her instinct:
+she had seen probably some of the insects
+which would destroy her young, watching her
+to see where she was building; and sometimes
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span>
+after flying nearly to her nest with a load, she
+would turn back and fly towards the clay-bank,
+or take a large sweep off in another
+direction, and so come to her house.</p>
+
+<p>"Besides the mason-bee, boys, there is the
+mason-wasp, which I have heard some persons
+call the <i>dirt-dauber</i>: it is very common,
+especially in the southern part of the United
+States. It works very much like the mason-bee,
+only it is apt to fix its nest under the
+eaves of old houses, which I think the mason-bee
+never does.</p>
+
+<p>"There is also another kind of mason-wasp
+which will actually break a hard brick. Mr.
+Rennie says that he saw one at work on a
+brick of a hard yellow kind. Whether the
+wasp found a hole in the brick to begin with,
+he did not know; but if he did he was hard
+at work making it larger: he would break
+off a piece as large as a mustard-seed at a
+time. Here is a drawing of that kind of
+wasp; and the insect is no larger than the
+picture.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_075.jpg" id="i_075.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_075.jpg"
+  alt="Mason-wasp" />
+  <div class="caption">Mason-wasp.&mdash;Natural size.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>It seems wonderful that so small an insect
+should have so much strength. Here is a
+picture of its jaws, seen through a microscope,
+so as to appear a great deal larger than they
+really are.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_076.jpg" id="i_076.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_076.jpg"
+  alt="Jaws of Mason-wasp" />
+  <div class="caption">Jaws of Mason-wasp.&mdash;Greatly magnified.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>"I do not know, boys, that the masons we
+have been talking of, show us any <i>tools</i> like
+those with which men who are masons work;
+but they show us, at any rate, how to make
+mortar by kneading or working it together;
+and they certainly show us that we were not
+the first who built walls. But there is another
+kind of mason who works in stone.
+He picks out the stones which are of proper
+size, and he fastens them together with mortar
+really as men do."</p>
+
+<p>"Pray tell us of him, Uncle Philip."</p>
+
+<p>"I will. The insect I mean is the caddis-worm,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span>
+which is to be found sometimes in
+ponds, and very often in springs of fresh
+water. There are several sorts of them, but
+the one I am thinking of now, builds a stone
+house to live in. These worms are in the
+habit of making a little tube, sometimes of
+sand, or shell, or wood, or leaves, or stones,
+to live in; and their skill consists in joining
+these perfectly, and making them stick together.
+But we are talking now of the caddis-worm
+that uses stone. What the worm has
+to do is to make a tube out of small stones,
+that shall have a hollow about as large as a
+wheat straw, and be perfectly smooth inside.
+This is a pretty hard task&mdash;at least it would
+be very hard to us. When the stone-mason
+wishes a stone of a particular size or shape,
+and cannot find it, he takes his hammer and
+breaks one until it will suit; but the caddis-worm
+has no hammer, and must take the
+stones just as it finds them. The little insect
+then has to pick out a great many stones
+before he gets the right one, because they
+have so many little rough points about them
+that it is very difficult to get those which will
+make the tube perfectly smooth inside. Remember,
+too, that the bottom or lower side of
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span>
+this stone case has to be pretty nearly smooth,
+so that the worm can drag it along on the bottom
+of the spring or pond (for it never comes
+out of it), and you will see that the picking out
+of the stones alone is no trifle. But besides
+this, it has to fasten them together with mortar."</p>
+
+<p>"And can the worm really do this, Uncle
+Philip? Will not the water wash the mortar
+all away?"</p>
+
+<p>"It certainly would if it were like common
+mortar. It was a long time that men lived
+before they found out a mortar that would remain,
+and grow hard under water. When
+they want to build a wall that is to be under
+the water, they use a cement which is called
+pozzolana; it is made of lava out of a volcano,
+and is water-proof. Our caddis-worm
+has a cement too, which is better than pozzolana,
+and though it has been tried, it cannot
+be melted or dissolved in water. Here is a
+drawing of the stone nest of a caddis-worm."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_078.jpg" id="i_078.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_078.jpg"
+  alt="Stone Nest of Caddis-worm" />
+  <div class="caption">Stone Nest of Caddis-worm.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>"Uncle Philip, you said that sometimes
+these worms built their nests of other things
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span>
+besides stones; let us hear something of them,
+if you please."</p>
+
+<p>"Very willingly, boys. Some build of
+shells: here are pictures of their nests.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_079a.jpg" id="i_079a.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_079a.jpg"
+  alt="Shell Nests of Caddis-worms" />
+  <div class="caption">Shell Nests of Caddis-worms.</div>
+</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_079b.jpg" id="i_079b.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_079b.jpg"
+  alt="Reed Nest of Caddis-worm" />
+  <div class="caption">Reed Nest of Caddis-worm.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>Some build of leaves, and others of pieces of
+reed or light bark.</p>
+
+<p>And a curious thing about those which build
+of light pieces of bark or reed is this, that they
+will make the top-piece come over so as to
+hide their heads, and prevent you from seeing
+them. Some build of sand; and then as the
+house would be so light that the water running
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span>
+from the spring might wash it down and
+carry it away, the wonderful little creature
+takes care to anchor it by fastening a pretty
+large stone to it when it has nearly finished it.
+And as the worm anchors it when it is too
+light, so it lightens it when it is too heavy,
+by fixing a bit of light wood or hollow straw
+to it to buoy it up."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_080a.jpg" id="i_080a.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_080a.jpg"
+  alt="Sand Nest" />
+  <div class="caption">Sand Nest, balanced with a Stone.</div>
+</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_080b.jpg" id="i_080b.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_080b.jpg"
+  alt="Nest of Caddis-worm" />
+  <div class="caption">Nest of Caddis-worm, balanced with Straws.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>"Well, this is truly a wonderful insect.
+Uncle Philip."</p>
+
+<p>"Truly so indeed, boys. In all these cases
+it uses its water-proof cement, and if you break
+its house to pieces, and will patiently watch,
+you may see it build another. The insect
+always lives with its head out of doors, and
+its body inside; so that its head is firm and
+hard, while its body is soft."</p>
+
+<p>"Uncle Philip," said one of the larger boys,
+"there is one thing I have been thinking
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span>
+about, as you have been talking: these little
+masons have no trowel, but I believe I know
+of one animal that uses something like that
+tool."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! What animal is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, I was reading the other day something
+about the beavers building their dams
+and their houses, and the book said that they
+built their houses of logs first, and then plastered
+them with mud, and that they used their
+tails for trowels."</p>
+
+<p>"I am very glad to find that you remember
+what you read; but I am sorry that your book
+did not tell you the truth. There have been
+very strange stories told about the beaver;
+and these stories have been taken from one
+book and printed in another, so that an untrue
+account has gone down for a great many
+years. The beaver is very ingenious, but is
+not quite so much of a mason as you suppose."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Uncle Philip, will you tell us the
+truth about it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, boys, I will, so far as I know it myself.
+I have seen these animals, for they were once a
+great deal more common in our country than
+they are now; and many of the stories told
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span>
+of them are not true. But before I begin, let
+me tell you of one book which I think does
+tell the plain truth about them; and the truth
+is curious enough."</p>
+
+<p>"What book is it, Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is a book written on American Natural
+History, by Doctor John Godman. I knew
+him, boys, and a most excellent man he was.
+He is now dead&mdash;and he died a Christian.
+The book he wrote you will find worth reading,
+when you get old enough to understand
+it. But now for the beaver.</p>
+
+<p>"His tail is very broad and flat at the end,
+and might be used very well for a trowel; but
+when he builds his house he does not cut down
+trees, and place them first, and then fill up the
+cracks with mud-mortar; but all the sticks
+and mud (and stones too when the beaver can
+get them), are first mixed up together, and the
+beaver builds his house with this from the
+very foundation. As soon as he has placed a
+lump of this stuff upon the wall, he turns
+round and gives it a blow with his flat tail;
+and that, boys, is all he does with his tail for
+a trowel. Sometimes he slaps his tail upon
+the water when he is swimming; and some
+persons have supposed that this was done by
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span>
+the king, or ruler, to call his workmen. It
+may be so, but I do not believe it, because they
+almost always dive as soon as they have
+slapped the water; and I think it is probably
+a part of their motion in diving. In the
+autumn they cover the outside of their houses
+with mud, and they walk over it as they are
+at work, and their tails drag along upon
+it; and this I expect made persons first suppose
+that they were plastering it, with the
+tail for a trowel. When they are caught and
+kept, boys, they still keep up this fashion of
+slapping with the tail; so that I rather think
+it is part of the nature of the animal.</p>
+
+<p>"At another time, perhaps, I will tell you
+more about the beaver; but it is now late,
+and I must bid you good morning."</p>
+
+<p>"Good day, Uncle Philip."</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CONVERSATION_VII" id="CONVERSATION_VII"></a>CONVERSATION VII.</h2>
+
+<div class="chapsum"><i>Uncle Philip talks to the Children about Animals
+that throw Dirt with a Spade; and
+about an Animal with a Hook; and about
+one that is a Wire-drawer.</i></div>
+
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">Boys</span>, I have some men at work digging
+a small ditch for me, and I wish to see them;
+will you go with me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes&mdash;very gladly, Uncle Philip; for
+you will be sure to tell us of something curious
+before we come home."</p>
+
+<p>"Come on, then: yonder are the men at
+work; they have been very industrious, I
+see."</p>
+
+<p>"But, Uncle Philip, look! There is one of
+the men putting a bottle to his mouth. Is
+that right?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, boys, right enough; for the bottle
+has nothing but molasses and water in it;
+and the man is thirsty, I suppose. I would
+not employ him if he brought a bottle of
+spirits out with him, for two reasons. In the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span>
+first place, I think that I ought not to encourage
+a man who gets drunk, by employing
+him; for I would rather give my money to
+a sober man who will not spend it for rum and
+brandy, but will take care of his family: and,
+in the second place, a drunkard would not
+work faithfully without being watched all the
+time. I never knew a drunkard who was
+really and honestly an industrious man."</p>
+
+<p>"See, Uncle Philip, how strong that man
+is; what a large spadeful of dirt he throws
+out!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I see, boys: do you think that men
+had the first spades in the world?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! now you are going to tell us something
+about tools among animals: that is
+good; we like to hear of that. What animal
+is it that has a spade?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, a very common animal indeed in
+some parts of our country. The country
+people call it a <i>woodchuk</i>, and sometimes a
+<i>ground-hog</i>: its right name is the marmot;
+and as there are several sorts, ours is called
+the Maryland marmot, to distinguish it; but
+it is in New-York, Connecticut, New-Jersey.
+Pennsylvania, Virginia, and some of the other
+states, as well as in Maryland. This is rather
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span>
+a mischievous animal, and does harm to the
+clover-fields; but it is in making his house
+that he uses his spade."</p>
+
+<p>"Then he digs his house in the ground.
+Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; he burrows, or digs his nest in
+banks of earth, or on the sides of hills; and
+he has sense enough to make the passage to
+the inside upwards, instead of downwards, so
+that water cannot run in. In digging soft
+earth he uses his fore-paws to loosen the dirt,
+for his fore-legs are very strong; and if the
+ground is hard he will use his teeth too. As
+he gets farther in, he throws the dirt with his
+fore-paws under his belly, and when he has a
+heap gathered, he balances himself on his
+fore-feet, and begins to throw it out with his
+spades."</p>
+
+<p>"What are his spades, Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"His hinder feet, boys, which are very
+broad, and just fit to take up the dirt as a
+spade does, and to throw it from him: there
+is a skin which grows between the toes of his
+hinder feet, so that he can spread them out
+when he chooses, like a duck's foot."</p>
+
+<p>"But, Uncle Philip, perhaps they are made
+so for the sake of <i>swimming</i>; the duck's are."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"That is a sensible thought, boys. Always
+think for yourselves; and when you make a
+mistake, try again: everybody is mistaken
+sometimes. Let it teach you to be modest
+and humble; but do not be afraid to think
+again. A person who is always thinking
+cannot <i>always</i> think wrong. Now you suppose
+the marmot's feet may be made like a
+duck's for swimming: let me tell you something
+else, and we shall see what you will
+think then. The marmot hates a rain as
+much as you would if you had no umbrella;
+he very seldom even drinks water, and then
+only a little; and you cannot drive him into
+a stream or pond; he is afraid of it. What
+do you think now?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Uncle Philip, we think that he is
+no swimmer."</p>
+
+<p>"Very true, boys: so his feet, then, you
+now think, were made for spades, and not for
+paddles?"</p>
+
+<p>"We do. Can you tell us any thing more
+about this animal, Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes. The burrows or holes of the
+marmot run a great distance under ground,
+and end in several chambers or rooms, according
+to the number that is to live in them.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span>
+They make beds in them of dry leaves, or
+grass, or any thing soft and dry which they
+can find. They cram their mouths full of it
+to carry, when they are making their nests.
+As soon as cold weather begins, the animal
+goes into his house, and stops up the hole on
+the inside; and there he stays till the warm
+weather has come again.</p>
+
+<p>"He is quite a thief at times. I saw one
+once which a gentleman had tamed, and he
+played about the yard; but every thing that
+he could get hold of which was fit to make
+his bed of, he was sure to steal, and carry
+into his hole under ground. When clothes
+were hung out to dry he would take them off
+the line, and as soon as any were missed the
+washerwoman knew very well where they
+were. She kept a long stick with a hook at
+the end of it, and with this she drew them out
+of the burrow. He soon found out what it
+meant, and whenever she used the stick, it
+was necessary first to tie him up; for he did
+not choose to have his bed spoiled, and would
+run to the hole and try to get in, and prevent
+the clothes from being drawn out. One day
+he stole eight pairs of stockings, a towel, and
+a little girl's frock; and he carried them into
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span>
+his burrow as far as six feet from the entrance.</p>
+
+<p>"But, boys, as we have begun this morning
+upon the old subject of tools among animals.
+I will tell you of something which, though not
+exactly a tool, is a very useful instrument,
+and is found belonging to a very common
+creature. Did you ever take notice of a
+bat?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, Uncle Philip, often, as they were
+flying about in a room at night, but not
+nearer."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you never saw what I mean, I expect.
+Our common bat, boys, has two very
+excellent hooks; one on each of what you
+call its wings: I say what you call its wings,
+because the bat is not really a bird, but a
+quadruped; that is, an animal with four feet:
+and when it is on the ground, any one may
+see that it is a four-footed animal. If a monkey's
+paw should be flattened out very much,
+it would be something like a bat's paw or
+hand. The long finger-bones are just like
+the sticks of an umbrella; there is a thin skin
+between them, and they stretch it out, so that
+the air underneath will keep them up. When
+they are on the ground all this is folded up.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span>
+Their hinder feet have five toes, all small, and
+ending in sharp claws. On the fore-feet there
+is but one finger which the bat can use much,
+because the others are like umbrella-sticks, as
+I told you; and the end of that one is a hook.
+Here is a picture, in which you can see it
+plainly.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_090.jpg" id="i_090.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_090.jpg"
+  alt="Bat foreleg with hook" />
+</div>
+
+<p>When the bat is on the ground, it is hard
+work for it to get along. At first it will reach
+forward a little to one side the hooked end of
+its fore-leg, and stick it in the ground; then
+it draws its hind-legs under its belly, and
+raising itself up, just tumbles forward its whole
+body. At the next step it stretches out the
+other fore-leg, and hooks it, as it did before,
+and drawing itself up, tumbles forward again.
+The bat does not like a level place, because it
+cannot raise itself in the air from it. When
+they rest, they hang by the hooks; and here
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span>
+is a drawing of one, resting. In the other
+picture which I showed you just now the
+bat was flying."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_091.jpg" id="i_091.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_091.jpg"
+  alt="Bat resting" />
+</div>
+
+<p>"Uncle Philip, we did not know before that
+bats were such curious things; we always
+thought that they were birds; but if these
+pictures are like them, these hooks are as good
+as fish-hooks."</p>
+
+<p>"The pictures, boys, are very much like
+the animal, and the hooks are just as plain
+as they seem to be in the drawings. But
+how often do you suppose that you have seen
+a bat?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Oh, many hundreds of times; for they
+are very common."</p>
+
+<p>"True, boys; and yet you never knew before
+that they had hooks about them. Suppose
+that everybody had done as you have,
+just passed by the bats, without taking notice
+of them; I could not have told you then
+what strange creatures they are, for no person
+would have known any thing about them.
+You see, then, that men may have eyes, and
+yet not see things; because they will not look
+for them. Use your eyes, boys; God made
+them to be used."</p>
+
+<p>"But, Uncle Philip, bats are such ugly
+things! and they can bite, too. We are afraid
+of them."</p>
+
+<p>"Ugly, boys! And what of that? Will
+you look at nothing but what is handsome?
+If the bat could think and speak, I expect he
+would call you very ugly. But it is foolish,
+boys, to be afraid of these smaller animals.
+There are many creatures which might hurt
+you, and I would advise you to keep out of
+their way: but it is silly to be afraid of every
+poor little insect or animal which you see. I
+have seen a large boy cry when he saw a
+poor little caterpillar or bug near him. Now
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span>
+there are very few insects, indeed, which can
+or will hurt you; and a great many of them
+you may watch without touching them at all.
+And I think that he is a wicked and cruel boy
+who kills every poor bug that he sees, merely
+because he is stronger than the bug. It would
+be a great deal kinder and wiser in the boy
+to notice what the bug was doing, for then he
+might learn something worth knowing."</p>
+
+<p>"But, Uncle Philip, is it wrong to kill <i>spiders</i>?"</p>
+
+<p>"Spiders! Why, boys, the spider is one
+of the very last of these little creatures that
+I should wish to kill. There is not a more
+curious little animal in the world, nor one
+that will pay a man better for watching its
+motions. At some other time I will tell you
+all about spiders and ants, for I have noticed
+them a great deal: but now, just to show you
+how much you would lose if you should kill
+all the spiders, I will talk with you about a
+tool which man uses, and which he might
+have learned to make from a spider."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, do tell us; what is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"The next time you go to Mr. Brown's, the
+silversmith, ask him to show you his plate
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span>
+for drawing out wire. Tell him that I told
+you to ask him, and he will show it to you.
+You will see a flat piece of steel with holes
+made through it in regular lines, beginning
+with a large size, and growing smaller and
+smaller until the last is very small indeed.</p>
+
+<p>"Now the wire is drawn through these
+holes; beginning at the larger ones, and passing
+every time through the next smaller one,
+it stretches the wire out, until it becomes as
+small as the workman wishes it to be.</p>
+
+<p>"The spider is a wire-drawer, too; for it
+has a contrivance to draw out its threads, and
+make them smaller or larger, as it pleases.
+If you will look at a very large spider, you
+can see with your naked eye, just at the end
+of its body, four, and sometimes six, little
+knobs like teats, with a circle around them.
+These are its spinners. Each one of these
+small knobs, inside of that circle, is so full
+of little holes or tubes, that Mr. Reaumur
+(of whom I told you before, you will recollect)
+calculated that a place no larger
+than the point of a pin had a thousand of
+these little holes in it. These holes are
+sometimes so very small, that another gentleman,
+<a name="FNanchor_8" id="FNanchor_8"></a>
+<a href="#Footnote_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a>
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span>
+who looked at spiders through a microscope
+very often, thought it would take four
+millions of the threads which came through
+those holes to make one thread as thick as a
+hair of his beard. Here is a picture of a spider
+hanging by a thread coming out of its spinner,
+or, as it is sometimes called, its spinneret."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_095.jpg" id="i_095.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_095.jpg"
+  alt="Spider hanging by a thread" />
+</div>
+
+<p>"Then, Uncle Philip, the spider does not
+spin its thread all at once?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"No, boys. Fine as you see that thread to
+be, it is not one single line, but it is made of
+many thousands joined together. The spiders
+have little bags of gum within their bodies,
+near their spinners, and out of these they
+draw the threads: when they have come out
+about the tenth part of an inch, they join
+them all into one with their claws; and they
+can shut their spinners when they please, so
+as to make the threads longer or shorter; and
+they can break them off, too, when they wish."</p>
+
+<p>"But, Uncle Philip, we do not see why
+there should be so many threads to make up
+one."</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot exactly tell you, boys, why there
+are so many; but probably to make the thread
+dry quicker, by letting the air touch so many
+parts of it: and I expect, too, the thread is
+stronger, because we know that in two pieces
+of cord of one size, if one is made of several
+smaller cords put together, it will be stronger
+than the other, which was spun all at once.
+The following is a picture of the spider's spinnerets,
+and some of the threads as it appears
+through the microscope; only you must recollect
+that <i>all</i> the threads are not drawn:
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span>
+there are a great many more than you see in
+the picture."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_097.jpg" id="i_097.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_097.jpg"
+  alt="Spider's Threads coming from the Spinnerets" />
+  <div class="caption">Spider's Threads coming from the Spinnerets.</div>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTE:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+  <a name="Footnote_8" id="Footnote_8"></a>
+  <a href="#FNanchor_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> Leuwenhoek.
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h2><a name="CONVERSATION_VIII" id="CONVERSATION_VIII"></a>CONVERSATION VIII.</h2>
+
+<div class="chapsum"><i>Uncle Philip tells the Children of a Door,
+with a Hinge and Spring to it, made by
+a Spider; and shows them Pictures to let
+them see the Difference between God's
+Work and Man's.</i></div>
+
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">I was</span> thinking, boys, last night, of what
+you said about killing the poor spiders; and
+I was sorry that I did not then recollect one
+thing about a spider which I could have told
+you, and which would have made you like the
+poor little creatures better. However, I determined
+that when you came to see me again,
+it should be the first thing I would tell you,
+if you wished to hear it."</p>
+
+<p>"Wish to hear it! Why, Uncle Philip,
+we always wish to hear you tell us of any
+thing that you please to talk about. You
+have told us of a great many strange things,
+about which we knew nothing before; and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span>
+we will thank you to tell us the story about
+the spider."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, boys; you shall hear it. Pray,
+do you not think that it is a piece of difficult
+work to make a door to a house, and to make
+hinges to hang it with, and to fit it so nicely
+that when it is done you cannot see the joints
+where the door is shut?"</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed it is a piece of very hard work.
+Uncle Philip, and it takes the carpenter a long
+time to do it; and it is hard work, too, for the
+blacksmith to make the hinges. But what
+has that to do with the story about the spider?"</p>
+
+<p>"Patience, boys, patience: you shall know
+presently. Never be in too great a hurry: it
+is a bad plan. I have always noticed that
+those persons who hurried most, went
+slowest in the end. Another question I wish
+to ask you is this,&mdash;do you not think it
+was hard work for the first man who ever
+made a spring, and put it on a door, to make
+it shut itself again when it had been opened?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, it was so: and the man who does it
+now gets well paid for it."</p>
+
+<p>"Very good, boys. And now what will
+you say when I tell you that a poor little spider
+did all these things long before man did?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"What, Uncle Philip! A spider make a
+door with a hinge and a spring to make it
+shut itself!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, boys; a spider. Do you think he
+deserves to be killed for doing it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh no, no! But pray tell us all about it.
+Uncle Philip."</p>
+
+<p>"This kind of spider, then, boys, I saw in
+Jamaica, and I saw its house, too. It is called
+the mason-spider. The nest or house which
+I saw was a tube made of very hard clay,
+about six inches long, and an inch across, and
+was a little bent at one end. The inside of
+this tube was lined all the way through with
+a kind of soft silky stuff, something like silk-paper,
+but stronger, and it was of a yellowish
+colour; but the curious part was the door. I
+never saw any thing which an insect had
+made more strange than that. This door was
+round, about as large as a quarter of a dollar,
+and was a little hollowed on the upper side
+like a saucer; the inside of it was rounded
+like the outside of the saucer. It was of the
+same stuff with the lining of the nest, and
+seemed to be made of more than a dozen
+pieces of that lining, put one on the top of another:
+it was shaped so, too, that the inside
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span>
+layers or pieces were the broadest, and the
+outside ones became smaller and smaller, except
+at the hinge, which was about an inch
+long. All the pieces in the door were joined
+into this hinge, and then the hinge was joined
+and worked into the lining in the tube.
+That made the hinge the thickest and strongest
+part of the whole work. How the spider
+made it so, boys, I cannot tell; but so it was,
+that this hinge not only was a hinge, but was
+so good a spring, that whenever the door was
+opened it would shut itself immediately:
+and when shut, it fitted so nicely that it was
+very difficult to see the place of joining."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Uncle Philip, this is most wonderful!
+But will not the hinge wear out at
+last?"</p>
+
+<p>"Wonderful as it is, boys, it is all true. As
+to its wearing out, I cannot tell you; but I
+know that a gentleman who had one, said
+that his friends were very anxious to see it;
+and there were so many of them, that he had
+to open the door and let it shut itself many
+hundreds of times to satisfy them; and it did
+not hurt the spring at all."</p>
+
+<p>"Uncle Philip, we shall not kill the poor
+spiders any more."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"A good resolution, boys: only let them
+alone, and they will not hurt you. There is
+another kind of mason-spider, which I never
+saw, but I have read of it. It is found in the
+south of France; I did not happen, however,
+to meet with one while I was in that beautiful
+country. This kind digs a gallery or
+hole under ground as much as a foot deep.
+She lines it with a sort of silk glued to the
+walls, and makes her door, which is round
+also, with many layers of mud or earth all
+kneaded and bound together with some of
+her silk. On the outside, the door is flat and
+rough, to make it appear like the dirt around
+it, and hide it; on the inside it is shaped like
+the inside of the door of the other spider I
+have told you about; and all covered with a
+coat of fine silk. The threads of this silk are
+left long on one side, and fastened to the upper
+part of the hole; and these make the
+hinge. There is no spring to this; but when
+the spider pushes its door open and comes
+out, it shuts again by its own weight. If this
+door is forced open by any one when the spider
+is at home, she will catch hold of it and
+pull it in; and sometimes even when it is
+half-opened; she will snatch it out of the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span>
+hand. Here is a picture which shows the nest
+open, and another of it shut; and there is a
+drawing of the spider, too.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_103.jpg" id="i_103.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_103.jpg"
+  alt="Spider's nest" />
+  <div class="caption">Illustration: <strong>A</strong>, the Nest shut;
+    <strong>B</strong>, the Nest open; <strong>C</strong>, the Spider;
+	<strong>D</strong>, the Eyes, magnified; <strong>E</strong>, <strong>F</strong>,
+	Parts of the Foot and Claw magnified.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>A gentleman says, in a book which he wrote
+about insects, that he once broke one of these
+doors off, to see what the spider would do."</p>
+
+<p>"And what did she do, Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"She made another door; but took very
+good care not to put any hinge to it, for fear
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span>
+she should be disturbed again. But when she
+thought all danger was gone, she could then put
+a hinge to it, you know; and probably she did."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Uncle Philip, we thank you again
+for this account of the spiders, and shall always
+look at them hereafter with more pleasure.
+Who would have thought that we should ever
+find doors and hinges among such little creatures,
+and these too so very well made and
+fitted!"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, boys, I have noticed the works of
+God very often; and I will now tell you one
+thing which I always found. It is this: a piece
+of the very best work which man can make
+is really coarse when you compare it with the
+work of God. The poor spider that we have
+talked about, when she makes her door, makes
+it to fit perfectly; because in doing that one
+thing, God made her to know perfectly how
+to do it. The knowledge is God's, boys; but
+the work is the spider's: but in making any
+thing else, except about her house, the spider
+knows nothing."</p>
+
+<p>"Uncle Philip, you told us once that you
+were very fond of watching all sorts of
+dumb animals, and we think now that we
+know the reason."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what is it?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"It is because you see so much of God's
+knowledge in them; is it not?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, my dear boys, it is. When I look at
+many things which man makes or does, I
+think to myself, 'Now this thing is likely to
+have a mixture of sense and nonsense in it;
+the sense is God's, and the nonsense is man's.'
+But when I look at a thing made by one of
+the dumb creatures for its own comfort and
+safety, like the spider's house, with its door
+and hinge, for instance, I say to myself, 'Now
+here is the wisdom of God, without any of
+man's nonsense.' And yet, boys, men are far
+wiser than any other animal in this world."</p>
+
+<p>"But, Uncle Philip, you said that a piece
+of man's best work was really coarse: some
+things must be neat, we should think. Is the
+point of a needle coarse? It does not seem so."</p>
+
+<p>"Boys, you have mentioned the very thing
+which was in my mind when I spoke. The
+point of the smallest needle is very coarse.
+You have heard me talk of the microscope.
+I told you it was a set of glasses, so fixed that
+when you looked through them, it made small
+things appear very large: on some other day,
+perhaps, I will let you look through my microscope
+for yourselves; but now, I just wish
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span>
+to show you the difference between the work
+of God and that of man. Let us go home,
+and I will show you some pictures I made,
+and you can see in them the difference. Last
+winter, you know, was very cold, and there
+was a great deal of snow: one day, while the
+snow was falling pretty fast, I was obliged to
+go out; and as the flakes of snow fell upon
+the sleeve of my coat (which was black), I
+thought they had a curious shape, and did not
+all appear alike; so when I returned home I
+caught some of the flakes, and looked at them
+through my microscope. They were so beautiful
+that I made pictures of them; and as we
+have now reached home, just let me step into
+my study, and I will bring them to you. Here
+they are, boys."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_106.jpg" id="i_106.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_106.jpg"
+  alt="Snow-flakes" />
+  <div class="caption">Snow-flakes, seen through a Microscope.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Uncle Philip! these are very pretty;
+they are all so different, too!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, boys, I picked out different ones to
+draw: when I was done, I began to look into
+my books to find out what others had written
+about this thing; and I found that a gentleman
+named Dr. Hook had seen more than a
+hundred different shapes and sizes of these
+flakes. This is <span class="smcap">God's</span> work, boys.</p>
+
+<p>"Now I have brought you out another picture:
+it is the point of a very small needle,
+seen through the very same microscope which
+showed me the snow-flakes. Just look at it,
+boys. This is <i>man's</i> work."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_107.jpg" id="i_107.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_107.jpg"
+  alt="Point of a very small Needle" />
+  <div class="caption">The Point of a very small Needle, seen through the Microscope.</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h2><a name="CONVERSATION_IX" id="CONVERSATION_IX"></a>CONVERSATION IX.</h2>
+
+<div class="chapsum"><i>Uncle Phillip tells the Boys a Story about a
+Philosopher and his Kite.&mdash;He tells them,
+too, about Ants that have Awls, and build
+Cities, and Stairs, and Bridges, and many
+other things.</i></div>
+
+
+<p>"So, boys, you have come again to see me.
+I am very glad of it; for as this is a leisure
+day, we shall have time enough to talk: but
+what is that you have there? Oh, I see now;
+it is a kite."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Uncle Philip; it is a French kite that
+we have been making, and we have come to
+ask you to go out with us this morning and
+see us fly it."</p>
+
+<p>"Very good, boys; I will go. I am an old
+man now; but I remember that I was a boy
+once, and loved to make a kite sail. It always
+makes me happy to see boys and girls playing
+about in health, provided they are not wasting
+time, and their play is not to do harm
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span>
+to anybody or any thing. So come on; we
+will go out upon the green common yonder,
+behind the church, and I think we shall have a
+grand kite-flying, for the wind is about right.</p>
+
+<p>"There, boys! up she goes! Let out the
+string. I think she behaves very well; there,
+she is done pitching about: now she is steady;
+see how she mounts. Ah, that is a very
+good kite."</p>
+
+<p>"Uncle Philip, I was reading a book yesterday
+which said, 'A philosopher once found
+great help from a kite.' What did it mean?"</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know what a philosopher is?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Uncle Philip; a philosopher is the
+same thing with a very wise man, is it not?"</p>
+
+<p>"That is pretty near the meaning. Philosopher
+means a person who loves wisdom;
+and such a person, you know, will always be
+trying to get knowledge; and a person who
+is always trying to get knowledge is apt to
+be a wise and learned man."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, how could a kite help a man to get
+learning? Did he read the old newspapers it
+was made of? I cannot see any other way."</p>
+
+<p>"But there may be another way without
+your seeing it, you know. The philosopher
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span>
+whom your book meant was Dr. Franklin.
+Did you ever hear of him?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes; he was born in Boston, and was
+a printer, and afterward became a very great
+man."</p>
+
+<p>"That is true. He was a man of excellent
+sense, who both read and thought a great
+deal; and in the war which the people of this
+country had with England to get their freedom.
+Dr. Franklin's sound sense was of great
+use to his countrymen."</p>
+
+<p>"But, Uncle Philip, how did the kite help
+him?"</p>
+
+<p>"I will tell you. If you take a proper piece
+of glass, or sulphur, or sealing-wax, or rosin,
+and rub it for some time, and then hold
+it near to small bits of thread or paper, the
+thread or paper will fly towards the glass or
+sealing-wax, and stick to it for a short time.
+That which makes them fly to the glass and
+stick there, is called <i>electricity</i>. After this
+was found out, men went on slowly finding
+out more and more, until at last a man named
+Hawksbee made a large machine with a glass
+barrel, which could be turned around by a handle
+like that which you see to a grindstone;
+and with this machine (which I will show you
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span>
+at some other time) he managed to get a great
+deal of this electricity, and it would shoot off
+in sparks, which appeared like little lightning.</p>
+
+<p>"And now, boys, what I am going to tell
+you will show you the use of a man's eyes.
+Dr. Franklin knew all about the electrical machine,
+and was very fond of drawing off the
+sparks from it, to see what he could find out
+about it. And when he saw it appeared so
+much like lightning, and could feel too a
+spark strike his hand a smart blow, he began
+to think that perhaps it was exactly the same
+thing with the lightning which came from the
+clouds; so he determined, if he could, to find
+out whether it was or not. He was a great
+deal troubled for some time to know how he
+should get down any of the lightning from
+the clouds; until at last, one day, he saw a
+boy flying a kite; and that showed him the
+way. So he took a large silk handkerchief,
+and stretching it upon sticks, soon made his
+kite; and not long afterward, when he saw a
+black thunder-cloud coming up, he took his
+kite and walked out of Philadelphia (where
+he then lived) into the fields, and sent his kite
+up. He had a string like yours, made of
+hemp, and to the end of this he tied an iron
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span>
+key, and then fastening it to the post of a shed
+by a silk cord, which he tied to the end of the
+hemp string, he got under the shed, and
+waited a long time. Now, boys, if he had
+been impatient, all his work would have been
+of no use. But he even waited, after a very
+heavy cloud had passed over his kite without
+giving it any of its lightning. At last, when
+he was almost ready to give it up and go
+home, he saw some loose threads on the hemp
+string rise and stand up straight, just as he
+knew the electrical machine would make them
+do. He directly put his knuckle to the iron
+key, and off came the spark, which he knew
+at once was exactly like the spark which he
+could get from the machine. And so, boys,
+he found out what he wished to know; and
+this was the way in which the kite helped
+the philosopher."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Uncle Philip, this is really a very
+pretty story about Dr. Franklin and his kite.
+Was anybody with him?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nobody but his son; he took him out to
+help him raise the kite. But, boys, I see the
+other lads are walking on towards the bridge
+with our kite; let us follow them, and as we
+go, I will tell you of an electric <i>animal</i>."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Oh, we shall be very glad to hear of him."</p>
+
+<p>"Listen, then. There is a kind of eel,
+which when it is touched will give a very
+hard blow, just like an electric shock, to the
+person who touches it."</p>
+
+<p>"Is there any spark, Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, boys; there is no spark,&mdash;but the blow
+is tremendous. I remember reading of one
+of these fish which was caught in a net, and
+a foolish sailor would take it up, though he
+was told it would hurt him. The fish shocked
+him so violently that he fell down in a fit,
+and it was a long time before he came to his
+senses; and his story was, that the moment
+he touched the fish, 'the cold ran swiftly up
+his arm into his body, and pierced him to the
+heart.' The fish has this power to defend
+itself, and to kill other fish for food."</p>
+
+<p>"But, Uncle Philip, how do they ever manage
+to catch them alive? I should think they
+would be shocked to death."</p>
+
+<p>"I will tell you. A very sensible traveller
+and learned man<a name="FNanchor_9" id="FNanchor_9"></a>
+<a href="#Footnote_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> gives an account of the
+manner in which they catch them, by a way
+called, by the South American Indians, 'fishing
+with horses.'"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Fishing with horses! What does that
+mean?"</p>
+
+<p>"The savannas, or large open plains, in
+South America have a great many wild horses
+and mules running over them. M. Humboldt
+says that the Indians caught about thirty of
+these, and drove them into the pond where
+the electrical eels were. The horses made a
+great noise, and stirred up the mud with their
+hoofs, and this brought up the eels from the
+bottom in a great rage. They were very
+large, and looked more like water-snakes than
+like eels; and rising to the top of the water,
+they crowded under the bellies of the horses
+and mules, and began to shock them. The
+poor horses would try to get out of the pond;
+but the Indians, with spears and long reeds,
+would stand around to hinder them from coming
+out: some of them, too, would climb
+upon the trees around the banks, and get out
+upon the branches which were over the pond,
+and by crying out aloud, and using their long
+reeds, kept the horses in the pond. The eels
+would continue to shock them with tremendous
+blows, and a great many of the poor
+creatures were either stunned or killed, and
+would sink. Those not killed would pant
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span>
+and raise their heads, while their eyes would
+show their pain, and they would try to get
+out. The Indians still drove them back, but
+some few escaped, and reached the shore,
+stumbling at every step, and would stretch
+themselves on the bank, tired out, and benumbed
+in their limbs by the shocks they
+had received. M. Humboldt says that in less
+than five minutes after the fight began, two
+horses were drowned; and he thought that
+the end of it would be, that every horse which
+did not get out of the water would be killed:
+but at last the eels became tired, and began
+to disperse. This is just what the Indians
+wish. They know that the eels have spent
+so much of their electrical power that they
+will need a long rest. It takes them a great
+while to get back their strength; so that if,
+the next day after such a fight, you send in
+more horses, they cannot kill one. When
+the eels, tired out in this way, begin to separate,
+they will swim to the edge of the pond,
+and there the Indians take them with small
+harpoons fastened to long cords. When the
+cords are dry, the Indian feels no shock in
+raising the eel out of the water. In this way
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span>
+M. Humboldt got five, all alive, and very little
+hurt. But here we are at the bridge."</p>
+
+<p>"Uncle Philip, suppose we sit down under
+the shade of this tree, and rest."</p>
+
+<p>"I am willing, boys; but take care of the
+damp ground: there is an old piece of timber
+that the men have taken out of the bridge, for
+I see they have been mending it; we will sit
+on that."</p>
+
+<p>"But, Uncle Philip, what shall we do with
+the kite? shall we draw it down?"</p>
+
+<p>"Do with it! Why, just tie the end of
+your string to that root, and it will take care
+of itself in this wind."</p>
+
+<p>"What a monstrous piece of timber this is.
+Uncle Philip! It must have taken a great
+many men to move it; and see&mdash;there are
+some larger ones still in the bridge. It must
+be a difficult work to build a bridge."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, it is so: but there are bridges much
+harder to build than our little wooden one
+here. Some are built of stone, and it takes
+years to finish them. None but a good workman
+can plan and build a good stone bridge:
+but I know a little fellow that can make as
+good a bridge as anybody; and yet no man
+ever taught him the trade."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Ah! now we know what is coming.
+You are going to tell us of a dumb animal
+that can make a bridge."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I am: and a small animal it is, too,
+for it is an ant."</p>
+
+<p>"What sort of an ant is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is called the white ant; and as there is
+a great deal that is very curious about this insect.
+I think that I had better tell you all about
+it at once."</p>
+
+<p>"Pray do, Uncle Philip; you know you
+promised to tell us about ants."</p>
+
+<p>"True, boys; and I like to keep my promises.
+In my story about these ants, I think, if
+you attend, you will find more tools; and besides
+that, you will hear of a great many
+things which man makes, and which show
+matters quite as strange as any of which I
+have yet told you."</p>
+
+<p>"What are they, Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"They are the building of something like a
+city, and bridges, and stairs, and roads, and
+tunnels under ground, and&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, let us hear&mdash;let us hear! We have
+heard nothing equal to this yet."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, then, I begin by telling you that
+these insects are very common in Africa,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span>
+and in the East Indies, and are troublesome
+enough, for they eat almost every thing but
+metal and glass. They love wood, though,
+better than any thing else; and they are
+so numerous that they destroy it wonderfully
+fast. They are very cunning, too; they never
+eat the outside of the wood first, but will
+work upon the inside, so as to leave the outer
+part not thicker than a piece of pasteboard.
+But the curious things I meant to tell you
+were about their city; so I will go on to that.
+When they first begin to build you will see
+little hills shaped like a sugar-loaf, and rising
+up above the ground about a foot, or a little
+more. Here is a picture of them.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_118.jpg" id="i_118.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_118.jpg"
+  alt="Hills shaped like a sugar-loaf" />
+</div>
+
+<p>The highest of these little hills is always in
+the middle; and they go on building more
+and more, and making them all higher, still
+keeping the tallest one in the centre. When
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span>
+they have made them as high as they wish,
+then they fill in the spaces between the tops
+of all these sugar-loaf hills, so as to make one
+roof over all. Here is a picture of one finished.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_119.jpg" id="i_119.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_119.jpg"
+  alt="Finished sugar-loaf hill" />
+</div>
+
+<p>After this is done, they take down nearly all
+of the little sugar-loaf hills inside; for they
+only wanted them for a scaffold to support the
+top while they were building it."</p>
+
+<p>"Uncle Philip, what is all this built of?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is built of clay, which the ant makes
+almost as hard as stone."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Are they strong, Uncle Philip?</p>
+
+<p>"So strong, boys, that five men may stand
+on them; and it is a common thing for the
+wild bulls to get upon them and look out,
+while the rest of the herd are feeding below."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, how high are they?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, of different heights; some as many
+as five or six feet, others are twelve, and the
+largest are as high as twenty feet, and would
+easily hold a dozen men."</p>
+
+<p>"And how large are the ants, Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not above a quarter of an inch high as
+they stand. Now, boys, just compare the
+size of one of these nests with the size of the
+ant that made it; and it is quite as large in proportion
+as the city of New-York is when compared
+to a man's size; yes, it is a great deal
+larger in proportion. These nests are sometimes
+five hundred times as high as the ants
+which build them: now suppose that men
+built their houses five hundred times as high
+as themselves, and as large at the foundation
+in proportion to their height, what monstrous
+buildings they would be! But let me go on.
+This outside shell, which I have been telling
+you how they make, is nothing but the wall
+of the city; the buildings are all inside of
+that."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"But, Uncle Philip, there is one thing I
+have been thinking of which would make it
+more like a city still. But I hardly think they
+can have that."</p>
+
+<p>"What is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why in a city, you know, where there are
+a great many people, there are a great many
+trades: some do one thing and some do another
+to get money."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, that is true; and I am glad that you
+mentioned it, because it reminds me of one
+thing I intended to tell you about these ants.
+Now, it would not be reasonable, you know,
+to expect the ants to have many different kinds
+of business to do, as the people in New-York
+have; but still, boys, they are not all alike,
+and they do have work of different kinds.
+There are in the city of the white ants a king
+and a queen, and soldiers, and labourers, or
+workmen, and all these are different. Here
+are pictures which will show them all to you.
+This is the king.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_121.jpg" id="i_121.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_121.jpg"
+  alt="King of the termites" />
+  <div class="caption">King of the Termites.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>At first he has four wings, but soon loses
+them. He never grows any larger after he
+loses them. The king may be known by his
+having two large eyes. Here is the queen.
+She is the mother of the whole city; and you
+see what a large body she has. It is full of
+eggs, and eighty thousand will come from her
+in twenty-four hours. She also has two eyes.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_122a.jpg" id="i_122a.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_122a.jpg"
+  alt="Queen of the termites" />
+  <div class="caption">Queen of the Termites.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>"Here is a soldier: he has a large head,
+armed with two hooks, shaped like a crooked
+awl, and very sharp.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_122b.jpg" id="i_122b.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_122b.jpg"
+  alt="Soldier of the termites" />
+  <div class="caption">Soldier of the Termites.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>"For every one of these soldiers there are
+about one hundred labourers. The soldiers
+do the fighting; and though they are perfectly
+blind, they fight well, and are very brave.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span>
+The following is a picture, too, of the soldiers'
+awls, seen through the microscope, to show
+you how sharp they are.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_123a.jpg" id="i_123a.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_123a.jpg"
+  alt="Soldier's awl" />
+</div>
+
+<p>"And here is a picture of the labourer; the
+largest part of the city is made up of the labourers,&mdash;which
+shows us, I think, boys, that
+there is more need of working than there is
+of fighting.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_123b.jpg" id="i_123b.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_123b.jpg"
+  alt="Labourer of the Termites" />
+  <div class="caption">Labourer of the Termites.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>This class, like the soldiers, is blind, and
+scarcely ever go into the open air; their work
+is mostly under ground or in the inside of
+wood. Both, however, do come out when
+their city is attacked and broken: but I will
+tell you of that presently."</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTE:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+  <a name="Footnote_9" id="Footnote_9"></a>
+    <a href="#FNanchor_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> M. Humboldt.
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h2><a name="CONVERSATION_X" id="CONVERSATION_X"></a>CONVERSATION X.</h2>
+
+<div class="chapsum"><i>Uncle Philip tells the Children more about the
+White Ants.</i></div>
+
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">Now</span>, boys, as I have told you about the
+kinds of different work which these ants do,
+we will go on, and I will tell you about the
+inside of the city. The first thing to be done
+is to build a house for the king and queen.
+This is the first house built in the city, and
+always stands in the centre, directly under
+the point of the roof or top of the outside wall.
+It is built nearly on a level with the ground,
+and is shaped very much like a long oven, or
+the half of an egg split through the long way.
+The floor is exactly level, and about an inch
+thick; the roof is about the same thickness.
+The doors are on a level with the floor, and
+just large enough to let one of the labourers
+go in."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Uncle Philip, how do the king and
+queen ever get out then."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"They never do get out, boys; they live in
+that house always, and they are not the first
+kings and queens who have found that a
+palace is sometimes a prison. Just around
+this house of the king and queen are other
+houses built of clay, arched at the top, and of
+different shapes. These are for the servants
+or labouring ants, who remove the eggs of the
+queen as fast as she discharges them. The
+soldiers also live in these houses. Next to
+these are the magazines, that is, the houses
+where they keep their food, such as dry juices
+of trees and gums; and mixed up with these are
+the nurseries. These are made by the labourers,
+and are different from all the other buildings,
+for they are made of wood gnawed or
+broken into fine threads, and joined together
+with some kind of gum, and around each of
+them there is a case of clay. These nurseries
+are to carry the eggs into for the young
+ants to be hatched. Between all these different
+houses or parts there are thousands of
+galleries or ways, which run among them and
+separate them from each other, and these
+may be called the streets of the city. These
+streets run in all directions, and extend as far
+as the outside wall; and houses are built on
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span>
+top of houses, and streets run over streets,
+until they reach up as high as two-thirds of
+the inside wall. But under the top of their
+outside case they always leave a large open
+place that is never filled up with houses. And
+around this space they will build three or four
+large arches, sometimes two or three feet high;
+these I suppose are to prevent the houses from
+falling in towards the centre of the city, which
+is an open space, and on the other side they
+are fastened to the outside walls, so that these
+houses are very firm."</p>
+
+<p>"And what is all this made of, Uncle
+Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"All of clay, except the nurseries, which I
+told you were made of wood and gum. Over
+the house of the king and queen there is a
+sort of flat floor, some distance above it, with
+nurseries and magazines between the under
+side of it and the top of the queen's house.
+This floor will not let the water through it,
+so as to wet the palace where the king and
+queen live, but will turn it off into large
+trenches or gutters under ground, of which
+I will speak directly. The bridge I told you
+of they build from this floor in the open
+space, directly under the top or dome of the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span>
+outside wall; it rises up and is joined to some
+hole in the side wall of the houses above it."</p>
+
+<p>"How large is it, Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, sometimes it is half an inch broad,
+a quarter of an inch thick, and ten inches
+long; all made of clay, so that it is very strange
+how they manage to join it to the wall without
+its falling down by its own weight while
+they were building it."</p>
+
+<p>"And what do you suppose this bridge is
+for, Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, I think there can be no doubt what
+it is for. When the city has been growing
+for some time, some of the nurseries will be
+very high up above the queen's house; but the
+labourers have to carry her eggs into them,
+no matter how far off they may be. If they
+carry them through all the streets, they will
+have to walk as many as fifteen or twenty
+feet, for it would be five or six feet in a perfectly
+straight line, and these streets are very
+crooked; but if they make a bridge in the
+open space in the centre, they can then go
+from the queen's house over the bridge, and
+get to the upper nurseries without travelling
+more than two feet. So they made the bridge
+to shorten the way, to be sure."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"This is very wonderful: but you said something
+about large trenches or gutters underground;
+what are they, Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"These galleries lead from the city under
+ground, and are as large as the bore of a large
+cannon; they are thirteen inches across, and
+more than a hundred yards long. I have
+already told you that the labourers never come
+out into the light, when they can help it; and
+these underground ways are the great roads
+to the city, to fetch in clay, or wood, or water,
+or provisions: and now I will tell you another
+thing which shows a great deal of sense.
+As some of their houses are very high up, you
+know they would find it very hard to climb
+up through all the streets with a heavy load
+in a straight line; so when these large ways
+underground reach the outside wall, they just
+come through and keep on winding around
+the inside of it like a corkscrew all the way
+to the top; and there are other galleries opening
+from it at different places into the city.
+One thing has been noticed about these ants;
+they can scarcely climb at all up a perpendicular
+wall. Therefore on the upright
+side of any part of the city you may see a
+road made, standing out from the wall like
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span>
+a ledge; it is flat on the top, and half an
+inch wide, and goes up gradually like a stair-case,
+or like a road cut out on the side of a
+mountain.</p>
+
+<p>"Here is a picture of one of their cities cut
+straight down through the middle. At the
+bottom, in the centre, is the queen's house;
+over it is a floor, and the two crooked things
+you see rising up from the floor, are bridges."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_129.jpg" id="i_129.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_129.jpg"
+  alt="White ants city" />
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"But, Uncle Philip, you said you would tell
+us about the soldiers and labourers coming
+out when the city is attacked."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I did. As soon as a hole is made in
+the outside wall, you will see a soldier run
+out, and walk about as if to look around; but
+as he is blind, it cannot be to see what the
+danger is. He may have some way though of
+finding out without seeing. Presently he will
+go in, as if to tell the others, and then out
+pour the soldiers in great numbers, as fast
+as the hole will let them; and just as long
+as you strike the outside wall, they will
+continue to rush out. They seem to be in
+a terrible passion. They are in such a hurry
+that sometimes they slip, and roll down
+the outside of the hill; but they jump up
+again instantly, and begin to bite every thing
+they run against, for they are blind and cannot
+tell a friend from an enemy."</p>
+
+<p>"Do they bite hard, Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"Very hard indeed. They make their
+hooked jaws, which are like awls, you know,
+meet at every bite; and if it should happen to
+be a man's leg they get hold of, you would see
+upon his stocking a spot of blood an inch long.
+At every bite too you may hear their jaws
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span>
+snapping together and making quite a noise.
+Some of them too (perhaps they are the officers)
+are constantly beating with their awls upon the
+outside wall, and make a sound something
+quicker and sharper than the ticking of a watch.
+You may hear it at a distance of three or
+four feet. When these biters lay hold, nothing
+will make them let go; you must tear them
+away by pieces. After you stop striking the
+wall, in about half an hour they seem to get
+over their rage and go back into the city, and
+then out come the labourers. While the noise
+continues you will not see one of them; they
+all fled at the first appearance of danger. But
+now they come, each one with a bundle of
+mortar in his mouth, ready made; and they
+stick it on the hole so fast, and with such
+order, that though thousands and thousands
+are at work they never interrupt each other.
+And while the labourers are busy, if you look
+you may commonly see a soldier or two walking
+about; but they never touch the mortar,
+nor help in any way to mend the hole. One
+of these soldiers always stands near the spot
+where the labourers are at work, and every
+now and then turns slowly around, and frequently
+lifts up his head, and with his awls
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span>
+beats upon the building, and makes a sort of
+hissing noise. As soon as that is done you may
+hear a loud hiss from all the labourers, both on
+the outside of the wall and from the inside of
+the city, and then the labourers run faster, and
+work as quick again. If you attack the nest
+again, away run all the labourers as fast as
+their legs will carry them, and out pour the
+soldiers as before; and the same thing is
+always seen upon every attack, of soldiers
+to fight and labourers to work."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Uncle Philip, this is a very strange
+story; much more interesting than any we
+have yet heard."</p>
+
+<p>"I thought it would please you, boys; but
+there are still stranger things among animals,
+and perhaps you will say so when you know
+more.</p>
+
+<p>"But it is now time to return home; so take
+in the kite and let us be going."</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h2><a name="CONVERSATION_XI" id="CONVERSATION_XI"></a>CONVERSATION XI.</h2>
+
+<div class="chapsum"><i>Uncle Philip tells the Children about some
+other Ants, that are very good Masons, and
+build Walls and Ceilings; and a Story
+about a very sensible Ant, which seemed to
+think a little.</i></div>
+
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">Good</span> morning, good morning, Uncle Philip;
+we have been so much delighted with
+the stories about the white ants, that we hope
+you have more of the same kind to tell us."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, as to that matter, boys, I can tell
+you much more about ants, for there are many
+kinds of them; but I am not sure that I can
+show you any of the <i>tools</i> with which they
+work, though a large portion of their work
+is like that of man; and they have, too, several
+customs which our fellow-creatures have.
+I can tell you, however, of several other
+animals which do use tools shaped like those
+used by men, if you would rather hear of
+them."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"If you please, Uncle Philip, we will hear of
+them at another time; but now we would rather
+have you tell us of the other kinds of ants."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, very well, boys; it shall be as you
+wish. All that I desire is to instruct and
+amuse you, and I am sure that the ants can
+furnish a good lesson to us. I shall begin
+with the mason ants. They always build
+their nests either of clay which is damp, and
+dug from the inside of their city under ground,
+or which has been made wet by the rain; and
+a part of their building is always above the
+ground, so that you can easily see it. There is
+no fixed rule for the ants to build by. Their
+cities are not all alike in the inside. Sometimes
+the walls are larger and coarser, and the
+ways and galleries are higher, than at other
+times. The rooms, too, are different in shape
+and size, so that this industrious little insect
+seems to have sense enough to work in the
+best way according to circumstances. There
+is only one general rule which they seem to
+have, and that is always to build in a number
+of different stories, one above the other. If
+you examine one of these stories you may
+see a number of large places or halls, some
+smaller rooms, and some long galleries which
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span>
+serve as passage-ways. The tops of these
+large halls are covered with an arched ceiling,
+and this ceiling is held up, sometimes by little
+columns, sometimes by very thin walls, or by
+props built against the side walls, just like buttresses.
+There are also chambers which have
+but one door, which opens into the lower
+story, and large open places in the centre of
+the nest something like a cross road, and all
+these little galleries or streets come into that
+open place."</p>
+
+<p>"Any bridges, Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, boys; no bridges among these ants, so
+far as I know. There will sometimes be as
+many as twenty stories above ground in the
+ant-hill, and as many below. The best time
+to see these little fellows at work is in a gentle
+shower of rain, or directly after."</p>
+
+<p>"Why do they work in the rain, Uncle
+Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose, boys, it is because the earth is
+then better for them; and one thing that has
+been noticed about their work is, that the rain,
+when it is not too violent, seems to make it
+solid, for these ants have no gum or glue
+about them like some other insects, to make
+the earth stick together. As soon as the rain
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span>
+begins, if you watch the brown ants, you may
+see them come out of the ground in great
+numbers; and then running in again, they
+will soon return, each one with a little piece
+of dirt in his mouth, which he puts down
+upon the roof of the nest. A gentleman who
+watched them very closely<a name="FNanchor_10" id="FNanchor_10"></a>
+<a href="#Footnote_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> says, that at first
+he could not think what this was done for, but
+at last he saw little walls begin to rise up
+with spaces left between them. In some
+places pillars were begun, placed at regular
+distances, and he knew that these were to
+support ceilings; so he found out that they
+were going to build another story to their
+house, and they were laying the foundations."</p>
+
+<p>"How I should have liked to see them.
+Uncle Philip. I would not have cared for the
+rain."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, I see you are fit to be a naturalist.
+You know what that word means, do you
+not?"</p>
+
+<p>"It means, Uncle Philip, a man who loves
+to study about the animals and insects, does
+it not?"</p>
+
+<p>"It means a man or a woman either, boys,
+who loves to study the things in nature no
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span>
+matter whether they are animals, or stones,
+or grass, or flowers, or any of the things
+which God has made. Mark, boys, I said to
+study the things, and you said to study <i>about</i>
+the things. Now a person may read a great
+deal that is interesting and true about all
+these things in books; and it is very well to
+do so; but I think that the real naturalist
+will never be satisfied with books only; he
+will be looking to see things for himself. And
+I said a woman might be a naturalist, because
+some ladies have been fond of natural history,
+and have proved themselves to be very good
+naturalists. But let us go back to the ants.
+Mr. Huber, in the account which he gives of
+his having watched these little workmen,
+never thought of telling us whether he got
+wet or not, because he was too busy to think
+or care much about it. He had an opportunity
+of seeing what he might never see
+again, and a little rain was not to spoil it.
+He says that each ant, as it brought out its
+little lump of dirt, would place it on the spot
+where it wished it to be, and press against it
+with its teeth, so as to make it fit closely. It
+then rubbed its feelers all over it, and after
+that pressed upon it lightly with its fore-feet.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span>
+The walls went on very rapidly, and it often
+happened that two little walls, which were to
+make a passage or gallery, would be raised
+opposite and at a small distance from each
+other. When they were about a quarter of
+an inch high, the ants would set to work and
+cover them with an arched ceiling. After
+they had raised all the walls as high as they
+wished, on the inside of each wall at the top
+they began to put in pieces of wet dirt almost
+level, and in such a way as to make a ledge;
+and by joining on more dirt to it, it would
+meet the ledge made from the opposite wall
+so as to make a roof: these roofs over the
+galleries were about a quarter of an inch
+across. The ceilings over the large halls
+were sometimes as much as two inches in
+breadth, and to support these they raised
+pillars; and beginning in the corner where
+two walls joined, they would commence the
+ceiling with a ledge, while from the top of
+each pillar they would also build out a layer
+of earth a little rounded on the top; these
+they continued to add to until all met and
+made a complete cover for the hall."</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder it did not fall, Uncle Philip, before
+they could join it together."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Huber says that he thought several
+times it would fall, from the rain which was
+dropping upon it all the time; but he found
+that the pieces held together, and that the
+rain, instead of hurting it, only made it more
+solid. All that it wants, when the ants have
+done, is a little heat from the sun to bake it
+hard, and then it appears like a piece of solid
+dirt. Sometimes, if the rain be violent, the
+apartments will be destroyed, especially if the
+arches are not built strongly; and when this
+happens, the little creatures go to work very
+patiently and rebuild them."</p>
+
+<p>"And how long, Uncle Philip, did it take
+the ants to put another story on their house?"</p>
+
+<p>"Between seven and eight hours; and they
+had hardly finished one before they began another,
+but they had not time to finish it, for
+the rain stopped before they had built much:
+however, they kept on, taking advantage of
+the wet earth; but a cold drying wind soon
+sprang up, and the earth would not stick; so
+they stopped: but what do you think they did
+with the new story which they had not time
+to finish?"</p>
+
+<p>"What <i>did</i> they do, Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"Pulled every part of it to pieces, and scattered
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span>
+the dirt here and there over the roof of
+the story which they had finished.</p>
+
+<p>"I will tell you another story about these
+ants, boys, which I think is most wonderful,
+because it appears so much like reason.
+These insects all seem to work separately,&mdash;I
+mean without attending to the work of others:
+of course sometimes the work done by
+different ants on opposite sides of the same
+gallery or hall will not suit: one wall will be
+higher than the other, so that the ceilings will
+not meet. Mr. Huber saw just such a case;
+the ceiling which was begun from one wall
+would just have reached the other wall about
+half-way up; and while he was wondering
+how the ants would cure the fault, one of
+them came, and looking at the work, seemed
+to know that it was wrong, and immediately
+began by taking down the ceiling from the
+lower wall; he then raised it to the same
+height with the opposite wall, and made a
+new ceiling in Mr. Huber's presence with the
+pieces of the old one."</p>
+
+<p>"Uncle Philip, if that ant did not know
+how to think, I am mistaken."</p>
+
+<p>"I must confess, boys, it does seem very
+much like thinking; and if it was not thinking,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span>
+we must at any rate own that it was
+something which, <i>in this case</i>, did quite as
+well; for no thought of man could have hit
+upon a better plan. But if the ant knew how
+to think as a man does, do you suppose it would
+ever have made the mistake? Would not
+the workmen have all agreed beforehand what
+they were to do, and how it should be done,
+so that there might be no need of pulling
+down any of the work because it would not
+suit? I think that this story, boys, while it
+shows us something like reason in <i>one</i> particular
+instance, shows us also that <i>in general</i>
+the ant has not reason like ours. But I am
+tired now, and can tell you no more this
+morning. When you come again I shall be
+ready to talk with you about some other kinds
+of ants. But before you go, tell me&mdash;can any
+of you inform me what the Bible says about
+the ant?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, Uncle Philip: it says, 'Go to the
+ant, thou sluggard, consider her ways, and be
+wise.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, another question. Have you any
+lessons to say when you go into school on
+Monday?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Uncle Philip; we have."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Have you learned them, boys?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Then remember what the Bible says to
+the sluggard, and go and learn them at once.
+Good-by, children."</p>
+
+<p>"Good-by, Uncle Philip: we will learn our
+lessons."</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTE:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+  <a name="Footnote_10" id="Footnote_10"></a>
+  <a href="#FNanchor_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> Mr. Huber the younger.
+</div>
+
+</div>
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2><a name="CONVERSATION_XII" id="CONVERSATION_XII"></a>CONVERSATION XII.</h2>
+
+<div class="chapsum"><i>Uncle Philip tells the Boys about Ants that
+go to War and fight Battles; and about
+some that are Thieves, and have Slaves.</i></div>
+
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">Well</span>, my lads, how do you do to-day?"</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, Uncle Philip, we thank you.
+And we wish to let you know that we kept
+our promise to learn our lessons. Our teacher
+was very well satisfied with every one of us."</p>
+
+<p>"That is well, boys. I am truly glad to
+hear this from you: and I make no doubt
+that you also felt a great deal happier than you
+would have done had you neglected to learn
+your lessons. Did you not?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, Uncle Philip, much happier; and
+far more cheerful and good-natured."</p>
+
+<p>"Such are apt to be the feelings, boys, of
+those who have done their <i>duty</i>. I am verily
+persuaded that there is no such thing as real,
+solid happiness in this world, but in that man
+who acts from a sense of duty. His is true
+peace, because it is 'the peace of God.' I do
+not say, boys, that a man, even when he does
+his duty, <i>always</i> feels comfortable or happy <i>at
+once</i>; but he will be more apt to feel so than
+if he did not do his duty: and I do say that
+no man who does not act from a sense of duty,
+is likely to feel any thing like happiness very
+often or very long."</p>
+
+<p>"Then, Uncle Philip, a man who wishes to
+be happy will try in the first place to find out
+what his duty is."</p>
+
+<p>"To be sure, he will; and he need not try
+very long either, if he really wishes to know
+it. The will of God, boys, is at the bottom of
+all our duties; and an honest man, yes, or
+boy either, can commonly tell what God will
+think to be right or wrong in his conduct.
+You know where a great many of our duties
+are very plainly written down for us; do you
+not?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, sir; in the New Testament, which
+tells us of what our Saviour said and did."</p>
+
+<p>"True. And what our Saviour commanded,
+boys, God commanded; for He is
+God. But besides this, when it is not exactly
+written down in the New Testament what we
+should do, still if we will think, we shall very
+often find out what to do, from what is
+written."</p>
+
+<p>"Uncle Philip, we almost always know
+what you mean; but now, we do not quite
+understand you."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, boys, for telling me that you
+do not know what I mean: always tell any
+person who is trying to teach you something,
+when you do not understand what is said to
+you. Now I will try to make what I said
+plainer to you. The New Testament does
+not say any thing about your going to school;
+does it?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Who sends you to school, boys, and pays
+your teachers for instructing you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Our parents, Uncle Philip."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well. Now suppose that John Carter
+here, should wish, instead of going to school,
+to do, what I am very sure he never did do:
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span>
+suppose he should determine to play the truant.
+The Bible does not say a boy shall not
+play the truant, does it?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, Uncle Philip."</p>
+
+<p>"But if John Carter should play the truant,
+he would, in doing so, disobey what God has
+commanded in the Bible just as much as if
+the Bible did say 'A boy shall not play the
+truant;' for the Bible does say, '<i>Children
+obey your parents</i>,' and he could not be a
+truant without disobeying his parents, who
+bade him go to school."</p>
+
+<p>"Uncle Philip, we understand you very well
+now."</p>
+
+<p>"There is another thing I wish you to understand,
+boys. John Carter, as you see,
+would not only disobey his parents, which is
+wicked, but he would also commit a <i>sin</i> against
+God. That is always the thing to look at first.
+When we are going to do something that we
+are not very sure is right, we should always
+stop to ask ourselves whether God will be
+pleased with it. But I have said enough to
+you about our duty for this time. Now for
+the ants I promised to tell you of. And the
+first sort I shall mention are great fighters."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Fighters, Uncle Philip! What do they
+fight about?"</p>
+
+<p>"About trifles, boys, just as men do. They
+have terrible wars, and will dispute with and
+kill each other for a few inches of dirt, when
+certainly this world is large enough for them
+all. But animals wiser than ants, boys, act
+in the same foolish way. Men sometimes
+go to war and kill each other to determine
+who shall have a river, or a small town, or a
+fort, or some little spot of ground; while the
+poor creatures who do the fighting, and get
+all the wounds, and lose their lives, had they
+been let alone, would have lived on in peace,
+and never cared a straw who had the miserable
+little spot they fight for. But let me go
+on with the account of these ants. In the
+forests, where the fallow ants live, you may
+see these wars. The battle will be between
+the ants of different hills, but they are all
+ants of the same sort. Thousands and thousands
+of them will meet on the ground between
+their hills, and the battle begins by two
+ants, who seize each other by the claws (or
+<i>mandibles</i>, as they are called), and rising up
+on their hind-legs, they bring their bodies near
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span>
+together, and spirt a sort of venomous or
+poisonous juice upon each other. These will
+be followed by thousands of others on both
+sides, who seize each other in the same way,
+and fight in pairs&mdash;ant to ant. Sometimes
+they will get so wedged together that they
+fall down upon their sides, but they do not
+let go on that account; they keep on fighting
+in the dust until they rise on their feet again.
+Sometimes, too, a third ant will come in, and
+joining whichever of them belongs to his
+nest, the two will begin to drag the third,
+until some of his friends come to his help;
+and in this way, others joining on both sides,
+they will form strings of six, or eight, or ten
+on a side, pulling with all their strength.
+And while some are fighting, you will see
+others leading off prisoners towards their
+hills, while the prisoners are trying to escape.
+The field of battle is not more, perhaps, than
+three feet square; multitudes of dead ants
+covered with venom may be seen upon it,
+and there is a very strong scent which comes
+from it. When night comes they go off to
+their hills. Before dawn the next day they
+are at it again in still larger numbers, and
+they fight with greater fury than before, until
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span>
+at last one side or the other gives way. They
+are so busy that even if you stand near them
+they take no notice of you, and not one stops
+fighting, or crawls up your legs."</p>
+
+<p>"Do all of them that belong to the hill go
+out to fight, Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; near the hills all is peace and order,
+and work seems to be going on as usual.
+Only on the side next to the battle, crowds
+may be seen running backwards and forwards
+from both hills; some as messengers, I suppose,
+and some to fight, or carry back prisoners."</p>
+
+<p>"But, Uncle Philip, you said that these ants
+were all of one sort; how then do they know
+one another so as to tell which party each
+one belongs to? I should think that sometimes
+they would make a mistake, and fight
+a friend instead of an enemy."</p>
+
+<p>"This, boys, is one of the most wonderful
+things concerning them. They are alike in
+form, and size, and weapons, and strength;
+and sometimes it happens that they do make
+a mistake, but it is very seldom; and when
+they do, Mr. Huber, who watched one of their
+battles, says that they find it out directly, and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span>
+caress each other with their feelers, and make
+up the difficulty at once.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you tired, boys, or do you wish to
+hear more?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, let us hear more, by all means: we
+are not at all tired."</p>
+
+<p>"I will then tell you of another kind of
+ants called legionary ants, and sometimes
+amazons; but I am sorry to say that they
+are unlike other ants, for they are lazy; and
+yet they live very comfortably."</p>
+
+<p>"How is that, Uncle Philip? Can they
+be comfortable without working?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, boys, if they can get others to work
+for them; and these have their work mostly
+done by their slaves."</p>
+
+<p>"By their slaves! what are their slaves, and
+where did they get them?"</p>
+
+<p>"As to your first question, boys, their slaves
+are ants of another kind; as to the second
+question&mdash;where they get them&mdash;they <i>stole</i>
+them when they were young."</p>
+
+<p>"Why you surprise us, Uncle Philip."</p>
+
+<p>"I dare say I do. There are persons much
+older than you are who have never attended
+at all to the doings of insects, who would be
+very much astonished by the history of the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span>
+legionary ants; and probably would laugh at
+the whole account as an idle story; and yet
+it is all true, and those who have read and
+seen, know it to be true; and they know, too,
+that to deny it shows nothing but ignorance.
+However, I always let such persons alone. I
+can do them no good; for they are apt to be
+very conceited, and will not be convinced.
+And now for the legionary ant. This is a
+fighting ant, as well as the last I mentioned;
+and it actually steals the young of another
+kind, rears them, and puts all the work on
+them, so as to be idle itself. This curious
+fact was first found out by Mr. Huber; another
+gentleman, named Latreille, afterward
+saw the same thing; and now a great many
+naturalists know it, because they have sought
+for and seen it. The ant which it steals is
+of a dark ash colour; the legionary is of
+light colour. The dark-coloured ant is
+now called the negro ant, and is a very industrious,
+peaceable insect, without any sting.
+The legionary is a strong, brave ant, with a
+sting, but very lazy. I shall relate to you
+the account which Mr. Huber gives of the
+legionary. He was walking near the city of
+Geneva during an afternoon in the summer
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span>
+of 1804, when he saw quite an army of these
+legionary ants crossing the road; they passed
+through a thick hedge, entered a pasture, and
+kept on through the grass without separating;
+and Mr. Huber followed them until he saw
+them come near a nest of negro ants. Some
+of these negro ants seemed to be guarding
+the holes into their nest; but as soon as they
+saw the legionaries, they, with a great many
+more from the inside of the nest, attacked the
+thieves. The legionary ants, however, were
+too powerful for them, and after a short but
+severe fight they conquered the negroes, who
+ran into the lower part of their nests. The
+legionaries then mounted their ant-hill, some
+entered it by the holes already made, and others
+began with their teeth to break other holes,
+so that all the army might get into the hill.
+They went in and remained but a few minutes,
+when they came out, each one having
+in his mouth a young negro ant, and off they
+scampered, without any order among them,
+every one going his own way, until Mr.
+Huber lost sight of them. The next day he
+set out to go back and examine further, and
+on his way he found a large ant-hill full of
+legionaries, and saw an army start from it,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span>
+which he followed. They made the attack
+as before, and each one came off with a young
+negro ant in his mouth, and on going back
+to their hill, from which Mr. Huber saw
+them start, he had an opportunity of seeing
+them return, and was very much surprised to
+find all around the nest of the legionaries a
+great many full-grown negro ants. At first
+he thought that perhaps they had gone there
+to fight the legionaries, but he soon saw that
+instead of fighting, the negro ants went out
+to meet the legionaries returning, and would
+caress them, and give them food, and finally
+take the young negro ants and carry them
+within the nest."</p>
+
+<p>"But, Uncle Philip, why do the legionaries
+always take the young ones?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because, boys, they know, I suppose, that
+the old ants would never be satisfied to remove
+from their homes; and therefore they
+take the young. These legionaries could work
+if they would, I think, but they depend upon
+the negro ants for house and home, and food
+too; and nothing can be more faithful and
+affectionate than these poor slaves are. To
+try them, Mr. Huber took thirty of the legionaries,
+and put them with some of the larvæ,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span>
+or grubs of their own young, into a glass box
+with a thick coat of earth at the bottom of it,
+and he put honey also in the box, that they
+might not want food. At first the legionaries
+paid a little attention to their young; but they
+soon stopped; and they neither tried to make
+a house, nor took any food, so that in two days
+half of them died. Mr. Huber then put in
+<i>one</i> negro ant, and this little creature set to
+work alone, made a chamber of the earth in
+the box, gathered the young together, fed the
+old, and put every thing into complete order.</p>
+
+<p>"At another time Mr. Huber broke one of
+the ant-hills of these legionaries, to see how
+they would act, and in doing it, he, of course,
+altered their galleries and chambers. The legionaries
+seemed to be lost, and went wandering
+about, without knowing where to go; but
+the negro ants appeared to understand very
+well where they were: they could find such
+of the galleries as were not broken, and would
+take up the legionaries in their mouths and
+carry them into them. If the negro sometimes
+seemed for a short time to be lost, and
+not to know where it was, it laid down its
+master, ran round and examined until it knew,
+and then would come back, and pick up the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span>
+legionary ant, and carry it off. In one case
+Mr. Huber saw that the entrance to a gallery
+was stopped up by a small lump of earth; the
+negro ant laid his master down, took away
+the piece of earth, and then carried him in."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, these poor negro ants are sensible
+as well as faithful, Uncle Philip."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, boys, they are so; and I think it is
+likely that both kinds depend in some way
+upon each other, but we have not yet found
+all about it. I expect that in some things the
+legionary does for the negro ant what it could
+not do for itself. God has made them necessary
+to each other, and this is the reason they
+live together so kindly.</p>
+
+<p>"But I think it is time now to leave the
+ants, and go back to our business of seeking
+for something like man's inventions and tools
+among the lower animals. Perhaps hereafter
+I may tell you more about ants; but at present
+I must bid you good morning."</p>
+
+<p>"Good morning, Uncle Philip."</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h2><a name="CONVERSATION_XIII" id="CONVERSATION_XIII"></a>CONVERSATION XIII.</h2>
+
+<div class="chapsum"><i>Uncle Philip and the Boys make a Voyage,
+and he tells them of an Animal that makes
+itself into a Ship; and of an Insect that
+builds a Boat, and floats about in a Canoe;
+and of another that pumps Water, and
+wears a Mask; and of a Spider that builds
+a Raft, and floats upon it.</i></div>
+
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">Well</span>, boys, I have a most delightful plan
+for us to-day."</p>
+
+<p>"What is it, what is it, Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, I have a little voyage to make, and
+my boat is on the river just above the mill. I
+have the men there to row it, and every thing
+is ready."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! dear Uncle Philip, this is charming!
+we shall be so happy! But&mdash;but&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"But what, boys?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Uncle Philip, we have not asked
+leave at home. Now our parents are very
+happy to have us visit you, and say that they
+are very much obliged to you for telling us so
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span>
+many things; but they have told us, too, never
+to get into a boat without asking their permission
+first. Uncle Philip, we are sure they
+will let us go, if they know that you are going;
+only let us run home and ask them."</p>
+
+<p>"My dear boys, I am very much pleased
+with your conduct; and, what is far better,
+my children, God is pleased; for he has
+commanded you to honour your father and
+mother: but you need not go home to ask
+permission, for you may depend upon it I
+would not take one of you upon the water
+without the consent of your parents: so I
+went yesterday, while you were all at school,
+and have got permission from your friends
+for every one of you to go&mdash;only I asked
+them to tell you nothing about it."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh dear, Uncle Philip, you are so very,
+very good: thank you, thank you, a thousand
+times over."</p>
+
+<p>"Once is enough, boys. There is but one
+Being who deserves a thousand thanks, and
+he, in truth, deserves a great many more
+than a thousand; but I fear that from a great
+many he is just the Being who gets the fewest,&mdash;it
+is our Heavenly Father: but come
+on, boys, let us be going to the boat. We
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span>
+shall soon reach her. Ah, yonder she is; I
+see her through the trees."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, what a beauty she is, Uncle Philip,
+with her green sides and white belt near
+the top. We shall have a charming voyage."</p>
+
+<p>"Come, then; get in, my little sailors, and
+seat yourselves yonder in the stern. Now we
+are all ready; shove off, men, and use your
+oars. I will take care of the helm."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Uncle Philip, how smoothly we go
+along! this is charming. Is this the way a
+ship goes, Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"A ship floats, boys, just as the boat does;
+but she is not rowed with oars; she has sails,
+and the wind blowing upon them sends her
+along."</p>
+
+<p>"Uncle Philip, there are no ships among
+animals, are there?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh no; but there is a very curious little
+animal which lives in the water, and manages
+to rig out something like a ship, and to
+sail."</p>
+
+<p>"What is it, Uncle Philip? pray let us hear
+of it."</p>
+
+<p>"It is called the nautilus, and I saw a great
+many of them in the Mediterranean sea. The
+shell is nearly round, and six or eight inches
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span>
+across, not much thicker than paper, and of
+a whitish colour: it has, too, a keel or ridge
+upon each side. When it wishes to sail, it
+stretches upwards two of its legs: these have
+a very thin skin at the end, which the nautilus
+spreads out for sails, and the other legs
+hang over on each side of the shell for oars
+or rudders. When the sea is calm, a great
+many of them may be seen playing about;
+but as soon as a storm arises, or they are disturbed,
+they take in their sails and sink to
+the bottom. But, boys, the most curious boat
+that I know, made by one of the dumb creatures,
+is the work of the little insect that
+played the doctor the other day, and stuck
+his lancet into us. Do you remember what
+insect that was?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, very well, Uncle Philip, it was the
+gnat."</p>
+
+<p>"True, boys, it was the gnat, which is an
+insect that spends the first part of its life in
+the water, and the latter part in the air.
+The grub of the gnat lives in water, and I
+will give you the whole history of this curious
+insect. We will first speak of the eggs,
+for out of these it is that the boat is made.
+In order to see this boat made, you must go
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span>
+early in the morning, between five and six
+o'clock, to a bucket, or pond of stagnant
+water, where gnats are to be found: if you
+go later you will not see it. The gnat's eggs
+are shaped something like a pocket powder-flask,
+and it is by putting a great many of
+these together that she makes the boat. To
+do this, the mother gnat stands by her fore-legs
+upon the side of the bucket, or on a
+leaf or stick in the pond, and her body is on
+a level with the water, and rests upon it, except
+the last ring of her tail, which she raises
+a little. She then crosses her two hind-legs
+in the shape of the letter X, and begins to
+put her eggs in that part of the X nearest
+to her body. So she brings her legs, crossed
+in this way, near to her body, and puts an
+egg in the angle, covered with a kind of glue,
+which will make the eggs stick together. On
+each side of the first egg she puts another in
+this shape &#8258;, and here is a drawing of the
+insect at this part of her work.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_159.jpg" id="i_159.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_159.jpg"
+  alt="A Gnat making her Boat of Eggs" />
+  <div class="caption">A Gnat making her Boat of Eggs.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"She then goes on adding eggs, which are
+all put in the water with their ends downwards,
+until she has got her boat half-finished;
+she then uncrosses her legs, and just keeps
+one on each side of the boat as she goes on,
+until she has completed it."</p>
+
+<p>"And how many eggs, Uncle Philip, will
+she put together in this way?"</p>
+
+<p>"From two hundred and fifty to three hundred
+and fifty, and when all are laid they
+make quite a good boat, sharp, and raised at
+both ends, and floating on the water. Then
+the mother gnat leaves it. Here is a picture
+of one of these boats.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_160.jpg" id="i_160.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_160.jpg"
+  alt="gnat egg boat" />
+</div>
+
+<p>"Now I will tell you of what becomes of
+the young ones in these eggs. They come
+out of the lower part of the egg, and commonly
+swim, with their heads downward,
+near to the top of the water."</p>
+
+<p>"With their heads downward, Uncle Philip!
+what is that for?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, they have a tube at the end of their
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span>
+bodies, near the tail, through which they
+breathe; and that part must, you know, be at
+the top to get air. Besides this, its tail and
+its breathing tube both end in a sort of funnel,
+made up of hairs placed somewhat in the
+form of a star, and covered with oil, so as to
+keep off water, and these buoy or float it up.
+When it wishes to sink, it just folds up its
+funnels, and shuts up in them a little bubble
+of air, which it breathes under the water;
+and when it wishes to rise, it opens its funnels,
+and they float it to the top again. Here is a
+drawing which will show it to you.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_161.jpg" id="i_161.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_161.jpg"
+  alt="Larva of the common Gnat" />
+  <div class="caption">Larva of the common Gnat floating in water, greatly magnified.
+    <i>aa</i>, the body and head of the larva; <i>b</i>, the respiratory apparatus,
+	situated in the tail; <i>c</i>, the larva, not magnified.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"They are hatched in a few days, and then
+the boat of empty eggs floats about until it is
+destroyed by the weather. And to show you
+how good a boat it is, I will tell you what a
+gentleman did to prove it. Mr. Kirby, who is
+very fond of natural history, and has written
+a great deal about insects, says that he put
+half a dozen of these gnat-boats in a tumbler
+half full of water, and then poured upon
+them a stream from the mouth of a quart
+bottle, held up a foot above them, and he could
+not sink them. More than that, the water
+would not stay in them. If you push one to
+the bottom with your finger, it will come
+up to the top directly, and you cannot see any
+water in it."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, this is a noble boat, Uncle Philip,
+that will never sink."</p>
+
+<p>"True, boys; but listen, and you will find
+that before it can use its wings the gnat has
+to sail in another boat still, much more dangerous
+than this is. After it is hatched, it has
+to pass through several shapes before it gets
+to be such an insect as you see. Here is a
+picture which will show you its different
+shapes.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_163.jpg" id="i_163.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_163.jpg"
+  alt="Gnat shapes" />
+</div>
+
+<p>"The first is the same which you saw in
+the last picture, only in this drawing the head
+is uppermost. But its last change, when it
+becomes an insect with wings, is the most
+curious part of the whole. When it is about
+to get its wings, and become a perfect gnat, it
+raises its shoulders just above the top of the
+water, and its skin cracks, so that the head of
+the gnat immediately comes through. The
+shoulders come next, and make the crack
+larger; but it has yet all its body to get out,
+and its legs and wings are as yet all shut up
+in its case. Now is the time of danger for
+the gnat. It raises itself nearly straight out
+of the crack, and by wriggling works its body
+along: and if a particle of water should get
+upon the case, or touch its wings, it would be
+overset, and must perish. Thousands and
+thousands die in this way. It is so very
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span>
+light, too, that the wind will drive it about, and
+whirl it round and round upon the top of the
+water; and when it is almost out, the insect
+is tossed about in a canoe or boat of the very
+weakest sort, while its body is a mast, which
+appears much too large for so small a boat.
+At last it gets far enough out of the case to
+stretch its fore-legs, and put them down
+upon the water (which will bear a gnat's
+weight), and then it is safe; it spreads its
+wings, and soon leaves the little boat which
+was so dangerous. Here is a picture of the
+gnat getting out of its case."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_164.jpg" id="i_164.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_164.jpg"
+  alt="Gnat getting out of its case" />
+</div>
+
+<p>"Well, Uncle Philip, all this is very strange;
+we never knew before that the gnat was a
+sailor."</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose that you did not, boys. But as
+we are talking of boats, pray can you think of
+any way of making a boat move through water
+without oars, or paddles, or sails, or something
+to pull it along?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"No indeed.&mdash;Oh yes, Uncle Philip, by
+steam."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, I mentioned paddles, boys, and a
+steamboat is forced along by them."</p>
+
+<p>"No; Uncle Philip, we do not know."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I will tell you then of another way
+in which I have no doubt a boat might be
+made to move. If there were any contrivance
+by which a large quantity of water could be
+kept in the boat, and if this water were forced
+out of tubes or holes at one end very violently,
+it would push against the water in which the
+boat was floating, and force her along. Some
+years ago a plan was thought of to make a
+steam engine throw the water out of the stern
+of the boat, and thus to force her along; and
+before that, Dr. Franklin tried some schemes
+for the same purpose, but they never succeeded.
+Now there is an insect which adopts
+precisely this plan, and perhaps some of those
+who thought of it got the notion from the
+insect."</p>
+
+<p>"What insect is it, Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is the grub of the dragon-fly. If you
+catch one of these grubs and put it into a
+saucer of water with some of the dead leaves
+or sticks it had for a covering, you will see
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span>
+these leaves or sticks floating towards the tail
+of the grub, and afterward driven off again.
+This is because the insect is pumping in
+water, and then throwing it out. If you take
+one of them out of the water, and hold it with
+its head down, and let a drop of water fall
+upon its tail, it instantly sucks it in, and you
+can see it grow larger; and when it throws it
+out again it becomes smaller."</p>
+
+<p>"But, Uncle Philip, how can you see it
+suck the water in?"</p>
+
+<p>"Very easily, boys. When it is in the
+water, if you will colour some other water
+with indigo, or ink, or any thing else, and
+then hold a glass tube just over the tail of
+the insect, and very carefully put some of the
+coloured water into the tube, you will soon see
+the grub spirt out a stream of it to the distance
+of several inches: or if you will put the
+insect in a saucer of coloured water, and then
+suddenly move it, and put it into one of clean
+water, you will see it spirt out the coloured
+stream plainer still."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Uncle Philip, it must have a pump
+inside of it."</p>
+
+<p>"It has, boys, something very like one.
+This stream of water is forced out to help
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span>
+the insect along; for though it has six feet, it
+uses them very little except for catching food.
+It drives the water out so strongly against
+the still water behind it, that it sends it forward,
+with a dart, very rapidly. Here are
+two pictures; one shows the pump open, and
+the other shows it shut."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_167.jpg" id="i_167.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_167.jpg"
+  alt="Dragon-fly grub" />
+</div>
+
+<p>"Uncle Philip, is there any thing else curious
+about this insect?"</p>
+
+<p>"There is, boys, something well worth
+attention; did you ever see a mask?"</p>
+
+<p>"Do you mean, Uncle Philip, a face made
+of pasteboard, very frightful commonly, which
+you can wear over your own face?"</p>
+
+<p>"That is a mask, boys; but so is any thing
+which is made to wear over the face, and hide
+it. Now this little insect has a mask, not
+made like a man's face, but which completely
+hides its mouth, and it is exceedingly curious."</p>
+
+<p>"How is it made, Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, boys, I am not sure that I can tell
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span>
+you, so that you will understand me; but I
+will try. Suppose your under-lip was horn,
+instead of being flesh; and suppose it hung
+straight down until it reached the bottom of
+your chin, so as to cover the whole of it, and
+that at the bottom there was a large three-sided
+plate which was hollowed out, and fastened
+by a joint or hinge to the bottom of your
+long lip, so that it could turn up on the hinge
+and cover your face as high up as your nose,
+and hide your long lip and your mouth and
+part of your cheeks: suppose, too, that at the
+upper end of this long face-cover there were
+two other pieces, so broad that they would
+cover all your nose and your temples, and
+could open sidewise like jaws, and show your
+nose and mouth, so that when they were
+opened they would appear like the blinders to a
+horse's bridle; and then suppose that these
+jaws, upon their inner edges, were cut into a
+great many sharp teeth, which fitted into each
+other, and you will have some notion of this
+curious mask. Do you think you understand
+me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, pretty well, Uncle Philip, we think."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, boys, here are some pictures, and
+with their help I hope what I have been saying
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span>
+will be plain enough. In one picture the
+mask is shut; and in the other, one of the jaws,
+like a blinder to a bridle, is open. While the
+insect is at rest, it keeps the mask over its
+face; when it wishes to use it, it unfolds it,
+and catches its food, and holds it to its mouth.
+A gentleman once saw one of them holding
+and eating a large tadpole."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_169.jpg" id="i_169.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_169.jpg"
+  alt="Dragon-fly mask" />
+  <div class="caption">Mask of the Dragon-fly, shut and open.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>"Uncle Philip, this mask is any thing but
+handsome."</p>
+
+<p>"Very true; but you know we agreed when
+we were talking about the bats to look at animals
+even if they were not handsome. And
+there is your poor little ugly insect that you
+thought it right to kill, the spider; did you
+know that the spider was a sailor, too?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, indeed, Uncle Philip! Pray tell us
+of it, will you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; but wait a little, until we bring the
+boat's head right, for we are near the landing-place.
+So&mdash;now, boys, I am ready. There
+is a very large spider, about which not much
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span>
+is yet known, which actually builds a <i>raft</i>,
+for the purpose of getting its food more easily.
+You may see it sailing about upon the water,
+on a ball of weeds about three inches across,
+which is held together probably by small silk
+cords spun from itself; and the moment it
+sees an insect drowning, it leaves the raft, gets
+the insect, and then returns to eat it at leisure.
+If you frighten it, or it thinks danger is near,
+in an instant it is under the raft out of sight."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, this is a cunning spider, Uncle Philip."</p>
+
+<p>"Not half so cunning, boys, as the one we
+talked of which built a door to its house.
+But here we are at land. Jump ashore, my
+lads, and give my respects to your fathers and
+mothers, when you get home."</p>
+
+<p>"We will. Good day, Uncle Philip."</p>
+
+<p>"Good day, boys. I shall be glad to see
+you next Saturday."</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="CONVERSATION_XIV" id="CONVERSATION_XIV"></a>CONVERSATION XIV.</h2>
+
+<div class="chapsum"><i>Uncle Philip tells the Boys about an Insect
+with Tweezers, and another with Pincers;
+and shows them how a Fly's Foot is made,
+so as to stick to the Wall.</i></div>
+
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">How</span> do you do, Uncle Philip, this morning?"</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, boys, I thank you. You are all
+well, I suppose, or I should not see you here."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, we are all well, thank you, Uncle
+Philip. But one of us would be very glad to
+have your help."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, what is the matter?"</p>
+
+<p>"Charles Walker has run a splinter into his
+hand, and he wishes you to get it out for him."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, certainly, I will do that, if I can. Let
+me see: but stay&mdash;I must first put on my
+spectacles. Ah, now I see it; I can get it out,
+but I must take my tweezers to it. There, it
+is out."</p>
+
+<p>"Uncle Philip, those tweezers are very
+useful. If you had not had them, you could
+not have taken hold of the splinter with your
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span>
+fingers; and what would you have done
+then?"</p>
+
+<p>"Tried to cut it out with the point of my
+penknife; but the tweezers are better for such
+work; and that reminds me, boys, to tell you
+that there are insects with tweezers."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, what tool is it that you cannot find
+among them, Uncle Philip? It really seems
+as if you found almost every kind among the
+lower animals."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no&mdash;no, boys. There are a great
+many which I cannot find; but there are several,
+too, which, as you know, we have discovered."</p>
+
+<p>"And, Uncle Philip, we suppose that men
+learned to make their tools and work at many
+of their trades from these dumb creatures."</p>
+
+<p>"Stay, boys&mdash;I never said that, because I
+think that it is not true. We know that in
+some things men did not learn from the insects,
+though they might have done so.
+There is paper, for instance. How could men
+learn to make it from the wasps, when it was
+a thins: in common use a long time before Mr.
+Reaumur, of whom I told you, found out how
+the wasp made it? So, too, with a great many
+tools; men invented them, and afterward,
+perhaps, it was found out that insects had instruments
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span>
+like them: and at other times the
+insects did show men how to make some
+things. I will tell you of one which I think
+of just now. The city of London, in England,
+is on the river Thames. Some time
+since a plan was adopted to make what is
+called a tunnel under the river. This tunnel
+is a road dug out of the earth, under the bottom
+of the river, across it; and of course to
+keep the water from pressing in the earth as
+fast as it was hollowed out, it was propped up
+by walls built on each side, with a very strong
+arch at the top. The work has now stopped;
+but about half of it was made. In building
+this arched road under the water, the workmen
+used what they called a shield, to keep
+the water from coming through upon them:
+and the gentleman who invented it, says that
+he first thought of it, from examining a little
+animal named Taret, which will bore holes in
+large pieces of timber under the water. This
+little animal has upon its head a kind of
+shield, by which it keeps off the force of the
+water, and works without being disturbed.
+So here was a case in which the insect taught
+the man."</p>
+
+<p>"Uncle Philip, that gentleman was a sensible
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span>
+man, in the first place to watch the Taret
+and examine its head, and in the next place
+not to be too proud to learn from it. I expect
+he was a naturalist; was he, Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do not know, boys; but I should think
+his discovery of the shield would make him
+an attentive observer, if he was not so before."</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Uncle Philip, will you tell us of the
+tweezers?"</p>
+
+<p>"Very willingly, boys. This instrument
+or tool belongs to the moths which you see
+flying about at times. The tails are covered
+with a down, which grows in the form of a
+thick brush or tuft, and has a shining silky
+gloss, different in colour from the short hair
+upon the rest of the body. The moth pulls
+off this hair to cover its eggs, and the tweezers
+are used for that purpose. Here is a picture
+of the moths."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_174.jpg" id="i_174.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_174.jpg"
+  alt="Females of the brown and gold-tailed Moths" />
+  <div class="caption">Females of the brown and gold-tailed Moths, showing the bunch
+    of down on the tails.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Uncle Philip, you said that the moth pulled
+this hair off to cover its eggs; are they easily
+frozen?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not very easily, boys; but you are mistaken
+in thinking that the moth covers these
+eggs to keep off the cold; for as she lays
+them in July and August, and covers them at
+that time, it cannot be to keep off the cold."</p>
+
+<p>"What is it for, then, Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"To keep off the summer heat, boys."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Uncle Philip! who ever heard of
+covering a thing up in hair or wool to keep
+off heat?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have heard of it, and seen it too, boys.
+It may seem strange, but it is true, that down
+and wool, and such things, are nearly as good
+to protect an animal from very great outward
+heat as they are to keep off very severe cold.
+When I was at Naples, in Italy, it was summer;&mdash;the
+climate is a very warm one.&mdash;The
+country people were in the habit of bringing
+snow into the city from Mount Vesuvius,
+and every morning I could see them coming
+in with their snow, which they sell to the
+rich to use for cooling things: and they kept
+it from melting with straw and wool. And
+in our own country, especially at the south, it
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span>
+is very common when a large lump of ice is
+brought to the house to be used through the
+day in midsummer, to wrap it up in a thick
+blanket until it is wanted.</p>
+
+<p>"But I have not yet told you of the tweezers.
+The moth has no jaws, like bees and
+wasps, so that it cannot pull off these hairs
+as the bee would; but, as I told you, it performs
+the work with its tweezers, which are
+placed in its tail, and are like the points of a
+pair of sugar-tongs. The insects, too, will
+use them very rapidly, and pull off a little of
+the down, spread the egg upon it, and then
+cover it with more down, and smooth it very
+neatly. Here are pictures of these tweezers."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_176.jpg" id="i_176.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_176.jpg"
+  alt="Tweezers of the brown and gold-tailed Moths" />
+  <div class="caption">Tweezers of the brown and gold-tailed Moths, magnified.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>"This is a curious instrument for the insect
+to have, Uncle Philip."</p>
+
+<p>"True, boys, but a very useful one. I will
+tell you, however, of another strange thing
+concerning moths with their tweezers; I
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span>
+mean the way in which they will sometimes
+place their eggs. The kind of moth that does
+this work is not exactly known, but naturalists
+think that the eggs are moth's eggs, because
+they are covered with the down, exactly
+like those which are known to be moth's eggs.
+These eggs are twisted round a branch, like
+the thread of a screw, or like the curled end
+of a corkscrew put over a small stick. Here
+is a picture of some of these eggs."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_177.jpg" id="i_177.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_177.jpg"
+  alt="Spiral group of Eggs" />
+  <div class="caption">Spiral group of Eggs of an unknown Moth.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>"Ah, this is wonderful work indeed for a
+moth, Uncle Philip."</p>
+
+<p>"As you seem to like this, boys, I will just
+mention to you that there is another moth,
+called the lackey-moth, which winds its eggs
+also around a branch. They are hard, however,
+and not covered with any down, and are
+put on in the strongest possible way. If men
+wish to make an arch of stone, you know that
+the stones will be more narrow at the bottom
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span>
+than at the top, so that the bottom of the arch
+may make a small circle, and the top a larger
+one: thus&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_178a.jpg" id="i_178a.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_178a.jpg"
+  alt="Key-stone of an arch" />
+  <div class="caption"><strong>A</strong>, Key-stone of an arch;
+  <strong>B</strong>, Arch completed.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>Now the moth goes on this principle. Its eggs
+are shaped like the bowl of a wine-glass, and
+the smaller end is put next to the branch.
+They are all glued together, too, with a kind
+of gum, which will not dissolve or melt in
+water; so that the rain cannot injure them.
+Here is a picture of these eggs.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_178b.jpg" id="i_178b.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_178b.jpg"
+  alt="Eggs of the Lackey-moth" />
+  <div class="caption">Eggs of the Lackey-moth, wound spirally round a twig of hawthorn;
+    natural size, and magnified.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>"There is another insect, boys, which has
+something like tweezers; though I think they
+resemble pincers most."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"What is it, Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"The boys call it father long-legs, and I
+dare say you have often seen it. It is the
+crane-fly, and its pincers are used for putting
+its egg in the hole it has made for it."</p>
+
+<p>"Where does it put its eggs, Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_179.jpg" id="i_179.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_179.jpg"
+  alt="Ovipositor and Eggs of the Crane-fly" />
+  <div class="caption">Ovipositor and Eggs of the Crane-fly.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>"In the earth, boys; and to enable the insect
+to do this, the female has the pincers I
+spoke of: they are made of something like
+horn, and are sharp at the point. With these
+she first bores a hole in the ground, and then
+puts the egg in. The egg is like a grain of
+gunpowder, and she puts herself in a very
+curious posture to bore the hole. Here,
+boys, you may see a picture of the pincers as
+they appear through a microscope, for they
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span>
+are not near as large as the picture. And
+here is a drawing of one boring."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_180.jpg" id="i_180.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_180.jpg"
+  alt="Crane-fly ovipositing" />
+  <div class="caption">Crane-fly ovipositing, and the larva beneath, in the
+    earth, feeding upon grass roots.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>"What good pincers those are, Uncle
+Philip: but will you tell us one thing which
+we wish to know? Talking about the crane-fly
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span>
+has put me in mind of it: the other day
+we were sitting together in school, and the
+wall over our heads was covered with common
+flies; and when we came out, we were
+talking about the way in which the fly stuck
+to the wall without falling down; and as we
+could not tell what kept him up, we agreed
+to ask you about it."</p>
+
+<p>"I will tell you, boys, very willingly. I
+do not wonder that you were unable to tell how
+the fly stuck to the wall; for you never tried to
+find out, and therefore could only guess at it."</p>
+
+<p>"And that is not a good way to find out
+any thing, Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, boys; though some persons much older
+than you are, did nothing but guess about this
+very thing, and guessed very far from the truth
+too. Some thought that the fly had a sponge
+in its foot, and squeezed a sort of glue out of
+it which made it stick fast; others said that
+the glass or wall was so rough that the fly's
+feet would catch hold of the little points upon
+it; but both were wrong."</p>
+
+<p>"How does it hold on, Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"Did you ever see what the boys call a
+sucker, made of a piece of soft sole leather?
+That will show you how the fly's foot sticks
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span>
+fast. This leather is cut round, and has a
+string through the centre; the boys wet it,
+and then put it upon a board or something
+smooth, and stamp on it, and try to raise it
+up from the board by the string; and it requires
+some strength to pull it up: sometimes
+they put it on a small smooth stone, and then
+lift up the stone by it. The reason why the
+leather sticks so fast is because the air is
+pressing on it upon the outside, and there is
+very little or no air between it and the board,
+to press the other way."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Uncle Philip, is the air heavy?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, boys, when there is so much of it
+as there is above the earth, it presses down
+very heavily. Now the fly's foot is like the
+sucker; when he puts it down he has a contrivance
+to drive out the air from under it, so
+that there will be little or none between it and
+the wall; and then the outer air presses upon
+it, and holds it fast."</p>
+
+<p>"But, Uncle Philip, how does he get it up
+again?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, boys, by another contrivance, he
+can let air in under his foot again, and then
+he can easily move it; for we do not feel the
+weight of air when it presses upon both sides
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span>
+of us. The reason why you stand up straight
+is because the air is pressing all around you;
+if it were on one side of you only, it would
+press you down on the other side. Here is a
+picture of the fly's foot, as it appears through
+the microscope. You will see it has three
+suckers with the edges all like saws; these are
+to make it stick the closer. This picture, boys,
+is sixty-four hundred times as large as the fly's
+foot is."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_183.jpg" id="i_183.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_183.jpg"
+  alt="Fly's foot" />
+  <div class="caption">Fly's foot magnified.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>"But, Uncle Philip, there is one thing yet
+hard to understand."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"What is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, the fly walks on the wall over our
+heads; now the air cannot press down upon
+his feet there."</p>
+
+<p>"Very true, boys: it cannot press <i>down</i>, but
+it can and does press <i>up</i> against his feet; for
+the air presses up and down and sidewise all
+alike."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, now it is plain enough, and we are
+much obliged to you, Uncle Philip, for telling
+us what we wished to know."</p>
+
+<p>"You are quite welcome, my dear boys, to
+all that I can teach you: if it makes you to
+be wiser and better men when you grow up, I
+shall be very thankful to God that I have
+been able to do you any good."</p>
+
+<p>"Good morning, Uncle Philip."</p>
+
+<p>"Good day, boys; I shall expect to see you
+all in church to-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>"We shall be there, Uncle Philip."</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="CONVERSATION_XV" id="CONVERSATION_XV"></a>CONVERSATION XV.</h2>
+
+<div class="chapsum"><i>Uncle Philip tells the Boys how Hats are
+made; and then talks to them about Animals
+that can make Felt like the Hatter.</i></div>
+
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">Boys</span>, do you remember my telling you of
+a remarkable bird, called the tailor-bird, which
+sews very neatly?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, Uncle Philip; it is not easy to
+forget such an excellent little workman; but
+why do you ask&mdash;have you any thing more
+to tell us about that bird?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, boys, not any thing of that bird; but
+I was thinking last night of the work done
+by several other kinds of birds, some of them
+quite as good workmen as our little tailor;
+and I thought that, perhaps, you might like to
+hear of them."</p>
+
+<p>"We would, Uncle Philip, be very happy
+to hear of them, if you will have the kindness
+to tell us about them. But what kind of work
+is it they do?"</p>
+
+<p>"Various kinds, boys. There are some
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span>
+which make what is called <i>felt</i>, just as the
+hat-maker does; and some are weavers, others
+basket-makers; some build platforms to live
+on; and I assure you some birds' nests are as
+curious as any of the things of which I have
+yet told you."</p>
+
+<p>"Pray let us hear of them, Uncle Philip."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, you shall. I will begin with
+birds that make felt like the hatter. Do you
+know how a hat is made?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not exactly, Uncle Philip; but we know
+what it is made of."</p>
+
+<p>"What is it, boys?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of sheep's wool, and the hair of other
+animals: is it not?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, commonly of these things; and to
+understand what I am going to tell you, I
+think it will be necessary first to say something
+about the hatter's trade. The business
+of the man who makes a hat is to mix up wool
+or hair in such a way that it will stick together
+and make felt; or something like a
+piece of thick, strong cloth. To do this, he
+does not weave the hairs together, for they are
+of different kinds, and of different lengths,
+and it would be endless work to weave every
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span>
+one in; besides the cloth or felt would not be
+thick enough when it was done."</p>
+
+<p>"How do they stick together then, Uncle
+Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, boys, their sticking together is
+owing to something in the hairs themselves.
+I will show you. Pull a hair out of your
+head; now hold it just between the ends of
+your two fore-fingers, and rub the fingers
+gently against each other."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Uncle Philip! see, the hair is moving
+towards my body."</p>
+
+<p>"Very true; and if you will turn it with
+the other end towards you, and rub your
+fingers as before, you will see it move from
+your body."</p>
+
+<p>"This is very strange, Uncle Philip: the
+hair is smooth; how can my fingers make it
+move so?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, that is a mistake, boys, the hair is
+not smooth. If some kinds of coarse hair are
+seen through the microscope, each one will
+seem to be, not one hair, but ten or twelve
+smaller ones, which are joined at the root, and
+form a hollow tube, like a straw; and sometimes
+it will have joints just like some kinds
+of grass or straw. In some sorts of finer hair
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span>
+you cannot see this even with the microscope;
+but you can feel it, as you did just now when
+you moved your fingers. These joints overlap
+one another, just as if you should take
+several pieces of straw and stick them into
+each other. I will show you some pictures
+of hairs as seen through the microscope, and
+then these joints will be plain enough."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_188.jpg" id="i_188.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_188.jpg"
+  alt="Hairs of the bat, the mole, and the mouse" />
+  <div class="caption">Hairs of (<i>a</i>) the Bat, (<i>b</i>) the Mole,
+     and (<i>c</i>) the Mouse.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>"These are strange-looking hairs, Uncle
+Philip."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, they are curious; but now you may
+see why, when hairs are worked together, they
+may be made to stick to each other. These
+rough parts catch into each other, and hook
+themselves; and the more you press them or
+move them, the more closely you work them
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span>
+into one solid mass, which you cannot easily
+pull to pieces. Besides, you must remember
+that the hairs will work only one way, as you
+found out just now when your finger ends
+caught upon the little joints and moved them
+along. Now, suppose that a very large heap
+of hairs, or wool, or fur, after it is made ready,
+should be put upon a table, and covered with
+a linen cloth, and pressed down in different
+directions. Each hair would begin to move
+in the direction of its root, just as it did between
+your fingers, and so all would be joined
+together at last into one solid piece."</p>
+
+<p>"We understand you, Uncle Philip."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you understand, boys, the way in
+which a hat is made. These hairs are all
+worked together by the hands of the hat-maker,
+and to make them work more easily
+(for curled hair, such as wool, does not move
+easily) the hatter uses hot water, and dips his
+hat in it while he is working it. After it is
+done, it is died, and then put upon a wooden
+block to give it shape, and is ironed smooth."</p>
+
+<p>"And this is the way, then, Uncle Philip,
+to make hats: it is curious, is it not?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, boys; but plain enough when you
+come to examine into it. And the best stuff
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span>
+for the hatters is such hair as has most joints
+ready to catch into each other: the rabbit's
+hair is very good, and for that reason."</p>
+
+<p>"And is it possible, Uncle Philip, that any
+bird can do such work as this?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not only possible, boys, but true. There
+are several birds very expert at making felt,
+and their nest appears like a piece of hatter's
+felt, or double-milled woollen cloth. I do not
+mean to say that it is as close and solid as the
+hat or cloth; it would feel in your fingers
+looser than either, still it is quite close; and
+when you examine it, you will find it put
+together in the same way; it is all carded into
+one mass, and not woven together thread by
+thread, or hair by hair."</p>
+
+<p>"And are there many birds able to do such
+work, Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"I told you, boys, that there were several.
+The chief article which they use is wool, but
+with this many other things will be found
+mixed&mdash;sometimes, upon the outside, fine
+moss&mdash;sometimes pieces of a spider's web rolled
+up into a little bundle&mdash;sometimes, when cotton
+can be had, they will use small bunches of
+cotton-wool; but sheep's wool they must have,
+and by means of that, they contrive to make,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span>
+with the other things I have mentioned, a felt
+wonderfully smooth."</p>
+
+<p>"Is it smooth on the outside, Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sometimes quite so; but always as smooth
+on the inside, when it is first made, as if it had
+been felted together by the hat-maker. There
+is another thing curious enough in some of
+these nests. The hatter, you know, binds the
+rim of his hat to make it stronger; and some
+of these felt-making birds will make their nests
+stronger by a binding all around them of dry
+grass stems, and sometimes of slender roots,
+and they take care to cover these grass stems,
+or roots, with their felt-work of moss and
+wool. But there is something else not less
+strange, I think, than the binding. It is this:
+they will build their nests in the fork of a
+shrub or tree; and to keep them from falling,
+they will work bands of this felt round all the
+branches which touch the nest, both below
+and at the sides. And those parts of the nest
+which touch the large branches are always
+thinner than the other parts, which have no
+support; in those parts the nest is nothing
+but a thin wall of felt, fixed around to fit the
+shape of the branch, and that is enough to
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span>
+make that part of the nest warm and soft.
+Here is a picture of one of these felt-nests,
+fastened in the way of which I have been telling
+you."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_192.jpg" id="i_192.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_192.jpg"
+  alt="Chaffinch's Nest" />
+  <div class="caption">Chaffinch's Nest on an Elder-tree.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>"This, boys, is the nest of the chaffinch.
+The goldfinch makes a nest of the same kind,
+only rather neater and smoother than that of
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span>
+the chaffinch; for it takes pains to show
+nothing but the wool, and covers up all the
+other materials which it uses."</p>
+
+<p>"Uncle Philip, do these birds all use the
+same things to make their nests?"</p>
+
+<p>"All use wool, boys; but the truth is, that
+birds will commonly take for their nests that
+article which they can get most easily, if it will
+suit. A gentleman, named Bolton, tried this
+with some goldfinches. He saw a pair of
+these birds beginning to build in his garden;
+they had laid the foundation of their nest with
+moss, and grass, and such things, as they
+commonly use: he scattered some wool about
+in different parts of the garden; the birds took
+the wool: afterward he scattered cotton;
+they took the cotton: on the next day he gave
+them some very fine down; they took that,
+and finished the nest with it, and a very handsome
+nest it was."</p>
+
+<p>"How long were they in making it, Uncle
+Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"Three days. The canary-bird, boys,
+which you sometimes see in cages, when free,
+builds a nest of the same kind. But the most
+curious felt-makers among the birds, are in
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span>
+Africa. There is the Cape-tit, a bird in the
+southern part of Africa, which builds a very
+strange nest: it is shaped like a bottle of
+India-rubber, as thick as a coarse worsted
+stocking, and made of cotton, and down, and
+other things felted together. On one side of
+the nest there is something like a pocket, and
+here is a picture of it."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_194.jpg" id="i_194.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_194.jpg"
+  alt="Nest of the Cape-tit" />
+  <div class="caption">Nest of the Cape-tit, from Sonnerat.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>"Uncle Philip, what is that pocket for?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, boys, some have supposed that it
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span>
+was for the male bird to sit on and keep watch,
+while the female was inside of the nest sitting
+on the eggs; but I think this is a mistake.
+And some have said, that when the female
+leaves the nest, and the male wishes to go too,
+he sits in this pocket, and beats against the
+side of the nest with his wing until he has
+made the edges of the top meet, and thus shuts
+up the mouth of the nest, and keeps off insects
+and other animals that would eat the young
+ones; but I do not believe this story."</p>
+
+<p>"Then what do you think the pocket is for.
+Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think, boys, that it is nothing but a
+perch, or place for the bird to sit on before
+going into the nest. If the bird had no such
+place for stopping, it might be troubled to
+get into its nest. The mouth is small, and
+the bird could not enter it with its wings
+spread; and if it should alight on the edge of
+the nest constantly, it would injure it, for it is
+but slightly made. And I will tell you another
+reason why I think this is the use of the
+pocket. There is another bird in South
+Africa, called the pinc-pinc, which is the same
+species of bird as the Cape-tit; and this bird
+we know uses its little nest built upon the side
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span>
+of the other merely as a resting-place before
+going into the nest."</p>
+
+<p>"Uncle Philip, does the pinc-pinc build its
+nest like a bottle, as the Cape-tit does?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, boys, not so smooth, but felted in the
+same way. The nest is made mostly of the
+down of plants, and is either snowy white or
+brownish, according to the colour of the down.
+On the outside it is a clumsy-looking thing,
+but fastened, like the nest of the chaffinch,
+very firmly to the branches near it, so that
+you cannot take it away without breaking it to
+pieces. But rough as the outside is, you would
+be astonished, if you were to look at the inside,
+and see how a bird, and a small one too, with
+nothing but its wings, and tail, and feet, and
+bill for tools, could ever have worked the
+down of plants together, so as to make of it a
+piece of fine cloth. It has a narrow neck, something
+like a chimney, at the top of it. This is the
+entrance; and at the lower end of it there is
+a lump, which appears something like a small
+nest stuck on to the larger one; sometimes
+there will be three or four of these small-looking
+nests, and sometimes when there is a
+branch near the mouth of the nest which
+makes a good resting-place, there will be
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span>
+none. Here is a picture, boys, of the outside
+of one of these nests.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_197.jpg" id="i_197.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_197.jpg"
+  alt="Nest of the Pinc-pinc" />
+  <div class="caption">Nest of the Pinc-pinc.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>These birds are easily
+watched; and a French gentleman, who has
+written the best account of the birds of Africa,
+<a name="FNanchor_11" id="FNanchor_11"></a>
+<a href="#Footnote_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a>
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span>
+says that he has found at least a hundred of
+these nests, and watched the birds for a whole
+morning together, and never saw one sitting
+on the small nest as a watch-bird; but
+has seen both the male and female arrive at
+the nest together, perch upon the nearest
+branch, hop from this upon the edge of the
+little nest, and then putting their heads into the
+hole, dart into the large nest. And now, boys,
+what do you think about the use of these
+little pockets?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Uncle Philip, we think that what you
+tell us is always right, because you know a
+great deal more than we do."</p>
+
+<p>"But, boys, you do not understand me. I
+may be mistaken, though I do know more
+than you. I have been telling you my reasons
+for thinking these little pockets are nothing
+but perches. Do you think the reasons are
+good ones?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, yes, Uncle Philip, we do. The
+French gentleman who watched the birds so
+much would have seen some of them using
+the pockets for a place to keep watch in, if
+they were made for that."</p>
+
+<p>"Right, boys. What I wish to teach you
+is to think for yourselves. Whenever any
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span>
+one gives you a reason for a thing, just ask
+yourselves, 'Is this a good reason?'"</p>
+
+<p>"But, Uncle Philip, how did it happen that
+the other people who saw these birds should
+have said that these pockets were for the male
+bird to sit in and watch?"</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose, boys, that they really thought
+so; but then they had not noticed the birds
+enough to find out the truth. It requires a
+great deal of time and patience to find out the
+truth about animals: and this is the reason
+why so many mistakes have been printed
+about them. It is a pity that such mistakes
+have been made; for really there is enough
+that is very curious about them, without
+men's making stories to appear strange. But
+I think that there will be fewer mistakes
+made in future."</p>
+
+<p>"Why so, Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because, boys, men are taking more pains
+to see for themselves. There are more naturalists
+now than there were formerly; and I
+hope there will be more still, especially in our
+own large and beautiful country, where there
+have not yet been many. I hope that natural
+history will be studied in all our schools before
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span>
+a great while. But let us go back to our
+African birds.</p>
+
+<p>"There is another kind which Mr. Vaillant
+speaks of, and I will tell you of that. He calls
+it the capocier, and he had a very fine opportunity
+to watch two of them. It is a bird
+easily made gentle, and he had managed by
+feeding two of them to make them so tame
+that they would come into his tent and hop
+about several times in a day, though he never
+had them in a cage. When it became time
+for them to build a nest, they staid away for
+some time, and would come to the tent once
+only in four or five days. At last they began
+to come regularly, as before, and Mr. Vaillant
+soon found out what they came for. They
+had seen upon his table cotton and moss and
+flax, which he used to stuff the skins of birds,
+and which were always lying there; and the
+capociers had come for these things, to build
+their nest of them. They would take up
+large bunches of them in their bills and fly
+away. Mr. Vaillant followed and watched
+them to see the nest built, and found them at
+work in the corner of a garden, by the side of
+a spring, in a large plant which grew under
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span>
+the shade of a tree. They were building in
+the fork of the branches, and had laid the
+foundation, which was about four inches high
+and six inches across. This part was made
+of moss and flax, mixed with grass and tufts
+of cotton. The next day this gentleman never
+left the side of the nest: the female was at
+work building, and the male brought the materials.
+In the morning the male bird made
+twenty-nine journeys to Mr. Vaillant's table
+for flax and cotton and moss; and in the afternoon
+he made seventeen. He would help
+his mate to trample down and press the cotton
+with his body, so as to make it into felt.
+Whenever he came with a load, he would put
+it either upon the edge of the nest or upon
+some branch within reach of the female.</p>
+
+<p>"After he began to help the female at her
+work, he would often break off, and begin to
+play; and sometimes, as if in mischief, he
+would pull down a little of her work. She
+would get angry, and peck him with her bill:
+but he still continued to vex her, until at
+last, to save her work from being pulled down,
+she would stop working, and fly off from bush
+to bush, to tease him. They would then
+make up the quarrel, and she set about her
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span>
+work, while he would sing most delightfully
+for several minutes. After his song was finished,
+he would go to work again, until he
+got into a new fit of mischief and frolic, and
+then he would torment her as before.</p>
+
+<p>"On the third day the birds began to build
+the walls, after having repeatedly pressed the
+bottom, and turned themselves round upon it
+in all directions, to make the nest solid. They
+first made a plain border all around; this they
+trimmed, and on it they piled up tufts of cotton,
+which they felted in by beating and pressing
+with their breasts and wings; and if any
+part stuck out, they worked it in with their
+bills, so as to make all perfectly smooth and
+firm. And they worked their nest round the
+branches near it, just as the chaffinch does.</p>
+
+<p>"In seven days they finished it. It was as
+white as snow, and on the outside it was nine
+inches high, and not smooth or regular in its
+shape; but in the inside it was shaped exactly
+like a hen's egg, with the small end up: the
+hollow was five inches high, and between
+four and five inches across; and it was so
+neatly felted together that it might have been
+taken for a piece of fine cloth a little worn;
+and so close that you could not take away
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span>
+any part without tearing the nest in pieces.
+Here is a picture of the nest, boys, and it is
+wonderful work for a small bird."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_203.jpg" id="i_203.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_203.jpg"
+  alt="Nest of the Capocier" />
+  <div class="caption">Nest of the Capocier, from Vaillant's figure.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>"Oh, Uncle Philip! we like the capociers
+very much. When they were tired of working,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span>
+they were ready to play; and when they
+had played enough, they went back to work.
+Do not you think there was good sense in
+that?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, boys, I do: it will not do, either to
+work all the time or to play all the time. All
+that we have to do is to take care that we
+do not spend more time than we should at
+either. But there is a sweet little bird, boys,
+quite common in our own country, which
+makes felt: would you like to hear of it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, Uncle Philip. What bird is it?"</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_204.jpg" id="i_204.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_204.jpg"
+  alt="Nest of the Humming-bird" />
+  <div class="caption">Nest of the Humming-bird.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>"It is the humming-bird. Here is a drawing
+of its nest. It is about an inch deep, and an
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span>
+inch across; and from a little distance, appears
+more like a small knot upon the branch than
+like a bird's nest. The outside of the nest
+from which this picture is made, was covered
+with a kind of bluish-gray lichen, that grows
+in scales upon old trees and fences: this
+seemed to be glued on by the bird in some
+way or other. The inside was the felt, and
+was made of the fine down from seeds that
+float about in the air, mixed with the down
+from mullein-weed and stalks of fine grass.
+This, boys, is the smallest nest made by a
+bird, I believe; and some insects make larger
+houses for themselves than this bird does.</p>
+
+<p>"But I have not time at present to talk
+with you any longer, as I have letters to
+write; and therefore I must bid you good
+morning."</p>
+
+<p>"Farewell, Uncle Philip."</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTE:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+  <a name="Footnote_11" id="Footnote_11"></a>
+  <a href="#FNanchor_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> M. Vaillant.
+</div>
+
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h2><a name="CONVERSATION_XVI" id="CONVERSATION_XVI"></a>CONVERSATION XVI.</h2>
+
+<div class="chapsum"><i>Uncle Philip tells the Boys about Birds that
+are Weavers; and about the Politician-bird;
+and a Story about some Philosophers;
+and what may be learned from these Conversations.</i></div>
+
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">Well</span>, boys, were you pleased enough
+with our last conversation to wish to hear
+more about birds' nests?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, if you please, Uncle Philip. You
+said something about birds that were weavers;
+we should like to hear something of them."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, then; I will talk about the
+weavers this morning. And the first thing I
+have to say is that this is no uncommon trade
+among birds. Take the nest of any of the
+common small birds that use hair for a lining,
+and you will be apt to find some part of it
+woven."</p>
+
+<p>"But, Uncle Philip, you do not mean that
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span>
+birds weave as smoothly and regularly as
+people do!"</p>
+
+<p>"Not quite, boys; but still it is very fair
+weaving, and done as our weaving is, by
+working a hair or thread in and out between
+other hairs and threads, or roots, or bits of stick
+and grass. The best way to see it, is to remove
+the outside work of hay or roots very
+carefully, or to take away the felt-work of
+wool or moss, and you may see a round piece
+of hair-cloth, sometimes finer, and sometimes
+coarser, according to the bird that made it,
+and the things of which it is made. In the
+common sparrow's nest the hair-cloth is very
+thin, so that you can see through it easily;
+but still every hair is woven in singly, and
+always bent, so as to lie smooth in the bottom
+of the nest. And there are no ends of hairs
+left sticking out; they are always worked
+into the moss which makes the outside of the
+nest."</p>
+
+<p>"Uncle Philip, how do the birds make the
+hairs lie smooth in their places?"</p>
+
+<p>"About that, boys, there is some uncertainty.
+Some persons think that the birds
+have a kind of glue in their mouths by which
+they make them stick; and others suppose
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span>
+that they wet the hairs, so as to make them
+bend. But there are much better weavers
+than the common sparrow. The red-breast
+and the yellow-hammer are both better workmen."</p>
+
+<p>"Where do they get hairs. Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"They find bunches of them sticking in
+the cracks of a fence or post where a horse or
+cow has been rubbing; and some of these little
+creatures, when they find such a bunch, will
+pull it to pieces, and work it in, hair by hair."</p>
+
+<p>"Are there many of these weaver-birds.
+Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, boys, a great many: our country is
+quite full of them. There is the mountain
+ant-catcher,<a name="FNanchor_12" id="FNanchor_12"></a>
+<a href="#Footnote_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> which will weave a nest of dry
+grass, and wind the blades round the branches
+of a tree; and the king-bird,<a name="FNanchor_13" id="FNanchor_13"></a>
+<a href="#Footnote_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> which first
+makes a basket frame-work of slender sticks,
+and afterward weaves in wool and tow, and
+lines it with hairs and dry grass. There is
+another, too, the white-eyed fly-catcher, which
+some have called the politician. This bird
+builds its nest and hangs it up by the upper
+edge of the two sides on a vine. The outside
+is made of pieces of rotten wood, threads of
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span>
+dry stalks or weeds, pieces of paper, commonly
+old newspapers; and all these are
+woven together with caterpillar's silk, and
+lined with fine dry grass and hair."</p>
+
+<p>"Uncle Philip, why do they call it the politician?
+What is a politician?"</p>
+
+<p>"What is commonly called a politician,
+boys, is a person who is always reading in
+newspapers about the government of the
+country, and talking a great deal about the
+President and Congress, and the laws that are
+made, and all such things: but the real politician
+is one who studies the different kinds
+of government which have been in the world,
+and endeavours to find out which is good and
+which is bad, and why they are good or bad.
+He reads, too, a great deal of history, to learn
+how other nations have done, what kind of
+laws they made, and why they made them,
+how they became great nations, or how they
+became very poor; and he <i>thinks</i>, too, a great
+deal, that he may find out what will be best
+for his own nation. It requires hard study
+and thought, boys, to make a good politician."</p>
+
+<p>"Then, Uncle Philip, a man cannot learn
+how to be one out of the newspapers."</p>
+
+<p>"No, boys; not out of newspapers alone:
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span>
+but still he will read them, and very often
+learn from them things very useful to him in
+his business. Newspapers are valuable things,
+and I think it is always best for a country to
+have a great many of them spread about in it.
+But they will not, of themselves, make a man
+a politician; and if you should ask the persons
+who print them, whether they expect
+them to teach men all about governments,
+they will tell you, No: but they will teach
+people what is doing in all the governments
+in the world. No good government, boys,
+will ever be afraid to let the people have
+newspapers. They are always fewest where
+the government is hardest upon the people.
+But let us go back to the birds. Can you tell
+me now why some people call the fly-catcher
+a politician?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes; because he has so many bits of
+old newspapers about his nest."</p>
+
+<p>"That is the reason, boys. There is another
+kind of fly-catcher, called the hooded
+fly-catcher, and it weaves its nest of flax and
+strings pulled from the stalks of hemp: but
+the best weaver in this country is the Baltimore
+starling. This bird chooses the ends of
+high bending branches for his nest, and he
+begins in a forked twig, by fastening strong
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span>
+strings of hemp or flax around both branches
+of the fork, just as far apart as he means the
+width of his nest to be: he then with the same
+kind of strings, mixed in with pieces of loose
+tow, weaves a strong, firm kind of cloth, which
+is like the hatter's felt in appearance, only that
+you can see that the nest is woven, not felted.
+In this way he makes a pouch, or purse, six
+or seven inches deep, and lines it on the inside
+with several soft things, which he weaves
+into the outside netting, and finishes the
+whole with horse-hair. Mr. Wilson describes
+one of these nests which he had. He says
+that it was round like a cylinder. Do you
+know what a cylinder is?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, Uncle Philip."</p>
+
+<p>"A smooth round pillar to hold up a porch
+is a cylinder; my walking-cane is a cylinder;
+so is the straight body of a tree. When these
+are of the same size all through their whole
+length, they are perfect cylinders; and any
+thing in that shape is a cylinder."</p>
+
+<p>"We understand you, Uncle Philip; a gun-barrel
+is a cylinder, and there is a cylinder in
+your garden."</p>
+
+<p>"What is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"The heavy stone roller that you let us
+pull over the walks."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_212.jpg" id="i_212.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_212.jpg"
+  alt="Baltimore Starling" />
+  <div class="caption">Baltimore Starling, and Nest.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>"Right. Well, this nest was like a cylinder,
+about five inches across, and seven inches long.
+At the top the bird had worked a level cover,
+so as to leave a hole only two inches and a half
+across; at the bottom it was round. It was
+made of flax, tow, hemp, hair, and wool, and
+was woven into a complete cloth; it was also
+tightly sewed through and through with long
+horse-hairs, some of which when drawn out
+measured two feet. Here is a picture of this
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span>
+nest. In the bottom it had bunches of cows'
+hair, and these were also sewed down with
+horse-hairs. This bird, boys, is a thief."</p>
+
+<p>"A thief, Uncle Philip! What does it
+steal?"</p>
+
+<p>"When I say it is a thief, boys, I mean that
+it takes what does not belong to it: but it is
+not a thief as man is. When a man takes
+something which belongs to another person, he
+<i>knows</i> that it is not his; and therefore he
+steals: but the poor bird does not know, and
+that makes a difference. You asked me what
+it steals: I will tell you. At the time for
+building its nest, it will take whatever suits
+for that purpose; and therefore the country
+women are obliged to watch their thread that
+they have put out to bleach: the farmer, too,
+who has cut off young grafts from his fruit-trees
+and tied them up in bundles, must be
+careful, or the bird will pull at the string till
+he gets it off; and sometimes, when the bunch
+is not too large, he will fly off with the whole.
+In autumn, when the leaves have fallen, you
+may sometimes see skeins of silk and hanks
+of thread hanging about the starling's nest,
+but so woven up and entangled in it that they
+are good for nothing. Now, boys, before this
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span>
+country was settled by people from Europe,
+where do you suppose the starling got silk and
+thread for his nest?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Uncle Philip, are you sure he got
+them at all?"</p>
+
+<p>"A very sensible question, boys. When
+you are asked <i>why</i> a thing is so, it is always
+well, first to be satisfied that it is so, before
+you begin to look for a reason. I have read
+a story about this very thing: would you
+like to hear it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, Uncle Philip."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, then, I have read that there were
+once several philosophers (I told you what a
+philosopher is, you know), who were in the
+habit of meeting together to put questions to
+each other, and to make new discoveries. At
+one of these meetings, one of them asked the
+others, '<i>Why</i> a fish weighed more <i>in</i> the water
+than he did <i>out</i> of it?' Several of them gave
+very wise reasons, as they thought; and all
+the reasons were different: so they could not
+agree. There was among them, however, a
+very sensible old gentleman, who listened to
+them all, but said nothing. When he went
+home, he got a fish and weighed it, out of the
+water, and wrote down its weight; he then
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span>
+took a bucket of water, and weighed that; and
+when he dropped the fish in the bucket, he
+found that it increased the weight of the whole,
+precisely as many pounds as the fish had
+weighed out of the water; so he found out
+that there was no reason why a fish weighed
+more in the water than he did out of it, because
+it was not true: his weight was the
+same either in or out of it."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, Uncle Philip, that is a pleasant story:
+he was a sensible old gentleman."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, boys, he was; and it was sensible in
+you to ask first whether the starling <i>did use</i>
+silk and thread before Europeans came here;
+and after that is answered, it is time enough to
+ask where he got such things. Now the truth
+is, that he <i>did not</i> use them until after Europeans
+brought them here; because there
+were no such things in this country: for the
+Indians who lived here could not make thread.
+I think; and I am sure they could not spin
+silk: but I will tell you, boys, what it shows
+us; and it is that I wish you to notice."</p>
+
+<p>"What is it, Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is the wisdom of this bird in taking advantage
+of circumstances. No doubt he built
+very good nests long before silk and thread
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span>
+were in the country; but he had sense enough
+to know that they were exactly what suited
+him, and he used them as soon as he could
+get them."</p>
+
+<p>"Then, Uncle Philip, you think that the
+bird has reason?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, boys, I do not: but you have reason,
+and I have something to say to you about it.
+It is this: as God has given you reason, and
+so made you better than the poor dumb animals,
+he expects more from you. That is
+fair, is it not?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Uncle Philip; very fair."</p>
+
+<p>"Then what I wish you to remember is
+this: that you must use your reason in such
+way as to glorify God. He gave it to you
+to learn his will and his commandments, and
+to live accordingly. So now you see the
+things which our conversations about the
+animals can teach us. In the first place, we
+see the goodness of God; in the second place,
+we see the power of God; in the third place,
+we see the wisdom of God: and we see in
+ourselves that God has done more for us than
+he has done for them, and therefore we ought
+to love and serve him: we ought to believe
+what he says in his Word; we ought to pray
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span>
+to him for his blessed help; we ought, <i>first of
+all</i>, to seek the salvation of our souls, through
+our Lord Jesus Christ.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, my dear children, to-morrow I must
+leave home for a few weeks; but when I come
+back we will talk together again: and as I
+am going to see my nephews, I will get a
+book which they printed about insects; it is
+called the History of Insects,
+<a name="FNanchor_14" id="FNanchor_14"></a>
+<a href="#Footnote_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a>&mdash;and I will
+bring it to you; and some of the largest boys
+among you may read it aloud, and I will explain
+to you what you cannot understand. If
+you are pleased with what I have been telling
+you, that book will tell you a great deal more."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, thank you, Uncle Philip. We shall
+like it very much."</p>
+
+<p>"Farewell, boys."</p>
+
+<p>"Good-by, dear Uncle Philip."</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+<div class="footnote">
+  <a name="Footnote_12" id="Footnote_12"></a>
+  <a href="#FNanchor_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a>
+  Myiothera obsoleta of Bonaparte.
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+  <a name="Footnote_13" id="Footnote_13"></a>
+  <a href="#FNanchor_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> Tyrannus intrepidus.
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+  <a name="Footnote_14" id="Footnote_14"></a>
+  <a href="#FNanchor_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a>
+  Family Library, No. VIII.&mdash;<i>Publishers.</i></div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2><a name="THE_END" id="THE_END"></a>THE END.</h2>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+
+<p class="center"><i>Now republishing, on good paper and large type, in 18mo. volumes</i>,</p>
+<p class="center margin-top1"><big>SOCIAL EVILS</big><br />
+<small>AND</small><br />
+THEIR REMEDY.</p>
+
+<p class="center margin-top1">A SERIES OF NARRATIVES TO BE PUBLISHED QUARTERLY.<br />
+<br />
+BY THE<br />
+REV. CHARLES B. TAYLER, M.A.</p>
+
+<p class="center margin-top1">No. I.<br />
+<strong>THE MECHANIC</strong>.<br />
+<br />
+IS NOW REPUBLISHED, AND FOR SALE BY THE BOOKSELLERS.</p>
+
+<p class="center">"Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid,
+which is Jesus Christ."</p>
+
+<p class="center margin-top1">AUTHOR'S ADDRESS</p>
+
+<p>No doubt can be felt as to the fact, that there are at present
+many crying evils in all ranks of society&mdash;perhaps there never
+was a time when more remedies were proposed. It is, however,
+a melancholy truth, that the only remedy is too generally over-looked,
+or despised. Remedies, selfish in principle, and selfish
+in their proposed end, are held forth and confided in by those
+who profess to be Christians, and, as such, dependent on the
+Great Head of the church. Man is taught how to live in time,
+and to be wise for time; but it has become unusual to refer to
+that fine old scriptural prayer, "So teach us to number our days
+that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom." Indeed, the wisdom
+desired by too many is that which is so forcibly described
+by an apostle's pen, as "earthly, sensual, devilish;" not that
+wisdom the attributes of which form the graces of man's new
+and regenerate character, which is first pure, then peaceable,
+gentle, and easy to be entreated; "full of mercy and good fruits,
+without partiality, and without hypocrisy."</p>
+
+<p>It is intended, in the series of narratives now advertised, to set
+forth, faithfully and simply, the one great principle on which
+Christians profess to act. This principle should never be lost
+sight of, in any publication addressed by a Christian author to
+Christian readers. "Other foundation can no man lay, than that
+is laid," laid by Infinite Wisdom himself&mdash;"which is Christ
+Jesus." My illustrations will extend to every class of society;
+from the highest to the lowest. When it is found necessary to
+introduce the subject of political economy, I shall endeavour to
+give what seem to me the right views of the subject; and I shall
+take care to show, that when political economy cannot be identified
+with Christian economy, it ought to occupy a subordinate
+place. If it enters society as the servant of Christian principle, it
+may be very useful as a servant; but, if it is to teach a man to
+walk in the counsel of the ungodly, to speak of its usefulness in
+a Christian community is absurd.</p>
+
+<p>False principles, however taking they may be, for a while,
+with the ignorant, or with those who are not deep thinkers, can
+never stand for any length of time; and as for the ungodly, we
+know <i>Who</i> has told us they are "like the chaff which the wind
+driveth away." I have undertaken this work in a spirit of prayer
+to God for His assistance, and His blessing. Many of my readers.
+I am sure, will unite their prayers to mine, that it may be continued
+in the same spirit. Some few may object to this address
+from a minister of Christ to a Christian community, and say that
+it is according to the puritanical cant of the day. I answer, that
+such cant (if mere cant) is quite as offensive to me as to themselves;
+almost as offensive as the cant of ungodliness; but I
+cannot forget those words of solemn warning, from One who,
+alas, is still the despised and rejected of many men: "Whosoever
+shall be ashamed of me and of my words, in this adulterous
+and sinful generation, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed,
+when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy
+angels."</p>
+
+<p>The second number of "<span class="smcap">Social Evils</span>," entitled "<i>The Lady
+and the Lady's Maid</i>," will be republished about the 1st of February,
+1834.</p>
+
+<hr class="r15" />
+
+<p class="center">THEOLOGICAL LIBRARY.</p>
+
+<p class="hangingindent">No. I. <span class="smcap">The Life of Wiclif.</span> By Charles Webb Le Bas, A.M.</p>
+
+<p class="hangingindent">II. <span class="smcap">The Consistency of the whole Scheme of Revelation
+with Itself and with Human Reason.</span> By Philip
+Nicholas Shuttleworth, D.D.</p>
+
+<p class="hangingindent">III., IV. <span class="smcap">Luther and the Lutheran Reformation.</span> By
+John Scott, A.M.</p>
+
+<p class="hangingindent">V., VI. <span class="smcap">The Life of Archbishop Cranmer.</span> By Charles
+Webb Le Bas, A.M.</p>
+
+<p class="hangingindent">VII., VIII. <span class="smcap">History of the Reformed Religion in France.</span>
+By Rev. Edward Smedley, M.A. <i>In Press.</i></p>
+
+<div class="transnote margin-top3">
+  <h3>Transcriber's Note:</h3>
+  <ul>
+    <li class="margin-bottom5">
+      Obvious punctuation and spelling errors repaired.
+    </li>
+    <li class="margin-bottom5">
+      Original spelling and its variations were not standardized.
+    </li>
+    <li class="margin-bottom5">
+      Original use of quotation marks was left unchanged.
+    </li>
+    <li class="margin-bottom5">
+      The word "scattered is missing between pages 135 and 136.
+    </li>
+    <li class="margin-bottom5">
+      "... have got permission from your friends...."  This should be "permission
+	    from parents," as the context suggests.
+    </li>
+    <li class="margin-bottom5">
+      Footnotes were moved to the end of the paragraphs to which they applied and
+	    numbered in one continuous sequence.
+    </li>
+  </ul>
+</div>
+
+<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44377 ***</div>
+</body>
+</html>
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+This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements,
+metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be
+in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
+
+Procedures for determining public domain status are described in
+the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org.
+
+No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in
+jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize
+this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright
+status under the laws that apply to them.
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #44377 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/44377)
diff --git a/old/44377-8.txt b/old/44377-8.txt
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Natural History, by Anonymous
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Natural History
+       Uncle Philip's Conversations with the Children about Tools
+       and Trades among Inferior Animals
+
+Author: Anonymous
+
+Release Date: December 6, 2013 [EBook #44377]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NATURAL HISTORY ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Chris Curnow, Christian Boissonnas and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+(This file was produced from images generously made
+available by The Internet Archive)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: UNCLE PHILIP TALKING TO THE BOYS.
+
+_J.&J. Harper. New-York._]
+
+
+
+
+  UNCLE PHILIP'S
+
+  CONVERSATIONS
+
+  with Young Persons.
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+  NEW YORK
+  J. & J. HARPER 82 CLIFF ST^T.
+  1833.
+
+
+
+
+  NATURAL HISTORY;
+  OR,
+  UNCLE PHILIP'S
+  CONVERSATIONS WITH THE CHILDREN
+  ABOUT
+  TOOLS AND TRADES
+  AMONG
+  INFERIOR ANIMALS.
+
+  WITH NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS.
+
+
+  NEW-YORK:
+  PUBLISHED BY HARPER & BROTHERS.,
+  NO. 82 CLIFF-STREET.
+
+  1835.
+
+
+
+
+  Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1835,
+  By Harper & Brothers,
+  In the Clerk's Office of the Southern District of New-York.
+
+
+
+
+ADVERTISEMENT.
+
+
+We must tell our little readers something about this number of their
+Library. It was sent to us by a very kind old uncle of ours, who, when
+we were young, was so much from home, visiting various places in the
+world, that we do not remember seeing him very often at that period. At
+last, the old man, finding that he could not bear fatigue as he had done
+when young, determined to come home; and we had heard so much about him
+that we were quite anxious to see him. He came to our house one evening,
+and appeared rather odd to us; but he was so good-natured, and told us
+so many curious things, that we soon forgot his odd appearance.
+
+The old gentleman brought home with him a very large number of books,
+and a great many strange things which he had gathered in his travels,
+such as stones, and dried insects, and leaves, and flowers, and stuffed
+birds, and animals. He did not stay with us long, but went to the
+village where he was born, and built a small house to which he carried
+all his books and curiosities, and said that he should spend the rest of
+his days there.
+
+We sometimes pay him a visit. The last time we were there, we found him
+talking to several children around him. In the beginning of the book
+there is a picture of the old gentleman. After you have looked at it,
+you may read the letter which he sent us, and learn how he came to write
+this book.
+
+  Your friends,
+            The Publishers.
+
+
+
+
+UNCLE PHILIP'S LETTER.
+
+
+  My dear Nephews,
+
+I was very much pleased to receive the numbers of your Library for
+Boys and Girls which you sent to me. You know I am now an old man,
+and have travelled a great deal, and seen a great many strange things
+in the course of my life. I am too old to travel any more, and so I
+am quietly living in the cottage I built by the side of that pleasant
+and shady little stream where I played when I was a boy. I read my
+books, and especially that best of all of them, my Bible; and so am
+patiently waiting till my Heavenly Father shall call me to take my last
+journey; when I hope, for the sake of the blessed Saviour, to go to Him.
+Sometimes I walk out into the village, and meet the children and have
+a long talk with them. They all know me; and very often, some of them
+will come to my house, and ask me to tell them about things which I have
+seen in my travels or read of in books: and so I spend many happy hours
+with the little creatures; for you know how much I love children. When
+I had read the books you sent to me, I lent them to the children, who
+were delighted; and I thought that if I should sometimes write down what
+we here talked about, it might please the little boys and girls for whom
+you print your books, and perhaps they might learn something from our
+conversations which would be useful: and so I determined to send them to
+you, from time to time, to print, if you pleased.
+
+If you think fit to print what I send, just tell your little readers who
+I am; an aged and quiet old man, who is very fond of little boys and
+girls, and wishes them to be wise and good here, and happy hereafter,
+and that I am your
+
+                                          Uncle Philip.
+  _Newtown, Feb_. 1833.
+
+P.S. If you print what I send now, please to print the Preface to
+Parents, which I also send; in order that they may, by reading it,
+see what sort of a book Uncle Philip has been making for their dear
+children, and may be satisfied that it will not harm them to read it.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE TO PARENTS.
+
+
+The author of the following book avails himself of the opportunity
+afforded by its publication, to address a word to those who sustain the
+delightful and responsible relation of parents.
+
+To such of that class as may honour by a perusal this humble attempt
+to interest and instruct their offspring, the author need not say that
+the subject of his book possesses for himself peculiar attractions: it
+will readily be perceived that he has found a charm in the pursuits of
+the naturalist. The votary of a favourite science would anticipate too
+much, should he expect every one to partake of the enthusiasm which is
+apt to stimulate him; it is wisely and kindly ordered that we shall
+not all be enthusiasts in the same direction. The author, however,
+still ventures to hope, that in his subject there is enough to attract,
+though it may fail to fascinate. He hopes, too, that it will be found
+not attractive merely, but profitable also to his young countrymen.
+There are many reasons on which to found such a hope. If to entertain
+reverence for our Maker, to admire and adore his wisdom and goodness
+in the illustrations of nature, thankfully to acknowledge and duly to
+improve the superiority which mind confers, be exercises in which a wise
+parent would desire to train a child,--the study of natural science
+is admirably adapted to the attainment of these objects. Again, if it
+be desirable to encourage habits of patient observation, accuracy of
+investigation, and soundness of thought; let the volume of nature be
+opened before the youthful mind. If to learn _things_ be better than
+to learn _words_, it is important to place things before the growing
+intellects of the young. Let it not be supposed that to present matters
+of science intelligibly to the minds of children is a hopeless task. It
+requires not learning or maturity of understanding to perceive a _fact_;
+it needs only the ordinary senses which God has bestowed alike upon
+children and their parents. Natural science is emphatically the science
+of _facts_; built upon any other foundation it becomes conjecture
+merely: and he knows but little of the mind of a child who is not aware
+of the facility with which a fact is impressed upon it. The secret of
+instructing the young will be found to consist more in the mode of
+communication than in the nature of the subject.
+
+As to the style of this work a word may be said; not, of course, for
+the purpose of disarming criticism (for truly the writer has never
+supposed his trifle worth the critic's labour or notice), but simply to
+remark, that the object has been to write for the minds of _children_;
+if the book be intelligible to them, the utmost ambition of Uncle Philip
+will be attained. Truth and plainness were all he sought. The first he
+believes he has attained; and to determine his success in attempting
+the last, he turns from the parents, and looks for the decision of the
+question to the suffrages of the children. He would rather hear the
+expression of satisfaction from the lips of one intelligent little
+reader, than receive the words of approbation from many who are elders;
+the first is testimony derived from experience, the last is but opinion.
+Children always know better than any one else does what books they
+understand.
+
+In conclusion, the author owes it to himself to say to the parents
+of his young countrymen, and to the patrons of the "Boy's and Girl's
+Library," that what he has written will be found on the side of religion
+and morals. So far as these important points are concerned, the writer
+is not ashamed to avow himself a Christian; nor yet does he mean to make
+it the subject of boasting. In his simple view, Christianity is a very
+quiet and gentle thing, which eschews strife, and promotes practical
+goodness; and truly can he say, that he has indulged in some of his
+happiest and, as he trusts, his holiest musings when, in the solitary
+pursuit of his favourite science,--to use the language of good old
+Izaak Walton, that simple-hearted lover of God, and all his works,--"he
+has looked upon the wonders of nature with admiration, or found some
+harmless insect to content him, and pass away a little time, without
+offence to God, or injury to man."
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+                                                                    Page
+  CONVERSATION I.
+  About a Fly that can work with a Saw and a Rasp, like the Carpenter 13
+
+  CONVERSATION II.
+  About Grasshoppers and Bees that bore Holes with a Gimlet           19
+
+  CONVERSATION III.
+  About Animals that are Tailors                                      27
+
+  CONVERSATION IV.
+  About the first Paper in the World made by Wasps                    41
+
+  CONVERSATION V.
+  A Story about Tom Smith, and of Bees with Brushes and Baskets, and
+  of a Bird with a Chisel, and a Gnat with a Lancet                   53
+
+  CONVERSATION VI.
+  About Animals that can do Mason's Work                              66
+
+  CONVERSATION VII.
+  About Animals that throw Dirt with a Spade; and about an Animal
+  with a Hook; and about one that is a Wire-drawer                    80
+
+  CONVERSATION VIII.
+  About a Door, with a Hinge and Spring to it, made by a Spider; and
+  the Difference between God's Work and Man's                         94
+
+  CONVERSATION IX.
+  A Story about a Philosopher and his Kite; and about Ants that
+  have Awls, and build Cities, and Stairs, and Bridges, and many
+  other Things                                                       104
+
+  CONVERSATION X.
+  More about the white Ants                                          120
+
+  CONVERSATION XI.
+  About some other Ants that are very good Masons, and build Walls
+  and Ceilings; and a Story about a very sensible Ant which seemed
+  to think a little                                                  129
+
+  CONVERSATION XII.
+  About Ants that go to War, and fight Battles; and about some that
+  are Thieves, and have Slaves                                       138
+
+  CONVERSATION XIII.
+  A Voyage; and an Animal that makes itself into a Ship; and of an
+  Insect that builds a Boat, and floats about in a Canoe; and of
+  another that pumps Water, and wears a Mask; and of a Spider that
+  builds a Raft, and floats upon it                                  151
+
+  CONVERSATION XIV.
+  About an Insect with Tweezers, and another with Pincers; and how
+  a Fly's Foot is made, so as to stick to the Wall                   167
+
+  CONVERSATION XV.
+  How Hats are made; and about Animals that can make Felt
+  like the Hatter                                                    181
+
+  CONVERSATION XVI.
+  About Birds that are Weavers, and the Politician Bird; a
+  Story about some Philosophers; and what may be learned
+  from these Conversations                                           202
+
+
+
+
+NATURAL HISTORY.
+
+
+
+
+CONVERSATION I.
+
+     _Uncle Philip tells the Children about a Fly that can work
+     with a Saw and a Rasp, like the Carpenter._
+
+
+"Well, boys, this is a beautiful day. The sun is shining brightly, and
+the birds are singing, and the insects are flying about, and the grass
+is green, and every thing appears pleasant, and you feel happy too, and
+have come, I suppose, to see old Uncle Philip."
+
+"Yes, Uncle Philip, we are tired of playing now, and so we have come to
+ask you to talk with us, and tell us about some of the curious things
+you know."
+
+"Well, boys, I will tell you about some very strange things. I will talk
+to you about animals that know how to work with tools like a man."
+
+"Work with tools, Uncle Philip! That is strange; but we know it is so,
+if you say so; because you will not tell us any stories but true ones.
+But where do they get the tools?"
+
+"Ah, boys, 'the hand that made them is _divine_!' They get them where we
+get all that is useful and good,--from God. The Bible says that He '_is
+wise in heart, and wonderful in working_;' and he has made many a poor
+little insect, and given it tools to work with for its comfort, as good
+and perfect as any that man can make. Yes, these poor little creatures
+had tools long before man had. God cares for the insects, boys, as well
+as for us."
+
+"But, Uncle Philip, what sort of tools do you mean? Tell us about them."
+
+"Very well, I will; do you think of some kind of tools that men use:
+think of the carpenter and his tools, and let us see if we cannot find
+some of them among the insects."
+
+"Why, the carpenter has a saw. Is there any saw among these little
+fellows?"
+
+"Yes indeed, there is; and a capital saw it is. Now listen, and I will
+tell you all about it. There is a kind of fly called the _saw-fly_; it
+has four wings, and commonly its body is yellow, and its head is black;
+but the most curious part of it is the saw. The young ones feed upon the
+leaves of rose-bushes, and gooseberries, and raspberries, and currants,
+and several other kinds of bushes; and the old ones always lay their
+eggs on the branches of these bushes, so that the young ones may have
+something to eat as soon as they come out. It uses its saw to make a
+place in the branch to put its egg in."
+
+"Uncle Philip, what is the saw made of?"
+
+"It is made of something like horn, and is fixed very nicely in a case;
+it resembles what the cabinet-makers call a _tenon-saw_ more than it
+does the carpenter's common saw. The tenon-saw is made of a thin plate
+of steel, and has a stiff brass back, to keep it from bending. The brass
+back has a groove in it, and the saw is put in that groove, and then it
+is fastened to it. But the fly's saw is fixed in another way: there is
+a back to it too, but that back is not fastened to the saw. The groove
+is in the saw, and there is a ridge all along the back-piece, which
+just fits in the groove, and so the saw slides backwards and forwards,
+and the ridge always keeps it in its place. Besides all this, boys, the
+fly is better off than the cabinet-maker, for he uses only one saw at
+a time; but our little workman has two exactly alike, and they are so
+fixed that the creature first pushes out one, and when it is drawing
+that back, pushes out the other; so that it is all the time cutting, and
+does double work. I think the fly's saw is the best, too, for another
+reason. The saws of the carpenter and cabinet-maker have their teeth
+bent; first, one a little on one side, and then the next to it a little
+on the other side, and so on to the end of the saw; so that when sawing,
+the cut may be wide enough for the blade to move easily. Now the fly's
+saw has the teeth a little bent, or twisted, too; but it has something
+else: on the outside of every tooth there are a great many very small
+teeth, so that the outside of every one is just like a _rasp_, or
+_file_."
+
+"But, Uncle Philip, it must take them a great while to saw a very little
+cut; they are so small."
+
+"Yes, it does; but they persevere. It takes them more than an hour and a
+half to make one groove, and sometimes they will go on and make as many
+as six without stopping. That shows, boys, what perseverance will do."
+
+"And when it is done sawing, Uncle Philip, where does it keep its saws?"
+
+"Oh, I told you they fitted in a case; but when the fly is done sawing,
+it uses the saws to put the egg in the place cut for it, and then it
+draws the saws almost entirely into the case, and drops upon the egg a
+sort of frothy stuff like a drop of soap-lather."
+
+"What is that for?"
+
+"I suppose it is to glue the egg fast, or else to keep the juices in the
+bush from hurting it."
+
+"Well, this is a curious fly, Uncle Philip."
+
+"It is strange, boys, because you never heard of it before; but it is a
+cunning fly, as well as a curious one."
+
+"What does it do, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"Why, when it is frightened, it will fold up its case and saws under its
+body, and draw up its legs, and pretend to be dead; and then it will not
+move, even if you stick a pin through it."
+
+"Can you tell us any thing more about this fly?"
+
+"Nothing very strange, boys; but we have found out _two_ tools, I think,
+a saw and a rasp, and that is enough for one poor little fly to give us.
+Here, boys, are pictures of these saws; I have made them a great deal
+larger than they are in the fly, so that you can see them plainly."
+
+[Illustration: Saw of the Saw-fly, with Rasps shown in the Cross-lines.]
+
+[Illustration: Portion of the Saw-fly's comb-toothed Rasp, and Saw.]
+
+
+
+
+CONVERSATION II.
+
+     _Uncle Philip tells the Children about Grasshoppers and Bees,
+     that bore Holes with a Gimlet._
+
+
+"Well, Uncle Philip, here we are again, to hear more about the tools
+that animals work with; we have seen in the bark of trees, and old
+wooden posts, little holes as round as a gimlet could make, and we
+have been thinking whether any of these little creatures have augers
+and gimlets, as well as saws. Do you know of any of them that can bore
+holes?"
+
+"Oh yes, boys; I know of more than one that can bore as smooth and round
+a hole as any carpenter you ever saw. There are some of the grasshoppers
+that have an excellent gimlet. The contrivance has five pieces in it;
+two of the pieces make a case to keep the augers in, two more are the
+augers or borers, and the other is a piece between the two borers on
+which they slide; this piece has a ridge on each side of it, and the
+augers have a groove which exactly fits the ridge. Besides this, each
+auger ends in a knob, and that knob has teeth all around it. Here is a
+picture of it."
+
+[Illustration: Ovipositors, with files, of the Grasshopper, magnified.]
+
+"But, Uncle Philip, what is the piece with the ridge for?"
+
+"Ah, boys, that piece shows the wisdom and the goodness of God. '_His
+tender mercies are over all his works_:' he has placed that piece there
+to keep the borers stiff, so that they cannot get out of joint, or be
+broken, when the little workman is boring."
+
+"Well, this is very curious."
+
+"Yes; but there are some of these insect workmen more curious still.
+Did you ever see a spy-glass? You know it is a round, hollow piece of
+wood, with brass tubes in it, which are made smaller and smaller, so
+as to slide into one another, when the glass is not used. Now there
+is a sort of gadfly (she is a little creature, too) which has exactly
+such a contrivance to keep her gimlet in. It is in four pieces, and the
+smallest piece ends in five sharp points, three of which are longer than
+the other two: she twists these five sharp points into one piece, and
+as some are longer and some shorter, when they are all put together,
+they make a sharp edge running all around, and are almost exactly like
+an auger or gimlet. When she wants to use it, she just shoots out the
+different tubes, so as to make a stem for the gimlet; and when she is
+done, she puts all back into its case again.
+
+"Here is a drawing of it, and I think that by looking at it you will
+understand what I have been telling you: I do not know whether men
+learned from this part of the fly how to make the case of a spy-glass;
+but I know they might have learned.
+
+[Illustration: Ovipositor or Gimlet of the Gadfly, greatly magnified,
+with a claw and part of the tube, distinct.]
+
+"There is also a bee, boys, which is called the _carpenter-bee_, because
+it is such an excellent wood-borer. It commonly looks for some old post,
+or dry plank, or withered part of a tree, to work in. It never works in
+wood that is green and has the sap or juices in it; for the bee knows,
+just as well as any carpenter does, that it is very hard to get tools
+through such wood. I expect that you have seen sometimes, when an old
+post or dry board was split, a long hollow groove in the middle of it,
+with little round thin pieces of something like paper, about as thick as
+a wafer, fastened in it by their edges, one above the other, all the way
+through. These show the work of the carpenter-bee: she bored the hole,
+and she put those little partitions like paper in it, to separate the
+cells; and more than that, she made the partitions out of the dust she
+got by boring. She always likes, too, to get a piece of wood in a place
+where the sun can shine on it; and when she has made her choice, she
+begins to bore at first into the post in a slanting direction, and as
+soon as she has gone far enough in, she then turns and bores straight,
+with the grain of the wood."
+
+"Does she do it quickly, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"Not very quickly, for sometimes the wood is very hard; I have seen
+one of these holes nearly twelve inches long in a very hard oak board.
+Sometimes she has to work at it for months; but she works steadily,
+boys, and that does a great deal. What makes it more tiresome is, that
+the poor little creature has to bring out all the dust she makes by
+boring."
+
+"How large is the hole?"
+
+"Oh, large enough to put my forefinger in, and sometimes fifteen inches
+long. After she has bored it as deep as is necessary, she begins to
+divide it into separate cells. So she commences at the bottom, and puts
+in a quantity of what is called bee-bread, until it reaches about an
+inch in height; on the top of this she lays an egg, and the bread is put
+there to feed the young one as soon as it comes out of the egg. She then
+makes a floor over it out of the dust, as I told you; she knows how to
+glue this dust together, and she brings it grain by grain from the heap
+in which she put it when she first brought it out: and she always begins
+by gluing the dust around the outside of the hole she has bored, and
+then glues another ring to that, and then another, and another, making
+each ring smaller and smaller, until she has it all filled; so that her
+floor, when it is done, appears like a parcel of rings of smaller and
+smaller sizes placed within each other. On the top of this floor she
+puts bee-bread, as before, and places another egg on it, and then covers
+it with a floor again; and so she goes on making cells and filling them
+with bread, and covering each with a floor, until she has filled up the
+hole."
+
+"Uncle Philip, how do the young bees get out when the egg is hatched? It
+seems as if they were shut up for ever in prison."
+
+"No, boys; there is a way for them to get out, and it shows the
+wonderful wisdom of God in teaching this poor bee how to contrive the
+matter. The egg which is put in the lowest cell being the oldest, the
+little worm that is afterward to be a bee will come out of that one
+first: now, you know, he never could get through all the cells over his
+head, filled as they are with bee-bread, so as to come out at the top
+of the hole. If he gets out at all, then, it must be at the bottom. The
+old bee knows this, and she so arranges these eggs that when the worm
+comes out it will be with his head pointed downwards; he falls to eating
+his bread, and so eats himself down to the bottom of his cell, and there
+he finds that his mother has bored a hole from his cell to the outside,
+and through that he comes out. When his brother in the cell above him
+has eaten his way down to the bottom of his cell, he just eats through
+the floor and gets into the cell below, which is then empty, you know,
+and walks out at the same hole which his older brother used before him.
+And so all the rest one after another eat their way downwards into the
+empty cells below them, and get out at the same back-door, which their
+mother made by what we call her _instinct_, which just means the share
+of wisdom which God gives to the lower animals to show them how to take
+care of themselves."
+
+[Illustration: =A=, represents a part of a post, tunnelled in several
+places by the violet carpenter-bee; the stick is split, and shows the
+nests and passages by which they are approached. =C=, a piece of thin
+stick, pierced by the carpenter-bee, and split, to show the nests. =D=,
+perspective view of one of the partitions. =E=, carpenter-bee. =F=,
+teeth of the carpenter-bee, greatly magnified; _a_, the upper side; _b_,
+lower side.]
+
+"Why, that instinct, as you call it, Uncle Philip, is a curious thing."
+
+"Very curious, very curious indeed, boys; and at some other time, if
+you wish, we will talk more about it, and I will tell you a great many
+stories of animals, which will show you their instinct. But for this
+time I have told you enough to keep you thinking until we meet again. So
+now just look at this picture of the carpenter-bee's house, and then you
+may go home."
+
+
+
+
+CONVERSATION III.
+
+     _Uncle Philip tells the Children about Animals that are
+     Tailors._
+
+
+"Uncle Philip, we are very glad to see you, and we think we have found
+out something to ask you, about a kind of work which men do, that no
+other animal can accomplish. As we came along this morning to visit
+you, and were talking of what you had told us of insects that, like
+carpenters, could saw wood and bore holes in it, we passed by the
+tailor's shop, near the church; 'and now,' said we, 'we have found out
+something which will puzzle good Uncle Philip: there are surely no
+tailors among the lower animals; so we will ask him to-day to talk about
+creatures that can cut out cloth and sew it up with a needle.'"
+
+"Ah, my dear children, there are a great many things which would puzzle
+Uncle Philip. I do not know every thing; nor do I suppose that I can
+find _every_ trade in the world among the dumb creatures which God has
+made. But you have made a bad choice of a puzzle this morning, my boys;
+for there are tailors among the inferior creatures, and some pretty nice
+ones, too; at any rate, they always cut so as to fit exactly."
+
+"Why, Uncle Philip! You do not mean to say that they can cut out
+_cloth_, and then sew it up again with a needle and thread!"
+
+"No, boys; I do not think it is to be expected that they should take
+a pair of shears and cut a piece of cloth, or put a piece of thread
+through the eye of a steel needle; any more than we expect the insect
+that saws, to go to the cabinet-maker, and borrow his tool to work
+with. But with the instruments which God has given to them, they will
+cut what is cloth to them, the leaves of trees and flowers, and will sew
+them together too: and, now I think of it, there is one that will cut
+his garments out of our cloth."
+
+"Pray let us hear about them, Uncle Philip."
+
+"Softly, boys, softly. I have two things to say to you before I begin.
+In the first place, I am very glad to hear that you think and talk among
+yourselves about the things which I tell you: and in the next place, I
+know that you love _me_, and, therefore would not wish, by _puzzling_
+me, as you call it, to produce mortification or vexation; nor do I
+think that I should have felt either vexed or mortified had I not been
+able to find tailors among the lower animals; but I do not wish you to
+take pleasure in puzzling people; for it is very apt to produce in you
+a feeling of triumph, and to make you vain: and you must remember that
+for _one_ of your questions which cannot be answered, a _thousand_ might
+be put to you, of the answer to which you would be ignorant. No man, my
+dear boys, knows every thing. Wise men talk with each other, that they
+may learn from each other; and the wisest are not ashamed to acknowledge
+their ignorance of some things; and I believe they take very little
+pleasure in puzzling. It is our duty to learn all that we can, and to be
+always willing at a proper time to teach others what we know."
+
+"Thank you, dear Uncle Philip, for your advice. We did not mean to
+triumph over _you_, if you had not been able to tell us of tailors among
+the animals. But we see that you are right. We might get a foolish
+habit, which would do us harm."
+
+"Exactly what I meant, boys; and now let us begin. And first we will
+talk of the cutting out, as the tailor always does that before he sews.
+There is a kind of bee[1] which, like some of the insects we have
+already spoken of, is furnished with a borer. With this she forms a
+round hole, like that made with an auger or gimlet, in a hard-trodden
+path, or sometimes in a piece of soft decayed wood. It is in making her
+nest in this hole that she plays the part of a tailor, for the nest is
+made of leaves, sometimes taken from the rose, at others from the birch,
+ash, or other trees. The little creature cuts them commonly, and I
+believe always, into two shapes. They are either half-oval, that is,
+half the shape of the bowl of a spoon, or round, and are of different
+sizes. Sometimes she makes a mistake in the size, and when she finds it
+out, she alters it. These leaves are prepared to line the hole which
+she has bored, and she begins with the largest pieces; taking them into
+the hole, she winds around in it, until she has spread very smoothly a
+tube of leaves the whole length of it; she then closes up one end of it
+by rounding it off and doubling the pieces of leaf one over another.
+In this case she sets about making her _cells_. She takes three of her
+half-oval pieces which have been cut to fit, and contrives to roll them,
+so that the edge of one piece will just lap over the edge of the next;
+these, when she has finished rolling them, make the hollow of the cell,
+which is not quite an inch high. She next turns up the ends of these
+pieces, which are cut to fit, so as to form the bottom: she then sets to
+work with three other pieces rolled in the same way inside of the cell
+just finished, turning up their ends as before to form the bottom; and
+within these she again works three others, so that her cell, when it is
+done, is of nine thicknesses of leaves. And you see why, though she cuts
+the pieces of the same shape, they are not all of one size: they are
+of three sizes, so as to make the cells within each other smaller and
+smaller."
+
+"But, Uncle Philip, you have not said any thing about the round pieces
+which she cuts; how does she use them?"
+
+"I will tell you: after she has finished one cell she lays an egg in it,
+and fills it all round with food nearly liquid; now as the cell is lying
+down on its side, all this liquid food would run out if it were not
+corked up, and the bee therefore uses her circular pieces to stop up the
+cells."
+
+"And does she really make these round pieces to fit the cell?"
+
+"Yes, boys, exactly; and they are cut too as regularly as if they had
+been first measured and marked with a pair of compasses. And, more than
+this, the little creature will fit one in in less than a minute. But the
+most curious thing is, that sometimes she will fly off to a distance
+to get this round piece, and bring back one which will exactly suit;
+so that it really seems as if she carried the size in her head. After
+finishing one cell she will make another, until she has completed as
+many as she wants; and then, as she always builds them one upon another,
+they appear like a parcel of thimbles stuck into each other and put into
+a case: and here is a picture of it."
+
+[Illustration: Rose-leaf-cutter Bees, and Nest lined with Rose-leaves]
+
+"This is very wonderful, Uncle Philip; and it does seem like cutting out
+pieces to fit."
+
+"Very true: but this is not the only cutter-out of leaves among the
+bees. There is another kind, called the poppy-bee,[2] because it uses
+the scarlet leaves of the poppy-flower to line its cell. It makes its
+hole in the ground, as smooth and regular and polished as can be, and
+then proceeds to line it all around with pieces of the leaves, and cuts
+them to fit as she goes on. If a piece is too large she will trim it
+down to the proper size and shape, and always carries away the scraps.
+Now if you should take a pair of scissors and try to cut the leaf of a
+poppy-flower, you would wrinkle it, but this little workman will spread
+out what she cuts as smooth as glass. When she has lined this hole
+throughout, and carried the lining out beyond the entrance, she fills it
+with honey and _pollen_, or bee-bread, as it is called, about half an
+inch high, lays an egg, then folds down the leaves on it, and finally
+fills the upper part with earth."
+
+"Then she was not working for herself?"
+
+"No; she was providing a house for her young, and God has taught her
+thus to take care of it.
+
+"I will now tell you of another little workman, which I have heard
+called the cloak-maker, because it makes for itself a mantle which
+really appears very much like a cloak; and, stranger still, this cloak
+is lined throughout with silk."
+
+"Can it be possible, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"Listen, and you shall hear. These mantle-looking cases are made by
+the _larva_, as it is called, or grub of a little moth which forms a
+covering of pure silk; this silk it spins from itself; it is not woven
+so as to appear like our silk, but still it is real silk, and is worked
+into a great many thin scales, which lap over one another like the
+scales of a fish. But this is only the lining of the cloak. This little
+tailor is the field-moth, which first eats what it wants from a green
+leaf, and then, from the thin membranes left, sets about making its
+mantle: and it makes it of two pieces cut out and joined together with a
+seam, just as a tailor would make it."
+
+"How does it go to work, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"Why, I will give you the account as it was given by a gentleman[3] who
+was very fond of observing insects, and who watched one of these little
+creatures. He says that from the thin membrane of the leaf it first
+cut two pieces just equal in size and of exactly the same shape; each
+of these pieces was to form one-half of the cloak, and this he says was
+done wonderfully fast. He noticed, too, that one end of each piece, that
+which was meant for the bottom of the cloak, was just twice as long as
+the other end, which was the top. The insect then placed itself between
+the two pieces while they were lying flat; it afterward brought the two
+sides where the seam was to be, together, and fastened them at certain
+places, still leaving, however, considerable spaces open. It then began
+to turn and twist its body about in all directions, until it moulded
+the pieces into a hollow form to fit. When it found that it would fit
+its body, it brought the edges of the seam close together through the
+whole length, and contrived to sew or fasten them so neatly together,
+that when the gentleman looked, even with a magnifying-glass, he said he
+could hardly find the seam. The whole was lined with the silk spun from
+itself, and was finished in about twelve hours."
+
+"Why, this little workman is the strangest of all: but, Uncle Philip,
+you said there was one of these animal tailors that cut his garment out
+of _cloth_: pray tell us of him."
+
+"When I said that, boys, I was thinking of the clothes-moth.[4] They
+make their coats of wool commonly taken from our cloth, and silk drawn
+from their own mouths; and the strangest thing concerning them is,
+that when they outgrow their clothes they will piece them to make them
+larger. Suppose the insect wants it longer, it adds a new ring of wool
+to the end: suppose it wants it wider, it slits the case or garment, not
+from one end to the other, for this would leave it naked, but it splits
+it half-way down the sides, and when it has filled it in with proper
+pieces, it splits the remaining half, and puts other pieces in them.
+There is another curious thing about this tailor: it always makes its
+coat of the same colour with the cloth from which it takes the wool; so
+that if it has first made its garment of a piece of blue cloth, and is
+placed on a bit of red cloth when it wishes to enlarge it, you will see
+its work exactly, for the pieces which it puts in will be red. This is
+the little fellow, boys, which does so much mischief to our clothes."
+
+"Well, Uncle Philip, one can almost forgive his mischief for the sake
+of his ingenuity. But you have said nothing yet about _needles_; how do
+these little creatures sew?"
+
+"Why, they have what serves as a needle to them: but I can tell you of
+another animal which sews with a needle a great deal plainer to be seen
+than that of these little insects."
+
+"Pray let us hear of him, Uncle Philip."
+
+"I must go among the birds to find this workman. There is a kind of
+starling, called the orchard starling,[5] about which, Mr. Wilson, a
+gentleman who has written a great deal concerning the birds of our
+country, gives a very curious account. He says that this bird commonly
+hangs its nest from the twigs of an apple-tree, and makes it in a very
+singular manner. The outside is made of a particular kind of long
+tough grass, that will bend without breaking, and this grass is knit
+or sewed through and through in a thousand directions, just as if done
+with a needle. The little creature does it with its feet and bill. Mr.
+Wilson says that he one day showed one of these nests to an old lady,
+and she was so much struck with the work that she asked him, half in
+earnest, if he did not think that these birds could be taught to _darn
+stockings_? Mr. Wilson took the pains too to draw out one of these
+grass threads, and found that it measured thirteen inches, and in that
+distance the bird who used it had passed it in and out thirty-four
+times."
+
+"Why, this was sewing, sure enough."
+
+"Yes; and I saw, when I was in the West Indies, another kind of
+starling[6] which will cut leaves into a shape like the quarter of
+an orange-rind, and sew the whole very neatly to the under side of a
+banana-leaf, so as to make one side of the nest. But, boys, there is
+another most beautiful little bird, which is called the tailor-bird,
+because it sews so well.[7] It first picks out a plant with large
+leaves, then it gathers cotton from the shrub, and with the help of
+its fine long bill and slender little feet it spins this cotton into a
+thread, and then using its bill for a needle, it will sew these large
+leaves together to hide its nest, and sew them very neatly, too."
+
+"Why, dear Uncle Philip, this is the most wonderful tailor of them all."
+
+"He is, indeed: but, my children, what do we learn from all that I have
+been telling you? Who made these little creatures with such curious
+skill, and taught them to work so well? It was the same God who made us;
+for such wonderful things never came from what people call _chance_.
+Chance, boys, never made any thing: and how very wise he must be to
+form such nice little workmen; and how very good thus to teach them how
+to take care of themselves. The Bible says, truly, that '_his tender
+mercies are over all his works_.' And I think, boys, we may learn
+another thing: it is, not to be so very proud of what we know; for I
+rather suppose that we shall often find that the lower creatures around
+us understood many of our trades long before we found them out."
+
+"Yes, Uncle Philip, it is likely that these little fellows you have been
+telling us of this morning were the first tailors in the world."
+
+"Very likely, very likely indeed, boys. But now I must bid you good
+morning; for here comes our good clergyman, and I am going with him to
+see a poor sick woman."
+
+"Good morning, Uncle Philip; we will come again on Saturday."
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] Megachile centuncularis.
+
+[2] Osmia papaveris.
+
+[3] Reaumur.
+
+[4] Tinea sarcitella.
+
+[5] Icterus mutatus.
+
+[6] Icterus bonana.
+
+[7] Sylvia sutoria.
+
+
+
+
+CONVERSATION IV.
+
+     _Uncle Philip tells the Children about the first Paper in the
+     World, made by Wasps._
+
+
+"Ah, boys! how do you do? This is Saturday, and I have been expecting to
+see you come for some time."
+
+"Why, Uncle Philip, we should have been here sooner, but we went round
+by the old mill; because we thought that perhaps we might find in some
+of the old timbers, holes bored by some of those industrious little
+carpenters you told us about."
+
+"Well; and did you find any?"
+
+"No; but we found something else, which we have brought to show you: and
+we have been talking about it all the way. We have not discovered any
+new _tools_ among the animals, but we think we have found out a _trade_
+that some of them work at; and we wish you to tell us if we are right."
+
+"Oh, that I will do, with pleasure, if I can. What is the trade that
+you think you have discovered?"
+
+"It is paper-making, Uncle Philip. We have found this part of a wasp's
+nest, which we have brought along; and as you told us it was always best
+to notice every thing closely, we examined this, and it appeared so much
+like coarse paper that we thought (for we knew it was made by wasps)
+that man did not make the first paper in the world."
+
+"Well, boys, that was not a bad thought. Now you see the advantage of
+taking notice of things, and of thinking about what you see. You are
+perfectly right in supposing that wasps make paper; and, if you please,
+we will talk this morning about the wasps."
+
+"Oh yes, yes, by all means, Uncle Philip; and we will thank you, too."
+
+"I must first tell you, then, that of the wasps there are several kinds.
+Some build their nests under ground, and some hang theirs in the air to
+the limb of a tree. This part of a nest which you have found belonged to
+the last kind; but I will tell you something about both. But before I
+begin let me get some drawings I have, which will help us to understand
+better. I have them. And now, of the wasps which build under ground.
+As soon as the warm season begins, the first care of the mother-wasp
+is to look for a fit place in which to build; and in the spring of the
+year she may very often be seen flying about a hole in the bank of a
+ditch, and looking into it. These holes which she examines are the old
+houses of field-mice or moles, and some persons have thought, what I
+expect is true, that she likes to take such old holes, because they save
+her a great deal of hard work. But still, as the holes are not large
+enough for her use, she has a great deal of labour to make them do. So
+she goes at once to work, digging in the hole she has chosen, and makes
+a winding, zigzag gallery, about two feet long, and about an inch in
+width. She digs out the earth, and carries it out, or pushes it out
+behind her as she goes on. This gallery ends in a large chamber or hole
+from one to two feet across when it is done: and now she is ready to
+begin her nest."
+
+"Now then, Uncle Philip, she will begin to make paper, will she not?"
+
+"Yes; but here I ought to tell you that it was a long time before men
+found out what she made it of. Do you remember my telling you of a
+gentleman who watched the little cloak-maker to see how he made his
+garment? Well, this gentleman, whose name was Reaumur, was trying for
+twenty years, he says, to find out how the wasp made paper, before he
+succeeded. At last, one day, he saw a female wasp alight on the sash
+of his window and begin to gnaw the wood; he watched her, and saw that
+she pulled off from the wood fibre after fibre, about the tenth part of
+an inch long, and not so large as a hair. She gathered these up into a
+knot with her feet, and then flew to another part of the sash, and went
+to work, stripping off more fibres or threads, and putting them to the
+bundle she had already. At last he caught her, to examine the bundle,
+and found that its colour was exactly like that of a wasp's nest; but
+the little ball was dry; she had not yet wetted it to make a pulp of it
+which could be spread out. He noticed another thing, that this bundle
+was not at all like wood gnawed by other insects; it was not sawdust,
+but threads of some little length bruised into lint. He then set to work
+himself with his penknife, and very soon scraped and bruised some of the
+wood of the same window-sash, so as to make a little ball exactly like
+the wasp's. Mr. Reaumur thought that this was the stuff out of which the
+wasp made paper, and it has since been found out that he was right. The
+animal wets its little bundle of bruised wooden fibres or threads with
+a kind of glue that it has, and this makes it stick together like pulp
+or paste; and while it is soft, the wasp walks backwards, and spreads it
+out with her feet and her tongue, until she has made it almost as thin
+as the thinnest paper. With this she lines the top of the hole in which
+she is going to build her nest, for she always begins at the top. But
+this is so thin that it would be too weak to keep the dirt from falling
+in; and therefore she goes on spreading her papers one upon the other
+until she has made the wall nearly two inches thick. These pieces are
+not laid exactly flat on each other like two pieces of pasteboard, but
+with little open spaces between, being joined at the edges only. This
+is the ceiling; and when it is finished she begins to build what may be
+called the highest floor of the nest; this she makes of the same paper
+in a great number of little cells all joined together at the sides; and
+instead of fastening this floor to the sides of the nest, she hangs it
+to the ceiling by rods made also out of this paper: these rods are small
+in the middle, and grow larger towards the ends, so as to be stronger.
+Here is a drawing of one.
+
+[Illustration: The Cut represents one of the Rods from which the Floors
+are suspended.]
+
+She then makes a second floor, and hangs it under the first by rods as
+before; and the whole of it, when finished, if it should be cut straight
+through the middle, would appear something like the following picture of
+one which I made some years ago."
+
+[Illustration: _Section of the Social-Wasp's Nest._--_aa_, the outer
+wall; _b_, _cc_, five small terraces of cells for the neuter wasps;
+_dd_, _ee_, three rows of large cells for the males and females.]
+
+"This is a very ingenious little paper-maker. Uncle Philip."
+
+"Yes, boys, it is so. This of which I have been telling you is the
+ground-wasp. The tree-wasp makes its nest of paper prepared in the same
+way; and the nests are of different shapes. One makes it in a round
+flattened ball, not much larger than a rose, and when cut open it shows
+layer upon layer of leaves of the same thin grayish-looking paper. This
+kind is not so common, however. Here is one of their nests.
+
+[Illustration: Wasp's Nest.]
+
+"Another makes its nest of cells placed in separate floors, but without
+any outer wall to keep off the rain; and the most curious thing in this
+nest is, that it is not placed in a horizontal way; that is, it is not
+placed with the floors level, because then the cells would catch the
+rain, and the nest would be spoiled; but it is always placed slanting,
+so that the rain may run off. It is always placed, too, so as to face
+the north or the west, and I suppose it is because the wasp knows that
+it is in more danger of rain from the south and the east. Here is a nest
+of this kind."
+
+[Illustration: Wasp's Cells attached to a branch.]
+
+"Ah, Uncle Philip! this must be a kind of lazy wasp. It does not choose
+to take the trouble to cover up the house, and so it hangs it slanting,
+to make the rain run off."
+
+"It may be so, boys; but I think that in making this wasp lazy, you make
+it a very sensible wasp; else how should it know that water would run
+down a slanting surface? But I cannot believe that it is so lazy; for,
+though it does not cover up the whole house in a paper shell, yet it
+does what no other wasp does, it covers its nest with a complete coat of
+shining, water-proof varnish, to prevent the rain from soaking into the
+cells. And putting on this varnish, I can tell you, is no trifling work.
+It forms a pretty large part of the labour of the whole swarm belonging
+to the nest; and sometimes you may see some of them at work for hours at
+a time, spreading it on with their tongues. No, my lads, he who wants an
+example of laziness, will not find it among the wasps.
+
+"But let us come back to the paper. Hornets make paper for their nests
+much in the same manner as the wasps do, only it is coarser. There is,
+however, one kind of wasp which makes a sort of paper more curious than
+this which you have found. It is not a wasp found in this country at
+all. It is the Cayenne wasp, and so smooth, strong, and white is the
+outside of his nest that it appears like a card, and he is for that
+reason sometimes called the card-maker wasp. He hangs his nest on the
+branch of a tree, and it is so hard and polished on the outside that
+the rain rolls off from it, as if it were glass. A little hole in the
+lower end is left for the animal to pass in and out; and in this picture
+of it, which I have, a piece is left out of the side to show how the
+cells within are fixed."
+
+[Illustration: Nest of the Card-maker Wasp, with part removed to show
+the arrangement of the Cells.]
+
+"Well, then, Uncle Philip, we were right in thinking that wasps were the
+first paper-makers; and very glad we are that we saw this old piece of
+a wasp's nest. Who would have thought that so much could be learned by
+picking up this old scrap of a wasp's work!"
+
+"Very good sense, boys, in that thought. A wise man will learn something
+from almost any thing. Use your eyes, and think of what you see. Now in
+this very trade of paper-making. I think that man would have found it
+out a great deal sooner if he had watched the wasps at their work. They
+have been excellent workmen at this business from the beginning; and man
+has gone on learning little by little of this very trade, as I will tell
+you at some other time, when he might have made a long step at once,
+had he but noticed wasps and hornets. We go on very slowly sometimes in
+learning to make a trade as perfect as it can be: the poor animal, with
+its knowledge such as God gave it, is often our superior. These dumb
+creatures cannot teach us every thing; there is a point to which they
+can go, and no further: but as far as they do know, their knowledge is
+perfect; and I make no doubt that a great many useful things not now
+known will hereafter be found out by watching dumb animals."
+
+
+
+
+CONVERSATION V.
+
+     _Uncle Philip tells the Children a Story about Tom Smith; and
+     of Bees with Brushes and Baskets, and of a Bird with a Chisel, and
+     a Gnat with a Lancet._
+
+
+"Uncle Philip, as the day is fine, instead of sitting here, will you
+walk with us, this morning?"
+
+"Yes, boys; let me get my cane and hat, and we will take a ramble;
+perhaps we may see something, if we will use our eyes. Where do you wish
+to go?"
+
+"Oh, we do not care much, if you are with us, which way we walk; any
+course will be pleasant."
+
+"Come on, then; we will cross the river, and go down on the other side
+beyond the old mill, where you found the wasp's paper. And now, such of
+you as will, may keep a look-out for curious things, while the rest of
+us will talk together.--Boys, do any of you know Tom Smith?"
+
+"Know him! Why, Uncle Philip, everybody in this part of the country
+knows him; he is such a shocking drunkard, and swears so horribly, that
+nobody can forget him; and what makes it worse, he is an old man, too.
+His hair is almost as white as yours, Uncle Philip."
+
+"Yes; he is just about my age. We were both born here, and I have known
+him ever since we were boys; and when we played together as children,
+over this very field which we are now crossing, or caught fish in
+the river down yonder by the rocks, there was not a more decent,
+well-behaved, handsome boy among us than was Tom Smith. Poor Tom lost
+his father when he was about twelve years old, and his mother, having
+no other child, indulged him, until he was sent to the city to go into
+a store. But Tom then, boys, had good principles; he neither swore nor
+got drunk. In a little time he fell into bad company, and they led him
+astray by degrees. He was so good-natured (as they call it), boys,
+that he had never the firmness to say _no_ to the proposals of his
+companions. He went with them to places of amusement; and instead of
+spending his evenings in his own room, reading, he was at the theatre,
+or dancing in some place, or at a supper with his young companions;
+and finally he began to play cards and billiards with them; while the
+inside of the church was a place which he never saw. He was cheated by
+his companions; and too honest he was then not to pay what he lost by
+gaming: he wrote to his poor mother, and told her the truth, as to his
+losses, and she sent him money to pay his debts, and told him to come
+home. He did come home; and even after all that had happened, poor Tom
+might have been respectable and happy; for his friends were all willing
+to forget the past, and encourage him for the future. For a time he went
+on pretty well, and married an affectionate and good young woman, and
+his prospects were bright enough: but one thing, boys--one single thing,
+ruined his comfort for ever. In the city he had learned _to drink strong
+liquors_.
+
+"I remember, too, soon after he came home and married, that a man was
+hung not far from here for murdering his wife. The man was a drunkard,
+though he was quite sober when he killed the poor woman; and drunkenness
+had hardened his heart. I have no doubt, as it will the heart of any
+man. Tom was talking to me about that man, and I remember he said then
+that when a man _began_ to drink, he could never say where it would end,
+nor what he would do: 'therefore,' said Tom, 'beware of the _first_
+drink.' But Tom, though he talked like a Christian and a man about it,
+did not act like one: for it was not long before he began to follow his
+bad habit, and he soon killed his poor mother; for she died of grief
+and sorrow, I think. His excellent wife speedily followed her to the
+grave; and Tom Smith left the village, a perfect vagabond, whom no one
+cared for. Where he went, or what he did for a long time, no person
+here knows. I went to other countries, and neither heard of nor saw Tom
+Smith until my return home, when I found him wandering about here, a
+gray-headed swearer and drunkard. He did not know me, and I never should
+have known him, had not some one told me who he was. And last night I
+received a letter from one of my nephews in the city, which informed
+me that Tom Smith had been tried in the court, and found guilty of
+stealing, and was sent to the state prison for ten years to hard work.
+There I suppose he will die for he is now old; and it is awful to think
+of what is then to become of his soul. Ah, my dear boys! I could not
+help thinking, when I read my letter, of what that man said to me years
+ago--and I have told you his story, hoping that you will remember his
+words, 'Beware of the _first_ drink.' The man who does that will never
+be a drunkard. And when old Uncle Philip is laid in the grave, boys,
+which must be before many years, remember, as you look upon the place,
+that he told you the story of Tom Smith, and charged you to 'beware of
+the _first_ drink.'
+
+"But here come some of the boys, running towards us; I suppose they have
+found something."
+
+"Oh, Uncle Philip! Uncle Philip! Do come with the boys this way. Under
+that fence yonder there are a great many beautiful wild flowers, and a
+number of bees are as busy as they can be about them; pray come and see
+them."
+
+"Well, I will; but not so fast, boys; you forget that I am an old
+man, and cannot run as you do.--So, here are, indeed, a great many
+industrious little workmen."
+
+"What are they doing, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"These are _workers_ among the bees, and they are gathering the dust out
+of the flowers, to work it up into what is commonly called bee-bread.
+More tools here, boys!"
+
+"Tools, Uncle Philip! Ah, we like that: pray let us hear of them; what
+are they?"
+
+"Why, there is a brush and a basket in the legs of these little fellows;
+but they are so small that you cannot see them without a microscope."
+
+"What is a microscope?"
+
+"It is an instrument, made by fixing glasses in such a way to look
+through, that small things will seem to be very large. Do you not see
+how some of these little fellows are rolling themselves over in the
+inside of the flowers, so that the yellow dust is sticking to them?
+Now their breasts, and legs, and many other parts of their bodies are
+covered with very short hairs, which catch the dust. The last joint but
+one of each leg is made exactly like a brush, the hairs being longer
+there than on any other part; and with these they brush off the dust,
+and get it into two little heaps. The bags into which they put it, or
+rather the baskets, are in the thighs of the last pair of legs. These
+are hollow, so as to form a three-sided basket. The bottom of it is
+smooth and shining, and appears like horn, and all around the edges are
+placed very strong, thick-set hairs, like bristles."
+
+"What are these for?"
+
+"To keep things from falling out of the basket; and these bristles are
+so strong that even if they heap up more than the basket will hold, the
+bristles will keep it from falling. Here is a drawing of these legs.
+
+[Illustration: Structure of the legs of the Bee for carrying propolis
+and pollen, magnified.]
+
+Besides carrying this dust, they also carry what is called _propolis_."
+
+"What is propolis, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"It is a gum which is found upon some trees. This they work up into
+little balls, and knead it until it is a little dry, so as not to stick.
+This takes the bee sometimes as much as half an hour. When the balls
+are ready, she passes them backwards with her feet to the basket, puts
+them in, and gives them a pat or two to make them lie close; and when
+she adds more, she pats it still harder, and when the basket is full,
+away she goes to the hive. But there is another curious instrument about
+the bee. I mean its sting: this is like the head of a barbed or bearded
+arrow. There is a sheath for it when the bee does not wish to use it;
+and here is a picture of it.
+
+[Illustration: _a_, The sting of a Bee, magnified to show the barbed
+darts; _b_, the last ring of the abdomen of a Bee opened, showing the
+sting in its sheath.]
+
+But let us now continue our walk."
+
+"Well, Uncle Philip, it is really very pleasant to walk with you: it
+seems as if you met nothing which could not teach us things worth
+knowing."
+
+"Why, my dear boys, there are, as I told you once before, a great many
+things which I do not know; and what I do know I am very willing to tell
+you. But you may learn just as I did,--by reading, by taking notice of
+things around you, and by thinking for yourselves. And I do not know any
+thing more pleasant to notice than the works of God. I see his wisdom
+and his goodness in every thing which he has made. I see them in the
+insects, and the birds, and the larger animals; I see them in the grass,
+and the flowers, and the trees; and I see them in the rocks and the
+stones upon the ground. All these things are well worth our attention,
+boys; the study of all these things around us is called the study of
+'Natural History;' and I think it is apt to make him who loves it a
+better man; at any rate, I believe that there have been very few who
+have been fond of it, who have not been amiable and benevolent men. But,
+hark! Do you hear that noise?"
+
+"Yes, Uncle Philip; it is the sound of men chopping wood in that clump
+of trees."
+
+"No, boys; it is like the sound of a wood-cutter; and it is a
+wood-cutter, but he does not use one of our hatchets."
+
+"What is it that he uses, then?"
+
+"He uses the tool which God gave him. It is a bird, boys, which you
+hear: it is the woodpecker. See, there it is on yonder tree, and look,
+at the foot of it, there is something like a bushel of the bird's chips
+or dust. Its bill is a complete chisel; it is straight, hard, and sharp,
+with edges too upon the sides. It is not a very broad chisel, but still
+it is one, and used as we use ours. But the chisel is not the only
+instrument of that workman. Its tongue is worth examining. It bores a
+hole into a tree that is dead or decaying, to look for insects whose
+nests are in the tree; and when it reaches the cell where the young
+insect is, it uses its tongue to get it out, and it suits exactly for
+the business. In the first place, it is so long that the bird can shoot
+it out three or four inches longer than the bill is; in the next place
+the end of it is tipped with a stiff, sharp, long thorn; and in the
+last place, that thorn has little teeth on both sides of it, like that
+which you see on the point of a fish-hook: these teeth are to keep the
+insect from falling off when it puts its tongue in the hole and sticks
+its sharp point into it to draw it out for food. So that besides the
+chisel, the woodpecker has a spear, or lance, or arrow, barbed (as it is
+called) or bearded at the point.
+
+"But we are some distance, boys, beyond the old mill: suppose we now
+turn back towards home; I find the gnats rather troublesome."
+
+"So do we, Uncle Philip; they have been biting us for some time: it
+would be well if there were no such tormenting things in the world."
+
+"I am not sure of that, boys. We may not always be able to find out the
+exact use of some of these little animals; but that only shows that we
+are ignorant, not that they are of no use. God would never have made
+them if he had not some wise purpose in doing so: I do not believe he
+ever wastes his power in making useless things. But what will you say
+about gnats, when I tell you that they have a tool to work with, and a
+very perfect one, too?"
+
+"Why, we will almost forgive them for biting us."
+
+"Biting you! They have not been biting with teeth: they are doctors,
+boys; they have only been bleeding you, and cupping you."
+
+"And what have they been bleeding us with?"
+
+"Why, with a lancet, to be sure; what should a doctor use but a lancet
+to let blood?"
+
+"And has the gnat really a lancet?"
+
+"Yes, it has: this instrument forms a part of what you may call the
+tongue of the gnat: it is made up of five pieces, which are shut up in
+a case, split from one end to the other; these give steadiness to the
+lancet when it is used. But the reason of the pain is not so much the
+wound of the lancet, as it is the fluid or poisonous juice which the
+gnat puts into the wound to make the blood thin enough for the insect to
+suck it up through a tube or case, which makes part of its mouth. Here
+is a drawing of part of a gnat's mouth.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+And here is a picture of the lancet or knife of a horse-fly.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"We have now reached the bridge,--and here we must part; your homes are
+in one direction, and mine is in the opposite. I hope, however, that you
+have learned something in our morning's walk."
+
+"We have, Uncle Philip, and we thank you much, and bid you, good day."
+
+"Good day, boys."
+
+
+
+
+CONVERSATION VI.
+
+     _Uncle Philip tells the Children about Animals that can do
+     Mason's Work._
+
+
+"Uncle Philip, we saw a very strange thing just now; as we were coming,
+we saw a great many bees flying by us, and each one was carrying a
+little stone."
+
+"That was strange, indeed. Did you find out any thing about them?"
+
+"We asked a man who was near what they did it for, and he said that they
+carried the stones to prevent the wind, which is blowing pretty fresh,
+from tossing them about too much."
+
+"That is a very silly story, boys, though it is a very old one: for I
+have seen them carrying what you call stones when it was quite calm, and
+there was no wind to blow them away. The man was very ignorant, or he
+would have told you another story, which would have been both strange
+and true."
+
+"Will you have the goodness, Uncle Philip, to tell us what it meant?"
+
+"Very willingly, boys. What you saw I presume were bees. You remember
+that I told you there were several kinds of bees; and this one is called
+the mason-bee. This kind builds his nest of mortar, and was therefore
+called the mason-bee by Mr. Reaumur first, I believe."
+
+"Where does it get the mortar, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"It makes it, boys. This kind of bee may be seen flying about, picking
+up sand, grain by grain, putting it into a heap, gluing them together
+with a sort of gum out of her own mouth, and building with them a
+foundation for her house. This little workman commonly builds against
+the side of a wall between two bricks where the mortar has fallen out;
+and if you should see one of the nests, it appears exactly like a lump
+of dry mud which has been thrown wet upon the wall out of a cart-rut:
+but when you examine it closely, you may see a great many small stones
+in it, more than is common in mud: a hundred people, though, might pass
+by it, and never think it was any thing more than a lump of dirt, which
+had been thrown upon the wall when it was wet, and had afterward dried
+there. Here is a picture of one of these nests.
+
+[Illustration: Exterior wall of Mason-bee's Nest.]
+
+You see there is a small hole in it; this leads to a cell inside about
+an inch deep, and shaped exactly like a lady's thimble; the inside of
+this cell is polished smooth, and appears like a wall of plaster, except
+that it has little yellow stains upon it. Here is the bee that makes it.
+
+[Illustration: Mason-bee.--Natural size.]
+
+In making this mortar to build with, the bee will sometimes add earth
+that is soft to its grains of sand, and when the lump is about the size
+of a small shot, it takes it up and flies away with it, to work it into
+the wall."
+
+"Does it always use sand, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"Not always: sometimes it takes wet clay, and will dig into a bank of
+clay baked hard by the sun on the outside, so as to get that which is
+wet.
+
+"Mr. Rennie, a gentleman in England who is very fond of watching
+insects, and has found out a great many curious things about them, has
+given an account of some of these bees which he noticed at work. Every
+one was carrying out of a hole in the clay-bank a small lump of clay;
+and on catching one of them, he found that this lump was wetter than
+the clay in the hole, so that the bee had moistened it, and worked it
+together, to make it stick like good mortar. These lumps too were larger
+than a shot; they were as large as a garden-pea."
+
+"How long did it take them to work up the lump?"
+
+"About half a minute, Mr. Rennie says. He watched one of these little
+creatures, and found that she was building on the inside wall of a
+coal-house, where the bricks and mortar were left rough: she was at work
+between two of the bricks where the mortar had fallen out, or where the
+bee had taken it out. And the conduct of the bee at her house was very
+different from what it was at the clay-bank. She was not frightened,
+but went on working when any one came near the clay-bank; but at her
+house she seemed afraid that it should be found out where it was. She
+would alight first on the roof outside, as if she merely wished to rest
+herself; and when she flew into the coal-house she would not go directly
+to her nest, but would settle on a shelf, and sometimes pretend to be
+examining a great many places in the wall between different bricks; and
+at last, when she supposed there was no risk, or when there was nothing
+to alarm her, she would fly to her nest, and go to work with all her
+might in fixing her piece of clay to the wall."
+
+"Why did she wish her house not to be found out, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"Mr. Rennie supposed it was her instinct: she had seen probably some of
+the insects which would destroy her young, watching her to see where
+she was building; and sometimes after flying nearly to her nest with a
+load, she would turn back and fly towards the clay-bank, or take a large
+sweep off in another direction, and so come to her house.
+
+"Besides the mason-bee, boys, there is the mason-wasp, which I have
+heard some persons call the _dirt-dauber_: it is very common, especially
+in the southern part of the United States. It works very much like the
+mason-bee, only it is apt to fix its nest under the eaves of old houses,
+which I think the mason-bee never does.
+
+"There is also another kind of mason-wasp which will actually break a
+hard brick. Mr. Rennie says that he saw one at work on a brick of a hard
+yellow kind. Whether the wasp found a hole in the brick to begin with,
+he did not know; but if he did he was hard at work making it larger: he
+would break off a piece as large as a mustard-seed at a time. Here is
+a drawing of that kind of wasp; and the insect is no larger than the
+picture.
+
+[Illustration: Mason-wasp.--Natural size.]
+
+It seems wonderful that so small an insect should have so much strength.
+Here is a picture of its jaws, seen through a microscope, so as to
+appear a great deal larger than they really are.
+
+[Illustration: Jaws of Mason-wasp.--Greatly magnified.]
+
+"I do not know, boys, that the masons we have been talking of, show us
+any _tools_ like those with which men who are masons work; but they show
+us, at any rate, how to make mortar by kneading or working it together;
+and they certainly show us that we were not the first who built walls.
+But there is another kind of mason who works in stone. He picks out
+the stones which are of proper size, and he fastens them together with
+mortar really as men do."
+
+"Pray tell us of him, Uncle Philip."
+
+"I will. The insect I mean is the caddis-worm, which is to be found
+sometimes in ponds, and very often in springs of fresh water. There
+are several sorts of them, but the one I am thinking of now, builds a
+stone house to live in. These worms are in the habit of making a little
+tube, sometimes of sand, or shell, or wood, or leaves, or stones, to
+live in; and their skill consists in joining these perfectly, and
+making them stick together. But we are talking now of the caddis-worm
+that uses stone. What the worm has to do is to make a tube out of small
+stones, that shall have a hollow about as large as a wheat straw, and be
+perfectly smooth inside. This is a pretty hard task--at least it would
+be very hard to us. When the stone-mason wishes a stone of a particular
+size or shape, and cannot find it, he takes his hammer and breaks one
+until it will suit; but the caddis-worm has no hammer, and must take
+the stones just as it finds them. The little insect then has to pick
+out a great many stones before he gets the right one, because they have
+so many little rough points about them that it is very difficult to
+get those which will make the tube perfectly smooth inside. Remember,
+too, that the bottom or lower side of this stone case has to be pretty
+nearly smooth, so that the worm can drag it along on the bottom of the
+spring or pond (for it never comes out of it), and you will see that the
+picking out of the stones alone is no trifle. But besides this, it has
+to fasten them together with mortar."
+
+"And can the worm really do this, Uncle Philip? Will not the water wash
+the mortar all away?"
+
+"It certainly would if it were like common mortar. It was a long time
+that men lived before they found out a mortar that would remain, and
+grow hard under water. When they want to build a wall that is to be
+under the water, they use a cement which is called pozzolana; it is
+made of lava out of a volcano, and is water-proof. Our caddis-worm has
+a cement too, which is better than pozzolana, and though it has been
+tried, it cannot be melted or dissolved in water. Here is a drawing of
+the stone nest of a caddis-worm."
+
+[Illustration: Stone Nest of Caddis-worm.]
+
+"Uncle Philip, you said that sometimes these worms built their nests
+of other things besides stones; let us hear something of them, if you
+please."
+
+"Very willingly, boys. Some build of shells: here are pictures of their
+nests.
+
+[Illustration: Shell Nests of Caddis-worms.]
+
+Some build of leaves, and others of pieces of reed or light bark.
+
+[Illustration: Reed Nest of Caddis-worm.]
+
+And a curious thing about those which build of light pieces of bark
+or reed is this, that they will make the top-piece come over so as to
+hide their heads, and prevent you from seeing them. Some build of sand;
+and then as the house would be so light that the water running from
+the spring might wash it down and carry it away, the wonderful little
+creature takes care to anchor it by fastening a pretty large stone to it
+when it has nearly finished it. And as the worm anchors it when it is
+too light, so it lightens it when it is too heavy, by fixing a bit of
+light wood or hollow straw to it to buoy it up."
+
+[Illustration: Sand Nest, balanced with a Stone.]
+
+[Illustration: Nest of Caddis-worm, balanced with Straws.]
+
+"Well, this is truly a wonderful insect. Uncle Philip."
+
+"Truly so indeed, boys. In all these cases it uses its water-proof
+cement, and if you break its house to pieces, and will patiently watch,
+you may see it build another. The insect always lives with its head out
+of doors, and its body inside; so that its head is firm and hard, while
+its body is soft."
+
+"Uncle Philip," said one of the larger boys, "there is one thing I have
+been thinking about, as you have been talking: these little masons have
+no trowel, but I believe I know of one animal that uses something like
+that tool."
+
+"Ah! What animal is it?"
+
+"Why, I was reading the other day something about the beavers building
+their dams and their houses, and the book said that they built their
+houses of logs first, and then plastered them with mud, and that they
+used their tails for trowels."
+
+"I am very glad to find that you remember what you read; but I am sorry
+that your book did not tell you the truth. There have been very strange
+stories told about the beaver; and these stories have been taken from
+one book and printed in another, so that an untrue account has gone down
+for a great many years. The beaver is very ingenious, but is not quite
+so much of a mason as you suppose."
+
+"Well, Uncle Philip, will you tell us the truth about it?"
+
+"Yes, boys, I will, so far as I know it myself. I have seen these
+animals, for they were once a great deal more common in our country than
+they are now; and many of the stories told of them are not true. But
+before I begin, let me tell you of one book which I think does tell the
+plain truth about them; and the truth is curious enough."
+
+"What book is it, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"It is a book written on American Natural History, by Doctor John
+Godman. I knew him, boys, and a most excellent man he was. He is now
+dead--and he died a Christian. The book he wrote you will find worth
+reading, when you get old enough to understand it. But now for the
+beaver.
+
+"His tail is very broad and flat at the end, and might be used very well
+for a trowel; but when he builds his house he does not cut down trees,
+and place them first, and then fill up the cracks with mud-mortar; but
+all the sticks and mud (and stones too when the beaver can get them),
+are first mixed up together, and the beaver builds his house with this
+from the very foundation. As soon as he has placed a lump of this stuff
+upon the wall, he turns round and gives it a blow with his flat tail;
+and that, boys, is all he does with his tail for a trowel. Sometimes
+he slaps his tail upon the water when he is swimming; and some persons
+have supposed that this was done by the king, or ruler, to call his
+workmen. It may be so, but I do not believe it, because they almost
+always dive as soon as they have slapped the water; and I think it is
+probably a part of their motion in diving. In the autumn they cover the
+outside of their houses with mud, and they walk over it as they are at
+work, and their tails drag along upon it; and this I expect made persons
+first suppose that they were plastering it, with the tail for a trowel.
+When they are caught and kept, boys, they still keep up this fashion of
+slapping with the tail; so that I rather think it is part of the nature
+of the animal.
+
+"At another time, perhaps, I will tell you more about the beaver; but it
+is now late, and I must bid you good morning."
+
+"Good day, Uncle Philip."
+
+
+
+
+CONVERSATION VII.
+
+     _Uncle Philip talks to the Children about Animals that throw
+     Dirt with a Spade; and about an Animal with a Hook; and about one
+     that is a Wire-drawer._
+
+
+"Boys, I have some men at work digging a small ditch for me, and I wish
+to see them; will you go with me?"
+
+"Oh, yes--very gladly, Uncle Philip; for you will be sure to tell us of
+something curious before we come home."
+
+"Come on, then: yonder are the men at work; they have been very
+industrious, I see."
+
+"But, Uncle Philip, look! There is one of the men putting a bottle to
+his mouth. Is that right?"
+
+"Yes, boys, right enough; for the bottle has nothing but molasses and
+water in it; and the man is thirsty, I suppose. I would not employ him
+if he brought a bottle of spirits out with him, for two reasons. In the
+first place, I think that I ought not to encourage a man who gets drunk,
+by employing him; for I would rather give my money to a sober man who
+will not spend it for rum and brandy, but will take care of his family:
+and, in the second place, a drunkard would not work faithfully without
+being watched all the time. I never knew a drunkard who was really and
+honestly an industrious man."
+
+"See, Uncle Philip, how strong that man is; what a large spadeful of
+dirt he throws out!"
+
+"Yes, I see, boys: do you think that men had the first spades in the
+world?"
+
+"Ah! now you are going to tell us something about tools among animals:
+that is good; we like to hear of that. What animal is it that has a
+spade?"
+
+"Oh, a very common animal indeed in some parts of our country. The
+country people call it a _woodchuk_, and sometimes a _ground-hog_:
+its right name is the marmot; and as there are several sorts, ours is
+called the Maryland marmot, to distinguish it; but it is in New-York,
+Connecticut, New-Jersey. Pennsylvania, Virginia, and some of the other
+states, as well as in Maryland. This is rather a mischievous animal,
+and does harm to the clover-fields; but it is in making his house that
+he uses his spade."
+
+"Then he digs his house in the ground. Uncle Philip?"
+
+"Yes; he burrows, or digs his nest in banks of earth, or on the sides
+of hills; and he has sense enough to make the passage to the inside
+upwards, instead of downwards, so that water cannot run in. In digging
+soft earth he uses his fore-paws to loosen the dirt, for his fore-legs
+are very strong; and if the ground is hard he will use his teeth too.
+As he gets farther in, he throws the dirt with his fore-paws under his
+belly, and when he has a heap gathered, he balances himself on his
+fore-feet, and begins to throw it out with his spades."
+
+"What are his spades, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"His hinder feet, boys, which are very broad, and just fit to take up
+the dirt as a spade does, and to throw it from him: there is a skin
+which grows between the toes of his hinder feet, so that he can spread
+them out when he chooses, like a duck's foot."
+
+"But, Uncle Philip, perhaps they are made so for the sake of _swimming_;
+the duck's are."
+
+"That is a sensible thought, boys. Always think for yourselves; and when
+you make a mistake, try again: everybody is mistaken sometimes. Let it
+teach you to be modest and humble; but do not be afraid to think again.
+A person who is always thinking cannot _always_ think wrong. Now you
+suppose the marmot's feet may be made like a duck's for swimming: let me
+tell you something else, and we shall see what you will think then. The
+marmot hates a rain as much as you would if you had no umbrella; he very
+seldom even drinks water, and then only a little; and you cannot drive
+him into a stream or pond; he is afraid of it. What do you think now?"
+
+"Why, Uncle Philip, we think that he is no swimmer."
+
+"Very true, boys: so his feet, then, you now think, were made for
+spades, and not for paddles?"
+
+"We do. Can you tell us any thing more about this animal, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"Oh yes. The burrows or holes of the marmot run a great distance under
+ground, and end in several chambers or rooms, according to the number
+that is to live in them. They make beds in them of dry leaves, or
+grass, or any thing soft and dry which they can find. They cram their
+mouths full of it to carry, when they are making their nests. As soon as
+cold weather begins, the animal goes into his house, and stops up the
+hole on the inside; and there he stays till the warm weather has come
+again.
+
+"He is quite a thief at times. I saw one once which a gentleman had
+tamed, and he played about the yard; but every thing that he could get
+hold of which was fit to make his bed of, he was sure to steal, and
+carry into his hole under ground. When clothes were hung out to dry
+he would take them off the line, and as soon as any were missed the
+washerwoman knew very well where they were. She kept a long stick with
+a hook at the end of it, and with this she drew them out of the burrow.
+He soon found out what it meant, and whenever she used the stick, it was
+necessary first to tie him up; for he did not choose to have his bed
+spoiled, and would run to the hole and try to get in, and prevent the
+clothes from being drawn out. One day he stole eight pairs of stockings,
+a towel, and a little girl's frock; and he carried them into his burrow
+as far as six feet from the entrance.
+
+"But, boys, as we have begun this morning upon the old subject of tools
+among animals. I will tell you of something which, though not exactly
+a tool, is a very useful instrument, and is found belonging to a very
+common creature. Did you ever take notice of a bat?"
+
+"Oh yes, Uncle Philip, often, as they were flying about in a room at
+night, but not nearer."
+
+"Then you never saw what I mean, I expect. Our common bat, boys, has
+two very excellent hooks; one on each of what you call its wings: I
+say what you call its wings, because the bat is not really a bird, but
+a quadruped; that is, an animal with four feet: and when it is on the
+ground, any one may see that it is a four-footed animal. If a monkey's
+paw should be flattened out very much, it would be something like a
+bat's paw or hand. The long finger-bones are just like the sticks of an
+umbrella; there is a thin skin between them, and they stretch it out, so
+that the air underneath will keep them up. When they are on the ground
+all this is folded up. Their hinder feet have five toes, all small, and
+ending in sharp claws. On the fore-feet there is but one finger which
+the bat can use much, because the others are like umbrella-sticks, as I
+told you; and the end of that one is a hook. Here is a picture, in which
+you can see it plainly.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+When the bat is on the ground, it is hard work for it to get along. At
+first it will reach forward a little to one side the hooked end of its
+fore-leg, and stick it in the ground; then it draws its hind-legs under
+its belly, and raising itself up, just tumbles forward its whole body.
+At the next step it stretches out the other fore-leg, and hooks it, as
+it did before, and drawing itself up, tumbles forward again. The bat
+does not like a level place, because it cannot raise itself in the air
+from it. When they rest, they hang by the hooks; and here is a drawing
+of one, resting. In the other picture which I showed you just now the
+bat was flying."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"Uncle Philip, we did not know before that bats were such curious
+things; we always thought that they were birds; but if these pictures
+are like them, these hooks are as good as fish-hooks."
+
+"The pictures, boys, are very much like the animal, and the hooks are
+just as plain as they seem to be in the drawings. But how often do you
+suppose that you have seen a bat?"
+
+"Oh, many hundreds of times; for they are very common."
+
+"True, boys; and yet you never knew before that they had hooks about
+them. Suppose that everybody had done as you have, just passed by the
+bats, without taking notice of them; I could not have told you then
+what strange creatures they are, for no person would have known any
+thing about them. You see, then, that men may have eyes, and yet not see
+things; because they will not look for them. Use your eyes, boys; God
+made them to be used."
+
+"But, Uncle Philip, bats are such ugly things! and they can bite, too.
+We are afraid of them."
+
+"Ugly, boys! And what of that? Will you look at nothing but what is
+handsome? If the bat could think and speak, I expect he would call
+you very ugly. But it is foolish, boys, to be afraid of these smaller
+animals. There are many creatures which might hurt you, and I would
+advise you to keep out of their way: but it is silly to be afraid of
+every poor little insect or animal which you see. I have seen a large
+boy cry when he saw a poor little caterpillar or bug near him. Now
+there are very few insects, indeed, which can or will hurt you; and a
+great many of them you may watch without touching them at all. And I
+think that he is a wicked and cruel boy who kills every poor bug that he
+sees, merely because he is stronger than the bug. It would be a great
+deal kinder and wiser in the boy to notice what the bug was doing, for
+then he might learn something worth knowing."
+
+"But, Uncle Philip, is it wrong to kill _spiders_?"
+
+"Spiders! Why, boys, the spider is one of the very last of these little
+creatures that I should wish to kill. There is not a more curious little
+animal in the world, nor one that will pay a man better for watching its
+motions. At some other time I will tell you all about spiders and ants,
+for I have noticed them a great deal: but now, just to show you how much
+you would lose if you should kill all the spiders, I will talk with you
+about a tool which man uses, and which he might have learned to make
+from a spider."
+
+"Oh, do tell us; what is it?"
+
+"The next time you go to Mr. Brown's, the silversmith, ask him to show
+you his plate for drawing out wire. Tell him that I told you to ask
+him, and he will show it to you. You will see a flat piece of steel with
+holes made through it in regular lines, beginning with a large size, and
+growing smaller and smaller until the last is very small indeed.
+
+"Now the wire is drawn through these holes; beginning at the larger
+ones, and passing every time through the next smaller one, it stretches
+the wire out, until it becomes as small as the workman wishes it to be.
+
+"The spider is a wire-drawer, too; for it has a contrivance to draw
+out its threads, and make them smaller or larger, as it pleases. If
+you will look at a very large spider, you can see with your naked eye,
+just at the end of its body, four, and sometimes six, little knobs like
+teats, with a circle around them. These are its spinners. Each one of
+these small knobs, inside of that circle, is so full of little holes or
+tubes, that Mr. Reaumur (of whom I told you before, you will recollect)
+calculated that a place no larger than the point of a pin had a thousand
+of these little holes in it. These holes are sometimes so very small,
+that another gentleman,[8] who looked at spiders through a microscope
+very often, thought it would take four millions of the threads which
+came through those holes to make one thread as thick as a hair of his
+beard. Here is a picture of a spider hanging by a thread coming out of
+its spinner, or, as it is sometimes called, its spinneret."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"Then, Uncle Philip, the spider does not spin its thread all at once?"
+
+"No, boys. Fine as you see that thread to be, it is not one single line,
+but it is made of many thousands joined together. The spiders have
+little bags of gum within their bodies, near their spinners, and out of
+these they draw the threads: when they have come out about the tenth
+part of an inch, they join them all into one with their claws; and they
+can shut their spinners when they please, so as to make the threads
+longer or shorter; and they can break them off, too, when they wish."
+
+"But, Uncle Philip, we do not see why there should be so many threads to
+make up one."
+
+"I cannot exactly tell you, boys, why there are so many; but probably
+to make the thread dry quicker, by letting the air touch so many parts
+of it: and I expect, too, the thread is stronger, because we know that
+in two pieces of cord of one size, if one is made of several smaller
+cords put together, it will be stronger than the other, which was spun
+all at once. The following is a picture of the spider's spinnerets, and
+some of the threads as it appears through the microscope; only you must
+recollect that _all_ the threads are not drawn: there are a great many
+more than you see in the picture."
+
+[Illustration: Spider's Threads coming from the Spinnerets.]
+
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[8] Leuwenhoek.
+
+
+
+
+CONVERSATION VIII.
+
+     _Uncle Philip tells the Children of a Door, with a Hinge and
+     Spring to it, made by a Spider; and shows them Pictures to let them
+     see the Difference between God's Work and Man's._
+
+
+"I was thinking, boys, last night, of what you said about killing the
+poor spiders; and I was sorry that I did not then recollect one thing
+about a spider which I could have told you, and which would have made
+you like the poor little creatures better. However, I determined that
+when you came to see me again, it should be the first thing I would tell
+you, if you wished to hear it."
+
+"Wish to hear it! Why, Uncle Philip, we always wish to hear you tell us
+of any thing that you please to talk about. You have told us of a great
+many strange things, about which we knew nothing before; and we will
+thank you to tell us the story about the spider."
+
+"Very well, boys; you shall hear it. Pray, do you not think that it is
+a piece of difficult work to make a door to a house, and to make hinges
+to hang it with, and to fit it so nicely that when it is done you cannot
+see the joints where the door is shut?"
+
+"Indeed it is a piece of very hard work. Uncle Philip, and it takes
+the carpenter a long time to do it; and it is hard work, too, for the
+blacksmith to make the hinges. But what has that to do with the story
+about the spider?"
+
+"Patience, boys, patience: you shall know presently. Never be in too
+great a hurry: it is a bad plan. I have always noticed that those
+persons who hurried most, went slowest in the end. Another question I
+wish to ask you is this,--do you not think it was hard work for the
+first man who ever made a spring, and put it on a door, to make it shut
+itself again when it had been opened?"
+
+"Yes, it was so: and the man who does it now gets well paid for it."
+
+"Very good, boys. And now what will you say when I tell you that a poor
+little spider did all these things long before man did?"
+
+"What, Uncle Philip! A spider make a door with a hinge and a spring to
+make it shut itself!"
+
+"Yes, boys; a spider. Do you think he deserves to be killed for doing
+it?"
+
+"Oh no, no! But pray tell us all about it. Uncle Philip."
+
+"This kind of spider, then, boys, I saw in Jamaica, and I saw its house,
+too. It is called the mason-spider. The nest or house which I saw was a
+tube made of very hard clay, about six inches long, and an inch across,
+and was a little bent at one end. The inside of this tube was lined
+all the way through with a kind of soft silky stuff, something like
+silk-paper, but stronger, and it was of a yellowish colour; but the
+curious part was the door. I never saw any thing which an insect had
+made more strange than that. This door was round, about as large as a
+quarter of a dollar, and was a little hollowed on the upper side like
+a saucer; the inside of it was rounded like the outside of the saucer.
+It was of the same stuff with the lining of the nest, and seemed to be
+made of more than a dozen pieces of that lining, put one on the top of
+another: it was shaped so, too, that the inside layers or pieces were
+the broadest, and the outside ones became smaller and smaller, except
+at the hinge, which was about an inch long. All the pieces in the door
+were joined into this hinge, and then the hinge was joined and worked
+into the lining in the tube. That made the hinge the thickest and
+strongest part of the whole work. How the spider made it so, boys, I
+cannot tell; but so it was, that this hinge not only was a hinge, but
+was so good a spring, that whenever the door was opened it would shut
+itself immediately: and when shut, it fitted so nicely that it was very
+difficult to see the place of joining."
+
+"Well, Uncle Philip, this is most wonderful! But will not the hinge wear
+out at last?"
+
+"Wonderful as it is, boys, it is all true. As to its wearing out, I
+cannot tell you; but I know that a gentleman who had one, said that his
+friends were very anxious to see it; and there were so many of them,
+that he had to open the door and let it shut itself many hundreds of
+times to satisfy them; and it did not hurt the spring at all."
+
+"Uncle Philip, we shall not kill the poor spiders any more."
+
+"A good resolution, boys: only let them alone, and they will not hurt
+you. There is another kind of mason-spider, which I never saw, but I
+have read of it. It is found in the south of France; I did not happen,
+however, to meet with one while I was in that beautiful country. This
+kind digs a gallery or hole under ground as much as a foot deep. She
+lines it with a sort of silk glued to the walls, and makes her door,
+which is round also, with many layers of mud or earth all kneaded and
+bound together with some of her silk. On the outside, the door is flat
+and rough, to make it appear like the dirt around it, and hide it; on
+the inside it is shaped like the inside of the door of the other spider
+I have told you about; and all covered with a coat of fine silk. The
+threads of this silk are left long on one side, and fastened to the
+upper part of the hole; and these make the hinge. There is no spring to
+this; but when the spider pushes its door open and comes out, it shuts
+again by its own weight. If this door is forced open by any one when
+the spider is at home, she will catch hold of it and pull it in; and
+sometimes even when it is half-opened; she will snatch it out of the
+hand. Here is a picture which shows the nest open, and another of it
+shut; and there is a drawing of the spider, too.
+
+[Illustration: A, the Nest shut; B, the Nest open; C, the Spider; D, the
+Eyes, magnified; E, F, Parts of the Foot and Claw magnified.]
+
+A gentleman says, in a book which he wrote about insects, that he once
+broke one of these doors off, to see what the spider would do."
+
+"And what did she do, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"She made another door; but took very good care not to put any hinge
+to it, for fear she should be disturbed again. But when she thought
+all danger was gone, she could then put a hinge to it, you know; and
+probably she did."
+
+"Well, Uncle Philip, we thank you again for this account of the spiders,
+and shall always look at them hereafter with more pleasure. Who would
+have thought that we should ever find doors and hinges among such little
+creatures, and these too so very well made and fitted!"
+
+"Why, boys, I have noticed the works of God very often; and I will now
+tell you one thing which I always found. It is this: a piece of the very
+best work which man can make is really coarse when you compare it with
+the work of God. The poor spider that we have talked about, when she
+makes her door, makes it to fit perfectly; because in doing that one
+thing, God made her to know perfectly how to do it. The knowledge is
+God's, boys; but the work is the spider's: but in making any thing else,
+except about her house, the spider knows nothing."
+
+"Uncle Philip, you told us once that you were very fond of watching all
+sorts of dumb animals, and we think now that we know the reason."
+
+"Well, what is it?"
+
+"It is because you see so much of God's knowledge in them; is it not?"
+
+"Yes, my dear boys, it is. When I look at many things which man makes
+or does, I think to myself, 'Now this thing is likely to have a mixture
+of sense and nonsense in it; the sense is God's, and the nonsense is
+man's.' But when I look at a thing made by one of the dumb creatures for
+its own comfort and safety, like the spider's house, with its door and
+hinge, for instance, I say to myself, 'Now here is the wisdom of God,
+without any of man's nonsense.' And yet, boys, men are far wiser than
+any other animal in this world."
+
+"But, Uncle Philip, you said that a piece of man's best work was really
+coarse: some things must be neat, we should think. Is the point of a
+needle coarse? It does not seem so."
+
+"Boys, you have mentioned the very thing which was in my mind when I
+spoke. The point of the smallest needle is very coarse. You have heard
+me talk of the microscope. I told you it was a set of glasses, so
+fixed that when you looked through them, it made small things appear
+very large: on some other day, perhaps, I will let you look through
+my microscope for yourselves; but now, I just wish to show you the
+difference between the work of God and that of man. Let us go home,
+and I will show you some pictures I made, and you can see in them the
+difference. Last winter, you know, was very cold, and there was a great
+deal of snow: one day, while the snow was falling pretty fast, I was
+obliged to go out; and as the flakes of snow fell upon the sleeve of my
+coat (which was black), I thought they had a curious shape, and did not
+all appear alike; so when I returned home I caught some of the flakes,
+and looked at them through my microscope. They were so beautiful that I
+made pictures of them; and as we have now reached home, just let me step
+into my study, and I will bring them to you. Here they are, boys."
+
+[Illustration: Snow-flakes, seen through a Microscope.]
+
+"Oh, Uncle Philip! these are very pretty; they are all so different,
+too!"
+
+"Yes, boys, I picked out different ones to draw: when I was done, I
+began to look into my books to find out what others had written about
+this thing; and I found that a gentleman named Dr. Hook had seen more
+than a hundred different shapes and sizes of these flakes. This is God's
+work, boys.
+
+"Now I have brought you out another picture: it is the point of a very
+small needle, seen through the very same microscope which showed me the
+snow-flakes. Just look at it, boys. This is _man's_ work."
+
+[Illustration: The Point of a very small Needle, seen through the
+Microscope.]
+
+
+
+
+CONVERSATION IX.
+
+     _Uncle Phillip tells the Boys a Story about a Philosopher and
+     his Kite.--He tells them, too, about Ants that have Awls, and build
+     Cities, and Stairs, and Bridges, and many other things._
+
+
+"So, boys, you have come again to see me. I am very glad of it; for as
+this is a leisure day, we shall have time enough to talk: but what is
+that you have there? Oh, I see now; it is a kite."
+
+"Yes, Uncle Philip; it is a French kite that we have been making, and we
+have come to ask you to go out with us this morning and see us fly it."
+
+"Very good, boys; I will go. I am an old man now; but I remember that I
+was a boy once, and loved to make a kite sail. It always makes me happy
+to see boys and girls playing about in health, provided they are not
+wasting time, and their play is not to do harm to anybody or any thing.
+So come on; we will go out upon the green common yonder, behind the
+church, and I think we shall have a grand kite-flying, for the wind is
+about right.
+
+"There, boys! up she goes! Let out the string. I think she behaves very
+well; there, she is done pitching about: now she is steady; see how she
+mounts. Ah, that is a very good kite."
+
+"Uncle Philip, I was reading a book yesterday which said, 'A philosopher
+once found great help from a kite.' What did it mean?"
+
+"Do you know what a philosopher is?"
+
+"Yes, Uncle Philip; a philosopher is the same thing with a very wise
+man, is it not?"
+
+"That is pretty near the meaning. Philosopher means a person who loves
+wisdom; and such a person, you know, will always be trying to get
+knowledge; and a person who is always trying to get knowledge is apt to
+be a wise and learned man."
+
+"Well, how could a kite help a man to get learning? Did he read the old
+newspapers it was made of? I cannot see any other way."
+
+"But there may be another way without your seeing it, you know. The
+philosopher whom your book meant was Dr. Franklin. Did you ever hear of
+him?"
+
+"Oh, yes; he was born in Boston, and was a printer, and afterward became
+a very great man."
+
+"That is true. He was a man of excellent sense, who both read and
+thought a great deal; and in the war which the people of this country
+had with England to get their freedom. Dr. Franklin's sound sense was of
+great use to his countrymen."
+
+"But, Uncle Philip, how did the kite help him?"
+
+"I will tell you. If you take a proper piece of glass, or sulphur, or
+sealing-wax, or rosin, and rub it for some time, and then hold it near
+to small bits of thread or paper, the thread or paper will fly towards
+the glass or sealing-wax, and stick to it for a short time. That which
+makes them fly to the glass and stick there, is called _electricity_.
+After this was found out, men went on slowly finding out more and more,
+until at last a man named Hawksbee made a large machine with a glass
+barrel, which could be turned around by a handle like that which you see
+to a grindstone; and with this machine (which I will show you at some
+other time) he managed to get a great deal of this electricity, and it
+would shoot off in sparks, which appeared like little lightning.
+
+"And now, boys, what I am going to tell you will show you the use of a
+man's eyes. Dr. Franklin knew all about the electrical machine, and was
+very fond of drawing off the sparks from it, to see what he could find
+out about it. And when he saw it appeared so much like lightning, and
+could feel too a spark strike his hand a smart blow, he began to think
+that perhaps it was exactly the same thing with the lightning which came
+from the clouds; so he determined, if he could, to find out whether it
+was or not. He was a great deal troubled for some time to know how he
+should get down any of the lightning from the clouds; until at last,
+one day, he saw a boy flying a kite; and that showed him the way. So
+he took a large silk handkerchief, and stretching it upon sticks, soon
+made his kite; and not long afterward, when he saw a black thunder-cloud
+coming up, he took his kite and walked out of Philadelphia (where he
+then lived) into the fields, and sent his kite up. He had a string like
+yours, made of hemp, and to the end of this he tied an iron key, and
+then fastening it to the post of a shed by a silk cord, which he tied
+to the end of the hemp string, he got under the shed, and waited a long
+time. Now, boys, if he had been impatient, all his work would have been
+of no use. But he even waited, after a very heavy cloud had passed over
+his kite without giving it any of its lightning. At last, when he was
+almost ready to give it up and go home, he saw some loose threads on the
+hemp string rise and stand up straight, just as he knew the electrical
+machine would make them do. He directly put his knuckle to the iron key,
+and off came the spark, which he knew at once was exactly like the spark
+which he could get from the machine. And so, boys, he found out what
+he wished to know; and this was the way in which the kite helped the
+philosopher."
+
+"Well, Uncle Philip, this is really a very pretty story about Dr.
+Franklin and his kite. Was anybody with him?"
+
+"Nobody but his son; he took him out to help him raise the kite. But,
+boys, I see the other lads are walking on towards the bridge with our
+kite; let us follow them, and as we go, I will tell you of an electric
+_animal_."
+
+"Oh, we shall be very glad to hear of him."
+
+"Listen, then. There is a kind of eel, which when it is touched will
+give a very hard blow, just like an electric shock, to the person who
+touches it."
+
+"Is there any spark, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"No, boys; there is no spark,--but the blow is tremendous. I remember
+reading of one of these fish which was caught in a net, and a foolish
+sailor would take it up, though he was told it would hurt him. The fish
+shocked him so violently that he fell down in a fit, and it was a long
+time before he came to his senses; and his story was, that the moment he
+touched the fish, 'the cold ran swiftly up his arm into his body, and
+pierced him to the heart.' The fish has this power to defend itself, and
+to kill other fish for food."
+
+"But, Uncle Philip, how do they ever manage to catch them alive? I
+should think they would be shocked to death."
+
+"I will tell you. A very sensible traveller and learned man[9] gives an
+account of the manner in which they catch them, by a way called, by the
+South American Indians, 'fishing with horses.'"
+
+"Fishing with horses! What does that mean?"
+
+"The savannas, or large open plains, in South America have a great many
+wild horses and mules running over them. M. Humboldt says that the
+Indians caught about thirty of these, and drove them into the pond where
+the electrical eels were. The horses made a great noise, and stirred up
+the mud with their hoofs, and this brought up the eels from the bottom
+in a great rage. They were very large, and looked more like water-snakes
+than like eels; and rising to the top of the water, they crowded under
+the bellies of the horses and mules, and began to shock them. The poor
+horses would try to get out of the pond; but the Indians, with spears
+and long reeds, would stand around to hinder them from coming out: some
+of them, too, would climb upon the trees around the banks, and get out
+upon the branches which were over the pond, and by crying out aloud,
+and using their long reeds, kept the horses in the pond. The eels would
+continue to shock them with tremendous blows, and a great many of the
+poor creatures were either stunned or killed, and would sink. Those not
+killed would pant and raise their heads, while their eyes would show
+their pain, and they would try to get out. The Indians still drove them
+back, but some few escaped, and reached the shore, stumbling at every
+step, and would stretch themselves on the bank, tired out, and benumbed
+in their limbs by the shocks they had received. M. Humboldt says that in
+less than five minutes after the fight began, two horses were drowned;
+and he thought that the end of it would be, that every horse which did
+not get out of the water would be killed: but at last the eels became
+tired, and began to disperse. This is just what the Indians wish. They
+know that the eels have spent so much of their electrical power that
+they will need a long rest. It takes them a great while to get back
+their strength; so that if, the next day after such a fight, you send in
+more horses, they cannot kill one. When the eels, tired out in this way,
+begin to separate, they will swim to the edge of the pond, and there the
+Indians take them with small harpoons fastened to long cords. When the
+cords are dry, the Indian feels no shock in raising the eel out of the
+water. In this way M. Humboldt got five, all alive, and very little
+hurt. But here we are at the bridge."
+
+"Uncle Philip, suppose we sit down under the shade of this tree, and
+rest."
+
+"I am willing, boys; but take care of the damp ground: there is an old
+piece of timber that the men have taken out of the bridge, for I see
+they have been mending it; we will sit on that."
+
+"But, Uncle Philip, what shall we do with the kite? shall we draw it
+down?"
+
+"Do with it! Why, just tie the end of your string to that root, and it
+will take care of itself in this wind."
+
+"What a monstrous piece of timber this is. Uncle Philip! It must have
+taken a great many men to move it; and see--there are some larger ones
+still in the bridge. It must be a difficult work to build a bridge."
+
+"Yes, it is so: but there are bridges much harder to build than our
+little wooden one here. Some are built of stone, and it takes years to
+finish them. None but a good workman can plan and build a good stone
+bridge: but I know a little fellow that can make as good a bridge as
+anybody; and yet no man ever taught him the trade."
+
+"Ah! now we know what is coming. You are going to tell us of a dumb
+animal that can make a bridge."
+
+"Yes, I am: and a small animal it is, too, for it is an ant."
+
+"What sort of an ant is it?"
+
+"It is called the white ant; and as there is a great deal that is very
+curious about this insect. I think that I had better tell you all about
+it at once."
+
+"Pray do, Uncle Philip; you know you promised to tell us about ants."
+
+"True, boys; and I like to keep my promises. In my story about these
+ants, I think, if you attend, you will find more tools; and besides
+that, you will hear of a great many things which man makes, and which
+show matters quite as strange as any of which I have yet told you."
+
+"What are they, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"They are the building of something like a city, and bridges, and
+stairs, and roads, and tunnels under ground, and--"
+
+"Oh, let us hear--let us hear! We have heard nothing equal to this yet."
+
+"Well, then, I begin by telling you that these insects are very common
+in Africa, and in the East Indies, and are troublesome enough, for they
+eat almost every thing but metal and glass. They love wood, though,
+better than any thing else; and they are so numerous that they destroy
+it wonderfully fast. They are very cunning, too; they never eat the
+outside of the wood first, but will work upon the inside, so as to leave
+the outer part not thicker than a piece of pasteboard. But the curious
+things I meant to tell you were about their city; so I will go on to
+that. When they first begin to build you will see little hills shaped
+like a sugar-loaf, and rising up above the ground about a foot, or a
+little more. Here is a picture of them.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+The highest of these little hills is always in the middle; and they go
+on building more and more, and making them all higher, still keeping
+the tallest one in the centre. When they have made them as high as
+they wish, then they fill in the spaces between the tops of all these
+sugar-loaf hills, so as to make one roof over all. Here is a picture of
+one finished.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+After this is done, they take down nearly all of the little sugar-loaf
+hills inside; for they only wanted them for a scaffold to support the
+top while they were building it."
+
+"Uncle Philip, what is all this built of?"
+
+"It is built of clay, which the ant makes almost as hard as stone."
+
+"Are they strong, Uncle Philip?
+
+"So strong, boys, that five men may stand on them; and it is a common
+thing for the wild bulls to get upon them and look out, while the rest
+of the herd are feeding below."
+
+"Why, how high are they?"
+
+"Oh, of different heights; some as many as five or six feet, others are
+twelve, and the largest are as high as twenty feet, and would easily
+hold a dozen men."
+
+"And how large are the ants, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"Not above a quarter of an inch high as they stand. Now, boys, just
+compare the size of one of these nests with the size of the ant that
+made it; and it is quite as large in proportion as the city of New-York
+is when compared to a man's size; yes, it is a great deal larger in
+proportion. These nests are sometimes five hundred times as high as the
+ants which build them: now suppose that men built their houses five
+hundred times as high as themselves, and as large at the foundation in
+proportion to their height, what monstrous buildings they would be! But
+let me go on. This outside shell, which I have been telling you how they
+make, is nothing but the wall of the city; the buildings are all inside
+of that."
+
+"But, Uncle Philip, there is one thing I have been thinking of which
+would make it more like a city still. But I hardly think they can have
+that."
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"Why in a city, you know, where there are a great many people, there are
+a great many trades: some do one thing and some do another to get money."
+
+"Yes, that is true; and I am glad that you mentioned it, because it
+reminds me of one thing I intended to tell you about these ants. Now,
+it would not be reasonable, you know, to expect the ants to have many
+different kinds of business to do, as the people in New-York have; but
+still, boys, they are not all alike, and they do have work of different
+kinds. There are in the city of the white ants a king and a queen, and
+soldiers, and labourers, or workmen, and all these are different. Here
+are pictures which will show them all to you. This is the king.
+
+[Illustration: King of the Termites.]
+
+At first he has four wings, but soon loses them. He never grows any
+larger after he loses them. The king may be known by his having two
+large eyes. Here is the queen. She is the mother of the whole city;
+and you see what a large body she has. It is full of eggs, and eighty
+thousand will come from her in twenty-four hours. She also has two eyes.
+
+[Illustration: Queen of the Termites.]
+
+"Here is a soldier: he has a large head, armed with two hooks, shaped
+like a crooked awl, and very sharp.
+
+[Illustration: Soldier of the Termites.]
+
+"For every one of these soldiers there are about one hundred labourers.
+The soldiers do the fighting; and though they are perfectly blind, they
+fight well, and are very brave. The following is a picture, too, of the
+soldiers' awls, seen through the microscope, to show you how sharp they
+are.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"And here is a picture of the labourer; the largest part of the city is
+made up of the labourers,--which shows us, I think, boys, that there is
+more need of working than there is of fighting.
+
+[Illustration: Labourer of the Termites.]
+
+This class, like the soldiers, is blind, and scarcely ever go into the
+open air; their work is mostly under ground or in the inside of wood.
+Both, however, do come out when their city is attacked and broken: but I
+will tell you of that presently."
+
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[9] M. Humboldt.
+
+
+
+
+CONVERSATION X.
+
+     _Uncle Philip tells the Children more about the White Ants._
+
+
+"Now, boys, as I have told you about the kinds of different work which
+these ants do, we will go on, and I will tell you about the inside
+of the city. The first thing to be done is to build a house for the
+king and queen. This is the first house built in the city, and always
+stands in the centre, directly under the point of the roof or top of
+the outside wall. It is built nearly on a level with the ground, and is
+shaped very much like a long oven, or the half of an egg split through
+the long way. The floor is exactly level, and about an inch thick; the
+roof is about the same thickness. The doors are on a level with the
+floor, and just large enough to let one of the labourers go in."
+
+"Why, Uncle Philip, how do the king and queen ever get out then."
+
+"They never do get out, boys; they live in that house always, and they
+are not the first kings and queens who have found that a palace is
+sometimes a prison. Just around this house of the king and queen are
+other houses built of clay, arched at the top, and of different shapes.
+These are for the servants or labouring ants, who remove the eggs of
+the queen as fast as she discharges them. The soldiers also live in
+these houses. Next to these are the magazines, that is, the houses where
+they keep their food, such as dry juices of trees and gums; and mixed
+up with these are the nurseries. These are made by the labourers, and
+are different from all the other buildings, for they are made of wood
+gnawed or broken into fine threads, and joined together with some kind
+of gum, and around each of them there is a case of clay. These nurseries
+are to carry the eggs into for the young ants to be hatched. Between
+all these different houses or parts there are thousands of galleries
+or ways, which run among them and separate them from each other, and
+these may be called the streets of the city. These streets run in all
+directions, and extend as far as the outside wall; and houses are built
+on top of houses, and streets run over streets, until they reach up
+as high as two-thirds of the inside wall. But under the top of their
+outside case they always leave a large open place that is never filled
+up with houses. And around this space they will build three or four
+large arches, sometimes two or three feet high; these I suppose are to
+prevent the houses from falling in towards the centre of the city, which
+is an open space, and on the other side they are fastened to the outside
+walls, so that these houses are very firm."
+
+"And what is all this made of, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"All of clay, except the nurseries, which I told you were made of wood
+and gum. Over the house of the king and queen there is a sort of flat
+floor, some distance above it, with nurseries and magazines between the
+under side of it and the top of the queen's house. This floor will not
+let the water through it, so as to wet the palace where the king and
+queen live, but will turn it off into large trenches or gutters under
+ground, of which I will speak directly. The bridge I told you of they
+build from this floor in the open space, directly under the top or dome
+of the outside wall; it rises up and is joined to some hole in the side
+wall of the houses above it."
+
+"How large is it, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"Why, sometimes it is half an inch broad, a quarter of an inch thick,
+and ten inches long; all made of clay, so that it is very strange how
+they manage to join it to the wall without its falling down by its own
+weight while they were building it."
+
+"And what do you suppose this bridge is for, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"Why, I think there can be no doubt what it is for. When the city has
+been growing for some time, some of the nurseries will be very high up
+above the queen's house; but the labourers have to carry her eggs into
+them, no matter how far off they may be. If they carry them through all
+the streets, they will have to walk as many as fifteen or twenty feet,
+for it would be five or six feet in a perfectly straight line, and these
+streets are very crooked; but if they make a bridge in the open space
+in the centre, they can then go from the queen's house over the bridge,
+and get to the upper nurseries without travelling more than two feet. So
+they made the bridge to shorten the way, to be sure."
+
+"This is very wonderful: but you said something about large trenches or
+gutters underground; what are they, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"These galleries lead from the city under ground, and are as large as
+the bore of a large cannon; they are thirteen inches across, and more
+than a hundred yards long. I have already told you that the labourers
+never come out into the light, when they can help it; and these
+underground ways are the great roads to the city, to fetch in clay, or
+wood, or water, or provisions: and now I will tell you another thing
+which shows a great deal of sense. As some of their houses are very high
+up, you know they would find it very hard to climb up through all the
+streets with a heavy load in a straight line; so when these large ways
+underground reach the outside wall, they just come through and keep on
+winding around the inside of it like a corkscrew all the way to the top;
+and there are other galleries opening from it at different places into
+the city. One thing has been noticed about these ants; they can scarcely
+climb at all up a perpendicular wall. Therefore on the upright side of
+any part of the city you may see a road made, standing out from the wall
+like a ledge; it is flat on the top, and half an inch wide, and goes
+up gradually like a stair-case, or like a road cut out on the side of a
+mountain.
+
+"Here is a picture of one of their cities cut straight down through the
+middle. At the bottom, in the centre, is the queen's house; over it is a
+floor, and the two crooked things you see rising up from the floor, are
+bridges."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"But, Uncle Philip, you said you would tell us about the soldiers and
+labourers coming out when the city is attacked."
+
+"Yes, I did. As soon as a hole is made in the outside wall, you will
+see a soldier run out, and walk about as if to look around; but as he
+is blind, it cannot be to see what the danger is. He may have some way
+though of finding out without seeing. Presently he will go in, as if
+to tell the others, and then out pour the soldiers in great numbers,
+as fast as the hole will let them; and just as long as you strike the
+outside wall, they will continue to rush out. They seem to be in a
+terrible passion. They are in such a hurry that sometimes they slip, and
+roll down the outside of the hill; but they jump up again instantly,
+and begin to bite every thing they run against, for they are blind and
+cannot tell a friend from an enemy."
+
+"Do they bite hard, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"Very hard indeed. They make their hooked jaws, which are like awls, you
+know, meet at every bite; and if it should happen to be a man's leg they
+get hold of, you would see upon his stocking a spot of blood an inch
+long. At every bite too you may hear their jaws snapping together and
+making quite a noise. Some of them too (perhaps they are the officers)
+are constantly beating with their awls upon the outside wall, and make a
+sound something quicker and sharper than the ticking of a watch. You may
+hear it at a distance of three or four feet. When these biters lay hold,
+nothing will make them let go; you must tear them away by pieces. After
+you stop striking the wall, in about half an hour they seem to get over
+their rage and go back into the city, and then out come the labourers.
+While the noise continues you will not see one of them; they all fled
+at the first appearance of danger. But now they come, each one with a
+bundle of mortar in his mouth, ready made; and they stick it on the hole
+so fast, and with such order, that though thousands and thousands are at
+work they never interrupt each other. And while the labourers are busy,
+if you look you may commonly see a soldier or two walking about; but
+they never touch the mortar, nor help in any way to mend the hole. One
+of these soldiers always stands near the spot where the labourers are at
+work, and every now and then turns slowly around, and frequently lifts
+up his head, and with his awls beats upon the building, and makes a
+sort of hissing noise. As soon as that is done you may hear a loud hiss
+from all the labourers, both on the outside of the wall and from the
+inside of the city, and then the labourers run faster, and work as quick
+again. If you attack the nest again, away run all the labourers as fast
+as their legs will carry them, and out pour the soldiers as before; and
+the same thing is always seen upon every attack, of soldiers to fight
+and labourers to work."
+
+"Well, Uncle Philip, this is a very strange story; much more interesting
+than any we have yet heard."
+
+"I thought it would please you, boys; but there are still stranger
+things among animals, and perhaps you will say so when you know more.
+
+"But it is now time to return home; so take in the kite and let us be
+going."
+
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[10] Mr. Huber the younger.
+
+
+
+
+CONVERSATION XI.
+
+     _Uncle Philip tells the Children about some other Ants, that
+     are very good Masons, and build Walls and Ceilings; and a Story
+     about a very sensible Ant, which seemed to think a little._
+
+
+"Good morning, good morning, Uncle Philip; we have been so much
+delighted with the stories about the white ants, that we hope you have
+more of the same kind to tell us."
+
+"Why, as to that matter, boys, I can tell you much more about ants, for
+there are many kinds of them; but I am not sure that I can show you any
+of the _tools_ with which they work, though a large portion of their
+work is like that of man; and they have, too, several customs which our
+fellow-creatures have. I can tell you, however, of several other animals
+which do use tools shaped like those used by men, if you would rather
+hear of them."
+
+"If you please, Uncle Philip, we will hear of them at another time; but
+now we would rather have you tell us of the other kinds of ants."
+
+"Oh, very well, boys; it shall be as you wish. All that I desire is to
+instruct and amuse you, and I am sure that the ants can furnish a good
+lesson to us. I shall begin with the mason ants. They always build their
+nests either of clay which is damp, and dug from the inside of their
+city under ground, or which has been made wet by the rain; and a part of
+their building is always above the ground, so that you can easily see
+it. There is no fixed rule for the ants to build by. Their cities are
+not all alike in the inside. Sometimes the walls are larger and coarser,
+and the ways and galleries are higher, than at other times. The rooms,
+too, are different in shape and size, so that this industrious little
+insect seems to have sense enough to work in the best way according to
+circumstances. There is only one general rule which they seem to have,
+and that is always to build in a number of different stories, one above
+the other. If you examine one of these stories you may see a number
+of large places or halls, some smaller rooms, and some long galleries
+which serve as passage-ways. The tops of these large halls are covered
+with an arched ceiling, and this ceiling is held up, sometimes by little
+columns, sometimes by very thin walls, or by props built against the
+side walls, just like buttresses. There are also chambers which have but
+one door, which opens into the lower story, and large open places in the
+centre of the nest something like a cross road, and all these little
+galleries or streets come into that open place."
+
+"Any bridges, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"No, boys; no bridges among these ants, so far as I know. There will
+sometimes be as many as twenty stories above ground in the ant-hill, and
+as many below. The best time to see these little fellows at work is in a
+gentle shower of rain, or directly after."
+
+"Why do they work in the rain, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"I suppose, boys, it is because the earth is then better for them; and
+one thing that has been noticed about their work is, that the rain, when
+it is not too violent, seems to make it solid, for these ants have no
+gum or glue about them like some other insects, to make the earth stick
+together. As soon as the rain begins, if you watch the brown ants, you
+may see them come out of the ground in great numbers; and then running
+in again, they will soon return, each one with a little piece of dirt
+in his mouth, which he puts down upon the roof of the nest. A gentleman
+who watched them very closely[10] says, that at first he could not think
+what this was done for, but at last he saw little walls begin to rise up
+with spaces left between them. In some places pillars were begun, placed
+at regular distances, and he knew that these were to support ceilings;
+so he found out that they were going to build another story to their
+house, and they were laying the foundations."
+
+"How I should have liked to see them. Uncle Philip. I would not have
+cared for the rain."
+
+"Ah, I see you are fit to be a naturalist. You know what that word
+means, do you not?"
+
+"It means, Uncle Philip, a man who loves to study about the animals and
+insects, does it not?"
+
+"It means a man or a woman either, boys, who loves to study the things
+in nature no matter whether they are animals, or stones, or grass, or
+flowers, or any of the things which God has made. Mark, boys, I said
+to study the things, and you said to study _about_ the things. Now a
+person may read a great deal that is interesting and true about all
+these things in books; and it is very well to do so; but I think that
+the real naturalist will never be satisfied with books only; he will
+be looking to see things for himself. And I said a woman might be a
+naturalist, because some ladies have been fond of natural history, and
+have proved themselves to be very good naturalists. But let us go back
+to the ants. Mr. Huber, in the account which he gives of his having
+watched these little workmen, never thought of telling us whether he
+got wet or not, because he was too busy to think or care much about it.
+He had an opportunity of seeing what he might never see again, and a
+little rain was not to spoil it. He says that each ant, as it brought
+out its little lump of dirt, would place it on the spot where it wished
+it to be, and press against it with its teeth, so as to make it fit
+closely. It then rubbed its feelers all over it, and after that pressed
+upon it lightly with its fore-feet. The walls went on very rapidly, and
+it often happened that two little walls, which were to make a passage
+or gallery, would be raised opposite and at a small distance from each
+other. When they were about a quarter of an inch high, the ants would
+set to work and cover them with an arched ceiling. After they had raised
+all the walls as high as they wished, on the inside of each wall at the
+top they began to put in pieces of wet dirt almost level, and in such a
+way as to make a ledge; and by joining on more dirt to it, it would meet
+the ledge made from the opposite wall so as to make a roof: these roofs
+over the galleries were about a quarter of an inch across. The ceilings
+over the large halls were sometimes as much as two inches in breadth,
+and to support these they raised pillars; and beginning in the corner
+where two walls joined, they would commence the ceiling with a ledge,
+while from the top of each pillar they would also build out a layer of
+earth a little rounded on the top; these they continued to add to until
+all met and made a complete cover for the hall."
+
+"I wonder it did not fall, Uncle Philip, before they could join it
+together."
+
+"Mr. Huber says that he thought several times it would fall, from the
+rain which was dropping upon it all the time; but he found that the
+pieces held together, and that the rain, instead of hurting it, only
+made it more solid. All that it wants, when the ants have done, is a
+little heat from the sun to bake it hard, and then it appears like a
+piece of solid dirt. Sometimes, if the rain be violent, the apartments
+will be destroyed, especially if the arches are not built strongly; and
+when this happens, the little creatures go to work very patiently and
+rebuild them."
+
+"And how long, Uncle Philip, did it take the ants to put another story
+on their house?"
+
+"Between seven and eight hours; and they had hardly finished one before
+they began another, but they had not time to finish it, for the rain
+stopped before they had built much: however, they kept on, taking
+advantage of the wet earth; but a cold drying wind soon sprang up, and
+the earth would not stick; so they stopped: but what do you think they
+did with the new story which they had not time to finish?"
+
+"What _did_ they do, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"Pulled every part of it to pieces, and scattered the dirt here and
+there over the roof of the story which they had finished.
+
+"I will tell you another story about these ants, boys, which I think is
+most wonderful, because it appears so much like reason. These insects
+all seem to work separately,--I mean without attending to the work of
+others: of course sometimes the work done by different ants on opposite
+sides of the same gallery or hall will not suit: one wall will be higher
+than the other, so that the ceilings will not meet. Mr. Huber saw just
+such a case; the ceiling which was begun from one wall would just have
+reached the other wall about half-way up; and while he was wondering
+how the ants would cure the fault, one of them came, and looking at the
+work, seemed to know that it was wrong, and immediately began by taking
+down the ceiling from the lower wall; he then raised it to the same
+height with the opposite wall, and made a new ceiling in Mr. Huber's
+presence with the pieces of the old one."
+
+"Uncle Philip, if that ant did not know how to think, I am mistaken."
+
+"I must confess, boys, it does seem very much like thinking; and if it
+was not thinking, we must at any rate own that it was something which,
+_in this case_, did quite as well; for no thought of man could have hit
+upon a better plan. But if the ant knew how to think as a man does, do
+you suppose it would ever have made the mistake? Would not the workmen
+have all agreed beforehand what they were to do, and how it should be
+done, so that there might be no need of pulling down any of the work
+because it would not suit? I think that this story, boys, while it shows
+us something like reason in _one_ particular instance, shows us also
+that _in general_ the ant has not reason like ours. But I am tired now,
+and can tell you no more this morning. When you come again I shall be
+ready to talk with you about some other kinds of ants. But before you
+go, tell me--can any of you inform me what the Bible says about the ant?"
+
+"Oh yes, Uncle Philip: it says, 'Go to the ant, thou sluggard, consider
+her ways, and be wise.'"
+
+"Well, another question. Have you any lessons to say when you go into
+school on Monday?"
+
+"Yes, Uncle Philip; we have."
+
+"Have you learned them, boys?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"Then remember what the Bible says to the sluggard, and go and learn
+them at once. Good-by, children."
+
+"Good-by, Uncle Philip: we will learn our lessons."
+
+
+
+
+CONVERSATION XII.
+
+     _Uncle Philip tells the Boys about Ants that go to War and
+     fight Battles; and about some that are Thieves, and have Slaves._
+
+
+"Well, my lads, how do you do to-day?"
+
+"Very well, Uncle Philip, we thank you. And we wish to let you know that
+we kept our promise to learn our lessons. Our teacher was very well
+satisfied with every one of us."
+
+"That is well, boys. I am truly glad to hear this from you: and I make
+no doubt that you also felt a great deal happier than you would have
+done had you neglected to learn your lessons. Did you not?"
+
+"Oh yes, Uncle Philip, much happier; and far more cheerful and
+good-natured."
+
+"Such are apt to be the feelings, boys, of those who have done their
+_duty_. I am verily persuaded that there is no such thing as real, solid
+happiness in this world, but in that man who acts from a sense of duty.
+His is true peace, because it is 'the peace of God.' I do not say, boys,
+that a man, even when he does his duty, _always_ feels comfortable or
+happy _at once_; but he will be more apt to feel so than if he did not
+do his duty: and I do say that no man who does not act from a sense of
+duty, is likely to feel any thing like happiness very often or very
+long."
+
+"Then, Uncle Philip, a man who wishes to be happy will try in the first
+place to find out what his duty is."
+
+"To be sure, he will; and he need not try very long either, if he really
+wishes to know it. The will of God, boys, is at the bottom of all our
+duties; and an honest man, yes, or boy either, can commonly tell what
+God will think to be right or wrong in his conduct. You know where a
+great many of our duties are very plainly written down for us; do you
+not?"
+
+"Oh yes, sir; in the New Testament, which tells us of what our Saviour
+said and did."
+
+"True. And what our Saviour commanded, boys, God commanded; for He is
+God. But besides this, when it is not exactly written down in the New
+Testament what we should do, still if we will think, we shall very often
+find out what to do, from what is written."
+
+"Uncle Philip, we almost always know what you mean; but now, we do not
+quite understand you."
+
+"Thank you, boys, for telling me that you do not know what I mean:
+always tell any person who is trying to teach you something, when you
+do not understand what is said to you. Now I will try to make what I
+said plainer to you. The New Testament does not say any thing about your
+going to school; does it?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"Who sends you to school, boys, and pays your teachers for instructing
+you?"
+
+"Our parents, Uncle Philip."
+
+"Very well. Now suppose that John Carter here, should wish, instead of
+going to school, to do, what I am very sure he never did do: suppose he
+should determine to play the truant. The Bible does not say a boy shall
+not play the truant, does it?"
+
+"No, Uncle Philip."
+
+"But if John Carter should play the truant, he would, in doing so,
+disobey what God has commanded in the Bible just as much as if the Bible
+did say 'A boy shall not play the truant;' for the Bible does say,
+'_Children obey your parents_,' and he could not be a truant without
+disobeying his parents, who bade him go to school."
+
+"Uncle Philip, we understand you very well now."
+
+"There is another thing I wish you to understand, boys. John Carter, as
+you see, would not only disobey his parents, which is wicked, but he
+would also commit a _sin_ against God. That is always the thing to look
+at first. When we are going to do something that we are not very sure
+is right, we should always stop to ask ourselves whether God will be
+pleased with it. But I have said enough to you about our duty for this
+time. Now for the ants I promised to tell you of. And the first sort I
+shall mention are great fighters."
+
+"Fighters, Uncle Philip! What do they fight about?"
+
+"About trifles, boys, just as men do. They have terrible wars, and
+will dispute with and kill each other for a few inches of dirt, when
+certainly this world is large enough for them all. But animals wiser
+than ants, boys, act in the same foolish way. Men sometimes go to war
+and kill each other to determine who shall have a river, or a small
+town, or a fort, or some little spot of ground; while the poor creatures
+who do the fighting, and get all the wounds, and lose their lives, had
+they been let alone, would have lived on in peace, and never cared a
+straw who had the miserable little spot they fight for. But let me go
+on with the account of these ants. In the forests, where the fallow
+ants live, you may see these wars. The battle will be between the ants
+of different hills, but they are all ants of the same sort. Thousands
+and thousands of them will meet on the ground between their hills, and
+the battle begins by two ants, who seize each other by the claws (or
+_mandibles_, as they are called), and rising up on their hind-legs,
+they bring their bodies near together, and spirt a sort of venomous or
+poisonous juice upon each other. These will be followed by thousands of
+others on both sides, who seize each other in the same way, and fight
+in pairs--ant to ant. Sometimes they will get so wedged together that
+they fall down upon their sides, but they do not let go on that account;
+they keep on fighting in the dust until they rise on their feet again.
+Sometimes, too, a third ant will come in, and joining whichever of
+them belongs to his nest, the two will begin to drag the third, until
+some of his friends come to his help; and in this way, others joining
+on both sides, they will form strings of six, or eight, or ten on a
+side, pulling with all their strength. And while some are fighting,
+you will see others leading off prisoners towards their hills, while
+the prisoners are trying to escape. The field of battle is not more,
+perhaps, than three feet square; multitudes of dead ants covered with
+venom may be seen upon it, and there is a very strong scent which comes
+from it. When night comes they go off to their hills. Before dawn the
+next day they are at it again in still larger numbers, and they fight
+with greater fury than before, until at last one side or the other
+gives way. They are so busy that even if you stand near them they take
+no notice of you, and not one stops fighting, or crawls up your legs."
+
+"Do all of them that belong to the hill go out to fight, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"No; near the hills all is peace and order, and work seems to be going
+on as usual. Only on the side next to the battle, crowds may be seen
+running backwards and forwards from both hills; some as messengers, I
+suppose, and some to fight, or carry back prisoners."
+
+"But, Uncle Philip, you said that these ants were all of one sort; how
+then do they know one another so as to tell which party each one belongs
+to? I should think that sometimes they would make a mistake, and fight a
+friend instead of an enemy."
+
+"This, boys, is one of the most wonderful things concerning them. They
+are alike in form, and size, and weapons, and strength; and sometimes
+it happens that they do make a mistake, but it is very seldom; and when
+they do, Mr. Huber, who watched one of their battles, says that they
+find it out directly, and caress each other with their feelers, and
+make up the difficulty at once.
+
+"Are you tired, boys, or do you wish to hear more?"
+
+"Oh, let us hear more, by all means: we are not at all tired."
+
+"I will then tell you of another kind of ants called legionary ants,
+and sometimes amazons; but I am sorry to say that they are unlike other
+ants, for they are lazy; and yet they live very comfortably."
+
+"How is that, Uncle Philip? Can they be comfortable without working?"
+
+"Yes, boys, if they can get others to work for them; and these have
+their work mostly done by their slaves."
+
+"By their slaves! what are their slaves, and where did they get them?"
+
+"As to your first question, boys, their slaves are ants of another kind;
+as to the second question--where they get them--they _stole_ them when
+they were young."
+
+"Why you surprise us, Uncle Philip."
+
+"I dare say I do. There are persons much older than you are who have
+never attended at all to the doings of insects, who would be very much
+astonished by the history of the legionary ants; and probably would
+laugh at the whole account as an idle story; and yet it is all true,
+and those who have read and seen, know it to be true; and they know,
+too, that to deny it shows nothing but ignorance. However, I always let
+such persons alone. I can do them no good; for they are apt to be very
+conceited, and will not be convinced. And now for the legionary ant.
+This is a fighting ant, as well as the last I mentioned; and it actually
+steals the young of another kind, rears them, and puts all the work on
+them, so as to be idle itself. This curious fact was first found out
+by Mr. Huber; another gentleman, named Latreille, afterward saw the
+same thing; and now a great many naturalists know it, because they have
+sought for and seen it. The ant which it steals is of a dark ash colour;
+the legionary is of light colour. The dark-coloured ant is now called
+the negro ant, and is a very industrious, peaceable insect, without any
+sting. The legionary is a strong, brave ant, with a sting, but very
+lazy. I shall relate to you the account which Mr. Huber gives of the
+legionary. He was walking near the city of Geneva during an afternoon
+in the summer of 1804, when he saw quite an army of these legionary
+ants crossing the road; they passed through a thick hedge, entered a
+pasture, and kept on through the grass without separating; and Mr. Huber
+followed them until he saw them come near a nest of negro ants. Some of
+these negro ants seemed to be guarding the holes into their nest; but as
+soon as they saw the legionaries, they, with a great many more from the
+inside of the nest, attacked the thieves. The legionary ants, however,
+were too powerful for them, and after a short but severe fight they
+conquered the negroes, who ran into the lower part of their nests. The
+legionaries then mounted their ant-hill, some entered it by the holes
+already made, and others began with their teeth to break other holes,
+so that all the army might get into the hill. They went in and remained
+but a few minutes, when they came out, each one having in his mouth a
+young negro ant, and off they scampered, without any order among them,
+every one going his own way, until Mr. Huber lost sight of them. The
+next day he set out to go back and examine further, and on his way he
+found a large ant-hill full of legionaries, and saw an army start from
+it, which he followed. They made the attack as before, and each one
+came off with a young negro ant in his mouth, and on going back to their
+hill, from which Mr. Huber saw them start, he had an opportunity of
+seeing them return, and was very much surprised to find all around the
+nest of the legionaries a great many full-grown negro ants. At first he
+thought that perhaps they had gone there to fight the legionaries, but
+he soon saw that instead of fighting, the negro ants went out to meet
+the legionaries returning, and would caress them, and give them food,
+and finally take the young negro ants and carry them within the nest."
+
+"But, Uncle Philip, why do the legionaries always take the young ones?"
+
+"Because, boys, they know, I suppose, that the old ants would never be
+satisfied to remove from their homes; and therefore they take the young.
+These legionaries could work if they would, I think, but they depend
+upon the negro ants for house and home, and food too; and nothing can be
+more faithful and affectionate than these poor slaves are. To try them,
+Mr. Huber took thirty of the legionaries, and put them with some of
+the larvæ, or grubs of their own young, into a glass box with a thick
+coat of earth at the bottom of it, and he put honey also in the box,
+that they might not want food. At first the legionaries paid a little
+attention to their young; but they soon stopped; and they neither tried
+to make a house, nor took any food, so that in two days half of them
+died. Mr. Huber then put in _one_ negro ant, and this little creature
+set to work alone, made a chamber of the earth in the box, gathered the
+young together, fed the old, and put every thing into complete order.
+
+"At another time Mr. Huber broke one of the ant-hills of these
+legionaries, to see how they would act, and in doing it, he, of course,
+altered their galleries and chambers. The legionaries seemed to be
+lost, and went wandering about, without knowing where to go; but the
+negro ants appeared to understand very well where they were: they could
+find such of the galleries as were not broken, and would take up the
+legionaries in their mouths and carry them into them. If the negro
+sometimes seemed for a short time to be lost, and not to know where it
+was, it laid down its master, ran round and examined until it knew, and
+then would come back, and pick up the legionary ant, and carry it off.
+In one case Mr. Huber saw that the entrance to a gallery was stopped up
+by a small lump of earth; the negro ant laid his master down, took away
+the piece of earth, and then carried him in."
+
+"Why, these poor negro ants are sensible as well as faithful, Uncle
+Philip."
+
+"Yes, boys, they are so; and I think it is likely that both kinds depend
+in some way upon each other, but we have not yet found all about it. I
+expect that in some things the legionary does for the negro ant what it
+could not do for itself. God has made them necessary to each other, and
+this is the reason they live together so kindly.
+
+"But I think it is time now to leave the ants, and go back to our
+business of seeking for something like man's inventions and tools among
+the lower animals. Perhaps hereafter I may tell you more about ants; but
+at present I must bid you good morning."
+
+"Good morning, Uncle Philip."
+
+
+
+
+CONVERSATION XIII.
+
+     _Uncle Philip and the Boys make a Voyage, and he tells them
+     of an Animal that makes itself into a Ship; and of an Insect that
+     builds a Boat, and floats about in a Canoe; and of another that
+     pumps Water, and wears a Mask; and of a Spider that builds a Raft,
+     and floats upon it._
+
+
+"Well, boys, I have a most delightful plan for us to-day."
+
+"What is it, what is it, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"Why, I have a little voyage to make, and my boat is on the river just
+above the mill. I have the men there to row it, and every thing is
+ready."
+
+"Oh! dear Uncle Philip, this is charming! we shall be so happy!
+But--but--"
+
+"But what, boys?"
+
+"Why, Uncle Philip, we have not asked leave at home. Now our parents are
+very happy to have us visit you, and say that they are very much obliged
+to you for telling us so many things; but they have told us, too, never
+to get into a boat without asking their permission first. Uncle Philip,
+we are sure they will let us go, if they know that you are going; only
+let us run home and ask them."
+
+"My dear boys, I am very much pleased with your conduct; and, what
+is far better, my children, God is pleased; for he has commanded you
+to honour your father and mother: but you need not go home to ask
+permission, for you may depend upon it I would not take one of you upon
+the water without the consent of your parents: so I went yesterday,
+while you were all at school, and have got permission from your friends
+for every one of you to go--only I asked them to tell you nothing about
+it."
+
+"Oh dear, Uncle Philip, you are so very, very good: thank you, thank
+you, a thousand times over."
+
+"Once is enough, boys. There is but one Being who deserves a thousand
+thanks, and he, in truth, deserves a great many more than a thousand;
+but I fear that from a great many he is just the Being who gets the
+fewest,--it is our Heavenly Father: but come on, boys, let us be going
+to the boat. We shall soon reach her. Ah, yonder she is; I see her
+through the trees."
+
+"Oh, what a beauty she is, Uncle Philip, with her green sides and white
+belt near the top. We shall have a charming voyage."
+
+"Come, then; get in, my little sailors, and seat yourselves yonder in
+the stern. Now we are all ready; shove off, men, and use your oars. I
+will take care of the helm."
+
+"Oh, Uncle Philip, how smoothly we go along! this is charming. Is this
+the way a ship goes, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"A ship floats, boys, just as the boat does; but she is not rowed with
+oars; she has sails, and the wind blowing upon them sends her along."
+
+"Uncle Philip, there are no ships among animals, are there?"
+
+"Oh no; but there is a very curious little animal which lives in the
+water, and manages to rig out something like a ship, and to sail."
+
+"What is it, Uncle Philip? pray let us hear of it."
+
+"It is called the nautilus, and I saw a great many of them in the
+Mediterranean sea. The shell is nearly round, and six or eight inches
+across, not much thicker than paper, and of a whitish colour: it
+has, too, a keel or ridge upon each side. When it wishes to sail, it
+stretches upwards two of its legs: these have a very thin skin at the
+end, which the nautilus spreads out for sails, and the other legs hang
+over on each side of the shell for oars or rudders. When the sea is
+calm, a great many of them may be seen playing about; but as soon as a
+storm arises, or they are disturbed, they take in their sails and sink
+to the bottom. But, boys, the most curious boat that I know, made by one
+of the dumb creatures, is the work of the little insect that played the
+doctor the other day, and stuck his lancet into us. Do you remember what
+insect that was?"
+
+"Oh yes, very well, Uncle Philip, it was the gnat."
+
+"True, boys, it was the gnat, which is an insect that spends the first
+part of its life in the water, and the latter part in the air. The grub
+of the gnat lives in water, and I will give you the whole history of
+this curious insect. We will first speak of the eggs, for out of these
+it is that the boat is made. In order to see this boat made, you must
+go early in the morning, between five and six o'clock, to a bucket, or
+pond of stagnant water, where gnats are to be found: if you go later
+you will not see it. The gnat's eggs are shaped something like a pocket
+powder-flask, and it is by putting a great many of these together that
+she makes the boat. To do this, the mother gnat stands by her fore-legs
+upon the side of the bucket, or on a leaf or stick in the pond, and her
+body is on a level with the water, and rests upon it, except the last
+ring of her tail, which she raises a little. She then crosses her two
+hind-legs in the shape of the letter X, and begins to put her eggs in
+that part of the X nearest to her body. So she brings her legs, crossed
+in this way, near to her body, and puts an egg in the angle, covered
+with a kind of glue, which will make the eggs stick together. On each
+side of the first egg she puts another in this shape .*., and here is a
+drawing of the insect at this part of her work.
+
+[Illustration: A Gnat making her Boat of Eggs.]
+
+"She then goes on adding eggs, which are all put in the water with their
+ends downwards, until she has got her boat half-finished; she then
+uncrosses her legs, and just keeps one on each side of the boat as she
+goes on, until she has completed it."
+
+"And how many eggs, Uncle Philip, will she put together in this way?"
+
+"From two hundred and fifty to three hundred and fifty, and when all are
+laid they make quite a good boat, sharp, and raised at both ends, and
+floating on the water. Then the mother gnat leaves it. Here is a picture
+of one of these boats.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"Now I will tell you of what becomes of the young ones in these eggs.
+They come out of the lower part of the egg, and commonly swim, with
+their heads downward, near to the top of the water."
+
+"With their heads downward, Uncle Philip! what is that for?"
+
+"Why, they have a tube at the end of their bodies, near the tail,
+through which they breathe; and that part must, you know, be at the top
+to get air. Besides this, its tail and its breathing tube both end in a
+sort of funnel, made up of hairs placed somewhat in the form of a star,
+and covered with oil, so as to keep off water, and these buoy or float
+it up. When it wishes to sink, it just folds up its funnels, and shuts
+up in them a little bubble of air, which it breathes under the water;
+and when it wishes to rise, it opens its funnels, and they float it to
+the top again. Here is a drawing which will show it to you.
+
+[Illustration: Larva of the common Gnat floating in water, greatly
+magnified. _aa_, the body and head of the larva; _b_, the respiratory
+apparatus, situated in the tail; _c_, the larva, not magnified.]
+
+"They are hatched in a few days, and then the boat of empty eggs floats
+about until it is destroyed by the weather. And to show you how good a
+boat it is, I will tell you what a gentleman did to prove it. Mr. Kirby,
+who is very fond of natural history, and has written a great deal about
+insects, says that he put half a dozen of these gnat-boats in a tumbler
+half full of water, and then poured upon them a stream from the mouth of
+a quart bottle, held up a foot above them, and he could not sink them.
+More than that, the water would not stay in them. If you push one to the
+bottom with your finger, it will come up to the top directly, and you
+cannot see any water in it."
+
+"Why, this is a noble boat, Uncle Philip, that will never sink."
+
+"True, boys; but listen, and you will find that before it can use its
+wings the gnat has to sail in another boat still, much more dangerous
+than this is. After it is hatched, it has to pass through several shapes
+before it gets to be such an insect as you see. Here is a picture which
+will show you its different shapes.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"The first is the same which you saw in the last picture, only in this
+drawing the head is uppermost. But its last change, when it becomes
+an insect with wings, is the most curious part of the whole. When it
+is about to get its wings, and become a perfect gnat, it raises its
+shoulders just above the top of the water, and its skin cracks, so that
+the head of the gnat immediately comes through. The shoulders come next,
+and make the crack larger; but it has yet all its body to get out, and
+its legs and wings are as yet all shut up in its case. Now is the time
+of danger for the gnat. It raises itself nearly straight out of the
+crack, and by wriggling works its body along: and if a particle of water
+should get upon the case, or touch its wings, it would be overset, and
+must perish. Thousands and thousands die in this way. It is so very
+light, too, that the wind will drive it about, and whirl it round and
+round upon the top of the water; and when it is almost out, the insect
+is tossed about in a canoe or boat of the very weakest sort, while its
+body is a mast, which appears much too large for so small a boat. At
+last it gets far enough out of the case to stretch its fore-legs, and
+put them down upon the water (which will bear a gnat's weight), and then
+it is safe; it spreads its wings, and soon leaves the little boat which
+was so dangerous. Here is a picture of the gnat getting out of its case."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"Well, Uncle Philip, all this is very strange; we never knew before that
+the gnat was a sailor."
+
+"I suppose that you did not, boys. But as we are talking of boats, pray
+can you think of any way of making a boat move through water without
+oars, or paddles, or sails, or something to pull it along?"
+
+"No indeed.--Oh yes, Uncle Philip, by steam."
+
+"Ah, I mentioned paddles, boys, and a steamboat is forced along by them."
+
+"No; Uncle Philip, we do not know."
+
+"Well, I will tell you then of another way in which I have no doubt a
+boat might be made to move. If there were any contrivance by which a
+large quantity of water could be kept in the boat, and if this water
+were forced out of tubes or holes at one end very violently, it would
+push against the water in which the boat was floating, and force her
+along. Some years ago a plan was thought of to make a steam engine throw
+the water out of the stern of the boat, and thus to force her along; and
+before that, Dr. Franklin tried some schemes for the same purpose, but
+they never succeeded. Now there is an insect which adopts precisely this
+plan, and perhaps some of those who thought of it got the notion from
+the insect."
+
+"What insect is it, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"It is the grub of the dragon-fly. If you catch one of these grubs and
+put it into a saucer of water with some of the dead leaves or sticks
+it had for a covering, you will see these leaves or sticks floating
+towards the tail of the grub, and afterward driven off again. This is
+because the insect is pumping in water, and then throwing it out. If you
+take one of them out of the water, and hold it with its head down, and
+let a drop of water fall upon its tail, it instantly sucks it in, and
+you can see it grow larger; and when it throws it out again it becomes
+smaller."
+
+"But, Uncle Philip, how can you see it suck the water in?"
+
+"Very easily, boys. When it is in the water, if you will colour some
+other water with indigo, or ink, or any thing else, and then hold a
+glass tube just over the tail of the insect, and very carefully put some
+of the coloured water into the tube, you will soon see the grub spirt
+out a stream of it to the distance of several inches: or if you will put
+the insect in a saucer of coloured water, and then suddenly move it, and
+put it into one of clean water, you will see it spirt out the coloured
+stream plainer still."
+
+"Why, Uncle Philip, it must have a pump inside of it."
+
+"It has, boys, something very like one. This stream of water is forced
+out to help the insect along; for though it has six feet, it uses
+them very little except for catching food. It drives the water out so
+strongly against the still water behind it, that it sends it forward,
+with a dart, very rapidly. Here are two pictures; one shows the pump
+open, and the other shows it shut."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"Uncle Philip, is there any thing else curious about this insect?"
+
+"There is, boys, something well worth attention; did you ever see a
+mask?"
+
+"Do you mean, Uncle Philip, a face made of pasteboard, very frightful
+commonly, which you can wear over your own face?"
+
+"That is a mask, boys; but so is any thing which is made to wear over
+the face, and hide it. Now this little insect has a mask, not made
+like a man's face, but which completely hides its mouth, and it is
+exceedingly curious."
+
+"How is it made, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"Why, boys, I am not sure that I can tell you, so that you will
+understand me; but I will try. Suppose your under-lip was horn, instead
+of being flesh; and suppose it hung straight down until it reached the
+bottom of your chin, so as to cover the whole of it, and that at the
+bottom there was a large three-sided plate which was hollowed out, and
+fastened by a joint or hinge to the bottom of your long lip, so that it
+could turn up on the hinge and cover your face as high up as your nose,
+and hide your long lip and your mouth and part of your cheeks: suppose,
+too, that at the upper end of this long face-cover there were two other
+pieces, so broad that they would cover all your nose and your temples,
+and could open sidewise like jaws, and show your nose and mouth, so that
+when they were opened they would appear like the blinders to a horse's
+bridle; and then suppose that these jaws, upon their inner edges, were
+cut into a great many sharp teeth, which fitted into each other, and you
+will have some notion of this curious mask. Do you think you understand
+me?"
+
+"Why, pretty well, Uncle Philip, we think."
+
+"Well, boys, here are some pictures, and with their help I hope what I
+have been saying will be plain enough. In one picture the mask is shut;
+and in the other, one of the jaws, like a blinder to a bridle, is open.
+While the insect is at rest, it keeps the mask over its face; when it
+wishes to use it, it unfolds it, and catches its food, and holds it to
+its mouth. A gentleman once saw one of them holding and eating a large
+tadpole."
+
+[Illustration: Mask of the Dragon-fly, shut and open.]
+
+"Uncle Philip, this mask is any thing but handsome."
+
+"Very true; but you know we agreed when we were talking about the bats
+to look at animals even if they were not handsome. And there is your
+poor little ugly insect that you thought it right to kill, the spider;
+did you know that the spider was a sailor, too?"
+
+"No, indeed, Uncle Philip! Pray tell us of it, will you?"
+
+"Yes; but wait a little, until we bring the boat's head right, for we
+are near the landing-place. So--now, boys, I am ready. There is a very
+large spider, about which not much is yet known, which actually builds
+a _raft_, for the purpose of getting its food more easily. You may see
+it sailing about upon the water, on a ball of weeds about three inches
+across, which is held together probably by small silk cords spun from
+itself; and the moment it sees an insect drowning, it leaves the raft,
+gets the insect, and then returns to eat it at leisure. If you frighten
+it, or it thinks danger is near, in an instant it is under the raft out
+of sight."
+
+"Ah, this is a cunning spider, Uncle Philip."
+
+"Not half so cunning, boys, as the one we talked of which built a door
+to its house. But here we are at land. Jump ashore, my lads, and give my
+respects to your fathers and mothers, when you get home."
+
+"We will. Good day, Uncle Philip."
+
+"Good day, boys. I shall be glad to see you next Saturday."
+
+
+
+
+CONVERSATION XIV.
+
+     _Uncle Philip tells the Boys about an Insect with Tweezers,
+     and another with Pincers; and shows them how a Fly's Foot is made,
+     so as to stick to the Wall._
+
+
+"How do you do, Uncle Philip, this morning?"
+
+"Very well, boys, I thank you. You are all well, I suppose, or I should
+not see you here."
+
+"Yes, we are all well, thank you, Uncle Philip. But one of us would be
+very glad to have your help."
+
+"Why, what is the matter?"
+
+"Charles Walker has run a splinter into his hand, and he wishes you to
+get it out for him."
+
+"Oh, certainly, I will do that, if I can. Let me see: but stay--I must
+first put on my spectacles. Ah, now I see it; I can get it out, but I
+must take my tweezers to it. There, it is out."
+
+"Uncle Philip, those tweezers are very useful. If you had not had them,
+you could not have taken hold of the splinter with your fingers; and
+what would you have done then?"
+
+"Tried to cut it out with the point of my penknife; but the tweezers are
+better for such work; and that reminds me, boys, to tell you that there
+are insects with tweezers."
+
+"Why, what tool is it that you cannot find among them, Uncle Philip? It
+really seems as if you found almost every kind among the lower animals."
+
+"Oh, no--no, boys. There are a great many which I cannot find; but there
+are several, too, which, as you know, we have discovered."
+
+"And, Uncle Philip, we suppose that men learned to make their tools and
+work at many of their trades from these dumb creatures."
+
+"Stay, boys--I never said that, because I think that it is not true. We
+know that in some things men did not learn from the insects, though they
+might have done so. There is paper, for instance. How could men learn
+to make it from the wasps, when it was a thins: in common use a long
+time before Mr. Reaumur, of whom I told you, found out how the wasp made
+it? So, too, with a great many tools; men invented them, and afterward,
+perhaps, it was found out that insects had instruments like them:
+and at other times the insects did show men how to make some things.
+I will tell you of one which I think of just now. The city of London,
+in England, is on the river Thames. Some time since a plan was adopted
+to make what is called a tunnel under the river. This tunnel is a road
+dug out of the earth, under the bottom of the river, across it; and of
+course to keep the water from pressing in the earth as fast as it was
+hollowed out, it was propped up by walls built on each side, with a very
+strong arch at the top. The work has now stopped; but about half of it
+was made. In building this arched road under the water, the workmen used
+what they called a shield, to keep the water from coming through upon
+them: and the gentleman who invented it, says that he first thought of
+it, from examining a little animal named Taret, which will bore holes in
+large pieces of timber under the water. This little animal has upon its
+head a kind of shield, by which it keeps off the force of the water, and
+works without being disturbed. So here was a case in which the insect
+taught the man."
+
+"Uncle Philip, that gentleman was a sensible man, in the first place to
+watch the Taret and examine its head, and in the next place not to be
+too proud to learn from it. I expect he was a naturalist; was he, Uncle
+Philip?"
+
+"I do not know, boys; but I should think his discovery of the shield
+would make him an attentive observer, if he was not so before."
+
+"Now, Uncle Philip, will you tell us of the tweezers?"
+
+"Very willingly, boys. This instrument or tool belongs to the moths
+which you see flying about at times. The tails are covered with a down,
+which grows in the form of a thick brush or tuft, and has a shining
+silky gloss, different in colour from the short hair upon the rest
+of the body. The moth pulls off this hair to cover its eggs, and the
+tweezers are used for that purpose. Here is a picture of the moths."
+
+[Illustration: Females of the brown and gold-tailed Moths, showing the
+bunch of down on the tails.]
+
+"Uncle Philip, you said that the moth pulled this hair off to cover its
+eggs; are they easily frozen?"
+
+"Not very easily, boys; but you are mistaken in thinking that the moth
+covers these eggs to keep off the cold; for as she lays them in July and
+August, and covers them at that time, it cannot be to keep off the cold."
+
+"What is it for, then, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"To keep off the summer heat, boys."
+
+"Why, Uncle Philip! who ever heard of covering a thing up in hair or
+wool to keep off heat?"
+
+"I have heard of it, and seen it too, boys. It may seem strange, but
+it is true, that down and wool, and such things, are nearly as good to
+protect an animal from very great outward heat as they are to keep off
+very severe cold. When I was at Naples, in Italy, it was summer;--the
+climate is a very warm one.--The country people were in the habit of
+bringing snow into the city from Mount Vesuvius, and every morning I
+could see them coming in with their snow, which they sell to the rich
+to use for cooling things: and they kept it from melting with straw
+and wool. And in our own country, especially at the south, it is very
+common when a large lump of ice is brought to the house to be used
+through the day in midsummer, to wrap it up in a thick blanket until it
+is wanted.
+
+"But I have not yet told you of the tweezers. The moth has no jaws, like
+bees and wasps, so that it cannot pull off these hairs as the bee would;
+but, as I told you, it performs the work with its tweezers, which are
+placed in its tail, and are like the points of a pair of sugar-tongs.
+The insects, too, will use them very rapidly, and pull off a little of
+the down, spread the egg upon it, and then cover it with more down, and
+smooth it very neatly. Here are pictures of these tweezers."
+
+[Illustration: Tweezers of the brown and gold-tailed Moths, magnified.]
+
+"This is a curious instrument for the insect to have, Uncle Philip."
+
+"True, boys, but a very useful one. I will tell you, however, of another
+strange thing concerning moths with their tweezers; I mean the way
+in which they will sometimes place their eggs. The kind of moth that
+does this work is not exactly known, but naturalists think that the
+eggs are moth's eggs, because they are covered with the down, exactly
+like those which are known to be moth's eggs. These eggs are twisted
+round a branch, like the thread of a screw, or like the curled end of
+a corkscrew put over a small stick. Here is a picture of some of these
+eggs."
+
+[Illustration: Spiral group of Eggs of an unknown Moth.]
+
+"Ah, this is wonderful work indeed for a moth, Uncle Philip."
+
+"As you seem to like this, boys, I will just mention to you that there
+is another moth, called the lackey-moth, which winds its eggs also
+around a branch. They are hard, however, and not covered with any down,
+and are put on in the strongest possible way. If men wish to make an
+arch of stone, you know that the stones will be more narrow at the
+bottom than at the top, so that the bottom of the arch may make a small
+circle, and the top a larger one: thus--
+
+[Illustration: A, Key-stone of an arch; B, Arch completed.]
+
+Now the moth goes on this principle. Its eggs are shaped like the bowl
+of a wine-glass, and the smaller end is put next to the branch. They are
+all glued together, too, with a kind of gum, which will not dissolve or
+melt in water; so that the rain cannot injure them. Here is a picture of
+these eggs.
+
+[Illustration: Eggs of the Lackey-moth, wound spirally round a twig of
+hawthorn; natural size, and magnified.]
+
+"There is another insect, boys, which has something like tweezers;
+though I think they resemble pincers most."
+
+"What is it, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"The boys call it father long-legs, and I dare say you have often seen
+it. It is the crane-fly, and its pincers are used for putting its egg in
+the hole it has made for it."
+
+"Where does it put its eggs, Uncle Philip?"
+
+[Illustration: Ovipositor and Eggs of the Crane-fly.]
+
+"In the earth, boys; and to enable the insect to do this, the female has
+the pincers I spoke of: they are made of something like horn, and are
+sharp at the point. With these she first bores a hole in the ground, and
+then puts the egg in. The egg is like a grain of gunpowder, and she puts
+herself in a very curious posture to bore the hole. Here, boys, you may
+see a picture of the pincers as they appear through a microscope, for
+they are not near as large as the picture. And here is a drawing of one
+boring."
+
+[Illustration: Crane-fly ovipositing, and the larva beneath, in the
+earth, feeding upon grass roots.]
+
+"What good pincers those are, Uncle Philip: but will you tell us one
+thing which we wish to know? Talking about the crane-fly has put me in
+mind of it: the other day we were sitting together in school, and the
+wall over our heads was covered with common flies; and when we came out,
+we were talking about the way in which the fly stuck to the wall without
+falling down; and as we could not tell what kept him up, we agreed to
+ask you about it."
+
+"I will tell you, boys, very willingly. I do not wonder that you were
+unable to tell how the fly stuck to the wall; for you never tried to
+find out, and therefore could only guess at it."
+
+"And that is not a good way to find out any thing, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"No, boys; though some persons much older than you are, did nothing but
+guess about this very thing, and guessed very far from the truth too.
+Some thought that the fly had a sponge in its foot, and squeezed a sort
+of glue out of it which made it stick fast; others said that the glass
+or wall was so rough that the fly's feet would catch hold of the little
+points upon it; but both were wrong."
+
+"How does it hold on, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"Did you ever see what the boys call a sucker, made of a piece of soft
+sole leather? That will show you how the fly's foot sticks fast. This
+leather is cut round, and has a string through the centre; the boys wet
+it, and then put it upon a board or something smooth, and stamp on it,
+and try to raise it up from the board by the string; and it requires
+some strength to pull it up: sometimes they put it on a small smooth
+stone, and then lift up the stone by it. The reason why the leather
+sticks so fast is because the air is pressing on it upon the outside,
+and there is very little or no air between it and the board, to press
+the other way."
+
+"Why, Uncle Philip, is the air heavy?"
+
+"Oh yes, boys, when there is so much of it as there is above the earth,
+it presses down very heavily. Now the fly's foot is like the sucker;
+when he puts it down he has a contrivance to drive out the air from
+under it, so that there will be little or none between it and the wall;
+and then the outer air presses upon it, and holds it fast."
+
+"But, Uncle Philip, how does he get it up again?"
+
+"Why, boys, by another contrivance, he can let air in under his foot
+again, and then he can easily move it; for we do not feel the weight of
+air when it presses upon both sides of us. The reason why you stand up
+straight is because the air is pressing all around you; if it were on
+one side of you only, it would press you down on the other side. Here is
+a picture of the fly's foot, as it appears through the microscope. You
+will see it has three suckers with the edges all like saws; these are
+to make it stick the closer. This picture, boys, is sixty-four hundred
+times as large as the fly's foot is."
+
+[Illustration: Fly's foot magnified.]
+
+"But, Uncle Philip, there is one thing yet hard to understand."
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"Why, the fly walks on the wall over our heads; now the air cannot press
+down upon his feet there."
+
+"Very true, boys: it cannot press _down_, but it can and does press
+_up_ against his feet; for the air presses up and down and sidewise all
+alike."
+
+"Ah, now it is plain enough, and we are much obliged to you, Uncle
+Philip, for telling us what we wished to know."
+
+"You are quite welcome, my dear boys, to all that I can teach you: if it
+makes you to be wiser and better men when you grow up, I shall be very
+thankful to God that I have been able to do you any good."
+
+"Good morning, Uncle Philip."
+
+"Good day, boys; I shall expect to see you all in church to-morrow."
+
+"We shall be there, Uncle Philip."
+
+
+
+
+CONVERSATION XV.
+
+     _Uncle Philip tells the Boys how Hats are made; and then talks
+     to them about Animals that can make Felt like the Hatter._
+
+
+"Boys, do you remember my telling you of a remarkable bird, called the
+tailor-bird, which sews very neatly?"
+
+"Oh yes, Uncle Philip; it is not easy to forget such an excellent little
+workman; but why do you ask--have you any thing more to tell us about
+that bird?"
+
+"No, boys, not any thing of that bird; but I was thinking last night
+of the work done by several other kinds of birds, some of them quite
+as good workmen as our little tailor; and I thought that, perhaps, you
+might like to hear of them."
+
+"We would, Uncle Philip, be very happy to hear of them, if you will have
+the kindness to tell us about them. But what kind of work is it they do?"
+
+"Various kinds, boys. There are some which make what is called _felt_,
+just as the hat-maker does; and some are weavers, others basket-makers;
+some build platforms to live on; and I assure you some birds' nests are
+as curious as any of the things of which I have yet told you."
+
+"Pray let us hear of them, Uncle Philip."
+
+"Very well, you shall. I will begin with birds that make felt like the
+hatter. Do you know how a hat is made?"
+
+"Not exactly, Uncle Philip; but we know what it is made of."
+
+"What is it, boys?"
+
+"Of sheep's wool, and the hair of other animals: is it not?"
+
+"Yes, commonly of these things; and to understand what I am going to
+tell you, I think it will be necessary first to say something about the
+hatter's trade. The business of the man who makes a hat is to mix up
+wool or hair in such a way that it will stick together and make felt;
+or something like a piece of thick, strong cloth. To do this, he does
+not weave the hairs together, for they are of different kinds, and of
+different lengths, and it would be endless work to weave every one in;
+besides the cloth or felt would not be thick enough when it was done."
+
+"How do they stick together then, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"Why, boys, their sticking together is owing to something in the hairs
+themselves. I will show you. Pull a hair out of your head; now hold it
+just between the ends of your two fore-fingers, and rub the fingers
+gently against each other."
+
+"Why, Uncle Philip! see, the hair is moving towards my body."
+
+"Very true; and if you will turn it with the other end towards you, and
+rub your fingers as before, you will see it move from your body."
+
+"This is very strange, Uncle Philip: the hair is smooth; how can my
+fingers make it move so?"
+
+"No, that is a mistake, boys, the hair is not smooth. If some kinds of
+coarse hair are seen through the microscope, each one will seem to be,
+not one hair, but ten or twelve smaller ones, which are joined at the
+root, and form a hollow tube, like a straw; and sometimes it will have
+joints just like some kinds of grass or straw. In some sorts of finer
+hair you cannot see this even with the microscope; but you can feel it,
+as you did just now when you moved your fingers. These joints overlap
+one another, just as if you should take several pieces of straw and
+stick them into each other. I will show you some pictures of hairs as
+seen through the microscope, and then these joints will be plain enough."
+
+[Illustration: Hairs of (_a_) the Bat, (_b_) the Mole, and (_c_) the
+Mouse.]
+
+"These are strange-looking hairs, Uncle Philip."
+
+"Yes, they are curious; but now you may see why, when hairs are worked
+together, they may be made to stick to each other. These rough parts
+catch into each other, and hook themselves; and the more you press them
+or move them, the more closely you work them into one solid mass, which
+you cannot easily pull to pieces. Besides, you must remember that the
+hairs will work only one way, as you found out just now when your finger
+ends caught upon the little joints and moved them along. Now, suppose
+that a very large heap of hairs, or wool, or fur, after it is made
+ready, should be put upon a table, and covered with a linen cloth, and
+pressed down in different directions. Each hair would begin to move in
+the direction of its root, just as it did between your fingers, and so
+all would be joined together at last into one solid piece."
+
+"We understand you, Uncle Philip."
+
+"Then you understand, boys, the way in which a hat is made. These hairs
+are all worked together by the hands of the hat-maker, and to make them
+work more easily (for curled hair, such as wool, does not move easily)
+the hatter uses hot water, and dips his hat in it while he is working
+it. After it is done, it is died, and then put upon a wooden block to
+give it shape, and is ironed smooth."
+
+"And this is the way, then, Uncle Philip, to make hats: it is curious,
+is it not?"
+
+"Yes, boys; but plain enough when you come to examine into it. And the
+best stuff for the hatters is such hair as has most joints ready to
+catch into each other: the rabbit's hair is very good, and for that
+reason."
+
+"And is it possible, Uncle Philip, that any bird can do such work as
+this?"
+
+"Not only possible, boys, but true. There are several birds very expert
+at making felt, and their nest appears like a piece of hatter's felt, or
+double-milled woollen cloth. I do not mean to say that it is as close
+and solid as the hat or cloth; it would feel in your fingers looser than
+either, still it is quite close; and when you examine it, you will find
+it put together in the same way; it is all carded into one mass, and not
+woven together thread by thread, or hair by hair."
+
+"And are there many birds able to do such work, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"I told you, boys, that there were several. The chief article which
+they use is wool, but with this many other things will be found
+mixed--sometimes, upon the outside, fine moss--sometimes pieces of a
+spider's web rolled up into a little bundle--sometimes, when cotton can
+be had, they will use small bunches of cotton-wool; but sheep's wool
+they must have, and by means of that, they contrive to make, with the
+other things I have mentioned, a felt wonderfully smooth."
+
+"Is it smooth on the outside, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"Sometimes quite so; but always as smooth on the inside, when it is
+first made, as if it had been felted together by the hat-maker. There
+is another thing curious enough in some of these nests. The hatter, you
+know, binds the rim of his hat to make it stronger; and some of these
+felt-making birds will make their nests stronger by a binding all around
+them of dry grass stems, and sometimes of slender roots, and they take
+care to cover these grass stems, or roots, with their felt-work of moss
+and wool. But there is something else not less strange, I think, than
+the binding. It is this: they will build their nests in the fork of a
+shrub or tree; and to keep them from falling, they will work bands of
+this felt round all the branches which touch the nest, both below and at
+the sides. And those parts of the nest which touch the large branches
+are always thinner than the other parts, which have no support; in those
+parts the nest is nothing but a thin wall of felt, fixed around to
+fit the shape of the branch, and that is enough to make that part of
+the nest warm and soft. Here is a picture of one of these felt-nests,
+fastened in the way of which I have been telling you."
+
+[Illustration: Chaffinch's Nest on an Elder-tree.]
+
+"This, boys, is the nest of the chaffinch. The goldfinch makes a nest
+of the same kind, only rather neater and smoother than that of the
+chaffinch; for it takes pains to show nothing but the wool, and covers
+up all the other materials which it uses."
+
+"Uncle Philip, do these birds all use the same things to make their
+nests?"
+
+"All use wool, boys; but the truth is, that birds will commonly take
+for their nests that article which they can get most easily, if it will
+suit. A gentleman, named Bolton, tried this with some goldfinches. He
+saw a pair of these birds beginning to build in his garden; they had
+laid the foundation of their nest with moss, and grass, and such things,
+as they commonly use: he scattered some wool about in different parts of
+the garden; the birds took the wool: afterward he scattered cotton; they
+took the cotton: on the next day he gave them some very fine down; they
+took that, and finished the nest with it, and a very handsome nest it
+was."
+
+"How long were they in making it, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"Three days. The canary-bird, boys, which you sometimes see in cages,
+when free, builds a nest of the same kind. But the most curious
+felt-makers among the birds, are in Africa. There is the Cape-tit,
+a bird in the southern part of Africa, which builds a very strange
+nest: it is shaped like a bottle of India-rubber, as thick as a coarse
+worsted stocking, and made of cotton, and down, and other things felted
+together. On one side of the nest there is something like a pocket, and
+here is a picture of it."
+
+[Illustration: Nest of the Cape-tit, from Sonnerat.]
+
+"Uncle Philip, what is that pocket for?"
+
+"Why, boys, some have supposed that it was for the male bird to sit on
+and keep watch, while the female was inside of the nest sitting on the
+eggs; but I think this is a mistake. And some have said, that when the
+female leaves the nest, and the male wishes to go too, he sits in this
+pocket, and beats against the side of the nest with his wing until he
+has made the edges of the top meet, and thus shuts up the mouth of the
+nest, and keeps off insects and other animals that would eat the young
+ones; but I do not believe this story."
+
+"Then what do you think the pocket is for. Uncle Philip?"
+
+"I think, boys, that it is nothing but a perch, or place for the bird
+to sit on before going into the nest. If the bird had no such place for
+stopping, it might be troubled to get into its nest. The mouth is small,
+and the bird could not enter it with its wings spread; and if it should
+alight on the edge of the nest constantly, it would injure it, for it is
+but slightly made. And I will tell you another reason why I think this
+is the use of the pocket. There is another bird in South Africa, called
+the pinc-pinc, which is the same species of bird as the Cape-tit; and
+this bird we know uses its little nest built upon the side of the other
+merely as a resting-place before going into the nest."
+
+"Uncle Philip, does the pinc-pinc build its nest like a bottle, as the
+Cape-tit does?"
+
+"No, boys, not so smooth, but felted in the same way. The nest is
+made mostly of the down of plants, and is either snowy white or
+brownish, according to the colour of the down. On the outside it is a
+clumsy-looking thing, but fastened, like the nest of the chaffinch,
+very firmly to the branches near it, so that you cannot take it away
+without breaking it to pieces. But rough as the outside is, you would be
+astonished, if you were to look at the inside, and see how a bird, and a
+small one too, with nothing but its wings, and tail, and feet, and bill
+for tools, could ever have worked the down of plants together, so as to
+make of it a piece of fine cloth. It has a narrow neck, something like
+a chimney, at the top of it. This is the entrance; and at the lower end
+of it there is a lump, which appears something like a small nest stuck
+on to the larger one; sometimes there will be three or four of these
+small-looking nests, and sometimes when there is a branch near the mouth
+of the nest which makes a good resting-place, there will be none. Here
+is a picture, boys, of the outside of one of these nests.
+
+[Illustration: Nest of the Pinc-pinc.]
+
+These birds are easily watched; and a French gentleman, who has written
+the best account of the birds of Africa,[11] says that he has found
+at least a hundred of these nests, and watched the birds for a whole
+morning together, and never saw one sitting on the small nest as a
+watch-bird; but has seen both the male and female arrive at the nest
+together, perch upon the nearest branch, hop from this upon the edge of
+the little nest, and then putting their heads into the hole, dart into
+the large nest. And now, boys, what do you think about the use of these
+little pockets?"
+
+"Oh, Uncle Philip, we think that what you tell us is always right,
+because you know a great deal more than we do."
+
+"But, boys, you do not understand me. I may be mistaken, though I do
+know more than you. I have been telling you my reasons for thinking
+these little pockets are nothing but perches. Do you think the reasons
+are good ones?"
+
+"Why, yes, Uncle Philip, we do. The French gentleman who watched the
+birds so much would have seen some of them using the pockets for a place
+to keep watch in, if they were made for that."
+
+"Right, boys. What I wish to teach you is to think for yourselves.
+Whenever any one gives you a reason for a thing, just ask yourselves,
+'Is this a good reason?'"
+
+"But, Uncle Philip, how did it happen that the other people who saw
+these birds should have said that these pockets were for the male bird
+to sit in and watch?"
+
+"I suppose, boys, that they really thought so; but then they had not
+noticed the birds enough to find out the truth. It requires a great
+deal of time and patience to find out the truth about animals: and this
+is the reason why so many mistakes have been printed about them. It is
+a pity that such mistakes have been made; for really there is enough
+that is very curious about them, without men's making stories to appear
+strange. But I think that there will be fewer mistakes made in future."
+
+"Why so, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"Because, boys, men are taking more pains to see for themselves. There
+are more naturalists now than there were formerly; and I hope there
+will be more still, especially in our own large and beautiful country,
+where there have not yet been many. I hope that natural history will be
+studied in all our schools before a great while. But let us go back to
+our African birds.
+
+"There is another kind which Mr. Vaillant speaks of, and I will tell you
+of that. He calls it the capocier, and he had a very fine opportunity to
+watch two of them. It is a bird easily made gentle, and he had managed
+by feeding two of them to make them so tame that they would come into
+his tent and hop about several times in a day, though he never had them
+in a cage. When it became time for them to build a nest, they staid away
+for some time, and would come to the tent once only in four or five
+days. At last they began to come regularly, as before, and Mr. Vaillant
+soon found out what they came for. They had seen upon his table cotton
+and moss and flax, which he used to stuff the skins of birds, and which
+were always lying there; and the capociers had come for these things,
+to build their nest of them. They would take up large bunches of them
+in their bills and fly away. Mr. Vaillant followed and watched them to
+see the nest built, and found them at work in the corner of a garden, by
+the side of a spring, in a large plant which grew under the shade of a
+tree. They were building in the fork of the branches, and had laid the
+foundation, which was about four inches high and six inches across. This
+part was made of moss and flax, mixed with grass and tufts of cotton.
+The next day this gentleman never left the side of the nest: the female
+was at work building, and the male brought the materials. In the morning
+the male bird made twenty-nine journeys to Mr. Vaillant's table for flax
+and cotton and moss; and in the afternoon he made seventeen. He would
+help his mate to trample down and press the cotton with his body, so
+as to make it into felt. Whenever he came with a load, he would put it
+either upon the edge of the nest or upon some branch within reach of the
+female.
+
+"After he began to help the female at her work, he would often break
+off, and begin to play; and sometimes, as if in mischief, he would pull
+down a little of her work. She would get angry, and peck him with her
+bill: but he still continued to vex her, until at last, to save her work
+from being pulled down, she would stop working, and fly off from bush
+to bush, to tease him. They would then make up the quarrel, and she
+set about her work, while he would sing most delightfully for several
+minutes. After his song was finished, he would go to work again, until
+he got into a new fit of mischief and frolic, and then he would torment
+her as before.
+
+"On the third day the birds began to build the walls, after having
+repeatedly pressed the bottom, and turned themselves round upon it in
+all directions, to make the nest solid. They first made a plain border
+all around; this they trimmed, and on it they piled up tufts of cotton,
+which they felted in by beating and pressing with their breasts and
+wings; and if any part stuck out, they worked it in with their bills,
+so as to make all perfectly smooth and firm. And they worked their nest
+round the branches near it, just as the chaffinch does.
+
+"In seven days they finished it. It was as white as snow, and on the
+outside it was nine inches high, and not smooth or regular in its shape;
+but in the inside it was shaped exactly like a hen's egg, with the small
+end up: the hollow was five inches high, and between four and five
+inches across; and it was so neatly felted together that it might have
+been taken for a piece of fine cloth a little worn; and so close that
+you could not take away any part without tearing the nest in pieces.
+Here is a picture of the nest, boys, and it is wonderful work for a
+small bird."
+
+[Illustration: Nest of the Capocier, from Vaillant's figure.]
+
+"Oh, Uncle Philip! we like the capociers very much. When they were tired
+of working, they were ready to play; and when they had played enough,
+they went back to work. Do not you think there was good sense in that?"
+
+"Yes, boys, I do: it will not do, either to work all the time or to play
+all the time. All that we have to do is to take care that we do not
+spend more time than we should at either. But there is a sweet little
+bird, boys, quite common in our own country, which makes felt: would you
+like to hear of it?"
+
+"Oh yes, Uncle Philip. What bird is it?"
+
+[Illustration: Nest of the Humming-bird.]
+
+"It is the humming-bird. Here is a drawing of its nest. It is about an
+inch deep, and an inch across; and from a little distance, appears more
+like a small knot upon the branch than like a bird's nest. The outside
+of the nest from which this picture is made, was covered with a kind of
+bluish-gray lichen, that grows in scales upon old trees and fences: this
+seemed to be glued on by the bird in some way or other. The inside was
+the felt, and was made of the fine down from seeds that float about in
+the air, mixed with the down from mullein-weed and stalks of fine grass.
+This, boys, is the smallest nest made by a bird, I believe; and some
+insects make larger houses for themselves than this bird does.
+
+"But I have not time at present to talk with you any longer, as I have
+letters to write; and therefore I must bid you good morning."
+
+"Farewell, Uncle Philip."
+
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[11] M. Vaillant.
+
+
+
+
+CONVERSATION XVI.
+
+     _Uncle Philip tells the Boys about Birds that are Weavers; and
+     about the Politician-bird; and a Story about some Philosophers; and
+     what may be learned from these Conversations._
+
+
+"Well, boys, were you pleased enough with our last conversation to wish
+to hear more about birds' nests?"
+
+"Yes, if you please, Uncle Philip. You said something about birds that
+were weavers; we should like to hear something of them."
+
+"Very well, then; I will talk about the weavers this morning. And the
+first thing I have to say is that this is no uncommon trade among birds.
+Take the nest of any of the common small birds that use hair for a
+lining, and you will be apt to find some part of it woven."
+
+"But, Uncle Philip, you do not mean that birds weave as smoothly and
+regularly as people do!"
+
+"Not quite, boys; but still it is very fair weaving, and done as our
+weaving is, by working a hair or thread in and out between other hairs
+and threads, or roots, or bits of stick and grass. The best way to see
+it, is to remove the outside work of hay or roots very carefully, or to
+take away the felt-work of wool or moss, and you may see a round piece
+of hair-cloth, sometimes finer, and sometimes coarser, according to the
+bird that made it, and the things of which it is made. In the common
+sparrow's nest the hair-cloth is very thin, so that you can see through
+it easily; but still every hair is woven in singly, and always bent,
+so as to lie smooth in the bottom of the nest. And there are no ends
+of hairs left sticking out; they are always worked into the moss which
+makes the outside of the nest."
+
+"Uncle Philip, how do the birds make the hairs lie smooth in their
+places?"
+
+"About that, boys, there is some uncertainty. Some persons think that
+the birds have a kind of glue in their mouths by which they make them
+stick; and others suppose that they wet the hairs, so as to make them
+bend. But there are much better weavers than the common sparrow. The
+red-breast and the yellow-hammer are both better workmen."
+
+"Where do they get hairs. Uncle Philip?"
+
+"They find bunches of them sticking in the cracks of a fence or post
+where a horse or cow has been rubbing; and some of these little
+creatures, when they find such a bunch, will pull it to pieces, and work
+it in, hair by hair."
+
+"Are there many of these weaver-birds. Uncle Philip?"
+
+"Yes, boys, a great many: our country is quite full of them. There is
+the mountain ant-catcher,[12] which will weave a nest of dry grass, and
+wind the blades round the branches of a tree; and the king-bird,[13]
+which first makes a basket frame-work of slender sticks, and afterward
+weaves in wool and tow, and lines it with hairs and dry grass. There is
+another, too, the white-eyed fly-catcher, which some have called the
+politician. This bird builds its nest and hangs it up by the upper edge
+of the two sides on a vine. The outside is made of pieces of rotten
+wood, threads of dry stalks or weeds, pieces of paper, commonly old
+newspapers; and all these are woven together with caterpillar's silk,
+and lined with fine dry grass and hair."
+
+"Uncle Philip, why do they call it the politician? What is a politician?"
+
+"What is commonly called a politician, boys, is a person who is always
+reading in newspapers about the government of the country, and talking
+a great deal about the President and Congress, and the laws that are
+made, and all such things: but the real politician is one who studies
+the different kinds of government which have been in the world, and
+endeavours to find out which is good and which is bad, and why they are
+good or bad. He reads, too, a great deal of history, to learn how other
+nations have done, what kind of laws they made, and why they made them,
+how they became great nations, or how they became very poor; and he
+_thinks_, too, a great deal, that he may find out what will be best for
+his own nation. It requires hard study and thought, boys, to make a good
+politician."
+
+"Then, Uncle Philip, a man cannot learn how to be one out of the
+newspapers."
+
+"No, boys; not out of newspapers alone: but still he will read them,
+and very often learn from them things very useful to him in his
+business. Newspapers are valuable things, and I think it is always best
+for a country to have a great many of them spread about in it. But they
+will not, of themselves, make a man a politician; and if you should ask
+the persons who print them, whether they expect them to teach men all
+about governments, they will tell you, No: but they will teach people
+what is doing in all the governments in the world. No good government,
+boys, will ever be afraid to let the people have newspapers. They are
+always fewest where the government is hardest upon the people. But let
+us go back to the birds. Can you tell me now why some people call the
+fly-catcher a politician?"
+
+"Oh, yes; because he has so many bits of old newspapers about his nest."
+
+"That is the reason, boys. There is another kind of fly-catcher, called
+the hooded fly-catcher, and it weaves its nest of flax and strings
+pulled from the stalks of hemp: but the best weaver in this country
+is the Baltimore starling. This bird chooses the ends of high bending
+branches for his nest, and he begins in a forked twig, by fastening
+strong strings of hemp or flax around both branches of the fork, just
+as far apart as he means the width of his nest to be: he then with
+the same kind of strings, mixed in with pieces of loose tow, weaves
+a strong, firm kind of cloth, which is like the hatter's felt in
+appearance, only that you can see that the nest is woven, not felted.
+In this way he makes a pouch, or purse, six or seven inches deep, and
+lines it on the inside with several soft things, which he weaves into
+the outside netting, and finishes the whole with horse-hair. Mr. Wilson
+describes one of these nests which he had. He says that it was round
+like a cylinder. Do you know what a cylinder is?"
+
+"No, Uncle Philip."
+
+"A smooth round pillar to hold up a porch is a cylinder; my walking-cane
+is a cylinder; so is the straight body of a tree. When these are of the
+same size all through their whole length, they are perfect cylinders;
+and any thing in that shape is a cylinder."
+
+"We understand you, Uncle Philip; a gun-barrel is a cylinder, and there
+is a cylinder in your garden."
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"The heavy stone roller that you let us pull over the walks."
+
+[Illustration: Baltimore Starling, and Nest.]
+
+"Right. Well, this nest was like a cylinder, about five inches across,
+and seven inches long. At the top the bird had worked a level cover, so
+as to leave a hole only two inches and a half across; at the bottom it
+was round. It was made of flax, tow, hemp, hair, and wool, and was woven
+into a complete cloth; it was also tightly sewed through and through
+with long horse-hairs, some of which when drawn out measured two feet.
+Here is a picture of this nest. In the bottom it had bunches of cows'
+hair, and these were also sewed down with horse-hairs. This bird, boys,
+is a thief."
+
+"A thief, Uncle Philip! What does it steal?"
+
+"When I say it is a thief, boys, I mean that it takes what does not
+belong to it: but it is not a thief as man is. When a man takes
+something which belongs to another person, he _knows_ that it is not
+his; and therefore he steals: but the poor bird does not know, and that
+makes a difference. You asked me what it steals: I will tell you. At
+the time for building its nest, it will take whatever suits for that
+purpose; and therefore the country women are obliged to watch their
+thread that they have put out to bleach: the farmer, too, who has cut
+off young grafts from his fruit-trees and tied them up in bundles, must
+be careful, or the bird will pull at the string till he gets it off; and
+sometimes, when the bunch is not too large, he will fly off with the
+whole. In autumn, when the leaves have fallen, you may sometimes see
+skeins of silk and hanks of thread hanging about the starling's nest,
+but so woven up and entangled in it that they are good for nothing. Now,
+boys, before this country was settled by people from Europe, where do
+you suppose the starling got silk and thread for his nest?"
+
+"Why, Uncle Philip, are you sure he got them at all?"
+
+"A very sensible question, boys. When you are asked _why_ a thing is so,
+it is always well, first to be satisfied that it is so, before you begin
+to look for a reason. I have read a story about this very thing: would
+you like to hear it?"
+
+"Oh yes, Uncle Philip."
+
+"Well, then, I have read that there were once several philosophers
+(I told you what a philosopher is, you know), who were in the habit
+of meeting together to put questions to each other, and to make new
+discoveries. At one of these meetings, one of them asked the others,
+'_Why_ a fish weighed more _in_ the water than he did _out_ of it?'
+Several of them gave very wise reasons, as they thought; and all the
+reasons were different: so they could not agree. There was among them,
+however, a very sensible old gentleman, who listened to them all, but
+said nothing. When he went home, he got a fish and weighed it, out of
+the water, and wrote down its weight; he then took a bucket of water,
+and weighed that; and when he dropped the fish in the bucket, he found
+that it increased the weight of the whole, precisely as many pounds as
+the fish had weighed out of the water; so he found out that there was
+no reason why a fish weighed more in the water than he did out of it,
+because it was not true: his weight was the same either in or out of it."
+
+"Ah, Uncle Philip, that is a pleasant story: he was a sensible old
+gentleman."
+
+"Yes, boys, he was; and it was sensible in you to ask first whether the
+starling _did use_ silk and thread before Europeans came here; and after
+that is answered, it is time enough to ask where he got such things. Now
+the truth is, that he _did not_ use them until after Europeans brought
+them here; because there were no such things in this country: for the
+Indians who lived here could not make thread. I think; and I am sure
+they could not spin silk: but I will tell you, boys, what it shows us;
+and it is that I wish you to notice."
+
+"What is it, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"It is the wisdom of this bird in taking advantage of circumstances. No
+doubt he built very good nests long before silk and thread were in the
+country; but he had sense enough to know that they were exactly what
+suited him, and he used them as soon as he could get them."
+
+"Then, Uncle Philip, you think that the bird has reason?"
+
+"No, boys, I do not: but you have reason, and I have something to say
+to you about it. It is this: as God has given you reason, and so made
+you better than the poor dumb animals, he expects more from you. That is
+fair, is it not?"
+
+"Yes, Uncle Philip; very fair."
+
+"Then what I wish you to remember is this: that you must use your reason
+in such way as to glorify God. He gave it to you to learn his will and
+his commandments, and to live accordingly. So now you see the things
+which our conversations about the animals can teach us. In the first
+place, we see the goodness of God; in the second place, we see the
+power of God; in the third place, we see the wisdom of God: and we see
+in ourselves that God has done more for us than he has done for them,
+and therefore we ought to love and serve him: we ought to believe what
+he says in his Word; we ought to pray to him for his blessed help; we
+ought, _first of all_, to seek the salvation of our souls, through our
+Lord Jesus Christ.
+
+"Now, my dear children, to-morrow I must leave home for a few weeks; but
+when I come back we will talk together again: and as I am going to see
+my nephews, I will get a book which they printed about insects; it is
+called the History of Insects,[14]--and I will bring it to you; and some
+of the largest boys among you may read it aloud, and I will explain to
+you what you cannot understand. If you are pleased with what I have been
+telling you, that book will tell you a great deal more."
+
+"Oh, thank you, Uncle Philip. We shall like it very much."
+
+"Farewell, boys."
+
+"Good-by, dear Uncle Philip."
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[12] Myiothera obsoleta of Bonaparte.
+
+[13] Tyrannus intrepidus.
+
+[14] Family Library, No. VIII.--_Publishers._
+
+
+
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+  _Now republishing, on good paper and large type, in 18mo. volumes_,
+
+
+  SOCIAL EVILS
+  AND
+  THEIR REMEDY.
+
+  A SERIES OF NARRATIVES TO BE PUBLISHED QUARTERLY.
+
+  BY THE
+  REV. CHARLES B. TAYLER, M.A.
+
+  No. I.
+
+  THE MECHANIC.
+
+  IS NOW REPUBLISHED, AND FOR SALE BY THE BOOKSELLERS.
+
+  "Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid,
+  which is Jesus Christ."
+
+AUTHOR'S ADDRESS
+
+No doubt can be felt as to the fact, that there are at present many
+crying evils in all ranks of society--perhaps there never was a time
+when more remedies were proposed. It is, however, a melancholy truth,
+that the only remedy is too generally over-looked, or despised.
+Remedies, selfish in principle, and selfish in their proposed end, are
+held forth and confided in by those who profess to be Christians, and,
+as such, dependent on the Great Head of the church. Man is taught how
+to live in time, and to be wise for time; but it has become unusual
+to refer to that fine old scriptural prayer, "So teach us to number
+our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom." Indeed, the
+wisdom desired by too many is that which is so forcibly described by
+an apostle's pen, as "earthly, sensual, devilish;" not that wisdom
+the attributes of which form the graces of man's new and regenerate
+character, which is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to
+be entreated; "full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and
+without hypocrisy."
+
+It is intended, in the series of narratives now advertised, to set
+forth, faithfully and simply, the one great principle on which
+Christians profess to act. This principle should never be lost sight
+of, in any publication addressed by a Christian author to Christian
+readers. "Other foundation can no man lay, than that is laid," laid by
+Infinite Wisdom himself--"which is Christ Jesus." My illustrations will
+extend to every class of society; from the highest to the lowest. When
+it is found necessary to introduce the subject of political economy, I
+shall endeavour to give what seem to me the right views of the subject;
+and I shall take care to show, that when political economy cannot be
+identified with Christian economy, it ought to occupy a subordinate
+place. If it enters society as the servant of Christian principle, it
+may be very useful as a servant; but, if it is to teach a man to walk in
+the counsel of the ungodly, to speak of its usefulness in a Christian
+community is absurd.
+
+False principles, however taking they may be, for a while, with the
+ignorant, or with those who are not deep thinkers, can never stand for
+any length of time; and as for the ungodly, we know _Who_ has told us
+they are "like the chaff which the wind driveth away." I have undertaken
+this work in a spirit of prayer to God for His assistance, and His
+blessing. Many of my readers. I am sure, will unite their prayers to
+mine, that it may be continued in the same spirit. Some few may object
+to this address from a minister of Christ to a Christian community,
+and say that it is according to the puritanical cant of the day. I
+answer, that such cant (if mere cant) is quite as offensive to me as to
+themselves; almost as offensive as the cant of ungodliness; but I cannot
+forget those words of solemn warning, from One who, alas, is still the
+despised and rejected of many men: "Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and
+of my words, in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him shall the
+Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with
+the holy angels."
+
+The second number of "Social Evils," entitled "_The Lady and the Lady's
+Maid_," will be republished about the 1st of February, 1834.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+THEOLOGICAL LIBRARY.
+
+No. I. The Life of Wiclif. By Charles Webb Le Bas, A.M.
+
+II. The Consistency of the whole Scheme of Revelation with Itself and
+with Human Reason. By Philip Nicholas Shuttleworth, D.D.
+
+III., IV. Luther and the Lutheran Reformation. By John Scott, A.M.
+
+V., VI. The Life of Archbishop Cranmer. By Charles Webb Le Bas, A.M.
+
+VII., VIII. History of the Reformed Religion in France. By Rev. Edward
+Smedley, M.A. _In Press._
+
+
+
+
+  +----------------------------------------------------------------- +
+  | Transcriber's Note:                                              |
+  |                                                                  |
+  | * Obvious punctuation and spelling errors repaired.              |
+  |                                                                  |
+  | * Original spelling and its variations were not standardized.    |
+  |                                                                  |
+  | * Original use of quotation marks was left unchanged.            |
+  |                                                                  |
+  | * The word "scattered is missing between pages 135 and 136.      |
+  |                                                                  |
+  | * "... have got permission from your friends...."  This should   |
+  |   be "permission from parents," as the context suggests.         |
+  |                                                                  |
+  | * Italicized words are surrounded by underline characters, _like |
+  |   this_. Words in bold characters are surrounded by equal signs, |
+  |   =like this=.                                                   |
+  |                                                                  |
+  | * Footnotes were moved to the end of the paragraphs to which     |
+  |   they applied and numbered in one continuous sequence.          |
+  +------------------------------------------------------------------+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Natural History, by Anonymous
+
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+	 display:none;
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+<body>
+
+
+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Natural History, by Anonymous
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Natural History
+       Uncle Philip's Conversations with the Children about Tools
+              and Trades among Inferior Animals
+
+Author: Anonymous
+
+Release Date: December 6, 2013 [EBook #44377]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NATURAL HISTORY ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Chris Curnow, Christian Boissonnas and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+(This file was produced from images generously made
+available by The Internet Archive)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<div class="transnote covernote">
+   <p> The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in
+      the public domain.</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<div class="figcenter bord"><a name="i_002.jpg" id="i_002.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_002.jpg"
+  alt="Uncle Philip Talking to the Boys" />
+  <div class="caption">UNCLE PHILIP TALKING TO THE BOYS.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="center margin-top1"><i>J.&amp;J. Harper. New-York.</i></p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p class="center">UNCLE PHILIP'S CONVERSATIONS<br />
+<br />
+with Young Persons.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter2"><a name="i_003.jpg" id="i_003.jpg"></a>
+<img src="images/i_003.jpg"
+alt="Uncle Philip's Conversations" />
+</div>
+
+<p class="center margin-top4">NEW YORK<br />
+J. &amp; J. HARPER 82 CLIFF ST&#7788;.<br />
+1833.
+</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<h1><big>NATURAL HISTORY;</big><br /><br />
+<small>OR,</small><br /><br />
+UNCLE PHILIP'S<br /><br />
+CONVERSATIONS WITH THE CHILDREN<br /><br />
+<small>ABOUT</small><br /><br />
+TOOLS AND TRADES<br /><br />
+<small>AMONG</small><br /><br />
+INFERIOR ANIMALS.</h1>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p class="center">WITH NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS.</p>
+
+<hr class="r50" />
+
+<p class="center margin-top1">NEW-YORK:<br /><br />
+PUBLISHED BY HARPER &amp; BROTHERS,<br /><br />
+NO. 82 CLIFF-STREET.</p>
+
+<hr class="r5" />
+
+<p class="center">1835.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+
+<p class="center margin-top1">
+Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1835,<br />
+By <span class="smcap">Harper &amp; Brothers</span>,<br />
+In the Clerk's Office of the Southern District of New-York.<br />
+</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a name="ADVERTISEMENT" id="ADVERTISEMENT"></a>ADVERTISEMENT.</h2>
+
+
+<p>We must tell our little readers something about
+this number of their Library. It was sent to us by
+a very kind old uncle of ours, who, when we were
+young, was so much from home, visiting various
+places in the world, that we do not remember seeing
+him very often at that period. At last, the old man,
+finding that he could not bear fatigue as he had
+done when young, determined to come home; and
+we had heard so much about him that we were quite
+anxious to see him. He came to our house one
+evening, and appeared rather odd to us; but he was
+so good-natured, and told us so many curious things,
+that we soon forgot his odd appearance.</p>
+
+<p>The old gentleman brought home with him a very
+large number of books, and a great many strange
+things which he had gathered in his travels, such as
+stones, and dried insects, and leaves, and flowers,
+and stuffed birds, and animals. He did not stay
+with us long, but went to the village where he was
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span>
+born, and built a small house to which he carried all
+his books and curiosities, and said that he should
+spend the rest of his days there.</p>
+
+<p>We sometimes pay him a visit. The last time
+we were there, we found him talking to several children
+around him. In the beginning of the book
+there is a picture of the old gentleman. After you
+have looked at it, you may read the letter which he
+sent us, and learn how he came to write this book.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 40%;">Your friends,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 55%;"><span class="smcap">The Publishers</span>.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a name="UNCLE_PHILIPS_LETTER" id="UNCLE_PHILIPS_LETTER"></a>UNCLE PHILIP'S LETTER.</h2>
+
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="smcap">My dear Nephews,</span></span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>I was very much pleased to receive the numbers
+of your Library for Boys and Girls which you sent
+to me. You know I am now an old man, and have
+travelled a great deal, and seen a great many strange
+things in the course of my life. I am too old to travel
+any more, and so I am quietly living in the cottage I
+built by the side of that pleasant and shady little
+stream where I played when I was a boy. I read
+my books, and especially that best of all of them,
+my Bible; and so am patiently waiting till my
+Heavenly Father shall call me to take my last journey;
+when I hope, for the sake of the blessed
+Saviour, to go to Him. Sometimes I walk out
+into the village, and meet the children and have a
+long talk with them. They all know me; and very
+often, some of them will come to my house, and
+ask me to tell them about things which I have seen
+in my travels or read of in books: and so I spend
+many happy hours with the little creatures; for you
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span>
+know how much I love children. When I had
+read the books you sent to me, I lent them to
+the children, who were delighted; and I thought
+that if I should sometimes write down what we here
+talked about, it might please the little boys and girls
+for whom you print your books, and perhaps they
+might learn something from our conversations which
+would be useful: and so I determined to send them
+to you, from time to time, to print, if you pleased.</p>
+
+<p>If you think fit to print what I send, just tell your
+little readers who I am; an aged and quiet old man,
+who is very fond of little boys and girls, and wishes
+them to be wise and good here, and happy hereafter,
+and that I am your</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 70%;"><span class="smcap">Uncle Philip</span>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>Newtown, Feb</i>. 1833.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="margin-top1">P.S. If you print what I send now, please to print
+the Preface to Parents, which I also send; in order
+that they may, by reading it, see what sort of a book
+Uncle Philip has been making for their dear children,
+and may be satisfied that it will not harm them to
+read it.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a name="PREFACE_TO_PARENTS" id="PREFACE_TO_PARENTS"></a>PREFACE TO PARENTS.</h2>
+
+<p>The author of the following book avails himself
+of the opportunity afforded by its publication,
+to address a word to those who sustain the delightful
+and responsible relation of parents.</p>
+
+<p>To such of that class as may honour by a perusal
+this humble attempt to interest and instruct their
+offspring, the author need not say that the subject
+of his book possesses for himself peculiar attractions:
+it will readily be perceived that he has found
+a charm in the pursuits of the naturalist. The
+votary of a favourite science would anticipate too
+much, should he expect every one to partake of the
+enthusiasm which is apt to stimulate him; it is
+wisely and kindly ordered that we shall not all be
+enthusiasts in the same direction. The author, however,
+still ventures to hope, that in his subject there
+is enough to attract, though it may fail to fascinate.
+He hopes, too, that it will be found not attractive
+merely, but profitable also to his young countrymen.
+There are many reasons on which to found such
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span>
+a hope. If to entertain reverence for our Maker,
+to admire and adore his wisdom and goodness in
+the illustrations of nature, thankfully to acknowledge
+and duly to improve the superiority which
+mind confers, be exercises in which a wise parent
+would desire to train a child,&mdash;the study of natural
+science is admirably adapted to the attainment
+of these objects. Again, if it be desirable to encourage
+habits of patient observation, accuracy of
+investigation, and soundness of thought; let the volume
+of nature be opened before the youthful mind.
+If to learn <i>things</i> be better than to learn <i>words</i>, it
+is important to place things before the growing
+intellects of the young. Let it not be supposed that
+to present matters of science intelligibly to the minds
+of children is a hopeless task. It requires not
+learning or maturity of understanding to perceive
+a <i>fact</i>; it needs only the ordinary senses which God
+has bestowed alike upon children and their parents.
+Natural science is emphatically the science of
+<i>facts</i>; built upon any other foundation it becomes
+conjecture merely: and he knows but little of the
+mind of a child who is not aware of the facility with
+which a fact is impressed upon it. The secret of
+instructing the young will be found to consist more
+in the mode of communication than in the nature
+of the subject.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>As to the style of this work a word may be said;
+not, of course, for the purpose of disarming criticism
+(for truly the writer has never supposed his trifle worth
+the critic's labour or notice), but simply to remark,
+that the object has been to write for the minds of <i>children</i>;
+if the book be intelligible to them, the utmost
+ambition of Uncle Philip will be attained. Truth
+and plainness were all he sought. The first he believes
+he has attained; and to determine his success
+in attempting the last, he turns from the parents, and
+looks for the decision of the question to the suffrages
+of the children. He would rather hear the expression
+of satisfaction from the lips of one intelligent
+little reader, than receive the words of approbation
+from many who are elders; the first is testimony
+derived from experience, the last is but opinion.
+Children always know better than any one else does
+what books they understand.</p>
+
+<p>In conclusion, the author owes it to himself to
+say to the parents of his young countrymen, and to
+the patrons of the "Boy's and Girl's Library,"
+that what he has written will be found on the side
+of religion and morals. So far as these important
+points are concerned, the writer is not ashamed
+to avow himself a Christian; nor yet does he mean
+to make it the subject of boasting. In his simple
+view, Christianity is a very quiet and gentle thing,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span>
+which eschews strife, and promotes practical goodness;
+and truly can he say, that he has indulged
+in some of his happiest and, as he trusts, his holiest
+musings when, in the solitary pursuit of his
+favourite science,&mdash;to use the language of good old
+Izaak Walton, that simple-hearted lover of God, and
+all his works,&mdash;"he has looked upon the wonders
+of nature with admiration, or found some harmless
+insect to content him, and pass away a little time,
+without offence to God, or injury to man."</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS.</h2>
+
+<table class="toctable" id="TOC" summary="CONTENTS">
+  <tr>
+    <td class="chap-no"><a href="#CONVERSATION_I" style="text-decoration: none;">
+	  CONVERSATION I.</a></td>
+      <td class="page">Page</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tocsum">About a Fly that can work with a Saw and a Rasp,
+	  like the Carpenter</td>
+    <td class="page">13</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="chap-no"><a href="#CONVERSATION_II" style="text-decoration: none;">
+	  CONVERSATION II.</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tocsum">About Grasshoppers and Bees that bore Holes with a Gimlet</td>
+    <td class="page">19</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="chap-no"><a href="#CONVERSATION_III" style="text-decoration: none;">
+	  CONVERSATION III.</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tocsum">About Animals that are Tailors</td>
+    <td class="page">27</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="chap-no"><a href="#CONVERSATION_IV" style="text-decoration: none;">
+	  CONVERSATION IV.</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tocsum">About the first Paper in the World made by Wasps</td>
+    <td class="page">41</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="chap-no"><a href="#CONVERSATION_V" style="text-decoration: none;">
+	  CONVERSATION V.</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tocsum">A Story about Tom Smith, and of Bees with Brushes and Baskets,
+	  and of a Bird with a Chisel, and a Gnat with a Lancet</td>
+    <td class="page">53</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="chap-no"><a href="#CONVERSATION_VI" style="text-decoration: none;">
+	  CONVERSATION VI.</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tocsum">About Animals that can do Mason's Work</td>
+    <td class="page">66</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="chap-no"><a href="#CONVERSATION_VII" style="text-decoration: none;">
+	  CONVERSATION VII.</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tocsum">About Animals that throw Dirt with a Spade; and about an
+	  Animal with a Hook; and about one that is a Wire-drawer</td>
+    <td class="page">80</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="chap-no"><a href="#CONVERSATION_VIII" style="text-decoration: none;">
+	  CONVERSATION VIII.</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tocsum">About a Door, with a Hinge and Spring to it, made by a Spider;
+	  and the Difference between God's Work and Man's</td>
+    <td class="page">94</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="chap-no">
+	  <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span>
+	  <a href="#CONVERSATION_IX" style="text-decoration: none;">
+	  CONVERSATION IX.</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tocsum">A Story about a Philosopher and his Kite; and about Ants that
+	have Awls, and build Cities, and Stairs, and Bridges, and many other Things</td>
+    <td class="page">104</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="chap-no"><a href="#CONVERSATION_X" style="text-decoration: none;">
+	  CONVERSATION X.</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tocsum">More about the white Ants</td>
+    <td class="page">120</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="chap-no"><a href="#CONVERSATION_XI" style="text-decoration: none;">
+	  CONVERSATION XI.</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tocsum">About some other Ants that are very good Masons, and build
+	  Walls and Ceilings; and a Story about a very sensible Ant which seemed
+	   to think a little</td>
+    <td class="page">129</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="chap-no"><a href="#CONVERSATION_XII" style="text-decoration: none;">
+	  CONVERSATION XII.</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tocsum">About Ants that go to War, and fight Battles; and about some
+	  that are Thieves, and have Slaves</td>
+    <td class="page">138</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="chap-no"><a href="#CONVERSATION_XIII" style="text-decoration: none;">
+	  CONVERSATION XIII.</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tocsum">A Voyage; and an Animal that makes itself into a Ship;
+	  and of Insect that builds a Boat, and floats about in a Canoe; and of
+	  another that pumps Water, and wears a Mask; and of a Spider that
+	   builds a Raft, and floats upon it</td>
+    <td class="page">151</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="chap-no"><a href="#CONVERSATION_XIV" style="text-decoration: none;">
+	  CONVERSATION XIV.</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tocsum">About an Insect with Tweezers, and another with Pincers;
+	  and how a Fly's Foot is made, so as to stick to the Wall</td>
+    <td class="page">167</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="chap-no"><a href="#CONVERSATION_XV" style="text-decoration: none;">
+	  CONVERSATION XV.</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tocsum">How Hats are made; and about Animals that can make Felt
+	  like the Hatter</td>
+    <td class="page">181</td>
+  </tr>
+
+  <tr>
+    <td class="chap-no"><a href="#CONVERSATION_XVI" style="text-decoration: none;">
+	  CONVERSATION XVI.</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tocsum">About Birds that are Weavers, and the Politician Bird;
+	  a Story about some Philosophers; and what may be learned
+	  from these Conversations</td>
+    <td class="page">202</td>
+  </tr>
+</table>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="NATURAL_HISTORY" id="NATURAL_HISTORY"></a>NATURAL HISTORY.</h2>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2><a name="CONVERSATION_I" id="CONVERSATION_I"></a>CONVERSATION I.</h2>
+
+<div class="chapsum"><i>Uncle Philip tells the Children about a Fly
+that can work with a Saw and a Rasp, like the Carpenter.</i></div>
+
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">Well</span>, boys, this is a beautiful day. The
+sun is shining brightly, and the birds are
+singing, and the insects are flying about, and
+the grass is green, and every thing appears
+pleasant, and you feel happy too, and have
+come, I suppose, to see old Uncle Philip."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Uncle Philip, we are tired of playing
+now, and so we have come to ask you to talk
+with us, and tell us about some of the
+curious things you know."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, boys, I will tell you about some
+very strange things. I will talk to you about
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span>
+animals that know how to work with tools
+like a man."</p>
+
+<p>"Work with tools, Uncle Philip! That
+is strange; but we know it is so, if you say
+so; because you will not tell us any stories
+but true ones. But where do they get the
+tools?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, boys, 'the hand that made them is
+<i>divine</i>!' They get them where we get all
+that is useful and good,&mdash;from God. The
+Bible says that He '<i>is wise in heart, and wonderful
+in working</i>;' and he has made many
+a poor little insect, and given it tools to work
+with for its comfort, as good and perfect as
+any that man can make. Yes, these poor
+little creatures had tools long before man had.
+God cares for the insects, boys, as well as
+for us."</p>
+
+<p>"But, Uncle Philip, what sort of tools do
+you mean? Tell us about them."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, I will; do you think of some
+kind of tools that men use: think of the carpenter
+and his tools, and let us see if we cannot
+find some of them among the insects."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, the carpenter has a saw. Is there
+any saw among these little fellows?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes indeed, there is; and a capital saw
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span>
+it is. Now listen, and I will tell you all about
+it. There is a kind of fly called the <i>saw-fly</i>;
+it has four wings, and commonly its body is
+yellow, and its head is black; but the most
+curious part of it is the saw. The young
+ones feed upon the leaves of rose-bushes, and
+gooseberries, and raspberries, and currants,
+and several other kinds of bushes; and the
+old ones always lay their eggs on the branches
+of these bushes, so that the young ones may
+have something to eat as soon as they come
+out. It uses its saw to make a place in the
+branch to put its egg in."</p>
+
+<p>"Uncle Philip, what is the saw made of?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is made of something like horn, and
+is fixed very nicely in a case; it resembles
+what the cabinet-makers call a <i>tenon-saw</i> more
+than it does the carpenter's common saw.
+The tenon-saw is made of a thin plate of
+steel, and has a stiff brass back, to keep it from
+bending. The brass back has a groove in it,
+and the saw is put in that groove, and then
+it is fastened to it. But the fly's saw is fixed
+in another way: there is a back to it too, but
+that back is not fastened to the saw. The
+groove is in the saw, and there is a ridge all
+along the back-piece, which just fits in the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span>
+groove, and so the saw slides backwards and
+forwards, and the ridge always keeps it in its
+place. Besides all this, boys, the fly is better
+off than the cabinet-maker, for he uses only
+one saw at a time; but our little workman
+has two exactly alike, and they are so fixed
+that the creature first pushes out one, and
+when it is drawing that back, pushes out
+the other; so that it is all the time cutting,
+and does double work. I think the fly's saw
+is the best, too, for another reason. The
+saws of the carpenter and cabinet-maker
+have their teeth bent; first, one a little on
+one side, and then the next to it a little on the
+other side, and so on to the end of the saw;
+so that when sawing, the cut may be wide
+enough for the blade to move easily. Now
+the fly's saw has the teeth a little bent, or
+twisted, too; but it has something else: on
+the outside of every tooth there are a great
+many very small teeth, so that the outside of
+every one is just like a <i>rasp</i>, or <i>file</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"But, Uncle Philip, it must take them a
+great while to saw a very little cut; they are
+so small."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, it does; but they persevere. It takes
+them more than an hour and a half to make
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span>
+one groove, and sometimes they will go on
+and make as many as six without stopping.
+That shows, boys, what perseverance will do."</p>
+
+<p>"And when it is done sawing, Uncle Philip,
+where does it keep its saws?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I told you they fitted in a case; but
+when the fly is done sawing, it uses the saws
+to put the egg in the place cut for it, and then
+it draws the saws almost entirely into the
+case, and drops upon the egg a sort of frothy
+stuff like a drop of soap-lather."</p>
+
+<p>"What is that for?"</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose it is to glue the egg fast, or else
+to keep the juices in the bush from hurting
+it."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, this is a curious fly, Uncle Philip."</p>
+
+<p>"It is strange, boys, because you never
+heard of it before; but it is a cunning fly, as
+well as a curious one."</p>
+
+<p>"What does it do, Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, when it is frightened, it will fold
+up its case and saws under its body, and draw
+up its legs, and pretend to be dead; and then
+it will not move, even if you stick a pin
+through it."</p>
+
+<p>"Can you tell us any thing more about
+this fly?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Nothing very strange, boys; but we have
+found out <i>two</i> tools, I think, a saw and a rasp,
+and that is enough for one poor little fly to
+give us. Here, boys, are pictures of these
+saws; I have made them a great deal larger
+than they are in the fly, so that you can see
+them plainly."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_022a.jpg" id="i_022a.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_022a.jpg"
+  alt="Saw of the Saw-fly" />
+  <div class="caption">Saw of the Saw-fly, with Rasps shown in the Cross-lines.</div>
+</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_022b.jpg" id="i_022b.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_022b.jpg"
+  alt="Saw-fly's comb-toothed Rasp" />
+  <div class="caption">Portion of the Saw-fly's comb-toothed Rasp, and Saw.</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h2><a name="CONVERSATION_II" id="CONVERSATION_II"></a>CONVERSATION II.</h2>
+
+<div class="chapsum"><i>Uncle Philip tells the Children about Grasshoppers
+and Bees, that bore Holes with a Gimlet.</i></div>
+
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">Well</span>, Uncle Philip, here we are again, to
+hear more about the tools that animals work
+with; we have seen in the bark of trees, and
+old wooden posts, little holes as round as a
+gimlet could make, and we have been thinking
+whether any of these little creatures have
+augers and gimlets, as well as saws. Do
+you know of any of them that can bore
+holes?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, boys; I know of more than one
+that can bore as smooth and round a hole as
+any carpenter you ever saw. There are some
+of the grasshoppers that have an excellent
+gimlet. The contrivance has five pieces in
+it; two of the pieces make a case to keep the
+augers in, two more are the augers or borers,
+and the other is a piece between the two borers
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span>
+on which they slide; this piece has a ridge on
+each side of it, and the augers have a groove
+which exactly fits the ridge. Besides this,
+each auger ends in a knob, and that knob has
+teeth all around it. Here is a picture of it."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_024.jpg" id="i_024.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_024.jpg"
+  alt="Ovipositors, with files" />
+  <div class="caption">Ovipositors, with files, of the Grasshopper, magnified.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>"But, Uncle Philip, what is the piece with
+the ridge for?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, boys, that piece shows the wisdom
+and the goodness of God. '<i>His tender mercies
+are over all his works</i>:' he has placed
+that piece there to keep the borers stiff, so that
+they cannot get out of joint, or be broken,
+when the little workman is boring."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Well, this is very curious."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; but there are some of these insect
+workmen more curious still. Did you ever
+see a spy-glass? You know it is a round,
+hollow piece of wood, with brass tubes in it,
+which are made smaller and smaller, so as to
+slide into one another, when the glass is not
+used. Now there is a sort of gadfly (she is a
+little creature, too) which has exactly such a
+contrivance to keep her gimlet in. It is in
+four pieces, and the smallest piece ends in
+five sharp points, three of which are longer
+than the other two: she twists these five sharp
+points into one piece, and as some are longer
+and some shorter, when they are all put together,
+they make a sharp edge running all
+around, and are almost exactly like an auger
+or gimlet. When she wants to use it,
+she just shoots out the different tubes, so as
+to make a stem for the gimlet; and when she
+is done, she puts all back into its case again.</p>
+
+<p>"Here is a drawing of it, and I think that
+by looking at it you will understand what
+I have been telling you: I do not know
+whether men learned from this part of the fly
+how to make the case of a spy-glass; but I
+know they might have learned.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_026.jpg" id="i_026.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_026.jpg"
+  alt="Ovipositor or Gimlet of the Gadfly" />
+  <div class="caption">Ovipositor or Gimlet of the Gadfly, greatly magnified, with
+    a claw and part of the tube, distinct.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>"There is also a bee, boys, which is called
+the <i>carpenter-bee</i>, because it is such an excellent
+wood-borer. It commonly looks for some
+old post, or dry plank, or withered part of a
+tree, to work in. It never works in wood that
+is green and has the sap or juices in it; for
+the bee knows, just as well as any carpenter
+does, that it is very hard to get tools through
+such wood. I expect that you have seen
+sometimes, when an old post or dry board was
+split, a long hollow groove in the middle of it,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span>
+with little round thin pieces of something like
+paper, about as thick as a wafer, fastened in
+it by their edges, one above the other, all the
+way through. These show the work of the
+carpenter-bee: she bored the hole, and she put
+those little partitions like paper in it, to separate
+the cells; and more than that, she made
+the partitions out of the dust she got by boring.
+She always likes, too, to get a piece of
+wood in a place where the sun can shine on
+it; and when she has made her choice, she
+begins to bore at first into the post in a slanting
+direction, and as soon as she has gone
+far enough in, she then turns and bores
+straight, with the grain of the wood."</p>
+
+<p>"Does she do it quickly, Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not very quickly, for sometimes the wood
+is very hard; I have seen one of these holes
+nearly twelve inches long in a very hard oak
+board. Sometimes she has to work at it for
+months; but she works steadily, boys, and
+that does a great deal. What makes it more
+tiresome is, that the poor little creature has to
+bring out all the dust she makes by boring."</p>
+
+<p>"How large is the hole?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, large enough to put my forefinger in,
+and sometimes fifteen inches long. After she
+has bored it as deep as is necessary, she begins
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span>
+to divide it into separate cells. So she commences
+at the bottom, and puts in a quantity of
+what is called bee-bread, until it reaches about
+an inch in height; on the top of this she lays
+an egg, and the bread is put there to feed the
+young one as soon as it comes out of the egg.
+She then makes a floor over it out of the dust,
+as I told you; she knows how to glue this
+dust together, and she brings it grain by grain
+from the heap in which she put it when she
+first brought it out: and she always begins
+by gluing the dust around the outside of the
+hole she has bored, and then glues another
+ring to that, and then another, and another,
+making each ring smaller and smaller, until
+she has it all filled; so that her floor, when it
+is done, appears like a parcel of rings of
+smaller and smaller sizes placed within each
+other. On the top of this floor she puts bee-bread,
+as before, and places another egg on it,
+and then covers it with a floor again; and so
+she goes on making cells and filling them with
+bread, and covering each with a floor, until
+she has filled up the hole."</p>
+
+<p>"Uncle Philip, how do the young bees get
+out when the egg is hatched? It seems as if
+they were shut up for ever in prison."</p>
+
+<p>"No, boys; there is a way for them to get
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span>
+out, and it shows the wonderful wisdom of
+God in teaching this poor bee how to contrive
+the matter. The egg which is put in the
+lowest cell being the oldest, the little worm
+that is afterward to be a bee will come out
+of that one first: now, you know, he never
+could get through all the cells over his head,
+filled as they are with bee-bread, so as to come
+out at the top of the hole. If he gets out at
+all, then, it must be at the bottom. The old
+bee knows this, and she so arranges these
+eggs that when the worm comes out it will be
+with his head pointed downwards; he falls to
+eating his bread, and so eats himself down to
+the bottom of his cell, and there he finds that
+his mother has bored a hole from his cell to
+the outside, and through that he comes out.
+When his brother in the cell above him has
+eaten his way down to the bottom of his cell,
+he just eats through the floor and gets into
+the cell below, which is then empty, you
+know, and walks out at the same hole which
+his older brother used before him. And so all
+the rest one after another eat their way downwards
+into the empty cells below them, and
+get out at the same back-door, which their
+mother made by what we call her <i>instinct</i>,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span>
+which just means the share of wisdom which
+God gives to the lower animals to show them
+how to take care of themselves."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_030.jpg" id="i_030.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_030.jpg"
+  alt="Post tunnelled by carpenter-bees" />
+  <div class="caption"><b>A</b>, represents a part of a post, tunnelled in several
+    places by the violet carpenter-bee; the stick is split, and shows the nests and
+	passages by which they are approached. <b>C</b>, a piece of thin stick, pierced
+	by the carpenter-bee, and split, to show the nests. <b>D</b>, perspective view of
+	one of the partitions. <b>E</b>, carpenter-bee. <b>F</b>, teeth of the carpenter-bee,
+	greatly magnified; <i>a</i>, the upper side; <i>b</i>, lower side.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Why, that instinct, as you call it, Uncle
+Philip, is a curious thing."</p>
+
+<p>"Very curious, very curious indeed, boys;
+and at some other time, if you wish, we will
+talk more about it, and I will tell you a great
+many stories of animals, which will show you
+their instinct. But for this time I have told
+you enough to keep you thinking until we
+meet again. So now just look at this picture
+of the carpenter-bee's house, and then you
+may go home."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2><a name="CONVERSATION_III" id="CONVERSATION_III"></a>CONVERSATION III.</h2>
+
+<div class="chapsum"><i>Uncle Philip tells the Children about Animals
+  that are Tailors.</i></div>
+
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">Uncle Philip</span>, we are very glad to see
+you, and we think we have found out something
+to ask you, about a kind of work which
+men do, that no other animal can accomplish.
+As we came along this morning to visit you,
+and were talking of what you had told us of
+insects that, like carpenters, could saw wood
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span>
+and bore holes in it, we passed by the tailor's
+shop, near the church; 'and now,' said we,
+'we have found out something which will
+puzzle good Uncle Philip: there are surely no
+tailors among the lower animals; so we will
+ask him to-day to talk about creatures that
+can cut out cloth and sew it up with a
+needle.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, my dear children, there are a great
+many things which would puzzle Uncle Philip.
+I do not know every thing; nor do I suppose
+that I can find <i>every</i> trade in the world among
+the dumb creatures which God has made.
+But you have made a bad choice of a puzzle
+this morning, my boys; for there are tailors
+among the inferior creatures, and some pretty
+nice ones, too; at any rate, they always cut
+so as to fit exactly."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Uncle Philip! You do not mean
+to say that they can cut out <i>cloth</i>, and then
+sew it up again with a needle and thread!"</p>
+
+<p>"No, boys; I do not think it is to be expected
+that they should take a pair of shears
+and cut a piece of cloth, or put a piece of
+thread through the eye of a steel needle; any
+more than we expect the insect that saws, to
+go to the cabinet-maker, and borrow his tool
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span>
+to work with. But with the instruments
+which God has given to them, they will cut
+what is cloth to them, the leaves of trees and
+flowers, and will sew them together too: and,
+now I think of it, there is one that will cut
+his garments out of our cloth."</p>
+
+<p>"Pray let us hear about them, Uncle
+Philip."</p>
+
+<p>"Softly, boys, softly. I have two things to
+say to you before I begin. In the first place, I
+am very glad to hear that you think and talk
+among yourselves about the things which I
+tell you: and in the next place, I know that
+you love <i>me</i>, and, therefore would not wish,
+by <i>puzzling</i> me, as you call it, to produce
+mortification or vexation; nor do I think that
+I should have felt either vexed or mortified
+had I not been able to find tailors among the
+lower animals; but I do not wish you to take
+pleasure in puzzling people; for it is very apt
+to produce in you a feeling of triumph, and to
+make you vain: and you must remember
+that for <i>one</i> of your questions which cannot
+be answered, a <i>thousand</i> might be put to you,
+of the answer to which you would be ignorant.
+No man, my dear boys, knows every
+thing. Wise men talk with each other, that
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span>
+they may learn from each other; and the
+wisest are not ashamed to acknowledge their
+ignorance of some things; and I believe they
+take very little pleasure in puzzling. It is
+our duty to learn all that we can, and to be
+always willing at a proper time to teach
+others what we know."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, dear Uncle Philip, for your
+advice. We did not mean to triumph over
+<i>you</i>, if you had not been able to tell us of
+tailors among the animals. But we see that
+you are right. We might get a foolish habit,
+which would do us harm."</p>
+
+<p>"Exactly what I meant, boys; and now
+let us begin. And first we will talk of the
+cutting out, as the tailor always does that before
+he sews. There is a kind of bee
+<a name="FNanchor_1" id="FNanchor_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> which,
+like some of the insects we have already
+spoken of, is furnished with a borer. With
+this she forms a round hole, like that made
+with an auger or gimlet, in a hard-trodden
+path, or sometimes in a piece of soft decayed
+wood. It is in making her nest in this hole
+that she plays the part of a tailor, for the nest
+is made of leaves, sometimes taken from the
+rose, at others from the birch, ash, or other
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span>
+trees. The little creature cuts them commonly,
+and I believe always, into two shapes.
+They are either half-oval, that is, half the
+shape of the bowl of a spoon, or round, and
+are of different sizes. Sometimes she makes
+a mistake in the size, and when she finds it
+out, she alters it. These leaves are prepared
+to line the hole which she has bored, and she
+begins with the largest pieces; taking them
+into the hole, she winds around in it, until
+she has spread very smoothly a tube of leaves
+the whole length of it; she then closes up
+one end of it by rounding it off and doubling
+the pieces of leaf one over another. In this
+case she sets about making her <i>cells</i>. She
+takes three of her half-oval pieces which have
+been cut to fit, and contrives to roll them, so
+that the edge of one piece will just lap over
+the edge of the next; these, when she has finished
+rolling them, make the hollow of the
+cell, which is not quite an inch high. She
+next turns up the ends of these pieces, which
+are cut to fit, so as to form the bottom: she
+then sets to work with three other pieces
+rolled in the same way inside of the cell just
+finished, turning up their ends as before to
+form the bottom; and within these she again
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span>
+works three others, so that her cell, when it is
+done, is of nine thicknesses of leaves. And
+you see why, though she cuts the pieces of the
+same shape, they are not all of one size: they
+are of three sizes, so as to make the cells
+within each other smaller and smaller."</p>
+
+<p>"But, Uncle Philip, you have not said any
+thing about the round pieces which she cuts;
+how does she use them?"</p>
+
+<p>"I will tell you: after she has finished one
+cell she lays an egg in it, and fills it all round
+with food nearly liquid; now as the cell is
+lying down on its side, all this liquid food
+would run out if it were not corked up, and
+the bee therefore uses her circular pieces to
+stop up the cells."</p>
+
+<p>"And does she really make these round
+pieces to fit the cell?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, boys, exactly; and they are cut too as
+regularly as if they had been first measured
+and marked with a pair of compasses. And,
+more than this, the little creature will fit one in
+in less than a minute. But the most curious
+thing is, that sometimes she will fly off to a
+distance to get this round piece, and bring
+back one which will exactly suit; so that it
+really seems as if she carried the size in her
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span>
+head. After finishing one cell she will make
+another, until she has completed as many as
+she wants; and then, as she always builds
+them one upon another, they appear like a
+parcel of thimbles stuck into each other and
+put into a case: and here is a picture of it."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_037.jpg" id="i_037.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_037.jpg"
+  alt="Rose-leaf-cutter Bees" />
+  <div class="caption">Rose-leaf-cutter Bees, and Nest lined with Rose-leaves</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>"This is very wonderful, Uncle Philip;
+and it does seem like cutting out pieces to fit."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Very true: but this is not the only cutter-out
+of leaves among the bees. There is another
+kind, called the poppy-bee,
+<a name="FNanchor_2" id="FNanchor_2"></a>
+<a href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> because it
+uses the scarlet leaves of the poppy-flower to
+line its cell. It makes its hole in the ground,
+as smooth and regular and polished as can be,
+and then proceeds to line it all around with
+pieces of the leaves, and cuts them to fit as
+she goes on. If a piece is too large she will
+trim it down to the proper size and shape, and
+always carries away the scraps. Now if you
+should take a pair of scissors and try to cut
+the leaf of a poppy-flower, you would wrinkle
+it, but this little workman will spread out what
+she cuts as smooth as glass. When she has
+lined this hole throughout, and carried the
+lining out beyond the entrance, she fills it with
+honey and <i>pollen</i>, or bee-bread, as it is called,
+about half an inch high, lays an egg, then
+folds down the leaves on it, and finally fills
+the upper part with earth."</p>
+
+<p>"Then she was not working for herself?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; she was providing a house for her
+young, and God has taught her thus to take
+care of it.</p>
+
+<p>"I will now tell you of another little workman,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span>
+which I have heard called the cloak-maker,
+because it makes for itself a mantle
+which really appears very much like a cloak;
+and, stranger still, this cloak is lined throughout
+with silk."</p>
+
+<p>"Can it be possible, Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"Listen, and you shall hear. These mantle-looking
+cases are made by the <i>larva</i>, as it
+is called, or grub of a little moth which forms
+a covering of pure silk; this silk it spins
+from itself; it is not woven so as to appear
+like our silk, but still it is real silk, and
+is worked into a great many thin scales,
+which lap over one another like the scales
+of a fish. But this is only the lining of
+the cloak. This little tailor is the field-moth,
+which first eats what it wants from a green
+leaf, and then, from the thin membranes left,
+sets about making its mantle: and it makes
+it of two pieces cut out and joined together
+with a seam, just as a tailor would make it."</p>
+
+<p>"How does it go to work, Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, I will give you the account as it
+was given by a gentleman<a name="FNanchor_3" id="FNanchor_3"></a>
+<a href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> who was very fond
+of observing insects, and who watched one of
+these little creatures. He says that from the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span>
+thin membrane of the leaf it first cut two
+pieces just equal in size and of exactly the
+same shape; each of these pieces was to form
+one-half of the cloak, and this he says was
+done wonderfully fast. He noticed, too, that
+one end of each piece, that which was meant
+for the bottom of the cloak, was just twice as
+long as the other end, which was the top.
+The insect then placed itself between the two
+pieces while they were lying flat; it afterward
+brought the two sides where the seam was to
+be, together, and fastened them at certain
+places, still leaving, however, considerable
+spaces open. It then began to turn and twist
+its body about in all directions, until it
+moulded the pieces into a hollow form to fit.
+When it found that it would fit its body, it
+brought the edges of the seam close together
+through the whole length, and contrived to
+sew or fasten them so neatly together, that
+when the gentleman looked, even with a magnifying-glass,
+he said he could hardly find the
+seam. The whole was lined with the silk
+spun from itself, and was finished in about
+twelve hours."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, this little workman is the strangest
+of all: but, Uncle Philip, you said there was
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span>
+one of these animal tailors that cut his garment
+out of <i>cloth</i>: pray tell us of him."</p>
+
+<p>"When I said that, boys, I was thinking of
+the clothes-moth.<a name="FNanchor_4" id="FNanchor_4"></a>
+<a href="#Footnote_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> They make their coats
+of wool commonly taken from our cloth, and
+silk drawn from their own mouths; and the
+strangest thing concerning them is, that when
+they outgrow their clothes they will piece
+them to make them larger. Suppose the insect
+wants it longer, it adds a new ring of
+wool to the end: suppose it wants it wider, it
+slits the case or garment, not from one end to
+the other, for this would leave it naked, but it
+splits it half-way down the sides, and when it
+has filled it in with proper pieces, it splits the
+remaining half, and puts other pieces in them.
+There is another curious thing about this
+tailor: it always makes its coat of the same
+colour with the cloth from which it takes the
+wool; so that if it has first made its garment
+of a piece of blue cloth, and is placed on a
+bit of red cloth when it wishes to enlarge it,
+you will see its work exactly, for the pieces
+which it puts in will be red. This is the little
+fellow, boys, which does so much mischief to
+our clothes."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Well, Uncle Philip, one can almost forgive
+his mischief for the sake of his ingenuity.
+But you have said nothing yet about <i>needles</i>;
+how do these little creatures sew?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, they have what serves as a needle
+to them: but I can tell you of another animal
+which sews with a needle a great deal plainer
+to be seen than that of these little insects."</p>
+
+<p>"Pray let us hear of him, Uncle Philip."</p>
+
+<p>"I must go among the birds to find this
+workman. There is a kind of starling, called
+the orchard starling,<a name="FNanchor_5" id="FNanchor_5"></a>
+<a href="#Footnote_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> about which, Mr. Wilson,
+a gentleman who has written a great deal concerning
+the birds of our country, gives a very
+curious account. He says that this bird commonly
+hangs its nest from the twigs of an apple-tree,
+and makes it in a very singular manner.
+The outside is made of a particular kind
+of long tough grass, that will bend without
+breaking, and this grass is knit or sewed
+through and through in a thousand directions,
+just as if done with a needle. The little
+creature does it with its feet and bill. Mr.
+Wilson says that he one day showed one of
+these nests to an old lady, and she was so
+much struck with the work that she asked
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span>
+him, half in earnest, if he did not think that
+these birds could be taught to <i>darn stockings</i>?
+Mr. Wilson took the pains too to draw out one
+of these grass threads, and found that it measured
+thirteen inches, and in that distance the
+bird who used it had passed it in and out
+thirty-four times."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, this was sewing, sure enough."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; and I saw, when I was in the West
+Indies, another kind of starling <a name="FNanchor_6" id="FNanchor_6"></a>
+<a href="#Footnote_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> which will
+cut leaves into a shape like the quarter of an
+orange-rind, and sew the whole very neatly to
+the under side of a banana-leaf, so as to
+make one side of the nest. But, boys, there
+is another most beautiful little bird, which is
+called the tailor-bird, because it sews so well.<a name="FNanchor_7" id="FNanchor_7"></a>
+<a href="#Footnote_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a>
+It first picks out a plant with large leaves, then
+it gathers cotton from the shrub, and with the
+help of its fine long bill and slender little feet
+it spins this cotton into a thread, and then
+using its bill for a needle, it will sew these
+large leaves together to hide its nest, and sew
+them very neatly, too."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, dear Uncle Philip, this is the most
+wonderful tailor of them all."</p>
+
+<p>"He is, indeed: but, my children, what do
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span>
+we learn from all that I have been telling you?
+Who made these little creatures with such
+curious skill, and taught them to work so
+well? It was the same God who made us;
+for such wonderful things never came from
+what people call <i>chance</i>. Chance, boys, never
+made any thing: and how very wise he must
+be to form such nice little workmen; and how
+very good thus to teach them how to take care
+of themselves. The Bible says, truly, that
+'<i>his tender mercies are over all his works</i>.'
+And I think, boys, we may learn another
+thing: it is, not to be so very proud of what
+we know; for I rather suppose that we shall
+often find that the lower creatures around us
+understood many of our trades long before we
+found them out."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Uncle Philip, it is likely that these
+little fellows you have been telling us of this
+morning were the first tailors in the world."</p>
+
+<p>"Very likely, very likely indeed, boys.
+But now I must bid you good morning; for
+here comes our good clergyman, and I am
+going with him to see a poor sick woman."</p>
+
+<p>"Good morning, Uncle Philip; we will
+come again on Saturday."</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+  <a name="Footnote_1" id="Footnote_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1">
+    <span class="label">[1]</span></a> Megachile centuncularis.
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+  <a name="Footnote_2" id="Footnote_2"></a>
+    <a href="#FNanchor_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Osmia papaveris.
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+  <a name="Footnote_3" id="Footnote_3"></a>
+    <a href="#FNanchor_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Reaumur.
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<a name="Footnote_4" id="Footnote_4"></a>
+  <a href="#FNanchor_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> Tinea sarcitella.
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+  <a name="Footnote_5" id="Footnote_5"></a>
+    <a href="#FNanchor_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> Icterus mutatus.
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+  <a name="Footnote_6" id="Footnote_6"></a>
+    <a href="#FNanchor_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> Icterus bonana.
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+  <a name="Footnote_7" id="Footnote_7"></a>
+    <a href="#FNanchor_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> Sylvia sutoria.
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h2><a name="CONVERSATION_IV" id="CONVERSATION_IV"></a>CONVERSATION IV.</h2>
+
+<div class="chapsum"><i>Uncle Philip tells the Children about the first
+Paper in the World, made by Wasps.</i></div>
+
+
+<p>"Ah, boys! how do you do? This is Saturday,
+and I have been expecting to see you
+come for some time."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Uncle Philip, we should have been
+here sooner, but we went round by the old
+mill; because we thought that perhaps we
+might find in some of the old timbers, holes
+bored by some of those industrious little carpenters
+you told us about."</p>
+
+<p>"Well; and did you find any?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; but we found something else, which
+we have brought to show you: and we have
+been talking about it all the way. We have
+not discovered any new <i>tools</i> among the animals,
+but we think we have found out a <i>trade</i>
+that some of them work at; and we wish you
+to tell us if we are right."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, that I will do, with pleasure, if I can.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span>
+What is the trade that you think you have
+discovered?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is paper-making, Uncle Philip. We
+have found this part of a wasp's nest, which
+we have brought along; and as you told us
+it was always best to notice every thing
+closely, we examined this, and it appeared so
+much like coarse paper that we thought (for
+we knew it was made by wasps) that man did
+not make the first paper in the world."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, boys, that was not a bad thought.
+Now you see the advantage of taking notice
+of things, and of thinking about what you
+see. You are perfectly right in supposing
+that wasps make paper; and, if you please, we
+will talk this morning about the wasps."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, yes, by all means, Uncle Philip;
+and we will thank you, too."</p>
+
+<p>"I must first tell you, then, that of the
+wasps there are several kinds. Some build
+their nests under ground, and some hang
+theirs in the air to the limb of a tree. This
+part of a nest which you have found belonged
+to the last kind; but I will tell you
+something about both. But before I begin let
+me get some drawings I have, which will help
+us to understand better. I have them. And
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span>
+now, of the wasps which build under ground.
+As soon as the warm season begins, the first
+care of the mother-wasp is to look for a fit
+place in which to build; and in the spring of
+the year she may very often be seen flying
+about a hole in the bank of a ditch, and looking
+into it. These holes which she examines
+are the old houses of field-mice or moles, and
+some persons have thought, what I expect is
+true, that she likes to take such old holes, because
+they save her a great deal of hard work.
+But still, as the holes are not large enough for
+her use, she has a great deal of labour to
+make them do. So she goes at once to work,
+digging in the hole she has chosen, and
+makes a winding, zigzag gallery, about two
+feet long, and about an inch in width. She
+digs out the earth, and carries it out, or
+pushes it out behind her as she goes on.
+This gallery ends in a large chamber or hole
+from one to two feet across when it is done:
+and now she is ready to begin her nest."</p>
+
+<p>"Now then, Uncle Philip, she will begin to
+make paper, will she not?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; but here I ought to tell you that it
+was a long time before men found out what
+she made it of. Do you remember my telling
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span>
+you of a gentleman who watched the
+little cloak-maker to see how he made his
+garment? Well, this gentleman, whose name
+was Reaumur, was trying for twenty years,
+he says, to find out how the wasp made
+paper, before he succeeded. At last, one day,
+he saw a female wasp alight on the sash of
+his window and begin to gnaw the wood; he
+watched her, and saw that she pulled off from
+the wood fibre after fibre, about the tenth part
+of an inch long, and not so large as a hair.
+She gathered these up into a knot with her
+feet, and then flew to another part of the sash,
+and went to work, stripping off more fibres or
+threads, and putting them to the bundle she
+had already. At last he caught her, to examine
+the bundle, and found that its colour
+was exactly like that of a wasp's nest; but
+the little ball was dry; she had not yet
+wetted it to make a pulp of it which could
+be spread out. He noticed another thing,
+that this bundle was not at all like wood
+gnawed by other insects; it was not sawdust,
+but threads of some little length bruised into
+lint. He then set to work himself with his
+penknife, and very soon scraped and bruised
+some of the wood of the same window-sash,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span>
+so as to make a little ball exactly like the
+wasp's. Mr. Reaumur thought that this was
+the stuff out of which the wasp made paper, and
+it has since been found out that he was right.
+The animal wets its little bundle of bruised
+wooden fibres or threads with a kind of glue
+that it has, and this makes it stick together
+like pulp or paste; and while it is soft, the
+wasp walks backwards, and spreads it out
+with her feet and her tongue, until she has
+made it almost as thin as the thinnest paper.
+With this she lines the top of the hole in
+which she is going to build her nest, for she
+always begins at the top. But this is so thin
+that it would be too weak to keep the dirt
+from falling in; and therefore she goes on
+spreading her papers one upon the other
+until she has made the wall nearly two inches
+thick. These pieces are not laid exactly flat
+on each other like two pieces of pasteboard,
+but with little open spaces between, being
+joined at the edges only. This is the ceiling;
+and when it is finished she begins to build
+what may be called the highest floor of the
+nest; this she makes of the same paper in a
+great number of little cells all joined together
+at the sides; and instead of fastening this
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>
+floor to the sides of the nest, she hangs it to
+the ceiling by rods made also out of this
+paper: these rods are small in the middle,
+and grow larger towards the ends, so as to be
+stronger. Here is a drawing of one.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_050.jpg" id="i_050.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_050.jpg"
+  alt="Rods from which the Floors are suspended" />
+  <div class="caption">The Cut represents one of the Rods from which
+     the Floors are suspended.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>She then makes a second floor, and hangs
+it under the first by rods as before; and the
+whole of it, when finished, if it should be cut
+straight through the middle, would appear
+something like the following picture of one
+which I made some years ago."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_051.jpg" id="i_051.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_051.jpg"
+  alt="Section of Social-Wasp's Nest" />
+  <div class="caption"><i>Section of the Social-Wasp's Nest.</i>&mdash;<i>aa</i>,
+    the outer wall; <i>b</i>, <i>cc</i>, five small terraces of cells for the
+	neuter wasps; <i>dd</i>, <i>ee</i>, three rows of large cells for the males
+	and females.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>"This is a very ingenious little paper-maker.
+Uncle Philip."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, boys, it is so. This of which I
+have been telling you is the ground-wasp.
+The tree-wasp makes its nest of paper prepared
+in the same way; and the nests are
+of different shapes. One makes it in a round
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span>
+flattened ball, not much larger than a rose,
+and when cut open it shows layer upon layer
+of leaves of the same thin grayish-looking
+paper. This kind is not so common, however.
+Here is one of their nests.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_052.jpg" id="i_052.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_052.jpg"
+  alt="Wasp's Nest" />
+  <div class="caption">Wasp's Nest.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>"Another makes its nest of cells placed in
+separate floors, but without any outer wall to
+keep off the rain; and the most curious thing
+in this nest is, that it is not placed in a horizontal
+way; that is, it is not placed with the
+floors level, because then the cells would catch
+the rain, and the nest would be spoiled; but
+it is always placed slanting, so that the rain
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span>
+may run off. It is always placed, too, so as
+to face the north or the west, and I suppose it
+is because the wasp knows that it is in more
+danger of rain from the south and the east.
+Here is a nest of this kind."</p>
+
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_053.jpg" id="i_053.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_053.jpg"
+  alt="Wasp's cells" />
+  <div class="caption">Wasp's Cells attached to a branch.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>"Ah, Uncle Philip! this must be a kind
+of lazy wasp. It does not choose to take the
+trouble to cover up the house, and so it hangs
+it slanting, to make the rain run off."</p>
+
+<p>"It may be so, boys; but I think that in
+making this wasp lazy, you make it a very
+sensible wasp; else how should it know that
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span>
+water would run down a slanting surface?
+But I cannot believe that it is so lazy; for,
+though it does not cover up the whole house
+in a paper shell, yet it does what no other
+wasp does, it covers its nest with a complete
+coat of shining, water-proof varnish, to prevent
+the rain from soaking into the cells.
+And putting on this varnish, I can tell
+you, is no trifling work. It forms a pretty
+large part of the labour of the whole swarm
+belonging to the nest; and sometimes you
+may see some of them at work for hours at a
+time, spreading it on with their tongues. No,
+my lads, he who wants an example of laziness,
+will not find it among the wasps.</p>
+
+<p>"But let us come back to the paper. Hornets
+make paper for their nests much in the
+same manner as the wasps do, only it is
+coarser. There is, however, one kind of wasp
+which makes a sort of paper more curious
+than this which you have found. It is not a
+wasp found in this country at all. It is the
+Cayenne wasp, and so smooth, strong, and
+white is the outside of his nest that it appears
+like a card, and he is for that reason sometimes
+called the card-maker wasp. He hangs
+his nest on the branch of a tree, and it is so
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span>
+hard and polished on the outside that the rain
+rolls off from it, as if it were glass. A little hole
+in the lower end is left for the animal to pass
+in and out; and in this picture of it, which I
+have, a piece is left out of the side to show
+how the cells within are fixed."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_055.jpg" id="i_055.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_055.jpg"
+  alt="Nest of the Card-maker Wasp" />
+  <div class="caption">Nest of the Card-maker Wasp, with part removed to show the
+    arrangement of the Cells.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>"Well, then, Uncle Philip, we were right in
+thinking that wasps were the first paper-makers;
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span>
+and very glad we are that we saw
+this old piece of a wasp's nest. Who would
+have thought that so much could be learned
+by picking up this old scrap of a wasp's
+work!"</p>
+
+<p>"Very good sense, boys, in that thought.
+A wise man will learn something from almost
+any thing. Use your eyes, and think of what
+you see. Now in this very trade of paper-making.
+I think that man would have found
+it out a great deal sooner if he had watched
+the wasps at their work. They have been
+excellent workmen at this business from the beginning;
+and man has gone on learning little
+by little of this very trade, as I will tell you at
+some other time, when he might have made a
+long step at once, had he but noticed wasps
+and hornets. We go on very slowly sometimes
+in learning to make a trade as perfect
+as it can be: the poor animal, with its knowledge
+such as God gave it, is often our superior.
+These dumb creatures cannot teach us
+every thing; there is a point to which they
+can go, and no further: but as far as they do
+know, their knowledge is perfect; and I make
+no doubt that a great many useful things not
+now known will hereafter be found out by
+watching dumb animals."</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CONVERSATION_V" id="CONVERSATION_V"></a>CONVERSATION V.</h2>
+
+<div class="chapsum"><i>Uncle Philip tells the Children a Story about
+Tom Smith; and of Bees with Brushes
+and Baskets, and of a Bird with a Chisel,
+and a Gnat with a Lancet.</i></div>
+
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">Uncle Philip</span>, as the day is fine, instead
+of sitting here, will you walk with us, this
+morning?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, boys; let me get my cane and hat,
+and we will take a ramble; perhaps we may
+see something, if we will use our eyes.
+Where do you wish to go?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, we do not care much, if you are with
+us, which way we walk; any course will be
+pleasant."</p>
+
+<p>"Come on, then; we will cross the river,
+and go down on the other side beyond the old
+mill, where you found the wasp's paper. And
+now, such of you as will, may keep a look-out
+for curious things, while the rest of us will
+talk together.&mdash;Boys, do any of you know
+Tom Smith?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span>
+"Know him! Why, Uncle Philip, everybody
+in this part of the country knows him;
+he is such a shocking drunkard, and swears
+so horribly, that nobody can forget him; and
+what makes it worse, he is an old man, too.
+His hair is almost as white as yours, Uncle
+Philip."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; he is just about my age. We were
+both born here, and I have known him ever
+since we were boys; and when we played together
+as children, over this very field which
+we are now crossing, or caught fish in the
+river down yonder by the rocks, there was not
+a more decent, well-behaved, handsome boy
+among us than was Tom Smith. Poor Tom
+lost his father when he was about twelve years
+old, and his mother, having no other child,
+indulged him, until he was sent to the city to
+go into a store. But Tom then, boys, had
+good principles; he neither swore nor got
+drunk. In a little time he fell into bad company,
+and they led him astray by degrees.
+He was so good-natured (as they call it), boys,
+that he had never the firmness to say <i>no</i> to
+the proposals of his companions. He went
+with them to places of amusement; and instead
+of spending his evenings in his own
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span>
+room, reading, he was at the theatre, or dancing
+in some place, or at a supper with his young
+companions; and finally he began to play
+cards and billiards with them; while the inside
+of the church was a place which he never
+saw. He was cheated by his companions;
+and too honest he was then not to pay what
+he lost by gaming: he wrote to his poor
+mother, and told her the truth, as to his losses,
+and she sent him money to pay his debts, and
+told him to come home. He did come home;
+and even after all that had happened, poor
+Tom might have been respectable and happy;
+for his friends were all willing to forget the
+past, and encourage him for the future. For
+a time he went on pretty well, and married
+an affectionate and good young woman, and
+his prospects were bright enough: but one
+thing, boys&mdash;one single thing, ruined his comfort
+for ever. In the city he had learned <i>to drink
+strong liquors</i>.</p>
+
+<p>"I remember, too, soon after he came
+home and married, that a man was hung
+not far from here for murdering his wife.
+The man was a drunkard, though he was
+quite sober when he killed the poor woman;
+and drunkenness had hardened his heart.
+I have no doubt, as it will the heart of
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span>
+any man. Tom was talking to me about that
+man, and I remember he said then that when
+a man <i>began</i> to drink, he could never say
+where it would end, nor what he would do:
+'therefore,' said Tom, 'beware of the <i>first</i>
+drink.' But Tom, though he talked like a
+Christian and a man about it, did not act like
+one: for it was not long before he began to follow
+his bad habit, and he soon killed his poor
+mother; for she died of grief and sorrow, I think.
+His excellent wife speedily followed her to the
+grave; and Tom Smith left the village, a
+perfect vagabond, whom no one cared for.
+Where he went, or what he did for a long
+time, no person here knows. I went to other
+countries, and neither heard of nor saw Tom
+Smith until my return home, when I found
+him wandering about here, a gray-headed
+swearer and drunkard. He did not know me,
+and I never should have known him, had not
+some one told me who he was. And last night
+I received a letter from one of my nephews
+in the city, which informed me that Tom
+Smith had been tried in the court, and found
+guilty of stealing, and was sent to the state
+prison for ten years to hard work. There I
+suppose he will die for he is now old; and it
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span>
+is awful to think of what is then to become
+of his soul. Ah, my dear boys! I could not
+help thinking, when I read my letter, of what
+that man said to me years ago&mdash;and I have
+told you his story, hoping that you will remember
+his words, 'Beware of the <i>first</i> drink.'
+The man who does that will never be a
+drunkard. And when old Uncle Philip is
+laid in the grave, boys, which must be before
+many years, remember, as you look upon the
+place, that he told you the story of Tom
+Smith, and charged you to 'beware of the <i>first</i>
+drink.'</p>
+
+<p>"But here come some of the boys, running
+towards us; I suppose they have found something."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Uncle Philip! Uncle Philip! Do
+come with the boys this way. Under that
+fence yonder there are a great many beautiful
+wild flowers, and a number of bees are as
+busy as they can be about them; pray come
+and see them."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I will; but not so fast, boys; you
+forget that I am an old man, and cannot run
+as you do.&mdash;So, here are, indeed, a great many
+industrious little workmen."</p>
+
+<p>"What are they doing, Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"These are <i>workers</i> among the bees, and
+they are gathering the dust out of the flowers,
+to work it up into what is commonly called
+bee-bread. More tools here, boys!"</p>
+
+<p>"Tools, Uncle Philip! Ah, we like that:
+pray let us hear of them; what are they?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, there is a brush and a basket in the
+legs of these little fellows; but they are so
+small that you cannot see them without a
+microscope."</p>
+
+<p>"What is a microscope?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is an instrument, made by fixing glasses
+in such a way to look through, that small
+things will seem to be very large. Do you
+not see how some of these little fellows are
+rolling themselves over in the inside of the
+flowers, so that the yellow dust is sticking to
+them? Now their breasts, and legs, and
+many other parts of their bodies are covered
+with very short hairs, which catch the dust.
+The last joint but one of each leg is made
+exactly like a brush, the hairs being longer
+there than on any other part; and with these
+they brush off the dust, and get it into two
+little heaps. The bags into which they put it,
+or rather the baskets, are in the thighs of the
+last pair of legs. These are hollow, so as to
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span>
+form a three-sided basket. The bottom of it
+is smooth and shining, and appears like horn,
+and all around the edges are placed very
+strong, thick-set hairs, like bristles."</p>
+
+<p>"What are these for?"</p>
+
+<p>"To keep things from falling out of the
+basket; and these bristles are so strong that
+even if they heap up more than the basket
+will hold, the bristles will keep it from falling.
+Here is a drawing of these legs.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_063.jpg" id="i_063.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_063.jpg"
+  alt="Structure of the legs of the Bee for carrying propolis and pollen" />
+  <div class="caption">Structure of the legs of the Bee for carrying propolis
+    and pollen, magnified.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>Besides carrying this dust, they also carry
+what is called <i>propolis</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"What is propolis, Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is a gum which is found upon some
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span>
+trees. This they work up into little balls,
+and knead it until it is a little dry, so as not
+to stick. This takes the bee sometimes as
+much as half an hour. When the balls are
+ready, she passes them backwards with her
+feet to the basket, puts them in, and gives
+them a pat or two to make them lie close;
+and when she adds more, she pats it still
+harder, and when the basket is full, away she
+goes to the hive. But there is another curious
+instrument about the bee. I mean its
+sting: this is like the head of a barbed or
+bearded arrow. There is a sheath for it when
+the bee does not wish to use it; and here is a
+picture of it.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_064.jpg" id="i_064.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_064.jpg"
+  alt="sting of a Bee" />
+  <div class="caption"><i>a</i>, The sting of a Bee, magnified to show the barbed
+    darts; <i>b</i>, the last ring of the abdomen of a Bee opened, showing the
+	sting in its sheath.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>But let us now continue our walk."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Uncle Philip, it is really very pleasant
+to walk with you: it seems as if you met
+nothing which could not teach us things
+worth knowing."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Why, my dear boys, there are, as I told
+you once before, a great many things which I
+do not know; and what I do know I am very
+willing to tell you. But you may learn just
+as I did,&mdash;by reading, by taking notice of
+things around you, and by thinking for yourselves.
+And I do not know any thing more
+pleasant to notice than the works of God. I
+see his wisdom and his goodness in every
+thing which he has made. I see them in the
+insects, and the birds, and the larger animals;
+I see them in the grass, and the flowers, and
+the trees; and I see them in the rocks and
+the stones upon the ground. All these things
+are well worth our attention, boys; the study of
+all these things around us is called the study
+of 'Natural History;' and I think it is apt to
+make him who loves it a better man; at any
+rate, I believe that there have been very few
+who have been fond of it, who have not been
+amiable and benevolent men. But, hark! Do
+you hear that noise?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Uncle Philip; it is the sound of men
+chopping wood in that clump of trees."</p>
+
+<p>"No, boys; it is like the sound of a wood-cutter;
+and it is a wood-cutter, but he does
+not use one of our hatchets."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"What is it that he uses, then?"</p>
+
+<p>"He uses the tool which God gave him.
+It is a bird, boys, which you hear: it is the
+woodpecker. See, there it is on yonder tree,
+and look, at the foot of it, there is something
+like a bushel of the bird's chips or dust.
+Its bill is a complete chisel; it is straight,
+hard, and sharp, with edges too upon the
+sides. It is not a very broad chisel, but still it
+is one, and used as we use ours. But the
+chisel is not the only instrument of that
+workman. Its tongue is worth examining.
+It bores a hole into a tree that is dead or decaying,
+to look for insects whose nests are in
+the tree; and when it reaches the cell where
+the young insect is, it uses its tongue to get
+it out, and it suits exactly for the business.
+In the first place, it is so long that the bird
+can shoot it out three or four inches longer
+than the bill is; in the next place the end of
+it is tipped with a stiff, sharp, long thorn;
+and in the last place, that thorn has little
+teeth on both sides of it, like that which you
+see on the point of a fish-hook: these teeth
+are to keep the insect from falling off when
+it puts its tongue in the hole and sticks its
+sharp point into it to draw it out for food. So
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span>
+that besides the chisel, the woodpecker has a
+spear, or lance, or arrow, barbed (as it is
+called) or bearded at the point.</p>
+
+<p>"But we are some distance, boys, beyond
+the old mill: suppose we now turn back towards
+home; I find the gnats rather troublesome."</p>
+
+<p>"So do we, Uncle Philip; they have been
+biting us for some time: it would be well if
+there were no such tormenting things in the
+world."</p>
+
+<p>"I am not sure of that, boys. We may not
+always be able to find out the exact use of
+some of these little animals; but that only
+shows that we are ignorant, not that they are
+of no use. God would never have made them
+if he had not some wise purpose in doing so:
+I do not believe he ever wastes his power in
+making useless things. But what will you
+say about gnats, when I tell you that they have
+a tool to work with, and a very perfect one,
+too?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, we will almost forgive them for
+biting us."</p>
+
+<p>"Biting you! They have not been biting
+with teeth: they are doctors, boys; they have
+only been bleeding you, and cupping you."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"And what have they been bleeding us
+with?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, with a lancet, to be sure; what
+should a doctor use but a lancet to let blood?"</p>
+
+<p>"And has the gnat really a lancet?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, it has: this instrument forms a part
+of what you may call the tongue of the gnat:
+it is made up of five pieces, which are shut up
+in a case, split from one end to the other;
+these give steadiness to the lancet when it is
+used. But the reason of the pain is not so
+much the wound of the lancet, as it is the
+fluid or poisonous juice which the gnat puts
+into the wound to make the blood thin enough
+for the insect to suck it up through a tube or
+case, which makes part of its mouth. Here
+is a drawing of part of a gnat's mouth.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_068.jpg" id="i_068.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_068.jpg"
+  alt="Part of a gnat's mouth" />
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>And here is a picture of the lancet or knife
+of a horse-fly.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_069.jpg" id="i_069.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_069.jpg"
+  alt="Lancet of a horse-fly" />
+</div>
+
+<p>"We have now reached the bridge,&mdash;and
+here we must part; your homes are in one
+direction, and mine is in the opposite. I hope,
+however, that you have learned something in
+our morning's walk."</p>
+
+<p>"We have, Uncle Philip, and we thank you
+much, and bid you, good day."</p>
+
+<p>"Good day, boys."</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="CONVERSATION_VI" id="CONVERSATION_VI"></a>CONVERSATION VI.</h2>
+
+<div class="chapsum"><i>Uncle Philip tells the Children about Animals
+that can do Mason's Work.</i></div>
+
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">Uncle Philip</span>, we saw a very strange
+thing just now; as we were coming, we saw a
+great many bees flying by us, and each one
+was carrying a little stone."</p>
+
+<p>"That was strange, indeed. Did you find
+out any thing about them?"</p>
+
+<p>"We asked a man who was near what they
+did it for, and he said that they carried the
+stones to prevent the wind, which is blowing
+pretty fresh, from tossing them about too
+much."</p>
+
+<p>"That is a very silly story, boys, though it
+is a very old one: for I have seen them carrying
+what you call stones when it was quite
+calm, and there was no wind to blow them
+away. The man was very ignorant, or he
+would have told you another story, which
+would have been both strange and true."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Will you have the goodness, Uncle Philip,
+to tell us what it meant?"</p>
+
+<p>"Very willingly, boys. What you saw I
+presume were bees. You remember that I
+told you there were several kinds of bees;
+and this one is called the mason-bee. This
+kind builds his nest of mortar, and was therefore
+called the mason-bee by Mr. Reaumur
+first, I believe."</p>
+
+<p>"Where does it get the mortar, Uncle
+Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"It makes it, boys. This kind of bee may
+be seen flying about, picking up sand, grain
+by grain, putting it into a heap, gluing them
+together with a sort of gum out of her own
+mouth, and building with them a foundation
+for her house. This little workman commonly
+builds against the side of a wall between two
+bricks where the mortar has fallen out; and
+if you should see one of the nests, it appears
+exactly like a lump of dry mud which has
+been thrown wet upon the wall out of a cart-rut:
+but when you examine it closely, you
+may see a great many small stones in it, more
+than is common in mud: a hundred people,
+though, might pass by it, and never think it
+was any thing more than a lump of dirt, which
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span>
+had been thrown upon the wall when it was
+wet, and had afterward dried there. Here is
+a picture of one of these nests.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_072a.jpg" id="i_072a.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_072a.jpg"
+  alt="Exterior wall of Mason-bee's Nest" />
+  <div class="caption">Exterior wall of Mason-bee's Nest.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>You see there is a small hole in it; this leads
+to a cell inside about an inch deep, and shaped
+exactly like a lady's thimble; the inside of
+this cell is polished smooth, and appears like
+a wall of plaster, except that it has little yellow
+stains upon it. Here is the bee that
+makes it.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_072b.jpg" id="i_072b.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_072b.jpg"
+  alt="Mason-bee" />
+  <div class="caption">Mason-bee.&mdash;Natural size.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>In making this mortar to build with, the bee
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span>
+will sometimes add earth that is soft to its
+grains of sand, and when the lump is about
+the size of a small shot, it takes it up and flies
+away with it, to work it into the wall."</p>
+
+<p>"Does it always use sand, Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not always: sometimes it takes wet clay,
+and will dig into a bank of clay baked hard
+by the sun on the outside, so as to get that
+which is wet.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Rennie, a gentleman in England who
+is very fond of watching insects, and has found
+out a great many curious things about them,
+has given an account of some of these bees
+which he noticed at work. Every one was
+carrying out of a hole in the clay-bank a small
+lump of clay; and on catching one of them, he
+found that this lump was wetter than the clay
+in the hole, so that the bee had moistened it,
+and worked it together, to make it stick like
+good mortar. These lumps too were larger
+than a shot; they were as large as a garden-pea."</p>
+
+<p>"How long did it take them to work up the
+lump?"</p>
+
+<p>"About half a minute, Mr. Rennie says.
+He watched one of these little creatures, and
+found that she was building on the inside
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span>
+wall of a coal-house, where the bricks and
+mortar were left rough: she was at work between
+two of the bricks where the mortar
+had fallen out, or where the bee had taken it
+out. And the conduct of the bee at her house
+was very different from what it was at the
+clay-bank. She was not frightened, but went
+on working when any one came near the
+clay-bank; but at her house she seemed afraid
+that it should be found out where it was.
+She would alight first on the roof outside, as
+if she merely wished to rest herself; and
+when she flew into the coal-house she would
+not go directly to her nest, but would settle
+on a shelf, and sometimes pretend to be
+examining a great many places in the wall
+between different bricks; and at last, when
+she supposed there was no risk, or when there
+was nothing to alarm her, she would fly to
+her nest, and go to work with all her might
+in fixing her piece of clay to the wall."</p>
+
+<p>"Why did she wish her house not to be
+found out, Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Rennie supposed it was her instinct:
+she had seen probably some of the insects
+which would destroy her young, watching her
+to see where she was building; and sometimes
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span>
+after flying nearly to her nest with a load, she
+would turn back and fly towards the clay-bank,
+or take a large sweep off in another
+direction, and so come to her house.</p>
+
+<p>"Besides the mason-bee, boys, there is the
+mason-wasp, which I have heard some persons
+call the <i>dirt-dauber</i>: it is very common,
+especially in the southern part of the United
+States. It works very much like the mason-bee,
+only it is apt to fix its nest under the
+eaves of old houses, which I think the mason-bee
+never does.</p>
+
+<p>"There is also another kind of mason-wasp
+which will actually break a hard brick. Mr.
+Rennie says that he saw one at work on a
+brick of a hard yellow kind. Whether the
+wasp found a hole in the brick to begin with,
+he did not know; but if he did he was hard
+at work making it larger: he would break
+off a piece as large as a mustard-seed at a
+time. Here is a drawing of that kind of
+wasp; and the insect is no larger than the
+picture.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_075.jpg" id="i_075.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_075.jpg"
+  alt="Mason-wasp" />
+  <div class="caption">Mason-wasp.&mdash;Natural size.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>It seems wonderful that so small an insect
+should have so much strength. Here is a
+picture of its jaws, seen through a microscope,
+so as to appear a great deal larger than they
+really are.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_076.jpg" id="i_076.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_076.jpg"
+  alt="Jaws of Mason-wasp" />
+  <div class="caption">Jaws of Mason-wasp.&mdash;Greatly magnified.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>"I do not know, boys, that the masons we
+have been talking of, show us any <i>tools</i> like
+those with which men who are masons work;
+but they show us, at any rate, how to make
+mortar by kneading or working it together;
+and they certainly show us that we were not
+the first who built walls. But there is another
+kind of mason who works in stone.
+He picks out the stones which are of proper
+size, and he fastens them together with mortar
+really as men do."</p>
+
+<p>"Pray tell us of him, Uncle Philip."</p>
+
+<p>"I will. The insect I mean is the caddis-worm,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span>
+which is to be found sometimes in
+ponds, and very often in springs of fresh
+water. There are several sorts of them, but
+the one I am thinking of now, builds a stone
+house to live in. These worms are in the
+habit of making a little tube, sometimes of
+sand, or shell, or wood, or leaves, or stones,
+to live in; and their skill consists in joining
+these perfectly, and making them stick together.
+But we are talking now of the caddis-worm
+that uses stone. What the worm has
+to do is to make a tube out of small stones,
+that shall have a hollow about as large as a
+wheat straw, and be perfectly smooth inside.
+This is a pretty hard task&mdash;at least it would
+be very hard to us. When the stone-mason
+wishes a stone of a particular size or shape,
+and cannot find it, he takes his hammer and
+breaks one until it will suit; but the caddis-worm
+has no hammer, and must take the
+stones just as it finds them. The little insect
+then has to pick out a great many stones
+before he gets the right one, because they
+have so many little rough points about them
+that it is very difficult to get those which will
+make the tube perfectly smooth inside. Remember,
+too, that the bottom or lower side of
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span>
+this stone case has to be pretty nearly smooth,
+so that the worm can drag it along on the bottom
+of the spring or pond (for it never comes
+out of it), and you will see that the picking out
+of the stones alone is no trifle. But besides
+this, it has to fasten them together with mortar."</p>
+
+<p>"And can the worm really do this, Uncle
+Philip? Will not the water wash the mortar
+all away?"</p>
+
+<p>"It certainly would if it were like common
+mortar. It was a long time that men lived
+before they found out a mortar that would remain,
+and grow hard under water. When
+they want to build a wall that is to be under
+the water, they use a cement which is called
+pozzolana; it is made of lava out of a volcano,
+and is water-proof. Our caddis-worm
+has a cement too, which is better than pozzolana,
+and though it has been tried, it cannot
+be melted or dissolved in water. Here is a
+drawing of the stone nest of a caddis-worm."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_078.jpg" id="i_078.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_078.jpg"
+  alt="Stone Nest of Caddis-worm" />
+  <div class="caption">Stone Nest of Caddis-worm.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>"Uncle Philip, you said that sometimes
+these worms built their nests of other things
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span>
+besides stones; let us hear something of them,
+if you please."</p>
+
+<p>"Very willingly, boys. Some build of
+shells: here are pictures of their nests.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_079a.jpg" id="i_079a.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_079a.jpg"
+  alt="Shell Nests of Caddis-worms" />
+  <div class="caption">Shell Nests of Caddis-worms.</div>
+</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_079b.jpg" id="i_079b.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_079b.jpg"
+  alt="Reed Nest of Caddis-worm" />
+  <div class="caption">Reed Nest of Caddis-worm.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>Some build of leaves, and others of pieces of
+reed or light bark.</p>
+
+<p>And a curious thing about those which build
+of light pieces of bark or reed is this, that they
+will make the top-piece come over so as to
+hide their heads, and prevent you from seeing
+them. Some build of sand; and then as the
+house would be so light that the water running
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span>
+from the spring might wash it down and
+carry it away, the wonderful little creature
+takes care to anchor it by fastening a pretty
+large stone to it when it has nearly finished it.
+And as the worm anchors it when it is too
+light, so it lightens it when it is too heavy,
+by fixing a bit of light wood or hollow straw
+to it to buoy it up."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_080a.jpg" id="i_080a.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_080a.jpg"
+  alt="Sand Nest" />
+  <div class="caption">Sand Nest, balanced with a Stone.</div>
+</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_080b.jpg" id="i_080b.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_080b.jpg"
+  alt="Nest of Caddis-worm" />
+  <div class="caption">Nest of Caddis-worm, balanced with Straws.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>"Well, this is truly a wonderful insect.
+Uncle Philip."</p>
+
+<p>"Truly so indeed, boys. In all these cases
+it uses its water-proof cement, and if you break
+its house to pieces, and will patiently watch,
+you may see it build another. The insect
+always lives with its head out of doors, and
+its body inside; so that its head is firm and
+hard, while its body is soft."</p>
+
+<p>"Uncle Philip," said one of the larger boys,
+"there is one thing I have been thinking
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span>
+about, as you have been talking: these little
+masons have no trowel, but I believe I know
+of one animal that uses something like that
+tool."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! What animal is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, I was reading the other day something
+about the beavers building their dams
+and their houses, and the book said that they
+built their houses of logs first, and then plastered
+them with mud, and that they used their
+tails for trowels."</p>
+
+<p>"I am very glad to find that you remember
+what you read; but I am sorry that your book
+did not tell you the truth. There have been
+very strange stories told about the beaver;
+and these stories have been taken from one
+book and printed in another, so that an untrue
+account has gone down for a great many
+years. The beaver is very ingenious, but is
+not quite so much of a mason as you suppose."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Uncle Philip, will you tell us the
+truth about it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, boys, I will, so far as I know it myself.
+I have seen these animals, for they were once a
+great deal more common in our country than
+they are now; and many of the stories told
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span>
+of them are not true. But before I begin, let
+me tell you of one book which I think does
+tell the plain truth about them; and the truth
+is curious enough."</p>
+
+<p>"What book is it, Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is a book written on American Natural
+History, by Doctor John Godman. I knew
+him, boys, and a most excellent man he was.
+He is now dead&mdash;and he died a Christian.
+The book he wrote you will find worth reading,
+when you get old enough to understand
+it. But now for the beaver.</p>
+
+<p>"His tail is very broad and flat at the end,
+and might be used very well for a trowel; but
+when he builds his house he does not cut down
+trees, and place them first, and then fill up the
+cracks with mud-mortar; but all the sticks
+and mud (and stones too when the beaver can
+get them), are first mixed up together, and the
+beaver builds his house with this from the
+very foundation. As soon as he has placed a
+lump of this stuff upon the wall, he turns
+round and gives it a blow with his flat tail;
+and that, boys, is all he does with his tail for
+a trowel. Sometimes he slaps his tail upon
+the water when he is swimming; and some
+persons have supposed that this was done by
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span>
+the king, or ruler, to call his workmen. It
+may be so, but I do not believe it, because they
+almost always dive as soon as they have
+slapped the water; and I think it is probably
+a part of their motion in diving. In the
+autumn they cover the outside of their houses
+with mud, and they walk over it as they are
+at work, and their tails drag along upon
+it; and this I expect made persons first suppose
+that they were plastering it, with the
+tail for a trowel. When they are caught and
+kept, boys, they still keep up this fashion of
+slapping with the tail; so that I rather think
+it is part of the nature of the animal.</p>
+
+<p>"At another time, perhaps, I will tell you
+more about the beaver; but it is now late,
+and I must bid you good morning."</p>
+
+<p>"Good day, Uncle Philip."</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CONVERSATION_VII" id="CONVERSATION_VII"></a>CONVERSATION VII.</h2>
+
+<div class="chapsum"><i>Uncle Philip talks to the Children about Animals
+that throw Dirt with a Spade; and
+about an Animal with a Hook; and about
+one that is a Wire-drawer.</i></div>
+
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">Boys</span>, I have some men at work digging
+a small ditch for me, and I wish to see them;
+will you go with me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes&mdash;very gladly, Uncle Philip; for
+you will be sure to tell us of something curious
+before we come home."</p>
+
+<p>"Come on, then: yonder are the men at
+work; they have been very industrious, I
+see."</p>
+
+<p>"But, Uncle Philip, look! There is one of
+the men putting a bottle to his mouth. Is
+that right?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, boys, right enough; for the bottle
+has nothing but molasses and water in it;
+and the man is thirsty, I suppose. I would
+not employ him if he brought a bottle of
+spirits out with him, for two reasons. In the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span>
+first place, I think that I ought not to encourage
+a man who gets drunk, by employing
+him; for I would rather give my money to
+a sober man who will not spend it for rum and
+brandy, but will take care of his family: and,
+in the second place, a drunkard would not
+work faithfully without being watched all the
+time. I never knew a drunkard who was
+really and honestly an industrious man."</p>
+
+<p>"See, Uncle Philip, how strong that man
+is; what a large spadeful of dirt he throws
+out!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I see, boys: do you think that men
+had the first spades in the world?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! now you are going to tell us something
+about tools among animals: that is
+good; we like to hear of that. What animal
+is it that has a spade?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, a very common animal indeed in
+some parts of our country. The country
+people call it a <i>woodchuk</i>, and sometimes a
+<i>ground-hog</i>: its right name is the marmot;
+and as there are several sorts, ours is called
+the Maryland marmot, to distinguish it; but
+it is in New-York, Connecticut, New-Jersey.
+Pennsylvania, Virginia, and some of the other
+states, as well as in Maryland. This is rather
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span>
+a mischievous animal, and does harm to the
+clover-fields; but it is in making his house
+that he uses his spade."</p>
+
+<p>"Then he digs his house in the ground.
+Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; he burrows, or digs his nest in
+banks of earth, or on the sides of hills; and
+he has sense enough to make the passage to
+the inside upwards, instead of downwards, so
+that water cannot run in. In digging soft
+earth he uses his fore-paws to loosen the dirt,
+for his fore-legs are very strong; and if the
+ground is hard he will use his teeth too. As
+he gets farther in, he throws the dirt with his
+fore-paws under his belly, and when he has a
+heap gathered, he balances himself on his
+fore-feet, and begins to throw it out with his
+spades."</p>
+
+<p>"What are his spades, Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"His hinder feet, boys, which are very
+broad, and just fit to take up the dirt as a
+spade does, and to throw it from him: there
+is a skin which grows between the toes of his
+hinder feet, so that he can spread them out
+when he chooses, like a duck's foot."</p>
+
+<p>"But, Uncle Philip, perhaps they are made
+so for the sake of <i>swimming</i>; the duck's are."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"That is a sensible thought, boys. Always
+think for yourselves; and when you make a
+mistake, try again: everybody is mistaken
+sometimes. Let it teach you to be modest
+and humble; but do not be afraid to think
+again. A person who is always thinking
+cannot <i>always</i> think wrong. Now you suppose
+the marmot's feet may be made like a
+duck's for swimming: let me tell you something
+else, and we shall see what you will
+think then. The marmot hates a rain as
+much as you would if you had no umbrella;
+he very seldom even drinks water, and then
+only a little; and you cannot drive him into
+a stream or pond; he is afraid of it. What
+do you think now?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Uncle Philip, we think that he is
+no swimmer."</p>
+
+<p>"Very true, boys: so his feet, then, you
+now think, were made for spades, and not for
+paddles?"</p>
+
+<p>"We do. Can you tell us any thing more
+about this animal, Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes. The burrows or holes of the
+marmot run a great distance under ground,
+and end in several chambers or rooms, according
+to the number that is to live in them.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span>
+They make beds in them of dry leaves, or
+grass, or any thing soft and dry which they
+can find. They cram their mouths full of it
+to carry, when they are making their nests.
+As soon as cold weather begins, the animal
+goes into his house, and stops up the hole on
+the inside; and there he stays till the warm
+weather has come again.</p>
+
+<p>"He is quite a thief at times. I saw one
+once which a gentleman had tamed, and he
+played about the yard; but every thing that
+he could get hold of which was fit to make
+his bed of, he was sure to steal, and carry
+into his hole under ground. When clothes
+were hung out to dry he would take them off
+the line, and as soon as any were missed the
+washerwoman knew very well where they
+were. She kept a long stick with a hook at
+the end of it, and with this she drew them out
+of the burrow. He soon found out what it
+meant, and whenever she used the stick, it
+was necessary first to tie him up; for he did
+not choose to have his bed spoiled, and would
+run to the hole and try to get in, and prevent
+the clothes from being drawn out. One day
+he stole eight pairs of stockings, a towel, and
+a little girl's frock; and he carried them into
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span>
+his burrow as far as six feet from the entrance.</p>
+
+<p>"But, boys, as we have begun this morning
+upon the old subject of tools among animals.
+I will tell you of something which, though not
+exactly a tool, is a very useful instrument,
+and is found belonging to a very common
+creature. Did you ever take notice of a
+bat?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, Uncle Philip, often, as they were
+flying about in a room at night, but not
+nearer."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you never saw what I mean, I expect.
+Our common bat, boys, has two very
+excellent hooks; one on each of what you
+call its wings: I say what you call its wings,
+because the bat is not really a bird, but a
+quadruped; that is, an animal with four feet:
+and when it is on the ground, any one may
+see that it is a four-footed animal. If a monkey's
+paw should be flattened out very much,
+it would be something like a bat's paw or
+hand. The long finger-bones are just like
+the sticks of an umbrella; there is a thin skin
+between them, and they stretch it out, so that
+the air underneath will keep them up. When
+they are on the ground all this is folded up.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span>
+Their hinder feet have five toes, all small, and
+ending in sharp claws. On the fore-feet there
+is but one finger which the bat can use much,
+because the others are like umbrella-sticks, as
+I told you; and the end of that one is a hook.
+Here is a picture, in which you can see it
+plainly.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_090.jpg" id="i_090.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_090.jpg"
+  alt="Bat foreleg with hook" />
+</div>
+
+<p>When the bat is on the ground, it is hard
+work for it to get along. At first it will reach
+forward a little to one side the hooked end of
+its fore-leg, and stick it in the ground; then
+it draws its hind-legs under its belly, and
+raising itself up, just tumbles forward its whole
+body. At the next step it stretches out the
+other fore-leg, and hooks it, as it did before,
+and drawing itself up, tumbles forward again.
+The bat does not like a level place, because it
+cannot raise itself in the air from it. When
+they rest, they hang by the hooks; and here
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span>
+is a drawing of one, resting. In the other
+picture which I showed you just now the
+bat was flying."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_091.jpg" id="i_091.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_091.jpg"
+  alt="Bat resting" />
+</div>
+
+<p>"Uncle Philip, we did not know before that
+bats were such curious things; we always
+thought that they were birds; but if these
+pictures are like them, these hooks are as good
+as fish-hooks."</p>
+
+<p>"The pictures, boys, are very much like
+the animal, and the hooks are just as plain
+as they seem to be in the drawings. But
+how often do you suppose that you have seen
+a bat?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Oh, many hundreds of times; for they
+are very common."</p>
+
+<p>"True, boys; and yet you never knew before
+that they had hooks about them. Suppose
+that everybody had done as you have,
+just passed by the bats, without taking notice
+of them; I could not have told you then
+what strange creatures they are, for no person
+would have known any thing about them.
+You see, then, that men may have eyes, and
+yet not see things; because they will not look
+for them. Use your eyes, boys; God made
+them to be used."</p>
+
+<p>"But, Uncle Philip, bats are such ugly
+things! and they can bite, too. We are afraid
+of them."</p>
+
+<p>"Ugly, boys! And what of that? Will
+you look at nothing but what is handsome?
+If the bat could think and speak, I expect he
+would call you very ugly. But it is foolish,
+boys, to be afraid of these smaller animals.
+There are many creatures which might hurt
+you, and I would advise you to keep out of
+their way: but it is silly to be afraid of every
+poor little insect or animal which you see. I
+have seen a large boy cry when he saw a
+poor little caterpillar or bug near him. Now
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span>
+there are very few insects, indeed, which can
+or will hurt you; and a great many of them
+you may watch without touching them at all.
+And I think that he is a wicked and cruel boy
+who kills every poor bug that he sees, merely
+because he is stronger than the bug. It would
+be a great deal kinder and wiser in the boy
+to notice what the bug was doing, for then he
+might learn something worth knowing."</p>
+
+<p>"But, Uncle Philip, is it wrong to kill <i>spiders</i>?"</p>
+
+<p>"Spiders! Why, boys, the spider is one
+of the very last of these little creatures that
+I should wish to kill. There is not a more
+curious little animal in the world, nor one
+that will pay a man better for watching its
+motions. At some other time I will tell you
+all about spiders and ants, for I have noticed
+them a great deal: but now, just to show you
+how much you would lose if you should kill
+all the spiders, I will talk with you about a
+tool which man uses, and which he might
+have learned to make from a spider."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, do tell us; what is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"The next time you go to Mr. Brown's, the
+silversmith, ask him to show you his plate
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span>
+for drawing out wire. Tell him that I told
+you to ask him, and he will show it to you.
+You will see a flat piece of steel with holes
+made through it in regular lines, beginning
+with a large size, and growing smaller and
+smaller until the last is very small indeed.</p>
+
+<p>"Now the wire is drawn through these
+holes; beginning at the larger ones, and passing
+every time through the next smaller one,
+it stretches the wire out, until it becomes as
+small as the workman wishes it to be.</p>
+
+<p>"The spider is a wire-drawer, too; for it
+has a contrivance to draw out its threads, and
+make them smaller or larger, as it pleases.
+If you will look at a very large spider, you
+can see with your naked eye, just at the end
+of its body, four, and sometimes six, little
+knobs like teats, with a circle around them.
+These are its spinners. Each one of these
+small knobs, inside of that circle, is so full
+of little holes or tubes, that Mr. Reaumur
+(of whom I told you before, you will recollect)
+calculated that a place no larger
+than the point of a pin had a thousand of
+these little holes in it. These holes are
+sometimes so very small, that another gentleman,
+<a name="FNanchor_8" id="FNanchor_8"></a>
+<a href="#Footnote_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a>
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span>
+who looked at spiders through a microscope
+very often, thought it would take four
+millions of the threads which came through
+those holes to make one thread as thick as a
+hair of his beard. Here is a picture of a spider
+hanging by a thread coming out of its spinner,
+or, as it is sometimes called, its spinneret."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_095.jpg" id="i_095.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_095.jpg"
+  alt="Spider hanging by a thread" />
+</div>
+
+<p>"Then, Uncle Philip, the spider does not
+spin its thread all at once?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"No, boys. Fine as you see that thread to
+be, it is not one single line, but it is made of
+many thousands joined together. The spiders
+have little bags of gum within their bodies,
+near their spinners, and out of these they
+draw the threads: when they have come out
+about the tenth part of an inch, they join
+them all into one with their claws; and they
+can shut their spinners when they please, so
+as to make the threads longer or shorter; and
+they can break them off, too, when they wish."</p>
+
+<p>"But, Uncle Philip, we do not see why
+there should be so many threads to make up
+one."</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot exactly tell you, boys, why there
+are so many; but probably to make the thread
+dry quicker, by letting the air touch so many
+parts of it: and I expect, too, the thread is
+stronger, because we know that in two pieces
+of cord of one size, if one is made of several
+smaller cords put together, it will be stronger
+than the other, which was spun all at once.
+The following is a picture of the spider's spinnerets,
+and some of the threads as it appears
+through the microscope; only you must recollect
+that <i>all</i> the threads are not drawn:
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span>
+there are a great many more than you see in
+the picture."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_097.jpg" id="i_097.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_097.jpg"
+  alt="Spider's Threads coming from the Spinnerets" />
+  <div class="caption">Spider's Threads coming from the Spinnerets.</div>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTE:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+  <a name="Footnote_8" id="Footnote_8"></a>
+  <a href="#FNanchor_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> Leuwenhoek.
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h2><a name="CONVERSATION_VIII" id="CONVERSATION_VIII"></a>CONVERSATION VIII.</h2>
+
+<div class="chapsum"><i>Uncle Philip tells the Children of a Door,
+with a Hinge and Spring to it, made by
+a Spider; and shows them Pictures to let
+them see the Difference between God's
+Work and Man's.</i></div>
+
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">I was</span> thinking, boys, last night, of what
+you said about killing the poor spiders; and
+I was sorry that I did not then recollect one
+thing about a spider which I could have told
+you, and which would have made you like the
+poor little creatures better. However, I determined
+that when you came to see me again,
+it should be the first thing I would tell you,
+if you wished to hear it."</p>
+
+<p>"Wish to hear it! Why, Uncle Philip,
+we always wish to hear you tell us of any
+thing that you please to talk about. You
+have told us of a great many strange things,
+about which we knew nothing before; and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span>
+we will thank you to tell us the story about
+the spider."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, boys; you shall hear it. Pray,
+do you not think that it is a piece of difficult
+work to make a door to a house, and to make
+hinges to hang it with, and to fit it so nicely
+that when it is done you cannot see the joints
+where the door is shut?"</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed it is a piece of very hard work.
+Uncle Philip, and it takes the carpenter a long
+time to do it; and it is hard work, too, for the
+blacksmith to make the hinges. But what
+has that to do with the story about the spider?"</p>
+
+<p>"Patience, boys, patience: you shall know
+presently. Never be in too great a hurry: it
+is a bad plan. I have always noticed that
+those persons who hurried most, went
+slowest in the end. Another question I wish
+to ask you is this,&mdash;do you not think it
+was hard work for the first man who ever
+made a spring, and put it on a door, to make
+it shut itself again when it had been opened?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, it was so: and the man who does it
+now gets well paid for it."</p>
+
+<p>"Very good, boys. And now what will
+you say when I tell you that a poor little spider
+did all these things long before man did?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"What, Uncle Philip! A spider make a
+door with a hinge and a spring to make it
+shut itself!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, boys; a spider. Do you think he
+deserves to be killed for doing it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh no, no! But pray tell us all about it.
+Uncle Philip."</p>
+
+<p>"This kind of spider, then, boys, I saw in
+Jamaica, and I saw its house, too. It is called
+the mason-spider. The nest or house which
+I saw was a tube made of very hard clay,
+about six inches long, and an inch across, and
+was a little bent at one end. The inside of
+this tube was lined all the way through with
+a kind of soft silky stuff, something like silk-paper,
+but stronger, and it was of a yellowish
+colour; but the curious part was the door. I
+never saw any thing which an insect had
+made more strange than that. This door was
+round, about as large as a quarter of a dollar,
+and was a little hollowed on the upper side
+like a saucer; the inside of it was rounded
+like the outside of the saucer. It was of the
+same stuff with the lining of the nest, and
+seemed to be made of more than a dozen
+pieces of that lining, put one on the top of another:
+it was shaped so, too, that the inside
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span>
+layers or pieces were the broadest, and the
+outside ones became smaller and smaller, except
+at the hinge, which was about an inch
+long. All the pieces in the door were joined
+into this hinge, and then the hinge was joined
+and worked into the lining in the tube.
+That made the hinge the thickest and strongest
+part of the whole work. How the spider
+made it so, boys, I cannot tell; but so it was,
+that this hinge not only was a hinge, but was
+so good a spring, that whenever the door was
+opened it would shut itself immediately:
+and when shut, it fitted so nicely that it was
+very difficult to see the place of joining."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Uncle Philip, this is most wonderful!
+But will not the hinge wear out at
+last?"</p>
+
+<p>"Wonderful as it is, boys, it is all true. As
+to its wearing out, I cannot tell you; but I
+know that a gentleman who had one, said
+that his friends were very anxious to see it;
+and there were so many of them, that he had
+to open the door and let it shut itself many
+hundreds of times to satisfy them; and it did
+not hurt the spring at all."</p>
+
+<p>"Uncle Philip, we shall not kill the poor
+spiders any more."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"A good resolution, boys: only let them
+alone, and they will not hurt you. There is
+another kind of mason-spider, which I never
+saw, but I have read of it. It is found in the
+south of France; I did not happen, however,
+to meet with one while I was in that beautiful
+country. This kind digs a gallery or
+hole under ground as much as a foot deep.
+She lines it with a sort of silk glued to the
+walls, and makes her door, which is round
+also, with many layers of mud or earth all
+kneaded and bound together with some of
+her silk. On the outside, the door is flat and
+rough, to make it appear like the dirt around
+it, and hide it; on the inside it is shaped like
+the inside of the door of the other spider I
+have told you about; and all covered with a
+coat of fine silk. The threads of this silk are
+left long on one side, and fastened to the upper
+part of the hole; and these make the
+hinge. There is no spring to this; but when
+the spider pushes its door open and comes
+out, it shuts again by its own weight. If this
+door is forced open by any one when the spider
+is at home, she will catch hold of it and
+pull it in; and sometimes even when it is
+half-opened; she will snatch it out of the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span>
+hand. Here is a picture which shows the nest
+open, and another of it shut; and there is a
+drawing of the spider, too.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_103.jpg" id="i_103.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_103.jpg"
+  alt="Spider's nest" />
+  <div class="caption">Illustration: <strong>A</strong>, the Nest shut;
+    <strong>B</strong>, the Nest open; <strong>C</strong>, the Spider;
+	<strong>D</strong>, the Eyes, magnified; <strong>E</strong>, <strong>F</strong>,
+	Parts of the Foot and Claw magnified.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>A gentleman says, in a book which he wrote
+about insects, that he once broke one of these
+doors off, to see what the spider would do."</p>
+
+<p>"And what did she do, Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"She made another door; but took very
+good care not to put any hinge to it, for fear
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span>
+she should be disturbed again. But when she
+thought all danger was gone, she could then put
+a hinge to it, you know; and probably she did."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Uncle Philip, we thank you again
+for this account of the spiders, and shall always
+look at them hereafter with more pleasure.
+Who would have thought that we should ever
+find doors and hinges among such little creatures,
+and these too so very well made and
+fitted!"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, boys, I have noticed the works of
+God very often; and I will now tell you one
+thing which I always found. It is this: a piece
+of the very best work which man can make
+is really coarse when you compare it with the
+work of God. The poor spider that we have
+talked about, when she makes her door, makes
+it to fit perfectly; because in doing that one
+thing, God made her to know perfectly how
+to do it. The knowledge is God's, boys; but
+the work is the spider's: but in making any
+thing else, except about her house, the spider
+knows nothing."</p>
+
+<p>"Uncle Philip, you told us once that you
+were very fond of watching all sorts of
+dumb animals, and we think now that we
+know the reason."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what is it?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"It is because you see so much of God's
+knowledge in them; is it not?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, my dear boys, it is. When I look at
+many things which man makes or does, I
+think to myself, 'Now this thing is likely to
+have a mixture of sense and nonsense in it;
+the sense is God's, and the nonsense is man's.'
+But when I look at a thing made by one of
+the dumb creatures for its own comfort and
+safety, like the spider's house, with its door
+and hinge, for instance, I say to myself, 'Now
+here is the wisdom of God, without any of
+man's nonsense.' And yet, boys, men are far
+wiser than any other animal in this world."</p>
+
+<p>"But, Uncle Philip, you said that a piece
+of man's best work was really coarse: some
+things must be neat, we should think. Is the
+point of a needle coarse? It does not seem so."</p>
+
+<p>"Boys, you have mentioned the very thing
+which was in my mind when I spoke. The
+point of the smallest needle is very coarse.
+You have heard me talk of the microscope.
+I told you it was a set of glasses, so fixed that
+when you looked through them, it made small
+things appear very large: on some other day,
+perhaps, I will let you look through my microscope
+for yourselves; but now, I just wish
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span>
+to show you the difference between the work
+of God and that of man. Let us go home,
+and I will show you some pictures I made,
+and you can see in them the difference. Last
+winter, you know, was very cold, and there
+was a great deal of snow: one day, while the
+snow was falling pretty fast, I was obliged to
+go out; and as the flakes of snow fell upon
+the sleeve of my coat (which was black), I
+thought they had a curious shape, and did not
+all appear alike; so when I returned home I
+caught some of the flakes, and looked at them
+through my microscope. They were so beautiful
+that I made pictures of them; and as we
+have now reached home, just let me step into
+my study, and I will bring them to you. Here
+they are, boys."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_106.jpg" id="i_106.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_106.jpg"
+  alt="Snow-flakes" />
+  <div class="caption">Snow-flakes, seen through a Microscope.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Uncle Philip! these are very pretty;
+they are all so different, too!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, boys, I picked out different ones to
+draw: when I was done, I began to look into
+my books to find out what others had written
+about this thing; and I found that a gentleman
+named Dr. Hook had seen more than a
+hundred different shapes and sizes of these
+flakes. This is <span class="smcap">God's</span> work, boys.</p>
+
+<p>"Now I have brought you out another picture:
+it is the point of a very small needle,
+seen through the very same microscope which
+showed me the snow-flakes. Just look at it,
+boys. This is <i>man's</i> work."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_107.jpg" id="i_107.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_107.jpg"
+  alt="Point of a very small Needle" />
+  <div class="caption">The Point of a very small Needle, seen through the Microscope.</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h2><a name="CONVERSATION_IX" id="CONVERSATION_IX"></a>CONVERSATION IX.</h2>
+
+<div class="chapsum"><i>Uncle Phillip tells the Boys a Story about a
+Philosopher and his Kite.&mdash;He tells them,
+too, about Ants that have Awls, and build
+Cities, and Stairs, and Bridges, and many
+other things.</i></div>
+
+
+<p>"So, boys, you have come again to see me.
+I am very glad of it; for as this is a leisure
+day, we shall have time enough to talk: but
+what is that you have there? Oh, I see now;
+it is a kite."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Uncle Philip; it is a French kite that
+we have been making, and we have come to
+ask you to go out with us this morning and
+see us fly it."</p>
+
+<p>"Very good, boys; I will go. I am an old
+man now; but I remember that I was a boy
+once, and loved to make a kite sail. It always
+makes me happy to see boys and girls playing
+about in health, provided they are not wasting
+time, and their play is not to do harm
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span>
+to anybody or any thing. So come on; we
+will go out upon the green common yonder,
+behind the church, and I think we shall have a
+grand kite-flying, for the wind is about right.</p>
+
+<p>"There, boys! up she goes! Let out the
+string. I think she behaves very well; there,
+she is done pitching about: now she is steady;
+see how she mounts. Ah, that is a very
+good kite."</p>
+
+<p>"Uncle Philip, I was reading a book yesterday
+which said, 'A philosopher once found
+great help from a kite.' What did it mean?"</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know what a philosopher is?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Uncle Philip; a philosopher is the
+same thing with a very wise man, is it not?"</p>
+
+<p>"That is pretty near the meaning. Philosopher
+means a person who loves wisdom;
+and such a person, you know, will always be
+trying to get knowledge; and a person who
+is always trying to get knowledge is apt to
+be a wise and learned man."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, how could a kite help a man to get
+learning? Did he read the old newspapers it
+was made of? I cannot see any other way."</p>
+
+<p>"But there may be another way without
+your seeing it, you know. The philosopher
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span>
+whom your book meant was Dr. Franklin.
+Did you ever hear of him?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes; he was born in Boston, and was
+a printer, and afterward became a very great
+man."</p>
+
+<p>"That is true. He was a man of excellent
+sense, who both read and thought a great
+deal; and in the war which the people of this
+country had with England to get their freedom.
+Dr. Franklin's sound sense was of great
+use to his countrymen."</p>
+
+<p>"But, Uncle Philip, how did the kite help
+him?"</p>
+
+<p>"I will tell you. If you take a proper piece
+of glass, or sulphur, or sealing-wax, or rosin,
+and rub it for some time, and then hold
+it near to small bits of thread or paper, the
+thread or paper will fly towards the glass or
+sealing-wax, and stick to it for a short time.
+That which makes them fly to the glass and
+stick there, is called <i>electricity</i>. After this
+was found out, men went on slowly finding
+out more and more, until at last a man named
+Hawksbee made a large machine with a glass
+barrel, which could be turned around by a handle
+like that which you see to a grindstone;
+and with this machine (which I will show you
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span>
+at some other time) he managed to get a great
+deal of this electricity, and it would shoot off
+in sparks, which appeared like little lightning.</p>
+
+<p>"And now, boys, what I am going to tell
+you will show you the use of a man's eyes.
+Dr. Franklin knew all about the electrical machine,
+and was very fond of drawing off the
+sparks from it, to see what he could find out
+about it. And when he saw it appeared so
+much like lightning, and could feel too a
+spark strike his hand a smart blow, he began
+to think that perhaps it was exactly the same
+thing with the lightning which came from the
+clouds; so he determined, if he could, to find
+out whether it was or not. He was a great
+deal troubled for some time to know how he
+should get down any of the lightning from
+the clouds; until at last, one day, he saw a
+boy flying a kite; and that showed him the
+way. So he took a large silk handkerchief,
+and stretching it upon sticks, soon made his
+kite; and not long afterward, when he saw a
+black thunder-cloud coming up, he took his
+kite and walked out of Philadelphia (where
+he then lived) into the fields, and sent his kite
+up. He had a string like yours, made of
+hemp, and to the end of this he tied an iron
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span>
+key, and then fastening it to the post of a shed
+by a silk cord, which he tied to the end of the
+hemp string, he got under the shed, and
+waited a long time. Now, boys, if he had
+been impatient, all his work would have been
+of no use. But he even waited, after a very
+heavy cloud had passed over his kite without
+giving it any of its lightning. At last, when
+he was almost ready to give it up and go
+home, he saw some loose threads on the hemp
+string rise and stand up straight, just as he
+knew the electrical machine would make them
+do. He directly put his knuckle to the iron
+key, and off came the spark, which he knew
+at once was exactly like the spark which he
+could get from the machine. And so, boys,
+he found out what he wished to know; and
+this was the way in which the kite helped
+the philosopher."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Uncle Philip, this is really a very
+pretty story about Dr. Franklin and his kite.
+Was anybody with him?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nobody but his son; he took him out to
+help him raise the kite. But, boys, I see the
+other lads are walking on towards the bridge
+with our kite; let us follow them, and as we
+go, I will tell you of an electric <i>animal</i>."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Oh, we shall be very glad to hear of him."</p>
+
+<p>"Listen, then. There is a kind of eel,
+which when it is touched will give a very
+hard blow, just like an electric shock, to the
+person who touches it."</p>
+
+<p>"Is there any spark, Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, boys; there is no spark,&mdash;but the blow
+is tremendous. I remember reading of one
+of these fish which was caught in a net, and
+a foolish sailor would take it up, though he
+was told it would hurt him. The fish shocked
+him so violently that he fell down in a fit,
+and it was a long time before he came to his
+senses; and his story was, that the moment
+he touched the fish, 'the cold ran swiftly up
+his arm into his body, and pierced him to the
+heart.' The fish has this power to defend
+itself, and to kill other fish for food."</p>
+
+<p>"But, Uncle Philip, how do they ever manage
+to catch them alive? I should think they
+would be shocked to death."</p>
+
+<p>"I will tell you. A very sensible traveller
+and learned man<a name="FNanchor_9" id="FNanchor_9"></a>
+<a href="#Footnote_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> gives an account of the
+manner in which they catch them, by a way
+called, by the South American Indians, 'fishing
+with horses.'"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Fishing with horses! What does that
+mean?"</p>
+
+<p>"The savannas, or large open plains, in
+South America have a great many wild horses
+and mules running over them. M. Humboldt
+says that the Indians caught about thirty of
+these, and drove them into the pond where
+the electrical eels were. The horses made a
+great noise, and stirred up the mud with their
+hoofs, and this brought up the eels from the
+bottom in a great rage. They were very
+large, and looked more like water-snakes than
+like eels; and rising to the top of the water,
+they crowded under the bellies of the horses
+and mules, and began to shock them. The
+poor horses would try to get out of the pond;
+but the Indians, with spears and long reeds,
+would stand around to hinder them from coming
+out: some of them, too, would climb
+upon the trees around the banks, and get out
+upon the branches which were over the pond,
+and by crying out aloud, and using their long
+reeds, kept the horses in the pond. The eels
+would continue to shock them with tremendous
+blows, and a great many of the poor
+creatures were either stunned or killed, and
+would sink. Those not killed would pant
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span>
+and raise their heads, while their eyes would
+show their pain, and they would try to get
+out. The Indians still drove them back, but
+some few escaped, and reached the shore,
+stumbling at every step, and would stretch
+themselves on the bank, tired out, and benumbed
+in their limbs by the shocks they
+had received. M. Humboldt says that in less
+than five minutes after the fight began, two
+horses were drowned; and he thought that
+the end of it would be, that every horse which
+did not get out of the water would be killed:
+but at last the eels became tired, and began
+to disperse. This is just what the Indians
+wish. They know that the eels have spent
+so much of their electrical power that they
+will need a long rest. It takes them a great
+while to get back their strength; so that if,
+the next day after such a fight, you send in
+more horses, they cannot kill one. When
+the eels, tired out in this way, begin to separate,
+they will swim to the edge of the pond,
+and there the Indians take them with small
+harpoons fastened to long cords. When the
+cords are dry, the Indian feels no shock in
+raising the eel out of the water. In this way
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span>
+M. Humboldt got five, all alive, and very little
+hurt. But here we are at the bridge."</p>
+
+<p>"Uncle Philip, suppose we sit down under
+the shade of this tree, and rest."</p>
+
+<p>"I am willing, boys; but take care of the
+damp ground: there is an old piece of timber
+that the men have taken out of the bridge, for
+I see they have been mending it; we will sit
+on that."</p>
+
+<p>"But, Uncle Philip, what shall we do with
+the kite? shall we draw it down?"</p>
+
+<p>"Do with it! Why, just tie the end of
+your string to that root, and it will take care
+of itself in this wind."</p>
+
+<p>"What a monstrous piece of timber this is.
+Uncle Philip! It must have taken a great
+many men to move it; and see&mdash;there are
+some larger ones still in the bridge. It must
+be a difficult work to build a bridge."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, it is so: but there are bridges much
+harder to build than our little wooden one
+here. Some are built of stone, and it takes
+years to finish them. None but a good workman
+can plan and build a good stone bridge:
+but I know a little fellow that can make as
+good a bridge as anybody; and yet no man
+ever taught him the trade."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Ah! now we know what is coming.
+You are going to tell us of a dumb animal
+that can make a bridge."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I am: and a small animal it is, too,
+for it is an ant."</p>
+
+<p>"What sort of an ant is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is called the white ant; and as there is
+a great deal that is very curious about this insect.
+I think that I had better tell you all about
+it at once."</p>
+
+<p>"Pray do, Uncle Philip; you know you
+promised to tell us about ants."</p>
+
+<p>"True, boys; and I like to keep my promises.
+In my story about these ants, I think, if
+you attend, you will find more tools; and besides
+that, you will hear of a great many
+things which man makes, and which show
+matters quite as strange as any of which I
+have yet told you."</p>
+
+<p>"What are they, Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"They are the building of something like a
+city, and bridges, and stairs, and roads, and
+tunnels under ground, and&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, let us hear&mdash;let us hear! We have
+heard nothing equal to this yet."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, then, I begin by telling you that
+these insects are very common in Africa,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span>
+and in the East Indies, and are troublesome
+enough, for they eat almost every thing but
+metal and glass. They love wood, though,
+better than any thing else; and they are
+so numerous that they destroy it wonderfully
+fast. They are very cunning, too; they never
+eat the outside of the wood first, but will
+work upon the inside, so as to leave the outer
+part not thicker than a piece of pasteboard.
+But the curious things I meant to tell you
+were about their city; so I will go on to that.
+When they first begin to build you will see
+little hills shaped like a sugar-loaf, and rising
+up above the ground about a foot, or a little
+more. Here is a picture of them.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_118.jpg" id="i_118.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_118.jpg"
+  alt="Hills shaped like a sugar-loaf" />
+</div>
+
+<p>The highest of these little hills is always in
+the middle; and they go on building more
+and more, and making them all higher, still
+keeping the tallest one in the centre. When
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span>
+they have made them as high as they wish,
+then they fill in the spaces between the tops
+of all these sugar-loaf hills, so as to make one
+roof over all. Here is a picture of one finished.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_119.jpg" id="i_119.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_119.jpg"
+  alt="Finished sugar-loaf hill" />
+</div>
+
+<p>After this is done, they take down nearly all
+of the little sugar-loaf hills inside; for they
+only wanted them for a scaffold to support the
+top while they were building it."</p>
+
+<p>"Uncle Philip, what is all this built of?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is built of clay, which the ant makes
+almost as hard as stone."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Are they strong, Uncle Philip?</p>
+
+<p>"So strong, boys, that five men may stand
+on them; and it is a common thing for the
+wild bulls to get upon them and look out,
+while the rest of the herd are feeding below."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, how high are they?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, of different heights; some as many
+as five or six feet, others are twelve, and the
+largest are as high as twenty feet, and would
+easily hold a dozen men."</p>
+
+<p>"And how large are the ants, Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not above a quarter of an inch high as
+they stand. Now, boys, just compare the
+size of one of these nests with the size of the
+ant that made it; and it is quite as large in proportion
+as the city of New-York is when compared
+to a man's size; yes, it is a great deal
+larger in proportion. These nests are sometimes
+five hundred times as high as the ants
+which build them: now suppose that men
+built their houses five hundred times as high
+as themselves, and as large at the foundation
+in proportion to their height, what monstrous
+buildings they would be! But let me go on.
+This outside shell, which I have been telling
+you how they make, is nothing but the wall
+of the city; the buildings are all inside of
+that."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"But, Uncle Philip, there is one thing I
+have been thinking of which would make it
+more like a city still. But I hardly think they
+can have that."</p>
+
+<p>"What is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why in a city, you know, where there are
+a great many people, there are a great many
+trades: some do one thing and some do another
+to get money."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, that is true; and I am glad that you
+mentioned it, because it reminds me of one
+thing I intended to tell you about these ants.
+Now, it would not be reasonable, you know,
+to expect the ants to have many different kinds
+of business to do, as the people in New-York
+have; but still, boys, they are not all alike,
+and they do have work of different kinds.
+There are in the city of the white ants a king
+and a queen, and soldiers, and labourers, or
+workmen, and all these are different. Here
+are pictures which will show them all to you.
+This is the king.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_121.jpg" id="i_121.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_121.jpg"
+  alt="King of the termites" />
+  <div class="caption">King of the Termites.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>At first he has four wings, but soon loses
+them. He never grows any larger after he
+loses them. The king may be known by his
+having two large eyes. Here is the queen.
+She is the mother of the whole city; and you
+see what a large body she has. It is full of
+eggs, and eighty thousand will come from her
+in twenty-four hours. She also has two eyes.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_122a.jpg" id="i_122a.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_122a.jpg"
+  alt="Queen of the termites" />
+  <div class="caption">Queen of the Termites.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>"Here is a soldier: he has a large head,
+armed with two hooks, shaped like a crooked
+awl, and very sharp.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_122b.jpg" id="i_122b.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_122b.jpg"
+  alt="Soldier of the termites" />
+  <div class="caption">Soldier of the Termites.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>"For every one of these soldiers there are
+about one hundred labourers. The soldiers
+do the fighting; and though they are perfectly
+blind, they fight well, and are very brave.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span>
+The following is a picture, too, of the soldiers'
+awls, seen through the microscope, to show
+you how sharp they are.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_123a.jpg" id="i_123a.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_123a.jpg"
+  alt="Soldier's awl" />
+</div>
+
+<p>"And here is a picture of the labourer; the
+largest part of the city is made up of the labourers,&mdash;which
+shows us, I think, boys, that
+there is more need of working than there is
+of fighting.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_123b.jpg" id="i_123b.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_123b.jpg"
+  alt="Labourer of the Termites" />
+  <div class="caption">Labourer of the Termites.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>This class, like the soldiers, is blind, and
+scarcely ever go into the open air; their work
+is mostly under ground or in the inside of
+wood. Both, however, do come out when
+their city is attacked and broken: but I will
+tell you of that presently."</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTE:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+  <a name="Footnote_9" id="Footnote_9"></a>
+    <a href="#FNanchor_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> M. Humboldt.
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h2><a name="CONVERSATION_X" id="CONVERSATION_X"></a>CONVERSATION X.</h2>
+
+<div class="chapsum"><i>Uncle Philip tells the Children more about the
+White Ants.</i></div>
+
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">Now</span>, boys, as I have told you about the
+kinds of different work which these ants do,
+we will go on, and I will tell you about the
+inside of the city. The first thing to be done
+is to build a house for the king and queen.
+This is the first house built in the city, and
+always stands in the centre, directly under
+the point of the roof or top of the outside wall.
+It is built nearly on a level with the ground,
+and is shaped very much like a long oven, or
+the half of an egg split through the long way.
+The floor is exactly level, and about an inch
+thick; the roof is about the same thickness.
+The doors are on a level with the floor, and
+just large enough to let one of the labourers
+go in."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Uncle Philip, how do the king and
+queen ever get out then."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"They never do get out, boys; they live in
+that house always, and they are not the first
+kings and queens who have found that a
+palace is sometimes a prison. Just around
+this house of the king and queen are other
+houses built of clay, arched at the top, and of
+different shapes. These are for the servants
+or labouring ants, who remove the eggs of the
+queen as fast as she discharges them. The
+soldiers also live in these houses. Next to
+these are the magazines, that is, the houses
+where they keep their food, such as dry juices
+of trees and gums; and mixed up with these are
+the nurseries. These are made by the labourers,
+and are different from all the other buildings,
+for they are made of wood gnawed or
+broken into fine threads, and joined together
+with some kind of gum, and around each of
+them there is a case of clay. These nurseries
+are to carry the eggs into for the young
+ants to be hatched. Between all these different
+houses or parts there are thousands of
+galleries or ways, which run among them and
+separate them from each other, and these
+may be called the streets of the city. These
+streets run in all directions, and extend as far
+as the outside wall; and houses are built on
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span>
+top of houses, and streets run over streets,
+until they reach up as high as two-thirds of
+the inside wall. But under the top of their
+outside case they always leave a large open
+place that is never filled up with houses. And
+around this space they will build three or four
+large arches, sometimes two or three feet high;
+these I suppose are to prevent the houses from
+falling in towards the centre of the city, which
+is an open space, and on the other side they
+are fastened to the outside walls, so that these
+houses are very firm."</p>
+
+<p>"And what is all this made of, Uncle
+Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"All of clay, except the nurseries, which I
+told you were made of wood and gum. Over
+the house of the king and queen there is a
+sort of flat floor, some distance above it, with
+nurseries and magazines between the under
+side of it and the top of the queen's house.
+This floor will not let the water through it,
+so as to wet the palace where the king and
+queen live, but will turn it off into large
+trenches or gutters under ground, of which
+I will speak directly. The bridge I told you
+of they build from this floor in the open
+space, directly under the top or dome of the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span>
+outside wall; it rises up and is joined to some
+hole in the side wall of the houses above it."</p>
+
+<p>"How large is it, Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, sometimes it is half an inch broad,
+a quarter of an inch thick, and ten inches
+long; all made of clay, so that it is very strange
+how they manage to join it to the wall without
+its falling down by its own weight while
+they were building it."</p>
+
+<p>"And what do you suppose this bridge is
+for, Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, I think there can be no doubt what
+it is for. When the city has been growing
+for some time, some of the nurseries will be
+very high up above the queen's house; but the
+labourers have to carry her eggs into them,
+no matter how far off they may be. If they
+carry them through all the streets, they will
+have to walk as many as fifteen or twenty
+feet, for it would be five or six feet in a perfectly
+straight line, and these streets are very
+crooked; but if they make a bridge in the
+open space in the centre, they can then go
+from the queen's house over the bridge, and
+get to the upper nurseries without travelling
+more than two feet. So they made the bridge
+to shorten the way, to be sure."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"This is very wonderful: but you said something
+about large trenches or gutters underground;
+what are they, Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"These galleries lead from the city under
+ground, and are as large as the bore of a large
+cannon; they are thirteen inches across, and
+more than a hundred yards long. I have
+already told you that the labourers never come
+out into the light, when they can help it; and
+these underground ways are the great roads
+to the city, to fetch in clay, or wood, or water,
+or provisions: and now I will tell you another
+thing which shows a great deal of sense.
+As some of their houses are very high up, you
+know they would find it very hard to climb
+up through all the streets with a heavy load
+in a straight line; so when these large ways
+underground reach the outside wall, they just
+come through and keep on winding around
+the inside of it like a corkscrew all the way
+to the top; and there are other galleries opening
+from it at different places into the city.
+One thing has been noticed about these ants;
+they can scarcely climb at all up a perpendicular
+wall. Therefore on the upright
+side of any part of the city you may see a
+road made, standing out from the wall like
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span>
+a ledge; it is flat on the top, and half an
+inch wide, and goes up gradually like a stair-case,
+or like a road cut out on the side of a
+mountain.</p>
+
+<p>"Here is a picture of one of their cities cut
+straight down through the middle. At the
+bottom, in the centre, is the queen's house;
+over it is a floor, and the two crooked things
+you see rising up from the floor, are bridges."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_129.jpg" id="i_129.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_129.jpg"
+  alt="White ants city" />
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"But, Uncle Philip, you said you would tell
+us about the soldiers and labourers coming
+out when the city is attacked."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I did. As soon as a hole is made in
+the outside wall, you will see a soldier run
+out, and walk about as if to look around; but
+as he is blind, it cannot be to see what the
+danger is. He may have some way though of
+finding out without seeing. Presently he will
+go in, as if to tell the others, and then out
+pour the soldiers in great numbers, as fast
+as the hole will let them; and just as long
+as you strike the outside wall, they will
+continue to rush out. They seem to be in
+a terrible passion. They are in such a hurry
+that sometimes they slip, and roll down
+the outside of the hill; but they jump up
+again instantly, and begin to bite every thing
+they run against, for they are blind and cannot
+tell a friend from an enemy."</p>
+
+<p>"Do they bite hard, Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"Very hard indeed. They make their
+hooked jaws, which are like awls, you know,
+meet at every bite; and if it should happen to
+be a man's leg they get hold of, you would see
+upon his stocking a spot of blood an inch long.
+At every bite too you may hear their jaws
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span>
+snapping together and making quite a noise.
+Some of them too (perhaps they are the officers)
+are constantly beating with their awls upon the
+outside wall, and make a sound something
+quicker and sharper than the ticking of a watch.
+You may hear it at a distance of three or
+four feet. When these biters lay hold, nothing
+will make them let go; you must tear them
+away by pieces. After you stop striking the
+wall, in about half an hour they seem to get
+over their rage and go back into the city, and
+then out come the labourers. While the noise
+continues you will not see one of them; they
+all fled at the first appearance of danger. But
+now they come, each one with a bundle of
+mortar in his mouth, ready made; and they
+stick it on the hole so fast, and with such
+order, that though thousands and thousands
+are at work they never interrupt each other.
+And while the labourers are busy, if you look
+you may commonly see a soldier or two walking
+about; but they never touch the mortar,
+nor help in any way to mend the hole. One
+of these soldiers always stands near the spot
+where the labourers are at work, and every
+now and then turns slowly around, and frequently
+lifts up his head, and with his awls
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span>
+beats upon the building, and makes a sort of
+hissing noise. As soon as that is done you may
+hear a loud hiss from all the labourers, both on
+the outside of the wall and from the inside of
+the city, and then the labourers run faster, and
+work as quick again. If you attack the nest
+again, away run all the labourers as fast as
+their legs will carry them, and out pour the
+soldiers as before; and the same thing is
+always seen upon every attack, of soldiers
+to fight and labourers to work."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Uncle Philip, this is a very strange
+story; much more interesting than any we
+have yet heard."</p>
+
+<p>"I thought it would please you, boys; but
+there are still stranger things among animals,
+and perhaps you will say so when you know
+more.</p>
+
+<p>"But it is now time to return home; so take
+in the kite and let us be going."</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h2><a name="CONVERSATION_XI" id="CONVERSATION_XI"></a>CONVERSATION XI.</h2>
+
+<div class="chapsum"><i>Uncle Philip tells the Children about some
+other Ants, that are very good Masons, and
+build Walls and Ceilings; and a Story
+about a very sensible Ant, which seemed to
+think a little.</i></div>
+
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">Good</span> morning, good morning, Uncle Philip;
+we have been so much delighted with
+the stories about the white ants, that we hope
+you have more of the same kind to tell us."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, as to that matter, boys, I can tell
+you much more about ants, for there are many
+kinds of them; but I am not sure that I can
+show you any of the <i>tools</i> with which they
+work, though a large portion of their work
+is like that of man; and they have, too, several
+customs which our fellow-creatures have.
+I can tell you, however, of several other
+animals which do use tools shaped like those
+used by men, if you would rather hear of
+them."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"If you please, Uncle Philip, we will hear of
+them at another time; but now we would rather
+have you tell us of the other kinds of ants."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, very well, boys; it shall be as you
+wish. All that I desire is to instruct and
+amuse you, and I am sure that the ants can
+furnish a good lesson to us. I shall begin
+with the mason ants. They always build
+their nests either of clay which is damp, and
+dug from the inside of their city under ground,
+or which has been made wet by the rain; and
+a part of their building is always above the
+ground, so that you can easily see it. There is
+no fixed rule for the ants to build by. Their
+cities are not all alike in the inside. Sometimes
+the walls are larger and coarser, and the
+ways and galleries are higher, than at other
+times. The rooms, too, are different in shape
+and size, so that this industrious little insect
+seems to have sense enough to work in the
+best way according to circumstances. There
+is only one general rule which they seem to
+have, and that is always to build in a number
+of different stories, one above the other. If
+you examine one of these stories you may
+see a number of large places or halls, some
+smaller rooms, and some long galleries which
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span>
+serve as passage-ways. The tops of these
+large halls are covered with an arched ceiling,
+and this ceiling is held up, sometimes by little
+columns, sometimes by very thin walls, or by
+props built against the side walls, just like buttresses.
+There are also chambers which have
+but one door, which opens into the lower
+story, and large open places in the centre of
+the nest something like a cross road, and all
+these little galleries or streets come into that
+open place."</p>
+
+<p>"Any bridges, Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, boys; no bridges among these ants, so
+far as I know. There will sometimes be as
+many as twenty stories above ground in the
+ant-hill, and as many below. The best time
+to see these little fellows at work is in a gentle
+shower of rain, or directly after."</p>
+
+<p>"Why do they work in the rain, Uncle
+Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose, boys, it is because the earth is
+then better for them; and one thing that has
+been noticed about their work is, that the rain,
+when it is not too violent, seems to make it
+solid, for these ants have no gum or glue
+about them like some other insects, to make
+the earth stick together. As soon as the rain
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span>
+begins, if you watch the brown ants, you may
+see them come out of the ground in great
+numbers; and then running in again, they
+will soon return, each one with a little piece
+of dirt in his mouth, which he puts down
+upon the roof of the nest. A gentleman who
+watched them very closely<a name="FNanchor_10" id="FNanchor_10"></a>
+<a href="#Footnote_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> says, that at first
+he could not think what this was done for, but
+at last he saw little walls begin to rise up
+with spaces left between them. In some
+places pillars were begun, placed at regular
+distances, and he knew that these were to
+support ceilings; so he found out that they
+were going to build another story to their
+house, and they were laying the foundations."</p>
+
+<p>"How I should have liked to see them.
+Uncle Philip. I would not have cared for the
+rain."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, I see you are fit to be a naturalist.
+You know what that word means, do you
+not?"</p>
+
+<p>"It means, Uncle Philip, a man who loves
+to study about the animals and insects, does
+it not?"</p>
+
+<p>"It means a man or a woman either, boys,
+who loves to study the things in nature no
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span>
+matter whether they are animals, or stones,
+or grass, or flowers, or any of the things
+which God has made. Mark, boys, I said to
+study the things, and you said to study <i>about</i>
+the things. Now a person may read a great
+deal that is interesting and true about all
+these things in books; and it is very well to
+do so; but I think that the real naturalist
+will never be satisfied with books only; he
+will be looking to see things for himself. And
+I said a woman might be a naturalist, because
+some ladies have been fond of natural history,
+and have proved themselves to be very good
+naturalists. But let us go back to the ants.
+Mr. Huber, in the account which he gives of
+his having watched these little workmen,
+never thought of telling us whether he got
+wet or not, because he was too busy to think
+or care much about it. He had an opportunity
+of seeing what he might never see
+again, and a little rain was not to spoil it.
+He says that each ant, as it brought out its
+little lump of dirt, would place it on the spot
+where it wished it to be, and press against it
+with its teeth, so as to make it fit closely. It
+then rubbed its feelers all over it, and after
+that pressed upon it lightly with its fore-feet.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span>
+The walls went on very rapidly, and it often
+happened that two little walls, which were to
+make a passage or gallery, would be raised
+opposite and at a small distance from each
+other. When they were about a quarter of
+an inch high, the ants would set to work and
+cover them with an arched ceiling. After
+they had raised all the walls as high as they
+wished, on the inside of each wall at the top
+they began to put in pieces of wet dirt almost
+level, and in such a way as to make a ledge;
+and by joining on more dirt to it, it would
+meet the ledge made from the opposite wall
+so as to make a roof: these roofs over the
+galleries were about a quarter of an inch
+across. The ceilings over the large halls
+were sometimes as much as two inches in
+breadth, and to support these they raised
+pillars; and beginning in the corner where
+two walls joined, they would commence the
+ceiling with a ledge, while from the top of
+each pillar they would also build out a layer
+of earth a little rounded on the top; these
+they continued to add to until all met and
+made a complete cover for the hall."</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder it did not fall, Uncle Philip, before
+they could join it together."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Huber says that he thought several
+times it would fall, from the rain which was
+dropping upon it all the time; but he found
+that the pieces held together, and that the
+rain, instead of hurting it, only made it more
+solid. All that it wants, when the ants have
+done, is a little heat from the sun to bake it
+hard, and then it appears like a piece of solid
+dirt. Sometimes, if the rain be violent, the
+apartments will be destroyed, especially if the
+arches are not built strongly; and when this
+happens, the little creatures go to work very
+patiently and rebuild them."</p>
+
+<p>"And how long, Uncle Philip, did it take
+the ants to put another story on their house?"</p>
+
+<p>"Between seven and eight hours; and they
+had hardly finished one before they began another,
+but they had not time to finish it, for
+the rain stopped before they had built much:
+however, they kept on, taking advantage of
+the wet earth; but a cold drying wind soon
+sprang up, and the earth would not stick; so
+they stopped: but what do you think they did
+with the new story which they had not time
+to finish?"</p>
+
+<p>"What <i>did</i> they do, Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"Pulled every part of it to pieces, and scattered
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span>
+the dirt here and there over the roof of
+the story which they had finished.</p>
+
+<p>"I will tell you another story about these
+ants, boys, which I think is most wonderful,
+because it appears so much like reason.
+These insects all seem to work separately,&mdash;I
+mean without attending to the work of others:
+of course sometimes the work done by
+different ants on opposite sides of the same
+gallery or hall will not suit: one wall will be
+higher than the other, so that the ceilings will
+not meet. Mr. Huber saw just such a case;
+the ceiling which was begun from one wall
+would just have reached the other wall about
+half-way up; and while he was wondering
+how the ants would cure the fault, one of
+them came, and looking at the work, seemed
+to know that it was wrong, and immediately
+began by taking down the ceiling from the
+lower wall; he then raised it to the same
+height with the opposite wall, and made a
+new ceiling in Mr. Huber's presence with the
+pieces of the old one."</p>
+
+<p>"Uncle Philip, if that ant did not know
+how to think, I am mistaken."</p>
+
+<p>"I must confess, boys, it does seem very
+much like thinking; and if it was not thinking,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span>
+we must at any rate own that it was
+something which, <i>in this case</i>, did quite as
+well; for no thought of man could have hit
+upon a better plan. But if the ant knew how
+to think as a man does, do you suppose it would
+ever have made the mistake? Would not
+the workmen have all agreed beforehand what
+they were to do, and how it should be done,
+so that there might be no need of pulling
+down any of the work because it would not
+suit? I think that this story, boys, while it
+shows us something like reason in <i>one</i> particular
+instance, shows us also that <i>in general</i>
+the ant has not reason like ours. But I am
+tired now, and can tell you no more this
+morning. When you come again I shall be
+ready to talk with you about some other kinds
+of ants. But before you go, tell me&mdash;can any
+of you inform me what the Bible says about
+the ant?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, Uncle Philip: it says, 'Go to the
+ant, thou sluggard, consider her ways, and be
+wise.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, another question. Have you any
+lessons to say when you go into school on
+Monday?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Uncle Philip; we have."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Have you learned them, boys?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Then remember what the Bible says to
+the sluggard, and go and learn them at once.
+Good-by, children."</p>
+
+<p>"Good-by, Uncle Philip: we will learn our
+lessons."</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTE:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+  <a name="Footnote_10" id="Footnote_10"></a>
+  <a href="#FNanchor_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> Mr. Huber the younger.
+</div>
+
+</div>
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2><a name="CONVERSATION_XII" id="CONVERSATION_XII"></a>CONVERSATION XII.</h2>
+
+<div class="chapsum"><i>Uncle Philip tells the Boys about Ants that
+go to War and fight Battles; and about
+some that are Thieves, and have Slaves.</i></div>
+
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">Well</span>, my lads, how do you do to-day?"</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, Uncle Philip, we thank you.
+And we wish to let you know that we kept
+our promise to learn our lessons. Our teacher
+was very well satisfied with every one of us."</p>
+
+<p>"That is well, boys. I am truly glad to
+hear this from you: and I make no doubt
+that you also felt a great deal happier than you
+would have done had you neglected to learn
+your lessons. Did you not?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, Uncle Philip, much happier; and
+far more cheerful and good-natured."</p>
+
+<p>"Such are apt to be the feelings, boys, of
+those who have done their <i>duty</i>. I am verily
+persuaded that there is no such thing as real,
+solid happiness in this world, but in that man
+who acts from a sense of duty. His is true
+peace, because it is 'the peace of God.' I do
+not say, boys, that a man, even when he does
+his duty, <i>always</i> feels comfortable or happy <i>at
+once</i>; but he will be more apt to feel so than
+if he did not do his duty: and I do say that
+no man who does not act from a sense of duty,
+is likely to feel any thing like happiness very
+often or very long."</p>
+
+<p>"Then, Uncle Philip, a man who wishes to
+be happy will try in the first place to find out
+what his duty is."</p>
+
+<p>"To be sure, he will; and he need not try
+very long either, if he really wishes to know
+it. The will of God, boys, is at the bottom of
+all our duties; and an honest man, yes, or
+boy either, can commonly tell what God will
+think to be right or wrong in his conduct.
+You know where a great many of our duties
+are very plainly written down for us; do you
+not?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, sir; in the New Testament, which
+tells us of what our Saviour said and did."</p>
+
+<p>"True. And what our Saviour commanded,
+boys, God commanded; for He is
+God. But besides this, when it is not exactly
+written down in the New Testament what we
+should do, still if we will think, we shall very
+often find out what to do, from what is
+written."</p>
+
+<p>"Uncle Philip, we almost always know
+what you mean; but now, we do not quite
+understand you."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, boys, for telling me that you
+do not know what I mean: always tell any
+person who is trying to teach you something,
+when you do not understand what is said to
+you. Now I will try to make what I said
+plainer to you. The New Testament does
+not say any thing about your going to school;
+does it?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Who sends you to school, boys, and pays
+your teachers for instructing you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Our parents, Uncle Philip."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well. Now suppose that John Carter
+here, should wish, instead of going to school,
+to do, what I am very sure he never did do:
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span>
+suppose he should determine to play the truant.
+The Bible does not say a boy shall not
+play the truant, does it?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, Uncle Philip."</p>
+
+<p>"But if John Carter should play the truant,
+he would, in doing so, disobey what God has
+commanded in the Bible just as much as if
+the Bible did say 'A boy shall not play the
+truant;' for the Bible does say, '<i>Children
+obey your parents</i>,' and he could not be a
+truant without disobeying his parents, who
+bade him go to school."</p>
+
+<p>"Uncle Philip, we understand you very well
+now."</p>
+
+<p>"There is another thing I wish you to understand,
+boys. John Carter, as you see,
+would not only disobey his parents, which is
+wicked, but he would also commit a <i>sin</i> against
+God. That is always the thing to look at first.
+When we are going to do something that we
+are not very sure is right, we should always
+stop to ask ourselves whether God will be
+pleased with it. But I have said enough to
+you about our duty for this time. Now for
+the ants I promised to tell you of. And the
+first sort I shall mention are great fighters."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Fighters, Uncle Philip! What do they
+fight about?"</p>
+
+<p>"About trifles, boys, just as men do. They
+have terrible wars, and will dispute with and
+kill each other for a few inches of dirt, when
+certainly this world is large enough for them
+all. But animals wiser than ants, boys, act
+in the same foolish way. Men sometimes
+go to war and kill each other to determine
+who shall have a river, or a small town, or a
+fort, or some little spot of ground; while the
+poor creatures who do the fighting, and get
+all the wounds, and lose their lives, had they
+been let alone, would have lived on in peace,
+and never cared a straw who had the miserable
+little spot they fight for. But let me go
+on with the account of these ants. In the
+forests, where the fallow ants live, you may
+see these wars. The battle will be between
+the ants of different hills, but they are all
+ants of the same sort. Thousands and thousands
+of them will meet on the ground between
+their hills, and the battle begins by two
+ants, who seize each other by the claws (or
+<i>mandibles</i>, as they are called), and rising up
+on their hind-legs, they bring their bodies near
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span>
+together, and spirt a sort of venomous or
+poisonous juice upon each other. These will
+be followed by thousands of others on both
+sides, who seize each other in the same way,
+and fight in pairs&mdash;ant to ant. Sometimes
+they will get so wedged together that they
+fall down upon their sides, but they do not
+let go on that account; they keep on fighting
+in the dust until they rise on their feet again.
+Sometimes, too, a third ant will come in, and
+joining whichever of them belongs to his
+nest, the two will begin to drag the third,
+until some of his friends come to his help;
+and in this way, others joining on both sides,
+they will form strings of six, or eight, or ten
+on a side, pulling with all their strength.
+And while some are fighting, you will see
+others leading off prisoners towards their
+hills, while the prisoners are trying to escape.
+The field of battle is not more, perhaps, than
+three feet square; multitudes of dead ants
+covered with venom may be seen upon it,
+and there is a very strong scent which comes
+from it. When night comes they go off to
+their hills. Before dawn the next day they
+are at it again in still larger numbers, and
+they fight with greater fury than before, until
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span>
+at last one side or the other gives way. They
+are so busy that even if you stand near them
+they take no notice of you, and not one stops
+fighting, or crawls up your legs."</p>
+
+<p>"Do all of them that belong to the hill go
+out to fight, Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; near the hills all is peace and order,
+and work seems to be going on as usual.
+Only on the side next to the battle, crowds
+may be seen running backwards and forwards
+from both hills; some as messengers, I suppose,
+and some to fight, or carry back prisoners."</p>
+
+<p>"But, Uncle Philip, you said that these ants
+were all of one sort; how then do they know
+one another so as to tell which party each
+one belongs to? I should think that sometimes
+they would make a mistake, and fight
+a friend instead of an enemy."</p>
+
+<p>"This, boys, is one of the most wonderful
+things concerning them. They are alike in
+form, and size, and weapons, and strength;
+and sometimes it happens that they do make
+a mistake, but it is very seldom; and when
+they do, Mr. Huber, who watched one of their
+battles, says that they find it out directly, and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span>
+caress each other with their feelers, and make
+up the difficulty at once.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you tired, boys, or do you wish to
+hear more?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, let us hear more, by all means: we
+are not at all tired."</p>
+
+<p>"I will then tell you of another kind of
+ants called legionary ants, and sometimes
+amazons; but I am sorry to say that they
+are unlike other ants, for they are lazy; and
+yet they live very comfortably."</p>
+
+<p>"How is that, Uncle Philip? Can they
+be comfortable without working?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, boys, if they can get others to work
+for them; and these have their work mostly
+done by their slaves."</p>
+
+<p>"By their slaves! what are their slaves, and
+where did they get them?"</p>
+
+<p>"As to your first question, boys, their slaves
+are ants of another kind; as to the second
+question&mdash;where they get them&mdash;they <i>stole</i>
+them when they were young."</p>
+
+<p>"Why you surprise us, Uncle Philip."</p>
+
+<p>"I dare say I do. There are persons much
+older than you are who have never attended
+at all to the doings of insects, who would be
+very much astonished by the history of the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span>
+legionary ants; and probably would laugh at
+the whole account as an idle story; and yet
+it is all true, and those who have read and
+seen, know it to be true; and they know, too,
+that to deny it shows nothing but ignorance.
+However, I always let such persons alone. I
+can do them no good; for they are apt to be
+very conceited, and will not be convinced.
+And now for the legionary ant. This is a
+fighting ant, as well as the last I mentioned;
+and it actually steals the young of another
+kind, rears them, and puts all the work on
+them, so as to be idle itself. This curious
+fact was first found out by Mr. Huber; another
+gentleman, named Latreille, afterward
+saw the same thing; and now a great many
+naturalists know it, because they have sought
+for and seen it. The ant which it steals is
+of a dark ash colour; the legionary is of
+light colour. The dark-coloured ant is
+now called the negro ant, and is a very industrious,
+peaceable insect, without any sting.
+The legionary is a strong, brave ant, with a
+sting, but very lazy. I shall relate to you
+the account which Mr. Huber gives of the
+legionary. He was walking near the city of
+Geneva during an afternoon in the summer
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span>
+of 1804, when he saw quite an army of these
+legionary ants crossing the road; they passed
+through a thick hedge, entered a pasture, and
+kept on through the grass without separating;
+and Mr. Huber followed them until he saw
+them come near a nest of negro ants. Some
+of these negro ants seemed to be guarding
+the holes into their nest; but as soon as they
+saw the legionaries, they, with a great many
+more from the inside of the nest, attacked the
+thieves. The legionary ants, however, were
+too powerful for them, and after a short but
+severe fight they conquered the negroes, who
+ran into the lower part of their nests. The
+legionaries then mounted their ant-hill, some
+entered it by the holes already made, and others
+began with their teeth to break other holes,
+so that all the army might get into the hill.
+They went in and remained but a few minutes,
+when they came out, each one having
+in his mouth a young negro ant, and off they
+scampered, without any order among them,
+every one going his own way, until Mr.
+Huber lost sight of them. The next day he
+set out to go back and examine further, and
+on his way he found a large ant-hill full of
+legionaries, and saw an army start from it,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span>
+which he followed. They made the attack
+as before, and each one came off with a young
+negro ant in his mouth, and on going back
+to their hill, from which Mr. Huber saw
+them start, he had an opportunity of seeing
+them return, and was very much surprised to
+find all around the nest of the legionaries a
+great many full-grown negro ants. At first
+he thought that perhaps they had gone there
+to fight the legionaries, but he soon saw that
+instead of fighting, the negro ants went out
+to meet the legionaries returning, and would
+caress them, and give them food, and finally
+take the young negro ants and carry them
+within the nest."</p>
+
+<p>"But, Uncle Philip, why do the legionaries
+always take the young ones?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because, boys, they know, I suppose, that
+the old ants would never be satisfied to remove
+from their homes; and therefore they
+take the young. These legionaries could work
+if they would, I think, but they depend upon
+the negro ants for house and home, and food
+too; and nothing can be more faithful and
+affectionate than these poor slaves are. To
+try them, Mr. Huber took thirty of the legionaries,
+and put them with some of the larvæ,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span>
+or grubs of their own young, into a glass box
+with a thick coat of earth at the bottom of it,
+and he put honey also in the box, that they
+might not want food. At first the legionaries
+paid a little attention to their young; but they
+soon stopped; and they neither tried to make
+a house, nor took any food, so that in two days
+half of them died. Mr. Huber then put in
+<i>one</i> negro ant, and this little creature set to
+work alone, made a chamber of the earth in
+the box, gathered the young together, fed the
+old, and put every thing into complete order.</p>
+
+<p>"At another time Mr. Huber broke one of
+the ant-hills of these legionaries, to see how
+they would act, and in doing it, he, of course,
+altered their galleries and chambers. The legionaries
+seemed to be lost, and went wandering
+about, without knowing where to go; but
+the negro ants appeared to understand very
+well where they were: they could find such
+of the galleries as were not broken, and would
+take up the legionaries in their mouths and
+carry them into them. If the negro sometimes
+seemed for a short time to be lost, and
+not to know where it was, it laid down its
+master, ran round and examined until it knew,
+and then would come back, and pick up the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span>
+legionary ant, and carry it off. In one case
+Mr. Huber saw that the entrance to a gallery
+was stopped up by a small lump of earth; the
+negro ant laid his master down, took away
+the piece of earth, and then carried him in."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, these poor negro ants are sensible
+as well as faithful, Uncle Philip."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, boys, they are so; and I think it is
+likely that both kinds depend in some way
+upon each other, but we have not yet found
+all about it. I expect that in some things the
+legionary does for the negro ant what it could
+not do for itself. God has made them necessary
+to each other, and this is the reason they
+live together so kindly.</p>
+
+<p>"But I think it is time now to leave the
+ants, and go back to our business of seeking
+for something like man's inventions and tools
+among the lower animals. Perhaps hereafter
+I may tell you more about ants; but at present
+I must bid you good morning."</p>
+
+<p>"Good morning, Uncle Philip."</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h2><a name="CONVERSATION_XIII" id="CONVERSATION_XIII"></a>CONVERSATION XIII.</h2>
+
+<div class="chapsum"><i>Uncle Philip and the Boys make a Voyage,
+and he tells them of an Animal that makes
+itself into a Ship; and of an Insect that
+builds a Boat, and floats about in a Canoe;
+and of another that pumps Water, and
+wears a Mask; and of a Spider that builds
+a Raft, and floats upon it.</i></div>
+
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">Well</span>, boys, I have a most delightful plan
+for us to-day."</p>
+
+<p>"What is it, what is it, Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, I have a little voyage to make, and
+my boat is on the river just above the mill. I
+have the men there to row it, and every thing
+is ready."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! dear Uncle Philip, this is charming!
+we shall be so happy! But&mdash;but&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"But what, boys?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Uncle Philip, we have not asked
+leave at home. Now our parents are very
+happy to have us visit you, and say that they
+are very much obliged to you for telling us so
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span>
+many things; but they have told us, too, never
+to get into a boat without asking their permission
+first. Uncle Philip, we are sure they
+will let us go, if they know that you are going;
+only let us run home and ask them."</p>
+
+<p>"My dear boys, I am very much pleased
+with your conduct; and, what is far better,
+my children, God is pleased; for he has
+commanded you to honour your father and
+mother: but you need not go home to ask
+permission, for you may depend upon it I
+would not take one of you upon the water
+without the consent of your parents: so I
+went yesterday, while you were all at school,
+and have got permission from your friends
+for every one of you to go&mdash;only I asked
+them to tell you nothing about it."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh dear, Uncle Philip, you are so very,
+very good: thank you, thank you, a thousand
+times over."</p>
+
+<p>"Once is enough, boys. There is but one
+Being who deserves a thousand thanks, and
+he, in truth, deserves a great many more
+than a thousand; but I fear that from a great
+many he is just the Being who gets the fewest,&mdash;it
+is our Heavenly Father: but come
+on, boys, let us be going to the boat. We
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span>
+shall soon reach her. Ah, yonder she is; I
+see her through the trees."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, what a beauty she is, Uncle Philip,
+with her green sides and white belt near
+the top. We shall have a charming voyage."</p>
+
+<p>"Come, then; get in, my little sailors, and
+seat yourselves yonder in the stern. Now we
+are all ready; shove off, men, and use your
+oars. I will take care of the helm."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Uncle Philip, how smoothly we go
+along! this is charming. Is this the way a
+ship goes, Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"A ship floats, boys, just as the boat does;
+but she is not rowed with oars; she has sails,
+and the wind blowing upon them sends her
+along."</p>
+
+<p>"Uncle Philip, there are no ships among
+animals, are there?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh no; but there is a very curious little
+animal which lives in the water, and manages
+to rig out something like a ship, and to
+sail."</p>
+
+<p>"What is it, Uncle Philip? pray let us hear
+of it."</p>
+
+<p>"It is called the nautilus, and I saw a great
+many of them in the Mediterranean sea. The
+shell is nearly round, and six or eight inches
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span>
+across, not much thicker than paper, and of
+a whitish colour: it has, too, a keel or ridge
+upon each side. When it wishes to sail, it
+stretches upwards two of its legs: these have
+a very thin skin at the end, which the nautilus
+spreads out for sails, and the other legs
+hang over on each side of the shell for oars
+or rudders. When the sea is calm, a great
+many of them may be seen playing about;
+but as soon as a storm arises, or they are disturbed,
+they take in their sails and sink to
+the bottom. But, boys, the most curious boat
+that I know, made by one of the dumb creatures,
+is the work of the little insect that
+played the doctor the other day, and stuck
+his lancet into us. Do you remember what
+insect that was?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, very well, Uncle Philip, it was the
+gnat."</p>
+
+<p>"True, boys, it was the gnat, which is an
+insect that spends the first part of its life in
+the water, and the latter part in the air.
+The grub of the gnat lives in water, and I
+will give you the whole history of this curious
+insect. We will first speak of the eggs,
+for out of these it is that the boat is made.
+In order to see this boat made, you must go
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span>
+early in the morning, between five and six
+o'clock, to a bucket, or pond of stagnant
+water, where gnats are to be found: if you
+go later you will not see it. The gnat's eggs
+are shaped something like a pocket powder-flask,
+and it is by putting a great many of
+these together that she makes the boat. To
+do this, the mother gnat stands by her fore-legs
+upon the side of the bucket, or on a
+leaf or stick in the pond, and her body is on
+a level with the water, and rests upon it, except
+the last ring of her tail, which she raises
+a little. She then crosses her two hind-legs
+in the shape of the letter X, and begins to
+put her eggs in that part of the X nearest
+to her body. So she brings her legs, crossed
+in this way, near to her body, and puts an
+egg in the angle, covered with a kind of glue,
+which will make the eggs stick together. On
+each side of the first egg she puts another in
+this shape &#8258;, and here is a drawing of the
+insect at this part of her work.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_159.jpg" id="i_159.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_159.jpg"
+  alt="A Gnat making her Boat of Eggs" />
+  <div class="caption">A Gnat making her Boat of Eggs.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"She then goes on adding eggs, which are
+all put in the water with their ends downwards,
+until she has got her boat half-finished;
+she then uncrosses her legs, and just keeps
+one on each side of the boat as she goes on,
+until she has completed it."</p>
+
+<p>"And how many eggs, Uncle Philip, will
+she put together in this way?"</p>
+
+<p>"From two hundred and fifty to three hundred
+and fifty, and when all are laid they
+make quite a good boat, sharp, and raised at
+both ends, and floating on the water. Then
+the mother gnat leaves it. Here is a picture
+of one of these boats.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_160.jpg" id="i_160.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_160.jpg"
+  alt="gnat egg boat" />
+</div>
+
+<p>"Now I will tell you of what becomes of
+the young ones in these eggs. They come
+out of the lower part of the egg, and commonly
+swim, with their heads downward,
+near to the top of the water."</p>
+
+<p>"With their heads downward, Uncle Philip!
+what is that for?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, they have a tube at the end of their
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span>
+bodies, near the tail, through which they
+breathe; and that part must, you know, be at
+the top to get air. Besides this, its tail and
+its breathing tube both end in a sort of funnel,
+made up of hairs placed somewhat in the
+form of a star, and covered with oil, so as to
+keep off water, and these buoy or float it up.
+When it wishes to sink, it just folds up its
+funnels, and shuts up in them a little bubble
+of air, which it breathes under the water;
+and when it wishes to rise, it opens its funnels,
+and they float it to the top again. Here is a
+drawing which will show it to you.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_161.jpg" id="i_161.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_161.jpg"
+  alt="Larva of the common Gnat" />
+  <div class="caption">Larva of the common Gnat floating in water, greatly magnified.
+    <i>aa</i>, the body and head of the larva; <i>b</i>, the respiratory apparatus,
+	situated in the tail; <i>c</i>, the larva, not magnified.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"They are hatched in a few days, and then
+the boat of empty eggs floats about until it is
+destroyed by the weather. And to show you
+how good a boat it is, I will tell you what a
+gentleman did to prove it. Mr. Kirby, who is
+very fond of natural history, and has written
+a great deal about insects, says that he put
+half a dozen of these gnat-boats in a tumbler
+half full of water, and then poured upon
+them a stream from the mouth of a quart
+bottle, held up a foot above them, and he could
+not sink them. More than that, the water
+would not stay in them. If you push one to
+the bottom with your finger, it will come
+up to the top directly, and you cannot see any
+water in it."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, this is a noble boat, Uncle Philip,
+that will never sink."</p>
+
+<p>"True, boys; but listen, and you will find
+that before it can use its wings the gnat has
+to sail in another boat still, much more dangerous
+than this is. After it is hatched, it has
+to pass through several shapes before it gets
+to be such an insect as you see. Here is a
+picture which will show you its different
+shapes.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_163.jpg" id="i_163.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_163.jpg"
+  alt="Gnat shapes" />
+</div>
+
+<p>"The first is the same which you saw in
+the last picture, only in this drawing the head
+is uppermost. But its last change, when it
+becomes an insect with wings, is the most
+curious part of the whole. When it is about
+to get its wings, and become a perfect gnat, it
+raises its shoulders just above the top of the
+water, and its skin cracks, so that the head of
+the gnat immediately comes through. The
+shoulders come next, and make the crack
+larger; but it has yet all its body to get out,
+and its legs and wings are as yet all shut up
+in its case. Now is the time of danger for
+the gnat. It raises itself nearly straight out
+of the crack, and by wriggling works its body
+along: and if a particle of water should get
+upon the case, or touch its wings, it would be
+overset, and must perish. Thousands and
+thousands die in this way. It is so very
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span>
+light, too, that the wind will drive it about, and
+whirl it round and round upon the top of the
+water; and when it is almost out, the insect
+is tossed about in a canoe or boat of the very
+weakest sort, while its body is a mast, which
+appears much too large for so small a boat.
+At last it gets far enough out of the case to
+stretch its fore-legs, and put them down
+upon the water (which will bear a gnat's
+weight), and then it is safe; it spreads its
+wings, and soon leaves the little boat which
+was so dangerous. Here is a picture of the
+gnat getting out of its case."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_164.jpg" id="i_164.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_164.jpg"
+  alt="Gnat getting out of its case" />
+</div>
+
+<p>"Well, Uncle Philip, all this is very strange;
+we never knew before that the gnat was a
+sailor."</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose that you did not, boys. But as
+we are talking of boats, pray can you think of
+any way of making a boat move through water
+without oars, or paddles, or sails, or something
+to pull it along?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"No indeed.&mdash;Oh yes, Uncle Philip, by
+steam."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, I mentioned paddles, boys, and a
+steamboat is forced along by them."</p>
+
+<p>"No; Uncle Philip, we do not know."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I will tell you then of another way
+in which I have no doubt a boat might be
+made to move. If there were any contrivance
+by which a large quantity of water could be
+kept in the boat, and if this water were forced
+out of tubes or holes at one end very violently,
+it would push against the water in which the
+boat was floating, and force her along. Some
+years ago a plan was thought of to make a
+steam engine throw the water out of the stern
+of the boat, and thus to force her along; and
+before that, Dr. Franklin tried some schemes
+for the same purpose, but they never succeeded.
+Now there is an insect which adopts
+precisely this plan, and perhaps some of those
+who thought of it got the notion from the
+insect."</p>
+
+<p>"What insect is it, Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is the grub of the dragon-fly. If you
+catch one of these grubs and put it into a
+saucer of water with some of the dead leaves
+or sticks it had for a covering, you will see
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span>
+these leaves or sticks floating towards the tail
+of the grub, and afterward driven off again.
+This is because the insect is pumping in
+water, and then throwing it out. If you take
+one of them out of the water, and hold it with
+its head down, and let a drop of water fall
+upon its tail, it instantly sucks it in, and you
+can see it grow larger; and when it throws it
+out again it becomes smaller."</p>
+
+<p>"But, Uncle Philip, how can you see it
+suck the water in?"</p>
+
+<p>"Very easily, boys. When it is in the
+water, if you will colour some other water
+with indigo, or ink, or any thing else, and
+then hold a glass tube just over the tail of
+the insect, and very carefully put some of the
+coloured water into the tube, you will soon see
+the grub spirt out a stream of it to the distance
+of several inches: or if you will put the
+insect in a saucer of coloured water, and then
+suddenly move it, and put it into one of clean
+water, you will see it spirt out the coloured
+stream plainer still."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Uncle Philip, it must have a pump
+inside of it."</p>
+
+<p>"It has, boys, something very like one.
+This stream of water is forced out to help
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span>
+the insect along; for though it has six feet, it
+uses them very little except for catching food.
+It drives the water out so strongly against
+the still water behind it, that it sends it forward,
+with a dart, very rapidly. Here are
+two pictures; one shows the pump open, and
+the other shows it shut."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_167.jpg" id="i_167.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_167.jpg"
+  alt="Dragon-fly grub" />
+</div>
+
+<p>"Uncle Philip, is there any thing else curious
+about this insect?"</p>
+
+<p>"There is, boys, something well worth
+attention; did you ever see a mask?"</p>
+
+<p>"Do you mean, Uncle Philip, a face made
+of pasteboard, very frightful commonly, which
+you can wear over your own face?"</p>
+
+<p>"That is a mask, boys; but so is any thing
+which is made to wear over the face, and hide
+it. Now this little insect has a mask, not
+made like a man's face, but which completely
+hides its mouth, and it is exceedingly curious."</p>
+
+<p>"How is it made, Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, boys, I am not sure that I can tell
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span>
+you, so that you will understand me; but I
+will try. Suppose your under-lip was horn,
+instead of being flesh; and suppose it hung
+straight down until it reached the bottom of
+your chin, so as to cover the whole of it, and
+that at the bottom there was a large three-sided
+plate which was hollowed out, and fastened
+by a joint or hinge to the bottom of your
+long lip, so that it could turn up on the hinge
+and cover your face as high up as your nose,
+and hide your long lip and your mouth and
+part of your cheeks: suppose, too, that at the
+upper end of this long face-cover there were
+two other pieces, so broad that they would
+cover all your nose and your temples, and
+could open sidewise like jaws, and show your
+nose and mouth, so that when they were
+opened they would appear like the blinders to a
+horse's bridle; and then suppose that these
+jaws, upon their inner edges, were cut into a
+great many sharp teeth, which fitted into each
+other, and you will have some notion of this
+curious mask. Do you think you understand
+me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, pretty well, Uncle Philip, we think."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, boys, here are some pictures, and
+with their help I hope what I have been saying
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span>
+will be plain enough. In one picture the
+mask is shut; and in the other, one of the jaws,
+like a blinder to a bridle, is open. While the
+insect is at rest, it keeps the mask over its
+face; when it wishes to use it, it unfolds it,
+and catches its food, and holds it to its mouth.
+A gentleman once saw one of them holding
+and eating a large tadpole."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_169.jpg" id="i_169.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_169.jpg"
+  alt="Dragon-fly mask" />
+  <div class="caption">Mask of the Dragon-fly, shut and open.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>"Uncle Philip, this mask is any thing but
+handsome."</p>
+
+<p>"Very true; but you know we agreed when
+we were talking about the bats to look at animals
+even if they were not handsome. And
+there is your poor little ugly insect that you
+thought it right to kill, the spider; did you
+know that the spider was a sailor, too?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, indeed, Uncle Philip! Pray tell us
+of it, will you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; but wait a little, until we bring the
+boat's head right, for we are near the landing-place.
+So&mdash;now, boys, I am ready. There
+is a very large spider, about which not much
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span>
+is yet known, which actually builds a <i>raft</i>,
+for the purpose of getting its food more easily.
+You may see it sailing about upon the water,
+on a ball of weeds about three inches across,
+which is held together probably by small silk
+cords spun from itself; and the moment it
+sees an insect drowning, it leaves the raft, gets
+the insect, and then returns to eat it at leisure.
+If you frighten it, or it thinks danger is near,
+in an instant it is under the raft out of sight."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, this is a cunning spider, Uncle Philip."</p>
+
+<p>"Not half so cunning, boys, as the one we
+talked of which built a door to its house.
+But here we are at land. Jump ashore, my
+lads, and give my respects to your fathers and
+mothers, when you get home."</p>
+
+<p>"We will. Good day, Uncle Philip."</p>
+
+<p>"Good day, boys. I shall be glad to see
+you next Saturday."</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="CONVERSATION_XIV" id="CONVERSATION_XIV"></a>CONVERSATION XIV.</h2>
+
+<div class="chapsum"><i>Uncle Philip tells the Boys about an Insect
+with Tweezers, and another with Pincers;
+and shows them how a Fly's Foot is made,
+so as to stick to the Wall.</i></div>
+
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">How</span> do you do, Uncle Philip, this morning?"</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, boys, I thank you. You are all
+well, I suppose, or I should not see you here."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, we are all well, thank you, Uncle
+Philip. But one of us would be very glad to
+have your help."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, what is the matter?"</p>
+
+<p>"Charles Walker has run a splinter into his
+hand, and he wishes you to get it out for him."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, certainly, I will do that, if I can. Let
+me see: but stay&mdash;I must first put on my
+spectacles. Ah, now I see it; I can get it out,
+but I must take my tweezers to it. There, it
+is out."</p>
+
+<p>"Uncle Philip, those tweezers are very
+useful. If you had not had them, you could
+not have taken hold of the splinter with your
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span>
+fingers; and what would you have done
+then?"</p>
+
+<p>"Tried to cut it out with the point of my
+penknife; but the tweezers are better for such
+work; and that reminds me, boys, to tell you
+that there are insects with tweezers."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, what tool is it that you cannot find
+among them, Uncle Philip? It really seems
+as if you found almost every kind among the
+lower animals."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no&mdash;no, boys. There are a great
+many which I cannot find; but there are several,
+too, which, as you know, we have discovered."</p>
+
+<p>"And, Uncle Philip, we suppose that men
+learned to make their tools and work at many
+of their trades from these dumb creatures."</p>
+
+<p>"Stay, boys&mdash;I never said that, because I
+think that it is not true. We know that in
+some things men did not learn from the insects,
+though they might have done so.
+There is paper, for instance. How could men
+learn to make it from the wasps, when it was
+a thins: in common use a long time before Mr.
+Reaumur, of whom I told you, found out how
+the wasp made it? So, too, with a great many
+tools; men invented them, and afterward,
+perhaps, it was found out that insects had instruments
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span>
+like them: and at other times the
+insects did show men how to make some
+things. I will tell you of one which I think
+of just now. The city of London, in England,
+is on the river Thames. Some time
+since a plan was adopted to make what is
+called a tunnel under the river. This tunnel
+is a road dug out of the earth, under the bottom
+of the river, across it; and of course to
+keep the water from pressing in the earth as
+fast as it was hollowed out, it was propped up
+by walls built on each side, with a very strong
+arch at the top. The work has now stopped;
+but about half of it was made. In building
+this arched road under the water, the workmen
+used what they called a shield, to keep
+the water from coming through upon them:
+and the gentleman who invented it, says that
+he first thought of it, from examining a little
+animal named Taret, which will bore holes in
+large pieces of timber under the water. This
+little animal has upon its head a kind of
+shield, by which it keeps off the force of the
+water, and works without being disturbed.
+So here was a case in which the insect taught
+the man."</p>
+
+<p>"Uncle Philip, that gentleman was a sensible
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span>
+man, in the first place to watch the Taret
+and examine its head, and in the next place
+not to be too proud to learn from it. I expect
+he was a naturalist; was he, Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do not know, boys; but I should think
+his discovery of the shield would make him
+an attentive observer, if he was not so before."</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Uncle Philip, will you tell us of the
+tweezers?"</p>
+
+<p>"Very willingly, boys. This instrument
+or tool belongs to the moths which you see
+flying about at times. The tails are covered
+with a down, which grows in the form of a
+thick brush or tuft, and has a shining silky
+gloss, different in colour from the short hair
+upon the rest of the body. The moth pulls
+off this hair to cover its eggs, and the tweezers
+are used for that purpose. Here is a picture
+of the moths."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_174.jpg" id="i_174.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_174.jpg"
+  alt="Females of the brown and gold-tailed Moths" />
+  <div class="caption">Females of the brown and gold-tailed Moths, showing the bunch
+    of down on the tails.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Uncle Philip, you said that the moth pulled
+this hair off to cover its eggs; are they easily
+frozen?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not very easily, boys; but you are mistaken
+in thinking that the moth covers these
+eggs to keep off the cold; for as she lays
+them in July and August, and covers them at
+that time, it cannot be to keep off the cold."</p>
+
+<p>"What is it for, then, Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"To keep off the summer heat, boys."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Uncle Philip! who ever heard of
+covering a thing up in hair or wool to keep
+off heat?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have heard of it, and seen it too, boys.
+It may seem strange, but it is true, that down
+and wool, and such things, are nearly as good
+to protect an animal from very great outward
+heat as they are to keep off very severe cold.
+When I was at Naples, in Italy, it was summer;&mdash;the
+climate is a very warm one.&mdash;The
+country people were in the habit of bringing
+snow into the city from Mount Vesuvius,
+and every morning I could see them coming
+in with their snow, which they sell to the
+rich to use for cooling things: and they kept
+it from melting with straw and wool. And
+in our own country, especially at the south, it
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span>
+is very common when a large lump of ice is
+brought to the house to be used through the
+day in midsummer, to wrap it up in a thick
+blanket until it is wanted.</p>
+
+<p>"But I have not yet told you of the tweezers.
+The moth has no jaws, like bees and
+wasps, so that it cannot pull off these hairs
+as the bee would; but, as I told you, it performs
+the work with its tweezers, which are
+placed in its tail, and are like the points of a
+pair of sugar-tongs. The insects, too, will
+use them very rapidly, and pull off a little of
+the down, spread the egg upon it, and then
+cover it with more down, and smooth it very
+neatly. Here are pictures of these tweezers."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_176.jpg" id="i_176.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_176.jpg"
+  alt="Tweezers of the brown and gold-tailed Moths" />
+  <div class="caption">Tweezers of the brown and gold-tailed Moths, magnified.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>"This is a curious instrument for the insect
+to have, Uncle Philip."</p>
+
+<p>"True, boys, but a very useful one. I will
+tell you, however, of another strange thing
+concerning moths with their tweezers; I
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span>
+mean the way in which they will sometimes
+place their eggs. The kind of moth that does
+this work is not exactly known, but naturalists
+think that the eggs are moth's eggs, because
+they are covered with the down, exactly
+like those which are known to be moth's eggs.
+These eggs are twisted round a branch, like
+the thread of a screw, or like the curled end
+of a corkscrew put over a small stick. Here
+is a picture of some of these eggs."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_177.jpg" id="i_177.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_177.jpg"
+  alt="Spiral group of Eggs" />
+  <div class="caption">Spiral group of Eggs of an unknown Moth.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>"Ah, this is wonderful work indeed for a
+moth, Uncle Philip."</p>
+
+<p>"As you seem to like this, boys, I will just
+mention to you that there is another moth,
+called the lackey-moth, which winds its eggs
+also around a branch. They are hard, however,
+and not covered with any down, and are
+put on in the strongest possible way. If men
+wish to make an arch of stone, you know that
+the stones will be more narrow at the bottom
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span>
+than at the top, so that the bottom of the arch
+may make a small circle, and the top a larger
+one: thus&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_178a.jpg" id="i_178a.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_178a.jpg"
+  alt="Key-stone of an arch" />
+  <div class="caption"><strong>A</strong>, Key-stone of an arch;
+  <strong>B</strong>, Arch completed.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>Now the moth goes on this principle. Its eggs
+are shaped like the bowl of a wine-glass, and
+the smaller end is put next to the branch.
+They are all glued together, too, with a kind
+of gum, which will not dissolve or melt in
+water; so that the rain cannot injure them.
+Here is a picture of these eggs.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_178b.jpg" id="i_178b.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_178b.jpg"
+  alt="Eggs of the Lackey-moth" />
+  <div class="caption">Eggs of the Lackey-moth, wound spirally round a twig of hawthorn;
+    natural size, and magnified.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>"There is another insect, boys, which has
+something like tweezers; though I think they
+resemble pincers most."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"What is it, Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"The boys call it father long-legs, and I
+dare say you have often seen it. It is the
+crane-fly, and its pincers are used for putting
+its egg in the hole it has made for it."</p>
+
+<p>"Where does it put its eggs, Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_179.jpg" id="i_179.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_179.jpg"
+  alt="Ovipositor and Eggs of the Crane-fly" />
+  <div class="caption">Ovipositor and Eggs of the Crane-fly.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>"In the earth, boys; and to enable the insect
+to do this, the female has the pincers I
+spoke of: they are made of something like
+horn, and are sharp at the point. With these
+she first bores a hole in the ground, and then
+puts the egg in. The egg is like a grain of
+gunpowder, and she puts herself in a very
+curious posture to bore the hole. Here,
+boys, you may see a picture of the pincers as
+they appear through a microscope, for they
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span>
+are not near as large as the picture. And
+here is a drawing of one boring."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_180.jpg" id="i_180.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_180.jpg"
+  alt="Crane-fly ovipositing" />
+  <div class="caption">Crane-fly ovipositing, and the larva beneath, in the
+    earth, feeding upon grass roots.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>"What good pincers those are, Uncle
+Philip: but will you tell us one thing which
+we wish to know? Talking about the crane-fly
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span>
+has put me in mind of it: the other day
+we were sitting together in school, and the
+wall over our heads was covered with common
+flies; and when we came out, we were
+talking about the way in which the fly stuck
+to the wall without falling down; and as we
+could not tell what kept him up, we agreed
+to ask you about it."</p>
+
+<p>"I will tell you, boys, very willingly. I
+do not wonder that you were unable to tell how
+the fly stuck to the wall; for you never tried to
+find out, and therefore could only guess at it."</p>
+
+<p>"And that is not a good way to find out
+any thing, Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, boys; though some persons much older
+than you are, did nothing but guess about this
+very thing, and guessed very far from the truth
+too. Some thought that the fly had a sponge
+in its foot, and squeezed a sort of glue out of
+it which made it stick fast; others said that
+the glass or wall was so rough that the fly's
+feet would catch hold of the little points upon
+it; but both were wrong."</p>
+
+<p>"How does it hold on, Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"Did you ever see what the boys call a
+sucker, made of a piece of soft sole leather?
+That will show you how the fly's foot sticks
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span>
+fast. This leather is cut round, and has a
+string through the centre; the boys wet it,
+and then put it upon a board or something
+smooth, and stamp on it, and try to raise it
+up from the board by the string; and it requires
+some strength to pull it up: sometimes
+they put it on a small smooth stone, and then
+lift up the stone by it. The reason why the
+leather sticks so fast is because the air is
+pressing on it upon the outside, and there is
+very little or no air between it and the board,
+to press the other way."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Uncle Philip, is the air heavy?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, boys, when there is so much of it
+as there is above the earth, it presses down
+very heavily. Now the fly's foot is like the
+sucker; when he puts it down he has a contrivance
+to drive out the air from under it, so
+that there will be little or none between it and
+the wall; and then the outer air presses upon
+it, and holds it fast."</p>
+
+<p>"But, Uncle Philip, how does he get it up
+again?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, boys, by another contrivance, he
+can let air in under his foot again, and then
+he can easily move it; for we do not feel the
+weight of air when it presses upon both sides
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span>
+of us. The reason why you stand up straight
+is because the air is pressing all around you;
+if it were on one side of you only, it would
+press you down on the other side. Here is a
+picture of the fly's foot, as it appears through
+the microscope. You will see it has three
+suckers with the edges all like saws; these are
+to make it stick the closer. This picture, boys,
+is sixty-four hundred times as large as the fly's
+foot is."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_183.jpg" id="i_183.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_183.jpg"
+  alt="Fly's foot" />
+  <div class="caption">Fly's foot magnified.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>"But, Uncle Philip, there is one thing yet
+hard to understand."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"What is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, the fly walks on the wall over our
+heads; now the air cannot press down upon
+his feet there."</p>
+
+<p>"Very true, boys: it cannot press <i>down</i>, but
+it can and does press <i>up</i> against his feet; for
+the air presses up and down and sidewise all
+alike."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, now it is plain enough, and we are
+much obliged to you, Uncle Philip, for telling
+us what we wished to know."</p>
+
+<p>"You are quite welcome, my dear boys, to
+all that I can teach you: if it makes you to
+be wiser and better men when you grow up, I
+shall be very thankful to God that I have
+been able to do you any good."</p>
+
+<p>"Good morning, Uncle Philip."</p>
+
+<p>"Good day, boys; I shall expect to see you
+all in church to-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>"We shall be there, Uncle Philip."</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="CONVERSATION_XV" id="CONVERSATION_XV"></a>CONVERSATION XV.</h2>
+
+<div class="chapsum"><i>Uncle Philip tells the Boys how Hats are
+made; and then talks to them about Animals
+that can make Felt like the Hatter.</i></div>
+
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">Boys</span>, do you remember my telling you of
+a remarkable bird, called the tailor-bird, which
+sews very neatly?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, Uncle Philip; it is not easy to
+forget such an excellent little workman; but
+why do you ask&mdash;have you any thing more
+to tell us about that bird?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, boys, not any thing of that bird; but
+I was thinking last night of the work done
+by several other kinds of birds, some of them
+quite as good workmen as our little tailor;
+and I thought that, perhaps, you might like to
+hear of them."</p>
+
+<p>"We would, Uncle Philip, be very happy
+to hear of them, if you will have the kindness
+to tell us about them. But what kind of work
+is it they do?"</p>
+
+<p>"Various kinds, boys. There are some
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span>
+which make what is called <i>felt</i>, just as the
+hat-maker does; and some are weavers, others
+basket-makers; some build platforms to live
+on; and I assure you some birds' nests are as
+curious as any of the things of which I have
+yet told you."</p>
+
+<p>"Pray let us hear of them, Uncle Philip."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, you shall. I will begin with
+birds that make felt like the hatter. Do you
+know how a hat is made?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not exactly, Uncle Philip; but we know
+what it is made of."</p>
+
+<p>"What is it, boys?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of sheep's wool, and the hair of other
+animals: is it not?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, commonly of these things; and to
+understand what I am going to tell you, I
+think it will be necessary first to say something
+about the hatter's trade. The business
+of the man who makes a hat is to mix up wool
+or hair in such a way that it will stick together
+and make felt; or something like a
+piece of thick, strong cloth. To do this, he
+does not weave the hairs together, for they are
+of different kinds, and of different lengths,
+and it would be endless work to weave every
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span>
+one in; besides the cloth or felt would not be
+thick enough when it was done."</p>
+
+<p>"How do they stick together then, Uncle
+Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, boys, their sticking together is
+owing to something in the hairs themselves.
+I will show you. Pull a hair out of your
+head; now hold it just between the ends of
+your two fore-fingers, and rub the fingers
+gently against each other."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Uncle Philip! see, the hair is moving
+towards my body."</p>
+
+<p>"Very true; and if you will turn it with
+the other end towards you, and rub your
+fingers as before, you will see it move from
+your body."</p>
+
+<p>"This is very strange, Uncle Philip: the
+hair is smooth; how can my fingers make it
+move so?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, that is a mistake, boys, the hair is
+not smooth. If some kinds of coarse hair are
+seen through the microscope, each one will
+seem to be, not one hair, but ten or twelve
+smaller ones, which are joined at the root, and
+form a hollow tube, like a straw; and sometimes
+it will have joints just like some kinds
+of grass or straw. In some sorts of finer hair
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span>
+you cannot see this even with the microscope;
+but you can feel it, as you did just now when
+you moved your fingers. These joints overlap
+one another, just as if you should take
+several pieces of straw and stick them into
+each other. I will show you some pictures
+of hairs as seen through the microscope, and
+then these joints will be plain enough."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_188.jpg" id="i_188.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_188.jpg"
+  alt="Hairs of the bat, the mole, and the mouse" />
+  <div class="caption">Hairs of (<i>a</i>) the Bat, (<i>b</i>) the Mole,
+     and (<i>c</i>) the Mouse.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>"These are strange-looking hairs, Uncle
+Philip."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, they are curious; but now you may
+see why, when hairs are worked together, they
+may be made to stick to each other. These
+rough parts catch into each other, and hook
+themselves; and the more you press them or
+move them, the more closely you work them
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span>
+into one solid mass, which you cannot easily
+pull to pieces. Besides, you must remember
+that the hairs will work only one way, as you
+found out just now when your finger ends
+caught upon the little joints and moved them
+along. Now, suppose that a very large heap
+of hairs, or wool, or fur, after it is made ready,
+should be put upon a table, and covered with
+a linen cloth, and pressed down in different
+directions. Each hair would begin to move
+in the direction of its root, just as it did between
+your fingers, and so all would be joined
+together at last into one solid piece."</p>
+
+<p>"We understand you, Uncle Philip."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you understand, boys, the way in
+which a hat is made. These hairs are all
+worked together by the hands of the hat-maker,
+and to make them work more easily
+(for curled hair, such as wool, does not move
+easily) the hatter uses hot water, and dips his
+hat in it while he is working it. After it is
+done, it is died, and then put upon a wooden
+block to give it shape, and is ironed smooth."</p>
+
+<p>"And this is the way, then, Uncle Philip,
+to make hats: it is curious, is it not?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, boys; but plain enough when you
+come to examine into it. And the best stuff
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span>
+for the hatters is such hair as has most joints
+ready to catch into each other: the rabbit's
+hair is very good, and for that reason."</p>
+
+<p>"And is it possible, Uncle Philip, that any
+bird can do such work as this?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not only possible, boys, but true. There
+are several birds very expert at making felt,
+and their nest appears like a piece of hatter's
+felt, or double-milled woollen cloth. I do not
+mean to say that it is as close and solid as the
+hat or cloth; it would feel in your fingers
+looser than either, still it is quite close; and
+when you examine it, you will find it put
+together in the same way; it is all carded into
+one mass, and not woven together thread by
+thread, or hair by hair."</p>
+
+<p>"And are there many birds able to do such
+work, Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"I told you, boys, that there were several.
+The chief article which they use is wool, but
+with this many other things will be found
+mixed&mdash;sometimes, upon the outside, fine
+moss&mdash;sometimes pieces of a spider's web rolled
+up into a little bundle&mdash;sometimes, when cotton
+can be had, they will use small bunches of
+cotton-wool; but sheep's wool they must have,
+and by means of that, they contrive to make,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span>
+with the other things I have mentioned, a felt
+wonderfully smooth."</p>
+
+<p>"Is it smooth on the outside, Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sometimes quite so; but always as smooth
+on the inside, when it is first made, as if it had
+been felted together by the hat-maker. There
+is another thing curious enough in some of
+these nests. The hatter, you know, binds the
+rim of his hat to make it stronger; and some
+of these felt-making birds will make their nests
+stronger by a binding all around them of dry
+grass stems, and sometimes of slender roots,
+and they take care to cover these grass stems,
+or roots, with their felt-work of moss and
+wool. But there is something else not less
+strange, I think, than the binding. It is this:
+they will build their nests in the fork of a
+shrub or tree; and to keep them from falling,
+they will work bands of this felt round all the
+branches which touch the nest, both below
+and at the sides. And those parts of the nest
+which touch the large branches are always
+thinner than the other parts, which have no
+support; in those parts the nest is nothing
+but a thin wall of felt, fixed around to fit the
+shape of the branch, and that is enough to
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span>
+make that part of the nest warm and soft.
+Here is a picture of one of these felt-nests,
+fastened in the way of which I have been telling
+you."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_192.jpg" id="i_192.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_192.jpg"
+  alt="Chaffinch's Nest" />
+  <div class="caption">Chaffinch's Nest on an Elder-tree.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>"This, boys, is the nest of the chaffinch.
+The goldfinch makes a nest of the same kind,
+only rather neater and smoother than that of
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span>
+the chaffinch; for it takes pains to show
+nothing but the wool, and covers up all the
+other materials which it uses."</p>
+
+<p>"Uncle Philip, do these birds all use the
+same things to make their nests?"</p>
+
+<p>"All use wool, boys; but the truth is, that
+birds will commonly take for their nests that
+article which they can get most easily, if it will
+suit. A gentleman, named Bolton, tried this
+with some goldfinches. He saw a pair of
+these birds beginning to build in his garden;
+they had laid the foundation of their nest with
+moss, and grass, and such things, as they
+commonly use: he scattered some wool about
+in different parts of the garden; the birds took
+the wool: afterward he scattered cotton;
+they took the cotton: on the next day he gave
+them some very fine down; they took that,
+and finished the nest with it, and a very handsome
+nest it was."</p>
+
+<p>"How long were they in making it, Uncle
+Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"Three days. The canary-bird, boys,
+which you sometimes see in cages, when free,
+builds a nest of the same kind. But the most
+curious felt-makers among the birds, are in
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span>
+Africa. There is the Cape-tit, a bird in the
+southern part of Africa, which builds a very
+strange nest: it is shaped like a bottle of
+India-rubber, as thick as a coarse worsted
+stocking, and made of cotton, and down, and
+other things felted together. On one side of
+the nest there is something like a pocket, and
+here is a picture of it."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_194.jpg" id="i_194.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_194.jpg"
+  alt="Nest of the Cape-tit" />
+  <div class="caption">Nest of the Cape-tit, from Sonnerat.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>"Uncle Philip, what is that pocket for?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, boys, some have supposed that it
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span>
+was for the male bird to sit on and keep watch,
+while the female was inside of the nest sitting
+on the eggs; but I think this is a mistake.
+And some have said, that when the female
+leaves the nest, and the male wishes to go too,
+he sits in this pocket, and beats against the
+side of the nest with his wing until he has
+made the edges of the top meet, and thus shuts
+up the mouth of the nest, and keeps off insects
+and other animals that would eat the young
+ones; but I do not believe this story."</p>
+
+<p>"Then what do you think the pocket is for.
+Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think, boys, that it is nothing but a
+perch, or place for the bird to sit on before
+going into the nest. If the bird had no such
+place for stopping, it might be troubled to
+get into its nest. The mouth is small, and
+the bird could not enter it with its wings
+spread; and if it should alight on the edge of
+the nest constantly, it would injure it, for it is
+but slightly made. And I will tell you another
+reason why I think this is the use of the
+pocket. There is another bird in South
+Africa, called the pinc-pinc, which is the same
+species of bird as the Cape-tit; and this bird
+we know uses its little nest built upon the side
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span>
+of the other merely as a resting-place before
+going into the nest."</p>
+
+<p>"Uncle Philip, does the pinc-pinc build its
+nest like a bottle, as the Cape-tit does?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, boys, not so smooth, but felted in the
+same way. The nest is made mostly of the
+down of plants, and is either snowy white or
+brownish, according to the colour of the down.
+On the outside it is a clumsy-looking thing,
+but fastened, like the nest of the chaffinch,
+very firmly to the branches near it, so that
+you cannot take it away without breaking it to
+pieces. But rough as the outside is, you would
+be astonished, if you were to look at the inside,
+and see how a bird, and a small one too, with
+nothing but its wings, and tail, and feet, and
+bill for tools, could ever have worked the
+down of plants together, so as to make of it a
+piece of fine cloth. It has a narrow neck, something
+like a chimney, at the top of it. This is the
+entrance; and at the lower end of it there is
+a lump, which appears something like a small
+nest stuck on to the larger one; sometimes
+there will be three or four of these small-looking
+nests, and sometimes when there is a
+branch near the mouth of the nest which
+makes a good resting-place, there will be
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span>
+none. Here is a picture, boys, of the outside
+of one of these nests.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_197.jpg" id="i_197.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_197.jpg"
+  alt="Nest of the Pinc-pinc" />
+  <div class="caption">Nest of the Pinc-pinc.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>These birds are easily
+watched; and a French gentleman, who has
+written the best account of the birds of Africa,
+<a name="FNanchor_11" id="FNanchor_11"></a>
+<a href="#Footnote_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a>
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span>
+says that he has found at least a hundred of
+these nests, and watched the birds for a whole
+morning together, and never saw one sitting
+on the small nest as a watch-bird; but
+has seen both the male and female arrive at
+the nest together, perch upon the nearest
+branch, hop from this upon the edge of the
+little nest, and then putting their heads into the
+hole, dart into the large nest. And now, boys,
+what do you think about the use of these
+little pockets?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Uncle Philip, we think that what you
+tell us is always right, because you know a
+great deal more than we do."</p>
+
+<p>"But, boys, you do not understand me. I
+may be mistaken, though I do know more
+than you. I have been telling you my reasons
+for thinking these little pockets are nothing
+but perches. Do you think the reasons are
+good ones?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, yes, Uncle Philip, we do. The
+French gentleman who watched the birds so
+much would have seen some of them using
+the pockets for a place to keep watch in, if
+they were made for that."</p>
+
+<p>"Right, boys. What I wish to teach you
+is to think for yourselves. Whenever any
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span>
+one gives you a reason for a thing, just ask
+yourselves, 'Is this a good reason?'"</p>
+
+<p>"But, Uncle Philip, how did it happen that
+the other people who saw these birds should
+have said that these pockets were for the male
+bird to sit in and watch?"</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose, boys, that they really thought
+so; but then they had not noticed the birds
+enough to find out the truth. It requires a
+great deal of time and patience to find out the
+truth about animals: and this is the reason
+why so many mistakes have been printed
+about them. It is a pity that such mistakes
+have been made; for really there is enough
+that is very curious about them, without
+men's making stories to appear strange. But
+I think that there will be fewer mistakes
+made in future."</p>
+
+<p>"Why so, Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because, boys, men are taking more pains
+to see for themselves. There are more naturalists
+now than there were formerly; and I
+hope there will be more still, especially in our
+own large and beautiful country, where there
+have not yet been many. I hope that natural
+history will be studied in all our schools before
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span>
+a great while. But let us go back to our
+African birds.</p>
+
+<p>"There is another kind which Mr. Vaillant
+speaks of, and I will tell you of that. He calls
+it the capocier, and he had a very fine opportunity
+to watch two of them. It is a bird
+easily made gentle, and he had managed by
+feeding two of them to make them so tame
+that they would come into his tent and hop
+about several times in a day, though he never
+had them in a cage. When it became time
+for them to build a nest, they staid away for
+some time, and would come to the tent once
+only in four or five days. At last they began
+to come regularly, as before, and Mr. Vaillant
+soon found out what they came for. They
+had seen upon his table cotton and moss and
+flax, which he used to stuff the skins of birds,
+and which were always lying there; and the
+capociers had come for these things, to build
+their nest of them. They would take up
+large bunches of them in their bills and fly
+away. Mr. Vaillant followed and watched
+them to see the nest built, and found them at
+work in the corner of a garden, by the side of
+a spring, in a large plant which grew under
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span>
+the shade of a tree. They were building in
+the fork of the branches, and had laid the
+foundation, which was about four inches high
+and six inches across. This part was made
+of moss and flax, mixed with grass and tufts
+of cotton. The next day this gentleman never
+left the side of the nest: the female was at
+work building, and the male brought the materials.
+In the morning the male bird made
+twenty-nine journeys to Mr. Vaillant's table
+for flax and cotton and moss; and in the afternoon
+he made seventeen. He would help
+his mate to trample down and press the cotton
+with his body, so as to make it into felt.
+Whenever he came with a load, he would put
+it either upon the edge of the nest or upon
+some branch within reach of the female.</p>
+
+<p>"After he began to help the female at her
+work, he would often break off, and begin to
+play; and sometimes, as if in mischief, he
+would pull down a little of her work. She
+would get angry, and peck him with her bill:
+but he still continued to vex her, until at
+last, to save her work from being pulled down,
+she would stop working, and fly off from bush
+to bush, to tease him. They would then
+make up the quarrel, and she set about her
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span>
+work, while he would sing most delightfully
+for several minutes. After his song was finished,
+he would go to work again, until he
+got into a new fit of mischief and frolic, and
+then he would torment her as before.</p>
+
+<p>"On the third day the birds began to build
+the walls, after having repeatedly pressed the
+bottom, and turned themselves round upon it
+in all directions, to make the nest solid. They
+first made a plain border all around; this they
+trimmed, and on it they piled up tufts of cotton,
+which they felted in by beating and pressing
+with their breasts and wings; and if any
+part stuck out, they worked it in with their
+bills, so as to make all perfectly smooth and
+firm. And they worked their nest round the
+branches near it, just as the chaffinch does.</p>
+
+<p>"In seven days they finished it. It was as
+white as snow, and on the outside it was nine
+inches high, and not smooth or regular in its
+shape; but in the inside it was shaped exactly
+like a hen's egg, with the small end up: the
+hollow was five inches high, and between
+four and five inches across; and it was so
+neatly felted together that it might have been
+taken for a piece of fine cloth a little worn;
+and so close that you could not take away
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span>
+any part without tearing the nest in pieces.
+Here is a picture of the nest, boys, and it is
+wonderful work for a small bird."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_203.jpg" id="i_203.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_203.jpg"
+  alt="Nest of the Capocier" />
+  <div class="caption">Nest of the Capocier, from Vaillant's figure.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>"Oh, Uncle Philip! we like the capociers
+very much. When they were tired of working,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span>
+they were ready to play; and when they
+had played enough, they went back to work.
+Do not you think there was good sense in
+that?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, boys, I do: it will not do, either to
+work all the time or to play all the time. All
+that we have to do is to take care that we
+do not spend more time than we should at
+either. But there is a sweet little bird, boys,
+quite common in our own country, which
+makes felt: would you like to hear of it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, Uncle Philip. What bird is it?"</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_204.jpg" id="i_204.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_204.jpg"
+  alt="Nest of the Humming-bird" />
+  <div class="caption">Nest of the Humming-bird.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>"It is the humming-bird. Here is a drawing
+of its nest. It is about an inch deep, and an
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span>
+inch across; and from a little distance, appears
+more like a small knot upon the branch than
+like a bird's nest. The outside of the nest
+from which this picture is made, was covered
+with a kind of bluish-gray lichen, that grows
+in scales upon old trees and fences: this
+seemed to be glued on by the bird in some
+way or other. The inside was the felt, and
+was made of the fine down from seeds that
+float about in the air, mixed with the down
+from mullein-weed and stalks of fine grass.
+This, boys, is the smallest nest made by a
+bird, I believe; and some insects make larger
+houses for themselves than this bird does.</p>
+
+<p>"But I have not time at present to talk
+with you any longer, as I have letters to
+write; and therefore I must bid you good
+morning."</p>
+
+<p>"Farewell, Uncle Philip."</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTE:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+  <a name="Footnote_11" id="Footnote_11"></a>
+  <a href="#FNanchor_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> M. Vaillant.
+</div>
+
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h2><a name="CONVERSATION_XVI" id="CONVERSATION_XVI"></a>CONVERSATION XVI.</h2>
+
+<div class="chapsum"><i>Uncle Philip tells the Boys about Birds that
+are Weavers; and about the Politician-bird;
+and a Story about some Philosophers;
+and what may be learned from these Conversations.</i></div>
+
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">Well</span>, boys, were you pleased enough
+with our last conversation to wish to hear
+more about birds' nests?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, if you please, Uncle Philip. You
+said something about birds that were weavers;
+we should like to hear something of them."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, then; I will talk about the
+weavers this morning. And the first thing I
+have to say is that this is no uncommon trade
+among birds. Take the nest of any of the
+common small birds that use hair for a lining,
+and you will be apt to find some part of it
+woven."</p>
+
+<p>"But, Uncle Philip, you do not mean that
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span>
+birds weave as smoothly and regularly as
+people do!"</p>
+
+<p>"Not quite, boys; but still it is very fair
+weaving, and done as our weaving is, by
+working a hair or thread in and out between
+other hairs and threads, or roots, or bits of stick
+and grass. The best way to see it, is to remove
+the outside work of hay or roots very
+carefully, or to take away the felt-work of
+wool or moss, and you may see a round piece
+of hair-cloth, sometimes finer, and sometimes
+coarser, according to the bird that made it,
+and the things of which it is made. In the
+common sparrow's nest the hair-cloth is very
+thin, so that you can see through it easily;
+but still every hair is woven in singly, and
+always bent, so as to lie smooth in the bottom
+of the nest. And there are no ends of hairs
+left sticking out; they are always worked
+into the moss which makes the outside of the
+nest."</p>
+
+<p>"Uncle Philip, how do the birds make the
+hairs lie smooth in their places?"</p>
+
+<p>"About that, boys, there is some uncertainty.
+Some persons think that the birds
+have a kind of glue in their mouths by which
+they make them stick; and others suppose
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span>
+that they wet the hairs, so as to make them
+bend. But there are much better weavers
+than the common sparrow. The red-breast
+and the yellow-hammer are both better workmen."</p>
+
+<p>"Where do they get hairs. Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"They find bunches of them sticking in
+the cracks of a fence or post where a horse or
+cow has been rubbing; and some of these little
+creatures, when they find such a bunch, will
+pull it to pieces, and work it in, hair by hair."</p>
+
+<p>"Are there many of these weaver-birds.
+Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, boys, a great many: our country is
+quite full of them. There is the mountain
+ant-catcher,<a name="FNanchor_12" id="FNanchor_12"></a>
+<a href="#Footnote_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> which will weave a nest of dry
+grass, and wind the blades round the branches
+of a tree; and the king-bird,<a name="FNanchor_13" id="FNanchor_13"></a>
+<a href="#Footnote_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> which first
+makes a basket frame-work of slender sticks,
+and afterward weaves in wool and tow, and
+lines it with hairs and dry grass. There is
+another, too, the white-eyed fly-catcher, which
+some have called the politician. This bird
+builds its nest and hangs it up by the upper
+edge of the two sides on a vine. The outside
+is made of pieces of rotten wood, threads of
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span>
+dry stalks or weeds, pieces of paper, commonly
+old newspapers; and all these are
+woven together with caterpillar's silk, and
+lined with fine dry grass and hair."</p>
+
+<p>"Uncle Philip, why do they call it the politician?
+What is a politician?"</p>
+
+<p>"What is commonly called a politician,
+boys, is a person who is always reading in
+newspapers about the government of the
+country, and talking a great deal about the
+President and Congress, and the laws that are
+made, and all such things: but the real politician
+is one who studies the different kinds
+of government which have been in the world,
+and endeavours to find out which is good and
+which is bad, and why they are good or bad.
+He reads, too, a great deal of history, to learn
+how other nations have done, what kind of
+laws they made, and why they made them,
+how they became great nations, or how they
+became very poor; and he <i>thinks</i>, too, a great
+deal, that he may find out what will be best
+for his own nation. It requires hard study
+and thought, boys, to make a good politician."</p>
+
+<p>"Then, Uncle Philip, a man cannot learn
+how to be one out of the newspapers."</p>
+
+<p>"No, boys; not out of newspapers alone:
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span>
+but still he will read them, and very often
+learn from them things very useful to him in
+his business. Newspapers are valuable things,
+and I think it is always best for a country to
+have a great many of them spread about in it.
+But they will not, of themselves, make a man
+a politician; and if you should ask the persons
+who print them, whether they expect
+them to teach men all about governments,
+they will tell you, No: but they will teach
+people what is doing in all the governments
+in the world. No good government, boys,
+will ever be afraid to let the people have
+newspapers. They are always fewest where
+the government is hardest upon the people.
+But let us go back to the birds. Can you tell
+me now why some people call the fly-catcher
+a politician?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes; because he has so many bits of
+old newspapers about his nest."</p>
+
+<p>"That is the reason, boys. There is another
+kind of fly-catcher, called the hooded
+fly-catcher, and it weaves its nest of flax and
+strings pulled from the stalks of hemp: but
+the best weaver in this country is the Baltimore
+starling. This bird chooses the ends of
+high bending branches for his nest, and he
+begins in a forked twig, by fastening strong
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span>
+strings of hemp or flax around both branches
+of the fork, just as far apart as he means the
+width of his nest to be: he then with the same
+kind of strings, mixed in with pieces of loose
+tow, weaves a strong, firm kind of cloth, which
+is like the hatter's felt in appearance, only that
+you can see that the nest is woven, not felted.
+In this way he makes a pouch, or purse, six
+or seven inches deep, and lines it on the inside
+with several soft things, which he weaves
+into the outside netting, and finishes the
+whole with horse-hair. Mr. Wilson describes
+one of these nests which he had. He says
+that it was round like a cylinder. Do you
+know what a cylinder is?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, Uncle Philip."</p>
+
+<p>"A smooth round pillar to hold up a porch
+is a cylinder; my walking-cane is a cylinder;
+so is the straight body of a tree. When these
+are of the same size all through their whole
+length, they are perfect cylinders; and any
+thing in that shape is a cylinder."</p>
+
+<p>"We understand you, Uncle Philip; a gun-barrel
+is a cylinder, and there is a cylinder in
+your garden."</p>
+
+<p>"What is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"The heavy stone roller that you let us
+pull over the walks."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i_212.jpg" id="i_212.jpg"></a>
+  <img src="images/i_212.jpg"
+  alt="Baltimore Starling" />
+  <div class="caption">Baltimore Starling, and Nest.</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>"Right. Well, this nest was like a cylinder,
+about five inches across, and seven inches long.
+At the top the bird had worked a level cover,
+so as to leave a hole only two inches and a half
+across; at the bottom it was round. It was
+made of flax, tow, hemp, hair, and wool, and
+was woven into a complete cloth; it was also
+tightly sewed through and through with long
+horse-hairs, some of which when drawn out
+measured two feet. Here is a picture of this
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span>
+nest. In the bottom it had bunches of cows'
+hair, and these were also sewed down with
+horse-hairs. This bird, boys, is a thief."</p>
+
+<p>"A thief, Uncle Philip! What does it
+steal?"</p>
+
+<p>"When I say it is a thief, boys, I mean that
+it takes what does not belong to it: but it is
+not a thief as man is. When a man takes
+something which belongs to another person, he
+<i>knows</i> that it is not his; and therefore he
+steals: but the poor bird does not know, and
+that makes a difference. You asked me what
+it steals: I will tell you. At the time for
+building its nest, it will take whatever suits
+for that purpose; and therefore the country
+women are obliged to watch their thread that
+they have put out to bleach: the farmer, too,
+who has cut off young grafts from his fruit-trees
+and tied them up in bundles, must be
+careful, or the bird will pull at the string till
+he gets it off; and sometimes, when the bunch
+is not too large, he will fly off with the whole.
+In autumn, when the leaves have fallen, you
+may sometimes see skeins of silk and hanks
+of thread hanging about the starling's nest,
+but so woven up and entangled in it that they
+are good for nothing. Now, boys, before this
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span>
+country was settled by people from Europe,
+where do you suppose the starling got silk and
+thread for his nest?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Uncle Philip, are you sure he got
+them at all?"</p>
+
+<p>"A very sensible question, boys. When
+you are asked <i>why</i> a thing is so, it is always
+well, first to be satisfied that it is so, before
+you begin to look for a reason. I have read
+a story about this very thing: would you
+like to hear it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, Uncle Philip."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, then, I have read that there were
+once several philosophers (I told you what a
+philosopher is, you know), who were in the
+habit of meeting together to put questions to
+each other, and to make new discoveries. At
+one of these meetings, one of them asked the
+others, '<i>Why</i> a fish weighed more <i>in</i> the water
+than he did <i>out</i> of it?' Several of them gave
+very wise reasons, as they thought; and all
+the reasons were different: so they could not
+agree. There was among them, however, a
+very sensible old gentleman, who listened to
+them all, but said nothing. When he went
+home, he got a fish and weighed it, out of the
+water, and wrote down its weight; he then
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span>
+took a bucket of water, and weighed that; and
+when he dropped the fish in the bucket, he
+found that it increased the weight of the whole,
+precisely as many pounds as the fish had
+weighed out of the water; so he found out
+that there was no reason why a fish weighed
+more in the water than he did out of it, because
+it was not true: his weight was the
+same either in or out of it."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, Uncle Philip, that is a pleasant story:
+he was a sensible old gentleman."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, boys, he was; and it was sensible in
+you to ask first whether the starling <i>did use</i>
+silk and thread before Europeans came here;
+and after that is answered, it is time enough to
+ask where he got such things. Now the truth
+is, that he <i>did not</i> use them until after Europeans
+brought them here; because there
+were no such things in this country: for the
+Indians who lived here could not make thread.
+I think; and I am sure they could not spin
+silk: but I will tell you, boys, what it shows
+us; and it is that I wish you to notice."</p>
+
+<p>"What is it, Uncle Philip?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is the wisdom of this bird in taking advantage
+of circumstances. No doubt he built
+very good nests long before silk and thread
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span>
+were in the country; but he had sense enough
+to know that they were exactly what suited
+him, and he used them as soon as he could
+get them."</p>
+
+<p>"Then, Uncle Philip, you think that the
+bird has reason?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, boys, I do not: but you have reason,
+and I have something to say to you about it.
+It is this: as God has given you reason, and
+so made you better than the poor dumb animals,
+he expects more from you. That is
+fair, is it not?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Uncle Philip; very fair."</p>
+
+<p>"Then what I wish you to remember is
+this: that you must use your reason in such
+way as to glorify God. He gave it to you
+to learn his will and his commandments, and
+to live accordingly. So now you see the
+things which our conversations about the
+animals can teach us. In the first place, we
+see the goodness of God; in the second place,
+we see the power of God; in the third place,
+we see the wisdom of God: and we see in
+ourselves that God has done more for us than
+he has done for them, and therefore we ought
+to love and serve him: we ought to believe
+what he says in his Word; we ought to pray
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span>
+to him for his blessed help; we ought, <i>first of
+all</i>, to seek the salvation of our souls, through
+our Lord Jesus Christ.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, my dear children, to-morrow I must
+leave home for a few weeks; but when I come
+back we will talk together again: and as I
+am going to see my nephews, I will get a
+book which they printed about insects; it is
+called the History of Insects,
+<a name="FNanchor_14" id="FNanchor_14"></a>
+<a href="#Footnote_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a>&mdash;and I will
+bring it to you; and some of the largest boys
+among you may read it aloud, and I will explain
+to you what you cannot understand. If
+you are pleased with what I have been telling
+you, that book will tell you a great deal more."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, thank you, Uncle Philip. We shall
+like it very much."</p>
+
+<p>"Farewell, boys."</p>
+
+<p>"Good-by, dear Uncle Philip."</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+<div class="footnote">
+  <a name="Footnote_12" id="Footnote_12"></a>
+  <a href="#FNanchor_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a>
+  Myiothera obsoleta of Bonaparte.
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+  <a name="Footnote_13" id="Footnote_13"></a>
+  <a href="#FNanchor_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> Tyrannus intrepidus.
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+  <a name="Footnote_14" id="Footnote_14"></a>
+  <a href="#FNanchor_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a>
+  Family Library, No. VIII.&mdash;<i>Publishers.</i></div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2><a name="THE_END" id="THE_END"></a>THE END.</h2>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+
+<p class="center"><i>Now republishing, on good paper and large type, in 18mo. volumes</i>,</p>
+<p class="center margin-top1"><big>SOCIAL EVILS</big><br />
+<small>AND</small><br />
+THEIR REMEDY.</p>
+
+<p class="center margin-top1">A SERIES OF NARRATIVES TO BE PUBLISHED QUARTERLY.<br />
+<br />
+BY THE<br />
+REV. CHARLES B. TAYLER, M.A.</p>
+
+<p class="center margin-top1">No. I.<br />
+<strong>THE MECHANIC</strong>.<br />
+<br />
+IS NOW REPUBLISHED, AND FOR SALE BY THE BOOKSELLERS.</p>
+
+<p class="center">"Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid,
+which is Jesus Christ."</p>
+
+<p class="center margin-top1">AUTHOR'S ADDRESS</p>
+
+<p>No doubt can be felt as to the fact, that there are at present
+many crying evils in all ranks of society&mdash;perhaps there never
+was a time when more remedies were proposed. It is, however,
+a melancholy truth, that the only remedy is too generally over-looked,
+or despised. Remedies, selfish in principle, and selfish
+in their proposed end, are held forth and confided in by those
+who profess to be Christians, and, as such, dependent on the
+Great Head of the church. Man is taught how to live in time,
+and to be wise for time; but it has become unusual to refer to
+that fine old scriptural prayer, "So teach us to number our days
+that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom." Indeed, the wisdom
+desired by too many is that which is so forcibly described
+by an apostle's pen, as "earthly, sensual, devilish;" not that
+wisdom the attributes of which form the graces of man's new
+and regenerate character, which is first pure, then peaceable,
+gentle, and easy to be entreated; "full of mercy and good fruits,
+without partiality, and without hypocrisy."</p>
+
+<p>It is intended, in the series of narratives now advertised, to set
+forth, faithfully and simply, the one great principle on which
+Christians profess to act. This principle should never be lost
+sight of, in any publication addressed by a Christian author to
+Christian readers. "Other foundation can no man lay, than that
+is laid," laid by Infinite Wisdom himself&mdash;"which is Christ
+Jesus." My illustrations will extend to every class of society;
+from the highest to the lowest. When it is found necessary to
+introduce the subject of political economy, I shall endeavour to
+give what seem to me the right views of the subject; and I shall
+take care to show, that when political economy cannot be identified
+with Christian economy, it ought to occupy a subordinate
+place. If it enters society as the servant of Christian principle, it
+may be very useful as a servant; but, if it is to teach a man to
+walk in the counsel of the ungodly, to speak of its usefulness in
+a Christian community is absurd.</p>
+
+<p>False principles, however taking they may be, for a while,
+with the ignorant, or with those who are not deep thinkers, can
+never stand for any length of time; and as for the ungodly, we
+know <i>Who</i> has told us they are "like the chaff which the wind
+driveth away." I have undertaken this work in a spirit of prayer
+to God for His assistance, and His blessing. Many of my readers.
+I am sure, will unite their prayers to mine, that it may be continued
+in the same spirit. Some few may object to this address
+from a minister of Christ to a Christian community, and say that
+it is according to the puritanical cant of the day. I answer, that
+such cant (if mere cant) is quite as offensive to me as to themselves;
+almost as offensive as the cant of ungodliness; but I
+cannot forget those words of solemn warning, from One who,
+alas, is still the despised and rejected of many men: "Whosoever
+shall be ashamed of me and of my words, in this adulterous
+and sinful generation, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed,
+when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy
+angels."</p>
+
+<p>The second number of "<span class="smcap">Social Evils</span>," entitled "<i>The Lady
+and the Lady's Maid</i>," will be republished about the 1st of February,
+1834.</p>
+
+<hr class="r15" />
+
+<p class="center">THEOLOGICAL LIBRARY.</p>
+
+<p class="hangingindent">No. I. <span class="smcap">The Life of Wiclif.</span> By Charles Webb Le Bas, A.M.</p>
+
+<p class="hangingindent">II. <span class="smcap">The Consistency of the whole Scheme of Revelation
+with Itself and with Human Reason.</span> By Philip
+Nicholas Shuttleworth, D.D.</p>
+
+<p class="hangingindent">III., IV. <span class="smcap">Luther and the Lutheran Reformation.</span> By
+John Scott, A.M.</p>
+
+<p class="hangingindent">V., VI. <span class="smcap">The Life of Archbishop Cranmer.</span> By Charles
+Webb Le Bas, A.M.</p>
+
+<p class="hangingindent">VII., VIII. <span class="smcap">History of the Reformed Religion in France.</span>
+By Rev. Edward Smedley, M.A. <i>In Press.</i></p>
+
+<div class="transnote margin-top3">
+  <h3>Transcriber's Note:</h3>
+  <ul>
+    <li class="margin-bottom5">
+      Obvious punctuation and spelling errors repaired.
+    </li>
+    <li class="margin-bottom5">
+      Original spelling and its variations were not standardized.
+    </li>
+    <li class="margin-bottom5">
+      Original use of quotation marks was left unchanged.
+    </li>
+    <li class="margin-bottom5">
+      The word "scattered is missing between pages 135 and 136.
+    </li>
+    <li class="margin-bottom5">
+      "... have got permission from your friends...."  This should be "permission
+	    from parents," as the context suggests.
+    </li>
+    <li class="margin-bottom5">
+      Footnotes were moved to the end of the paragraphs to which they applied and
+	    numbered in one continuous sequence.
+    </li>
+  </ul>
+</div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Natural History, by Anonymous
+
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+</pre>
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+</body>
+</html>
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Natural History, by Anonymous
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Natural History
+       Uncle Philip's Conversations with the Children about Tools
+       and Trades among Inferior Animals
+
+Author: Anonymous
+
+Release Date: December 6, 2013 [EBook #44377]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NATURAL HISTORY ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Chris Curnow, Christian Boissonnas and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+(This file was produced from images generously made
+available by The Internet Archive)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: UNCLE PHILIP TALKING TO THE BOYS.
+
+_J.&J. Harper. New-York._]
+
+
+
+
+  UNCLE PHILIP'S
+
+  CONVERSATIONS
+
+  with Young Persons.
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+  NEW YORK
+  J. & J. HARPER 82 CLIFF ST^T.
+  1833.
+
+
+
+
+  NATURAL HISTORY;
+  OR,
+  UNCLE PHILIP'S
+  CONVERSATIONS WITH THE CHILDREN
+  ABOUT
+  TOOLS AND TRADES
+  AMONG
+  INFERIOR ANIMALS.
+
+  WITH NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS.
+
+
+  NEW-YORK:
+  PUBLISHED BY HARPER & BROTHERS.,
+  NO. 82 CLIFF-STREET.
+
+  1835.
+
+
+
+
+  Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1835,
+  By Harper & Brothers,
+  In the Clerk's Office of the Southern District of New-York.
+
+
+
+
+ADVERTISEMENT.
+
+
+We must tell our little readers something about this number of their
+Library. It was sent to us by a very kind old uncle of ours, who, when
+we were young, was so much from home, visiting various places in the
+world, that we do not remember seeing him very often at that period. At
+last, the old man, finding that he could not bear fatigue as he had done
+when young, determined to come home; and we had heard so much about him
+that we were quite anxious to see him. He came to our house one evening,
+and appeared rather odd to us; but he was so good-natured, and told us
+so many curious things, that we soon forgot his odd appearance.
+
+The old gentleman brought home with him a very large number of books,
+and a great many strange things which he had gathered in his travels,
+such as stones, and dried insects, and leaves, and flowers, and stuffed
+birds, and animals. He did not stay with us long, but went to the
+village where he was born, and built a small house to which he carried
+all his books and curiosities, and said that he should spend the rest of
+his days there.
+
+We sometimes pay him a visit. The last time we were there, we found him
+talking to several children around him. In the beginning of the book
+there is a picture of the old gentleman. After you have looked at it,
+you may read the letter which he sent us, and learn how he came to write
+this book.
+
+  Your friends,
+            The Publishers.
+
+
+
+
+UNCLE PHILIP'S LETTER.
+
+
+  My dear Nephews,
+
+I was very much pleased to receive the numbers of your Library for
+Boys and Girls which you sent to me. You know I am now an old man,
+and have travelled a great deal, and seen a great many strange things
+in the course of my life. I am too old to travel any more, and so I
+am quietly living in the cottage I built by the side of that pleasant
+and shady little stream where I played when I was a boy. I read my
+books, and especially that best of all of them, my Bible; and so am
+patiently waiting till my Heavenly Father shall call me to take my last
+journey; when I hope, for the sake of the blessed Saviour, to go to Him.
+Sometimes I walk out into the village, and meet the children and have
+a long talk with them. They all know me; and very often, some of them
+will come to my house, and ask me to tell them about things which I have
+seen in my travels or read of in books: and so I spend many happy hours
+with the little creatures; for you know how much I love children. When
+I had read the books you sent to me, I lent them to the children, who
+were delighted; and I thought that if I should sometimes write down what
+we here talked about, it might please the little boys and girls for whom
+you print your books, and perhaps they might learn something from our
+conversations which would be useful: and so I determined to send them to
+you, from time to time, to print, if you pleased.
+
+If you think fit to print what I send, just tell your little readers who
+I am; an aged and quiet old man, who is very fond of little boys and
+girls, and wishes them to be wise and good here, and happy hereafter,
+and that I am your
+
+                                          Uncle Philip.
+  _Newtown, Feb_. 1833.
+
+P.S. If you print what I send now, please to print the Preface to
+Parents, which I also send; in order that they may, by reading it,
+see what sort of a book Uncle Philip has been making for their dear
+children, and may be satisfied that it will not harm them to read it.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE TO PARENTS.
+
+
+The author of the following book avails himself of the opportunity
+afforded by its publication, to address a word to those who sustain the
+delightful and responsible relation of parents.
+
+To such of that class as may honour by a perusal this humble attempt
+to interest and instruct their offspring, the author need not say that
+the subject of his book possesses for himself peculiar attractions: it
+will readily be perceived that he has found a charm in the pursuits of
+the naturalist. The votary of a favourite science would anticipate too
+much, should he expect every one to partake of the enthusiasm which is
+apt to stimulate him; it is wisely and kindly ordered that we shall
+not all be enthusiasts in the same direction. The author, however,
+still ventures to hope, that in his subject there is enough to attract,
+though it may fail to fascinate. He hopes, too, that it will be found
+not attractive merely, but profitable also to his young countrymen.
+There are many reasons on which to found such a hope. If to entertain
+reverence for our Maker, to admire and adore his wisdom and goodness
+in the illustrations of nature, thankfully to acknowledge and duly to
+improve the superiority which mind confers, be exercises in which a wise
+parent would desire to train a child,--the study of natural science
+is admirably adapted to the attainment of these objects. Again, if it
+be desirable to encourage habits of patient observation, accuracy of
+investigation, and soundness of thought; let the volume of nature be
+opened before the youthful mind. If to learn _things_ be better than
+to learn _words_, it is important to place things before the growing
+intellects of the young. Let it not be supposed that to present matters
+of science intelligibly to the minds of children is a hopeless task. It
+requires not learning or maturity of understanding to perceive a _fact_;
+it needs only the ordinary senses which God has bestowed alike upon
+children and their parents. Natural science is emphatically the science
+of _facts_; built upon any other foundation it becomes conjecture
+merely: and he knows but little of the mind of a child who is not aware
+of the facility with which a fact is impressed upon it. The secret of
+instructing the young will be found to consist more in the mode of
+communication than in the nature of the subject.
+
+As to the style of this work a word may be said; not, of course, for
+the purpose of disarming criticism (for truly the writer has never
+supposed his trifle worth the critic's labour or notice), but simply to
+remark, that the object has been to write for the minds of _children_;
+if the book be intelligible to them, the utmost ambition of Uncle Philip
+will be attained. Truth and plainness were all he sought. The first he
+believes he has attained; and to determine his success in attempting
+the last, he turns from the parents, and looks for the decision of the
+question to the suffrages of the children. He would rather hear the
+expression of satisfaction from the lips of one intelligent little
+reader, than receive the words of approbation from many who are elders;
+the first is testimony derived from experience, the last is but opinion.
+Children always know better than any one else does what books they
+understand.
+
+In conclusion, the author owes it to himself to say to the parents
+of his young countrymen, and to the patrons of the "Boy's and Girl's
+Library," that what he has written will be found on the side of religion
+and morals. So far as these important points are concerned, the writer
+is not ashamed to avow himself a Christian; nor yet does he mean to make
+it the subject of boasting. In his simple view, Christianity is a very
+quiet and gentle thing, which eschews strife, and promotes practical
+goodness; and truly can he say, that he has indulged in some of his
+happiest and, as he trusts, his holiest musings when, in the solitary
+pursuit of his favourite science,--to use the language of good old
+Izaak Walton, that simple-hearted lover of God, and all his works,--"he
+has looked upon the wonders of nature with admiration, or found some
+harmless insect to content him, and pass away a little time, without
+offence to God, or injury to man."
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+                                                                    Page
+  CONVERSATION I.
+  About a Fly that can work with a Saw and a Rasp, like the Carpenter 13
+
+  CONVERSATION II.
+  About Grasshoppers and Bees that bore Holes with a Gimlet           19
+
+  CONVERSATION III.
+  About Animals that are Tailors                                      27
+
+  CONVERSATION IV.
+  About the first Paper in the World made by Wasps                    41
+
+  CONVERSATION V.
+  A Story about Tom Smith, and of Bees with Brushes and Baskets, and
+  of a Bird with a Chisel, and a Gnat with a Lancet                   53
+
+  CONVERSATION VI.
+  About Animals that can do Mason's Work                              66
+
+  CONVERSATION VII.
+  About Animals that throw Dirt with a Spade; and about an Animal
+  with a Hook; and about one that is a Wire-drawer                    80
+
+  CONVERSATION VIII.
+  About a Door, with a Hinge and Spring to it, made by a Spider; and
+  the Difference between God's Work and Man's                         94
+
+  CONVERSATION IX.
+  A Story about a Philosopher and his Kite; and about Ants that
+  have Awls, and build Cities, and Stairs, and Bridges, and many
+  other Things                                                       104
+
+  CONVERSATION X.
+  More about the white Ants                                          120
+
+  CONVERSATION XI.
+  About some other Ants that are very good Masons, and build Walls
+  and Ceilings; and a Story about a very sensible Ant which seemed
+  to think a little                                                  129
+
+  CONVERSATION XII.
+  About Ants that go to War, and fight Battles; and about some that
+  are Thieves, and have Slaves                                       138
+
+  CONVERSATION XIII.
+  A Voyage; and an Animal that makes itself into a Ship; and of an
+  Insect that builds a Boat, and floats about in a Canoe; and of
+  another that pumps Water, and wears a Mask; and of a Spider that
+  builds a Raft, and floats upon it                                  151
+
+  CONVERSATION XIV.
+  About an Insect with Tweezers, and another with Pincers; and how
+  a Fly's Foot is made, so as to stick to the Wall                   167
+
+  CONVERSATION XV.
+  How Hats are made; and about Animals that can make Felt
+  like the Hatter                                                    181
+
+  CONVERSATION XVI.
+  About Birds that are Weavers, and the Politician Bird; a
+  Story about some Philosophers; and what may be learned
+  from these Conversations                                           202
+
+
+
+
+NATURAL HISTORY.
+
+
+
+
+CONVERSATION I.
+
+     _Uncle Philip tells the Children about a Fly that can work
+     with a Saw and a Rasp, like the Carpenter._
+
+
+"Well, boys, this is a beautiful day. The sun is shining brightly, and
+the birds are singing, and the insects are flying about, and the grass
+is green, and every thing appears pleasant, and you feel happy too, and
+have come, I suppose, to see old Uncle Philip."
+
+"Yes, Uncle Philip, we are tired of playing now, and so we have come to
+ask you to talk with us, and tell us about some of the curious things
+you know."
+
+"Well, boys, I will tell you about some very strange things. I will talk
+to you about animals that know how to work with tools like a man."
+
+"Work with tools, Uncle Philip! That is strange; but we know it is so,
+if you say so; because you will not tell us any stories but true ones.
+But where do they get the tools?"
+
+"Ah, boys, 'the hand that made them is _divine_!' They get them where we
+get all that is useful and good,--from God. The Bible says that He '_is
+wise in heart, and wonderful in working_;' and he has made many a poor
+little insect, and given it tools to work with for its comfort, as good
+and perfect as any that man can make. Yes, these poor little creatures
+had tools long before man had. God cares for the insects, boys, as well
+as for us."
+
+"But, Uncle Philip, what sort of tools do you mean? Tell us about them."
+
+"Very well, I will; do you think of some kind of tools that men use:
+think of the carpenter and his tools, and let us see if we cannot find
+some of them among the insects."
+
+"Why, the carpenter has a saw. Is there any saw among these little
+fellows?"
+
+"Yes indeed, there is; and a capital saw it is. Now listen, and I will
+tell you all about it. There is a kind of fly called the _saw-fly_; it
+has four wings, and commonly its body is yellow, and its head is black;
+but the most curious part of it is the saw. The young ones feed upon the
+leaves of rose-bushes, and gooseberries, and raspberries, and currants,
+and several other kinds of bushes; and the old ones always lay their
+eggs on the branches of these bushes, so that the young ones may have
+something to eat as soon as they come out. It uses its saw to make a
+place in the branch to put its egg in."
+
+"Uncle Philip, what is the saw made of?"
+
+"It is made of something like horn, and is fixed very nicely in a case;
+it resembles what the cabinet-makers call a _tenon-saw_ more than it
+does the carpenter's common saw. The tenon-saw is made of a thin plate
+of steel, and has a stiff brass back, to keep it from bending. The brass
+back has a groove in it, and the saw is put in that groove, and then it
+is fastened to it. But the fly's saw is fixed in another way: there is
+a back to it too, but that back is not fastened to the saw. The groove
+is in the saw, and there is a ridge all along the back-piece, which
+just fits in the groove, and so the saw slides backwards and forwards,
+and the ridge always keeps it in its place. Besides all this, boys, the
+fly is better off than the cabinet-maker, for he uses only one saw at
+a time; but our little workman has two exactly alike, and they are so
+fixed that the creature first pushes out one, and when it is drawing
+that back, pushes out the other; so that it is all the time cutting, and
+does double work. I think the fly's saw is the best, too, for another
+reason. The saws of the carpenter and cabinet-maker have their teeth
+bent; first, one a little on one side, and then the next to it a little
+on the other side, and so on to the end of the saw; so that when sawing,
+the cut may be wide enough for the blade to move easily. Now the fly's
+saw has the teeth a little bent, or twisted, too; but it has something
+else: on the outside of every tooth there are a great many very small
+teeth, so that the outside of every one is just like a _rasp_, or
+_file_."
+
+"But, Uncle Philip, it must take them a great while to saw a very little
+cut; they are so small."
+
+"Yes, it does; but they persevere. It takes them more than an hour and a
+half to make one groove, and sometimes they will go on and make as many
+as six without stopping. That shows, boys, what perseverance will do."
+
+"And when it is done sawing, Uncle Philip, where does it keep its saws?"
+
+"Oh, I told you they fitted in a case; but when the fly is done sawing,
+it uses the saws to put the egg in the place cut for it, and then it
+draws the saws almost entirely into the case, and drops upon the egg a
+sort of frothy stuff like a drop of soap-lather."
+
+"What is that for?"
+
+"I suppose it is to glue the egg fast, or else to keep the juices in the
+bush from hurting it."
+
+"Well, this is a curious fly, Uncle Philip."
+
+"It is strange, boys, because you never heard of it before; but it is a
+cunning fly, as well as a curious one."
+
+"What does it do, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"Why, when it is frightened, it will fold up its case and saws under its
+body, and draw up its legs, and pretend to be dead; and then it will not
+move, even if you stick a pin through it."
+
+"Can you tell us any thing more about this fly?"
+
+"Nothing very strange, boys; but we have found out _two_ tools, I think,
+a saw and a rasp, and that is enough for one poor little fly to give us.
+Here, boys, are pictures of these saws; I have made them a great deal
+larger than they are in the fly, so that you can see them plainly."
+
+[Illustration: Saw of the Saw-fly, with Rasps shown in the Cross-lines.]
+
+[Illustration: Portion of the Saw-fly's comb-toothed Rasp, and Saw.]
+
+
+
+
+CONVERSATION II.
+
+     _Uncle Philip tells the Children about Grasshoppers and Bees,
+     that bore Holes with a Gimlet._
+
+
+"Well, Uncle Philip, here we are again, to hear more about the tools
+that animals work with; we have seen in the bark of trees, and old
+wooden posts, little holes as round as a gimlet could make, and we
+have been thinking whether any of these little creatures have augers
+and gimlets, as well as saws. Do you know of any of them that can bore
+holes?"
+
+"Oh yes, boys; I know of more than one that can bore as smooth and round
+a hole as any carpenter you ever saw. There are some of the grasshoppers
+that have an excellent gimlet. The contrivance has five pieces in it;
+two of the pieces make a case to keep the augers in, two more are the
+augers or borers, and the other is a piece between the two borers on
+which they slide; this piece has a ridge on each side of it, and the
+augers have a groove which exactly fits the ridge. Besides this, each
+auger ends in a knob, and that knob has teeth all around it. Here is a
+picture of it."
+
+[Illustration: Ovipositors, with files, of the Grasshopper, magnified.]
+
+"But, Uncle Philip, what is the piece with the ridge for?"
+
+"Ah, boys, that piece shows the wisdom and the goodness of God. '_His
+tender mercies are over all his works_:' he has placed that piece there
+to keep the borers stiff, so that they cannot get out of joint, or be
+broken, when the little workman is boring."
+
+"Well, this is very curious."
+
+"Yes; but there are some of these insect workmen more curious still.
+Did you ever see a spy-glass? You know it is a round, hollow piece of
+wood, with brass tubes in it, which are made smaller and smaller, so
+as to slide into one another, when the glass is not used. Now there
+is a sort of gadfly (she is a little creature, too) which has exactly
+such a contrivance to keep her gimlet in. It is in four pieces, and the
+smallest piece ends in five sharp points, three of which are longer than
+the other two: she twists these five sharp points into one piece, and
+as some are longer and some shorter, when they are all put together,
+they make a sharp edge running all around, and are almost exactly like
+an auger or gimlet. When she wants to use it, she just shoots out the
+different tubes, so as to make a stem for the gimlet; and when she is
+done, she puts all back into its case again.
+
+"Here is a drawing of it, and I think that by looking at it you will
+understand what I have been telling you: I do not know whether men
+learned from this part of the fly how to make the case of a spy-glass;
+but I know they might have learned.
+
+[Illustration: Ovipositor or Gimlet of the Gadfly, greatly magnified,
+with a claw and part of the tube, distinct.]
+
+"There is also a bee, boys, which is called the _carpenter-bee_, because
+it is such an excellent wood-borer. It commonly looks for some old post,
+or dry plank, or withered part of a tree, to work in. It never works in
+wood that is green and has the sap or juices in it; for the bee knows,
+just as well as any carpenter does, that it is very hard to get tools
+through such wood. I expect that you have seen sometimes, when an old
+post or dry board was split, a long hollow groove in the middle of it,
+with little round thin pieces of something like paper, about as thick as
+a wafer, fastened in it by their edges, one above the other, all the way
+through. These show the work of the carpenter-bee: she bored the hole,
+and she put those little partitions like paper in it, to separate the
+cells; and more than that, she made the partitions out of the dust she
+got by boring. She always likes, too, to get a piece of wood in a place
+where the sun can shine on it; and when she has made her choice, she
+begins to bore at first into the post in a slanting direction, and as
+soon as she has gone far enough in, she then turns and bores straight,
+with the grain of the wood."
+
+"Does she do it quickly, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"Not very quickly, for sometimes the wood is very hard; I have seen
+one of these holes nearly twelve inches long in a very hard oak board.
+Sometimes she has to work at it for months; but she works steadily,
+boys, and that does a great deal. What makes it more tiresome is, that
+the poor little creature has to bring out all the dust she makes by
+boring."
+
+"How large is the hole?"
+
+"Oh, large enough to put my forefinger in, and sometimes fifteen inches
+long. After she has bored it as deep as is necessary, she begins to
+divide it into separate cells. So she commences at the bottom, and puts
+in a quantity of what is called bee-bread, until it reaches about an
+inch in height; on the top of this she lays an egg, and the bread is put
+there to feed the young one as soon as it comes out of the egg. She then
+makes a floor over it out of the dust, as I told you; she knows how to
+glue this dust together, and she brings it grain by grain from the heap
+in which she put it when she first brought it out: and she always begins
+by gluing the dust around the outside of the hole she has bored, and
+then glues another ring to that, and then another, and another, making
+each ring smaller and smaller, until she has it all filled; so that her
+floor, when it is done, appears like a parcel of rings of smaller and
+smaller sizes placed within each other. On the top of this floor she
+puts bee-bread, as before, and places another egg on it, and then covers
+it with a floor again; and so she goes on making cells and filling them
+with bread, and covering each with a floor, until she has filled up the
+hole."
+
+"Uncle Philip, how do the young bees get out when the egg is hatched? It
+seems as if they were shut up for ever in prison."
+
+"No, boys; there is a way for them to get out, and it shows the
+wonderful wisdom of God in teaching this poor bee how to contrive the
+matter. The egg which is put in the lowest cell being the oldest, the
+little worm that is afterward to be a bee will come out of that one
+first: now, you know, he never could get through all the cells over his
+head, filled as they are with bee-bread, so as to come out at the top
+of the hole. If he gets out at all, then, it must be at the bottom. The
+old bee knows this, and she so arranges these eggs that when the worm
+comes out it will be with his head pointed downwards; he falls to eating
+his bread, and so eats himself down to the bottom of his cell, and there
+he finds that his mother has bored a hole from his cell to the outside,
+and through that he comes out. When his brother in the cell above him
+has eaten his way down to the bottom of his cell, he just eats through
+the floor and gets into the cell below, which is then empty, you know,
+and walks out at the same hole which his older brother used before him.
+And so all the rest one after another eat their way downwards into the
+empty cells below them, and get out at the same back-door, which their
+mother made by what we call her _instinct_, which just means the share
+of wisdom which God gives to the lower animals to show them how to take
+care of themselves."
+
+[Illustration: =A=, represents a part of a post, tunnelled in several
+places by the violet carpenter-bee; the stick is split, and shows the
+nests and passages by which they are approached. =C=, a piece of thin
+stick, pierced by the carpenter-bee, and split, to show the nests. =D=,
+perspective view of one of the partitions. =E=, carpenter-bee. =F=,
+teeth of the carpenter-bee, greatly magnified; _a_, the upper side; _b_,
+lower side.]
+
+"Why, that instinct, as you call it, Uncle Philip, is a curious thing."
+
+"Very curious, very curious indeed, boys; and at some other time, if
+you wish, we will talk more about it, and I will tell you a great many
+stories of animals, which will show you their instinct. But for this
+time I have told you enough to keep you thinking until we meet again. So
+now just look at this picture of the carpenter-bee's house, and then you
+may go home."
+
+
+
+
+CONVERSATION III.
+
+     _Uncle Philip tells the Children about Animals that are
+     Tailors._
+
+
+"Uncle Philip, we are very glad to see you, and we think we have found
+out something to ask you, about a kind of work which men do, that no
+other animal can accomplish. As we came along this morning to visit
+you, and were talking of what you had told us of insects that, like
+carpenters, could saw wood and bore holes in it, we passed by the
+tailor's shop, near the church; 'and now,' said we, 'we have found out
+something which will puzzle good Uncle Philip: there are surely no
+tailors among the lower animals; so we will ask him to-day to talk about
+creatures that can cut out cloth and sew it up with a needle.'"
+
+"Ah, my dear children, there are a great many things which would puzzle
+Uncle Philip. I do not know every thing; nor do I suppose that I can
+find _every_ trade in the world among the dumb creatures which God has
+made. But you have made a bad choice of a puzzle this morning, my boys;
+for there are tailors among the inferior creatures, and some pretty nice
+ones, too; at any rate, they always cut so as to fit exactly."
+
+"Why, Uncle Philip! You do not mean to say that they can cut out
+_cloth_, and then sew it up again with a needle and thread!"
+
+"No, boys; I do not think it is to be expected that they should take
+a pair of shears and cut a piece of cloth, or put a piece of thread
+through the eye of a steel needle; any more than we expect the insect
+that saws, to go to the cabinet-maker, and borrow his tool to work
+with. But with the instruments which God has given to them, they will
+cut what is cloth to them, the leaves of trees and flowers, and will sew
+them together too: and, now I think of it, there is one that will cut
+his garments out of our cloth."
+
+"Pray let us hear about them, Uncle Philip."
+
+"Softly, boys, softly. I have two things to say to you before I begin.
+In the first place, I am very glad to hear that you think and talk among
+yourselves about the things which I tell you: and in the next place, I
+know that you love _me_, and, therefore would not wish, by _puzzling_
+me, as you call it, to produce mortification or vexation; nor do I
+think that I should have felt either vexed or mortified had I not been
+able to find tailors among the lower animals; but I do not wish you to
+take pleasure in puzzling people; for it is very apt to produce in you
+a feeling of triumph, and to make you vain: and you must remember that
+for _one_ of your questions which cannot be answered, a _thousand_ might
+be put to you, of the answer to which you would be ignorant. No man, my
+dear boys, knows every thing. Wise men talk with each other, that they
+may learn from each other; and the wisest are not ashamed to acknowledge
+their ignorance of some things; and I believe they take very little
+pleasure in puzzling. It is our duty to learn all that we can, and to be
+always willing at a proper time to teach others what we know."
+
+"Thank you, dear Uncle Philip, for your advice. We did not mean to
+triumph over _you_, if you had not been able to tell us of tailors among
+the animals. But we see that you are right. We might get a foolish
+habit, which would do us harm."
+
+"Exactly what I meant, boys; and now let us begin. And first we will
+talk of the cutting out, as the tailor always does that before he sews.
+There is a kind of bee[1] which, like some of the insects we have
+already spoken of, is furnished with a borer. With this she forms a
+round hole, like that made with an auger or gimlet, in a hard-trodden
+path, or sometimes in a piece of soft decayed wood. It is in making her
+nest in this hole that she plays the part of a tailor, for the nest is
+made of leaves, sometimes taken from the rose, at others from the birch,
+ash, or other trees. The little creature cuts them commonly, and I
+believe always, into two shapes. They are either half-oval, that is,
+half the shape of the bowl of a spoon, or round, and are of different
+sizes. Sometimes she makes a mistake in the size, and when she finds it
+out, she alters it. These leaves are prepared to line the hole which
+she has bored, and she begins with the largest pieces; taking them into
+the hole, she winds around in it, until she has spread very smoothly a
+tube of leaves the whole length of it; she then closes up one end of it
+by rounding it off and doubling the pieces of leaf one over another.
+In this case she sets about making her _cells_. She takes three of her
+half-oval pieces which have been cut to fit, and contrives to roll them,
+so that the edge of one piece will just lap over the edge of the next;
+these, when she has finished rolling them, make the hollow of the cell,
+which is not quite an inch high. She next turns up the ends of these
+pieces, which are cut to fit, so as to form the bottom: she then sets to
+work with three other pieces rolled in the same way inside of the cell
+just finished, turning up their ends as before to form the bottom; and
+within these she again works three others, so that her cell, when it is
+done, is of nine thicknesses of leaves. And you see why, though she cuts
+the pieces of the same shape, they are not all of one size: they are
+of three sizes, so as to make the cells within each other smaller and
+smaller."
+
+"But, Uncle Philip, you have not said any thing about the round pieces
+which she cuts; how does she use them?"
+
+"I will tell you: after she has finished one cell she lays an egg in it,
+and fills it all round with food nearly liquid; now as the cell is lying
+down on its side, all this liquid food would run out if it were not
+corked up, and the bee therefore uses her circular pieces to stop up the
+cells."
+
+"And does she really make these round pieces to fit the cell?"
+
+"Yes, boys, exactly; and they are cut too as regularly as if they had
+been first measured and marked with a pair of compasses. And, more than
+this, the little creature will fit one in in less than a minute. But the
+most curious thing is, that sometimes she will fly off to a distance
+to get this round piece, and bring back one which will exactly suit;
+so that it really seems as if she carried the size in her head. After
+finishing one cell she will make another, until she has completed as
+many as she wants; and then, as she always builds them one upon another,
+they appear like a parcel of thimbles stuck into each other and put into
+a case: and here is a picture of it."
+
+[Illustration: Rose-leaf-cutter Bees, and Nest lined with Rose-leaves]
+
+"This is very wonderful, Uncle Philip; and it does seem like cutting out
+pieces to fit."
+
+"Very true: but this is not the only cutter-out of leaves among the
+bees. There is another kind, called the poppy-bee,[2] because it uses
+the scarlet leaves of the poppy-flower to line its cell. It makes its
+hole in the ground, as smooth and regular and polished as can be, and
+then proceeds to line it all around with pieces of the leaves, and cuts
+them to fit as she goes on. If a piece is too large she will trim it
+down to the proper size and shape, and always carries away the scraps.
+Now if you should take a pair of scissors and try to cut the leaf of a
+poppy-flower, you would wrinkle it, but this little workman will spread
+out what she cuts as smooth as glass. When she has lined this hole
+throughout, and carried the lining out beyond the entrance, she fills it
+with honey and _pollen_, or bee-bread, as it is called, about half an
+inch high, lays an egg, then folds down the leaves on it, and finally
+fills the upper part with earth."
+
+"Then she was not working for herself?"
+
+"No; she was providing a house for her young, and God has taught her
+thus to take care of it.
+
+"I will now tell you of another little workman, which I have heard
+called the cloak-maker, because it makes for itself a mantle which
+really appears very much like a cloak; and, stranger still, this cloak
+is lined throughout with silk."
+
+"Can it be possible, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"Listen, and you shall hear. These mantle-looking cases are made by
+the _larva_, as it is called, or grub of a little moth which forms a
+covering of pure silk; this silk it spins from itself; it is not woven
+so as to appear like our silk, but still it is real silk, and is worked
+into a great many thin scales, which lap over one another like the
+scales of a fish. But this is only the lining of the cloak. This little
+tailor is the field-moth, which first eats what it wants from a green
+leaf, and then, from the thin membranes left, sets about making its
+mantle: and it makes it of two pieces cut out and joined together with a
+seam, just as a tailor would make it."
+
+"How does it go to work, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"Why, I will give you the account as it was given by a gentleman[3] who
+was very fond of observing insects, and who watched one of these little
+creatures. He says that from the thin membrane of the leaf it first
+cut two pieces just equal in size and of exactly the same shape; each
+of these pieces was to form one-half of the cloak, and this he says was
+done wonderfully fast. He noticed, too, that one end of each piece, that
+which was meant for the bottom of the cloak, was just twice as long as
+the other end, which was the top. The insect then placed itself between
+the two pieces while they were lying flat; it afterward brought the two
+sides where the seam was to be, together, and fastened them at certain
+places, still leaving, however, considerable spaces open. It then began
+to turn and twist its body about in all directions, until it moulded
+the pieces into a hollow form to fit. When it found that it would fit
+its body, it brought the edges of the seam close together through the
+whole length, and contrived to sew or fasten them so neatly together,
+that when the gentleman looked, even with a magnifying-glass, he said he
+could hardly find the seam. The whole was lined with the silk spun from
+itself, and was finished in about twelve hours."
+
+"Why, this little workman is the strangest of all: but, Uncle Philip,
+you said there was one of these animal tailors that cut his garment out
+of _cloth_: pray tell us of him."
+
+"When I said that, boys, I was thinking of the clothes-moth.[4] They
+make their coats of wool commonly taken from our cloth, and silk drawn
+from their own mouths; and the strangest thing concerning them is,
+that when they outgrow their clothes they will piece them to make them
+larger. Suppose the insect wants it longer, it adds a new ring of wool
+to the end: suppose it wants it wider, it slits the case or garment, not
+from one end to the other, for this would leave it naked, but it splits
+it half-way down the sides, and when it has filled it in with proper
+pieces, it splits the remaining half, and puts other pieces in them.
+There is another curious thing about this tailor: it always makes its
+coat of the same colour with the cloth from which it takes the wool; so
+that if it has first made its garment of a piece of blue cloth, and is
+placed on a bit of red cloth when it wishes to enlarge it, you will see
+its work exactly, for the pieces which it puts in will be red. This is
+the little fellow, boys, which does so much mischief to our clothes."
+
+"Well, Uncle Philip, one can almost forgive his mischief for the sake
+of his ingenuity. But you have said nothing yet about _needles_; how do
+these little creatures sew?"
+
+"Why, they have what serves as a needle to them: but I can tell you of
+another animal which sews with a needle a great deal plainer to be seen
+than that of these little insects."
+
+"Pray let us hear of him, Uncle Philip."
+
+"I must go among the birds to find this workman. There is a kind of
+starling, called the orchard starling,[5] about which, Mr. Wilson, a
+gentleman who has written a great deal concerning the birds of our
+country, gives a very curious account. He says that this bird commonly
+hangs its nest from the twigs of an apple-tree, and makes it in a very
+singular manner. The outside is made of a particular kind of long
+tough grass, that will bend without breaking, and this grass is knit
+or sewed through and through in a thousand directions, just as if done
+with a needle. The little creature does it with its feet and bill. Mr.
+Wilson says that he one day showed one of these nests to an old lady,
+and she was so much struck with the work that she asked him, half in
+earnest, if he did not think that these birds could be taught to _darn
+stockings_? Mr. Wilson took the pains too to draw out one of these
+grass threads, and found that it measured thirteen inches, and in that
+distance the bird who used it had passed it in and out thirty-four
+times."
+
+"Why, this was sewing, sure enough."
+
+"Yes; and I saw, when I was in the West Indies, another kind of
+starling[6] which will cut leaves into a shape like the quarter of
+an orange-rind, and sew the whole very neatly to the under side of a
+banana-leaf, so as to make one side of the nest. But, boys, there is
+another most beautiful little bird, which is called the tailor-bird,
+because it sews so well.[7] It first picks out a plant with large
+leaves, then it gathers cotton from the shrub, and with the help of
+its fine long bill and slender little feet it spins this cotton into a
+thread, and then using its bill for a needle, it will sew these large
+leaves together to hide its nest, and sew them very neatly, too."
+
+"Why, dear Uncle Philip, this is the most wonderful tailor of them all."
+
+"He is, indeed: but, my children, what do we learn from all that I have
+been telling you? Who made these little creatures with such curious
+skill, and taught them to work so well? It was the same God who made us;
+for such wonderful things never came from what people call _chance_.
+Chance, boys, never made any thing: and how very wise he must be to
+form such nice little workmen; and how very good thus to teach them how
+to take care of themselves. The Bible says, truly, that '_his tender
+mercies are over all his works_.' And I think, boys, we may learn
+another thing: it is, not to be so very proud of what we know; for I
+rather suppose that we shall often find that the lower creatures around
+us understood many of our trades long before we found them out."
+
+"Yes, Uncle Philip, it is likely that these little fellows you have been
+telling us of this morning were the first tailors in the world."
+
+"Very likely, very likely indeed, boys. But now I must bid you good
+morning; for here comes our good clergyman, and I am going with him to
+see a poor sick woman."
+
+"Good morning, Uncle Philip; we will come again on Saturday."
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] Megachile centuncularis.
+
+[2] Osmia papaveris.
+
+[3] Reaumur.
+
+[4] Tinea sarcitella.
+
+[5] Icterus mutatus.
+
+[6] Icterus bonana.
+
+[7] Sylvia sutoria.
+
+
+
+
+CONVERSATION IV.
+
+     _Uncle Philip tells the Children about the first Paper in the
+     World, made by Wasps._
+
+
+"Ah, boys! how do you do? This is Saturday, and I have been expecting to
+see you come for some time."
+
+"Why, Uncle Philip, we should have been here sooner, but we went round
+by the old mill; because we thought that perhaps we might find in some
+of the old timbers, holes bored by some of those industrious little
+carpenters you told us about."
+
+"Well; and did you find any?"
+
+"No; but we found something else, which we have brought to show you: and
+we have been talking about it all the way. We have not discovered any
+new _tools_ among the animals, but we think we have found out a _trade_
+that some of them work at; and we wish you to tell us if we are right."
+
+"Oh, that I will do, with pleasure, if I can. What is the trade that
+you think you have discovered?"
+
+"It is paper-making, Uncle Philip. We have found this part of a wasp's
+nest, which we have brought along; and as you told us it was always best
+to notice every thing closely, we examined this, and it appeared so much
+like coarse paper that we thought (for we knew it was made by wasps)
+that man did not make the first paper in the world."
+
+"Well, boys, that was not a bad thought. Now you see the advantage of
+taking notice of things, and of thinking about what you see. You are
+perfectly right in supposing that wasps make paper; and, if you please,
+we will talk this morning about the wasps."
+
+"Oh yes, yes, by all means, Uncle Philip; and we will thank you, too."
+
+"I must first tell you, then, that of the wasps there are several kinds.
+Some build their nests under ground, and some hang theirs in the air to
+the limb of a tree. This part of a nest which you have found belonged to
+the last kind; but I will tell you something about both. But before I
+begin let me get some drawings I have, which will help us to understand
+better. I have them. And now, of the wasps which build under ground.
+As soon as the warm season begins, the first care of the mother-wasp
+is to look for a fit place in which to build; and in the spring of the
+year she may very often be seen flying about a hole in the bank of a
+ditch, and looking into it. These holes which she examines are the old
+houses of field-mice or moles, and some persons have thought, what I
+expect is true, that she likes to take such old holes, because they save
+her a great deal of hard work. But still, as the holes are not large
+enough for her use, she has a great deal of labour to make them do. So
+she goes at once to work, digging in the hole she has chosen, and makes
+a winding, zigzag gallery, about two feet long, and about an inch in
+width. She digs out the earth, and carries it out, or pushes it out
+behind her as she goes on. This gallery ends in a large chamber or hole
+from one to two feet across when it is done: and now she is ready to
+begin her nest."
+
+"Now then, Uncle Philip, she will begin to make paper, will she not?"
+
+"Yes; but here I ought to tell you that it was a long time before men
+found out what she made it of. Do you remember my telling you of a
+gentleman who watched the little cloak-maker to see how he made his
+garment? Well, this gentleman, whose name was Reaumur, was trying for
+twenty years, he says, to find out how the wasp made paper, before he
+succeeded. At last, one day, he saw a female wasp alight on the sash
+of his window and begin to gnaw the wood; he watched her, and saw that
+she pulled off from the wood fibre after fibre, about the tenth part of
+an inch long, and not so large as a hair. She gathered these up into a
+knot with her feet, and then flew to another part of the sash, and went
+to work, stripping off more fibres or threads, and putting them to the
+bundle she had already. At last he caught her, to examine the bundle,
+and found that its colour was exactly like that of a wasp's nest; but
+the little ball was dry; she had not yet wetted it to make a pulp of it
+which could be spread out. He noticed another thing, that this bundle
+was not at all like wood gnawed by other insects; it was not sawdust,
+but threads of some little length bruised into lint. He then set to work
+himself with his penknife, and very soon scraped and bruised some of the
+wood of the same window-sash, so as to make a little ball exactly like
+the wasp's. Mr. Reaumur thought that this was the stuff out of which the
+wasp made paper, and it has since been found out that he was right. The
+animal wets its little bundle of bruised wooden fibres or threads with
+a kind of glue that it has, and this makes it stick together like pulp
+or paste; and while it is soft, the wasp walks backwards, and spreads it
+out with her feet and her tongue, until she has made it almost as thin
+as the thinnest paper. With this she lines the top of the hole in which
+she is going to build her nest, for she always begins at the top. But
+this is so thin that it would be too weak to keep the dirt from falling
+in; and therefore she goes on spreading her papers one upon the other
+until she has made the wall nearly two inches thick. These pieces are
+not laid exactly flat on each other like two pieces of pasteboard, but
+with little open spaces between, being joined at the edges only. This
+is the ceiling; and when it is finished she begins to build what may be
+called the highest floor of the nest; this she makes of the same paper
+in a great number of little cells all joined together at the sides; and
+instead of fastening this floor to the sides of the nest, she hangs it
+to the ceiling by rods made also out of this paper: these rods are small
+in the middle, and grow larger towards the ends, so as to be stronger.
+Here is a drawing of one.
+
+[Illustration: The Cut represents one of the Rods from which the Floors
+are suspended.]
+
+She then makes a second floor, and hangs it under the first by rods as
+before; and the whole of it, when finished, if it should be cut straight
+through the middle, would appear something like the following picture of
+one which I made some years ago."
+
+[Illustration: _Section of the Social-Wasp's Nest._--_aa_, the outer
+wall; _b_, _cc_, five small terraces of cells for the neuter wasps;
+_dd_, _ee_, three rows of large cells for the males and females.]
+
+"This is a very ingenious little paper-maker. Uncle Philip."
+
+"Yes, boys, it is so. This of which I have been telling you is the
+ground-wasp. The tree-wasp makes its nest of paper prepared in the same
+way; and the nests are of different shapes. One makes it in a round
+flattened ball, not much larger than a rose, and when cut open it shows
+layer upon layer of leaves of the same thin grayish-looking paper. This
+kind is not so common, however. Here is one of their nests.
+
+[Illustration: Wasp's Nest.]
+
+"Another makes its nest of cells placed in separate floors, but without
+any outer wall to keep off the rain; and the most curious thing in this
+nest is, that it is not placed in a horizontal way; that is, it is not
+placed with the floors level, because then the cells would catch the
+rain, and the nest would be spoiled; but it is always placed slanting,
+so that the rain may run off. It is always placed, too, so as to face
+the north or the west, and I suppose it is because the wasp knows that
+it is in more danger of rain from the south and the east. Here is a nest
+of this kind."
+
+[Illustration: Wasp's Cells attached to a branch.]
+
+"Ah, Uncle Philip! this must be a kind of lazy wasp. It does not choose
+to take the trouble to cover up the house, and so it hangs it slanting,
+to make the rain run off."
+
+"It may be so, boys; but I think that in making this wasp lazy, you make
+it a very sensible wasp; else how should it know that water would run
+down a slanting surface? But I cannot believe that it is so lazy; for,
+though it does not cover up the whole house in a paper shell, yet it
+does what no other wasp does, it covers its nest with a complete coat of
+shining, water-proof varnish, to prevent the rain from soaking into the
+cells. And putting on this varnish, I can tell you, is no trifling work.
+It forms a pretty large part of the labour of the whole swarm belonging
+to the nest; and sometimes you may see some of them at work for hours at
+a time, spreading it on with their tongues. No, my lads, he who wants an
+example of laziness, will not find it among the wasps.
+
+"But let us come back to the paper. Hornets make paper for their nests
+much in the same manner as the wasps do, only it is coarser. There is,
+however, one kind of wasp which makes a sort of paper more curious than
+this which you have found. It is not a wasp found in this country at
+all. It is the Cayenne wasp, and so smooth, strong, and white is the
+outside of his nest that it appears like a card, and he is for that
+reason sometimes called the card-maker wasp. He hangs his nest on the
+branch of a tree, and it is so hard and polished on the outside that
+the rain rolls off from it, as if it were glass. A little hole in the
+lower end is left for the animal to pass in and out; and in this picture
+of it, which I have, a piece is left out of the side to show how the
+cells within are fixed."
+
+[Illustration: Nest of the Card-maker Wasp, with part removed to show
+the arrangement of the Cells.]
+
+"Well, then, Uncle Philip, we were right in thinking that wasps were the
+first paper-makers; and very glad we are that we saw this old piece of
+a wasp's nest. Who would have thought that so much could be learned by
+picking up this old scrap of a wasp's work!"
+
+"Very good sense, boys, in that thought. A wise man will learn something
+from almost any thing. Use your eyes, and think of what you see. Now in
+this very trade of paper-making. I think that man would have found it
+out a great deal sooner if he had watched the wasps at their work. They
+have been excellent workmen at this business from the beginning; and man
+has gone on learning little by little of this very trade, as I will tell
+you at some other time, when he might have made a long step at once,
+had he but noticed wasps and hornets. We go on very slowly sometimes in
+learning to make a trade as perfect as it can be: the poor animal, with
+its knowledge such as God gave it, is often our superior. These dumb
+creatures cannot teach us every thing; there is a point to which they
+can go, and no further: but as far as they do know, their knowledge is
+perfect; and I make no doubt that a great many useful things not now
+known will hereafter be found out by watching dumb animals."
+
+
+
+
+CONVERSATION V.
+
+     _Uncle Philip tells the Children a Story about Tom Smith; and
+     of Bees with Brushes and Baskets, and of a Bird with a Chisel, and
+     a Gnat with a Lancet._
+
+
+"Uncle Philip, as the day is fine, instead of sitting here, will you
+walk with us, this morning?"
+
+"Yes, boys; let me get my cane and hat, and we will take a ramble;
+perhaps we may see something, if we will use our eyes. Where do you wish
+to go?"
+
+"Oh, we do not care much, if you are with us, which way we walk; any
+course will be pleasant."
+
+"Come on, then; we will cross the river, and go down on the other side
+beyond the old mill, where you found the wasp's paper. And now, such of
+you as will, may keep a look-out for curious things, while the rest of
+us will talk together.--Boys, do any of you know Tom Smith?"
+
+"Know him! Why, Uncle Philip, everybody in this part of the country
+knows him; he is such a shocking drunkard, and swears so horribly, that
+nobody can forget him; and what makes it worse, he is an old man, too.
+His hair is almost as white as yours, Uncle Philip."
+
+"Yes; he is just about my age. We were both born here, and I have known
+him ever since we were boys; and when we played together as children,
+over this very field which we are now crossing, or caught fish in
+the river down yonder by the rocks, there was not a more decent,
+well-behaved, handsome boy among us than was Tom Smith. Poor Tom lost
+his father when he was about twelve years old, and his mother, having
+no other child, indulged him, until he was sent to the city to go into
+a store. But Tom then, boys, had good principles; he neither swore nor
+got drunk. In a little time he fell into bad company, and they led him
+astray by degrees. He was so good-natured (as they call it), boys,
+that he had never the firmness to say _no_ to the proposals of his
+companions. He went with them to places of amusement; and instead of
+spending his evenings in his own room, reading, he was at the theatre,
+or dancing in some place, or at a supper with his young companions;
+and finally he began to play cards and billiards with them; while the
+inside of the church was a place which he never saw. He was cheated by
+his companions; and too honest he was then not to pay what he lost by
+gaming: he wrote to his poor mother, and told her the truth, as to his
+losses, and she sent him money to pay his debts, and told him to come
+home. He did come home; and even after all that had happened, poor Tom
+might have been respectable and happy; for his friends were all willing
+to forget the past, and encourage him for the future. For a time he went
+on pretty well, and married an affectionate and good young woman, and
+his prospects were bright enough: but one thing, boys--one single thing,
+ruined his comfort for ever. In the city he had learned _to drink strong
+liquors_.
+
+"I remember, too, soon after he came home and married, that a man was
+hung not far from here for murdering his wife. The man was a drunkard,
+though he was quite sober when he killed the poor woman; and drunkenness
+had hardened his heart. I have no doubt, as it will the heart of any
+man. Tom was talking to me about that man, and I remember he said then
+that when a man _began_ to drink, he could never say where it would end,
+nor what he would do: 'therefore,' said Tom, 'beware of the _first_
+drink.' But Tom, though he talked like a Christian and a man about it,
+did not act like one: for it was not long before he began to follow his
+bad habit, and he soon killed his poor mother; for she died of grief
+and sorrow, I think. His excellent wife speedily followed her to the
+grave; and Tom Smith left the village, a perfect vagabond, whom no one
+cared for. Where he went, or what he did for a long time, no person
+here knows. I went to other countries, and neither heard of nor saw Tom
+Smith until my return home, when I found him wandering about here, a
+gray-headed swearer and drunkard. He did not know me, and I never should
+have known him, had not some one told me who he was. And last night I
+received a letter from one of my nephews in the city, which informed
+me that Tom Smith had been tried in the court, and found guilty of
+stealing, and was sent to the state prison for ten years to hard work.
+There I suppose he will die for he is now old; and it is awful to think
+of what is then to become of his soul. Ah, my dear boys! I could not
+help thinking, when I read my letter, of what that man said to me years
+ago--and I have told you his story, hoping that you will remember his
+words, 'Beware of the _first_ drink.' The man who does that will never
+be a drunkard. And when old Uncle Philip is laid in the grave, boys,
+which must be before many years, remember, as you look upon the place,
+that he told you the story of Tom Smith, and charged you to 'beware of
+the _first_ drink.'
+
+"But here come some of the boys, running towards us; I suppose they have
+found something."
+
+"Oh, Uncle Philip! Uncle Philip! Do come with the boys this way. Under
+that fence yonder there are a great many beautiful wild flowers, and a
+number of bees are as busy as they can be about them; pray come and see
+them."
+
+"Well, I will; but not so fast, boys; you forget that I am an old
+man, and cannot run as you do.--So, here are, indeed, a great many
+industrious little workmen."
+
+"What are they doing, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"These are _workers_ among the bees, and they are gathering the dust out
+of the flowers, to work it up into what is commonly called bee-bread.
+More tools here, boys!"
+
+"Tools, Uncle Philip! Ah, we like that: pray let us hear of them; what
+are they?"
+
+"Why, there is a brush and a basket in the legs of these little fellows;
+but they are so small that you cannot see them without a microscope."
+
+"What is a microscope?"
+
+"It is an instrument, made by fixing glasses in such a way to look
+through, that small things will seem to be very large. Do you not see
+how some of these little fellows are rolling themselves over in the
+inside of the flowers, so that the yellow dust is sticking to them?
+Now their breasts, and legs, and many other parts of their bodies are
+covered with very short hairs, which catch the dust. The last joint but
+one of each leg is made exactly like a brush, the hairs being longer
+there than on any other part; and with these they brush off the dust,
+and get it into two little heaps. The bags into which they put it, or
+rather the baskets, are in the thighs of the last pair of legs. These
+are hollow, so as to form a three-sided basket. The bottom of it is
+smooth and shining, and appears like horn, and all around the edges are
+placed very strong, thick-set hairs, like bristles."
+
+"What are these for?"
+
+"To keep things from falling out of the basket; and these bristles are
+so strong that even if they heap up more than the basket will hold, the
+bristles will keep it from falling. Here is a drawing of these legs.
+
+[Illustration: Structure of the legs of the Bee for carrying propolis
+and pollen, magnified.]
+
+Besides carrying this dust, they also carry what is called _propolis_."
+
+"What is propolis, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"It is a gum which is found upon some trees. This they work up into
+little balls, and knead it until it is a little dry, so as not to stick.
+This takes the bee sometimes as much as half an hour. When the balls
+are ready, she passes them backwards with her feet to the basket, puts
+them in, and gives them a pat or two to make them lie close; and when
+she adds more, she pats it still harder, and when the basket is full,
+away she goes to the hive. But there is another curious instrument about
+the bee. I mean its sting: this is like the head of a barbed or bearded
+arrow. There is a sheath for it when the bee does not wish to use it;
+and here is a picture of it.
+
+[Illustration: _a_, The sting of a Bee, magnified to show the barbed
+darts; _b_, the last ring of the abdomen of a Bee opened, showing the
+sting in its sheath.]
+
+But let us now continue our walk."
+
+"Well, Uncle Philip, it is really very pleasant to walk with you: it
+seems as if you met nothing which could not teach us things worth
+knowing."
+
+"Why, my dear boys, there are, as I told you once before, a great many
+things which I do not know; and what I do know I am very willing to tell
+you. But you may learn just as I did,--by reading, by taking notice of
+things around you, and by thinking for yourselves. And I do not know any
+thing more pleasant to notice than the works of God. I see his wisdom
+and his goodness in every thing which he has made. I see them in the
+insects, and the birds, and the larger animals; I see them in the grass,
+and the flowers, and the trees; and I see them in the rocks and the
+stones upon the ground. All these things are well worth our attention,
+boys; the study of all these things around us is called the study of
+'Natural History;' and I think it is apt to make him who loves it a
+better man; at any rate, I believe that there have been very few who
+have been fond of it, who have not been amiable and benevolent men. But,
+hark! Do you hear that noise?"
+
+"Yes, Uncle Philip; it is the sound of men chopping wood in that clump
+of trees."
+
+"No, boys; it is like the sound of a wood-cutter; and it is a
+wood-cutter, but he does not use one of our hatchets."
+
+"What is it that he uses, then?"
+
+"He uses the tool which God gave him. It is a bird, boys, which you
+hear: it is the woodpecker. See, there it is on yonder tree, and look,
+at the foot of it, there is something like a bushel of the bird's chips
+or dust. Its bill is a complete chisel; it is straight, hard, and sharp,
+with edges too upon the sides. It is not a very broad chisel, but still
+it is one, and used as we use ours. But the chisel is not the only
+instrument of that workman. Its tongue is worth examining. It bores a
+hole into a tree that is dead or decaying, to look for insects whose
+nests are in the tree; and when it reaches the cell where the young
+insect is, it uses its tongue to get it out, and it suits exactly for
+the business. In the first place, it is so long that the bird can shoot
+it out three or four inches longer than the bill is; in the next place
+the end of it is tipped with a stiff, sharp, long thorn; and in the
+last place, that thorn has little teeth on both sides of it, like that
+which you see on the point of a fish-hook: these teeth are to keep the
+insect from falling off when it puts its tongue in the hole and sticks
+its sharp point into it to draw it out for food. So that besides the
+chisel, the woodpecker has a spear, or lance, or arrow, barbed (as it is
+called) or bearded at the point.
+
+"But we are some distance, boys, beyond the old mill: suppose we now
+turn back towards home; I find the gnats rather troublesome."
+
+"So do we, Uncle Philip; they have been biting us for some time: it
+would be well if there were no such tormenting things in the world."
+
+"I am not sure of that, boys. We may not always be able to find out the
+exact use of some of these little animals; but that only shows that we
+are ignorant, not that they are of no use. God would never have made
+them if he had not some wise purpose in doing so: I do not believe he
+ever wastes his power in making useless things. But what will you say
+about gnats, when I tell you that they have a tool to work with, and a
+very perfect one, too?"
+
+"Why, we will almost forgive them for biting us."
+
+"Biting you! They have not been biting with teeth: they are doctors,
+boys; they have only been bleeding you, and cupping you."
+
+"And what have they been bleeding us with?"
+
+"Why, with a lancet, to be sure; what should a doctor use but a lancet
+to let blood?"
+
+"And has the gnat really a lancet?"
+
+"Yes, it has: this instrument forms a part of what you may call the
+tongue of the gnat: it is made up of five pieces, which are shut up in
+a case, split from one end to the other; these give steadiness to the
+lancet when it is used. But the reason of the pain is not so much the
+wound of the lancet, as it is the fluid or poisonous juice which the
+gnat puts into the wound to make the blood thin enough for the insect to
+suck it up through a tube or case, which makes part of its mouth. Here
+is a drawing of part of a gnat's mouth.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+And here is a picture of the lancet or knife of a horse-fly.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"We have now reached the bridge,--and here we must part; your homes are
+in one direction, and mine is in the opposite. I hope, however, that you
+have learned something in our morning's walk."
+
+"We have, Uncle Philip, and we thank you much, and bid you, good day."
+
+"Good day, boys."
+
+
+
+
+CONVERSATION VI.
+
+     _Uncle Philip tells the Children about Animals that can do
+     Mason's Work._
+
+
+"Uncle Philip, we saw a very strange thing just now; as we were coming,
+we saw a great many bees flying by us, and each one was carrying a
+little stone."
+
+"That was strange, indeed. Did you find out any thing about them?"
+
+"We asked a man who was near what they did it for, and he said that they
+carried the stones to prevent the wind, which is blowing pretty fresh,
+from tossing them about too much."
+
+"That is a very silly story, boys, though it is a very old one: for I
+have seen them carrying what you call stones when it was quite calm, and
+there was no wind to blow them away. The man was very ignorant, or he
+would have told you another story, which would have been both strange
+and true."
+
+"Will you have the goodness, Uncle Philip, to tell us what it meant?"
+
+"Very willingly, boys. What you saw I presume were bees. You remember
+that I told you there were several kinds of bees; and this one is called
+the mason-bee. This kind builds his nest of mortar, and was therefore
+called the mason-bee by Mr. Reaumur first, I believe."
+
+"Where does it get the mortar, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"It makes it, boys. This kind of bee may be seen flying about, picking
+up sand, grain by grain, putting it into a heap, gluing them together
+with a sort of gum out of her own mouth, and building with them a
+foundation for her house. This little workman commonly builds against
+the side of a wall between two bricks where the mortar has fallen out;
+and if you should see one of the nests, it appears exactly like a lump
+of dry mud which has been thrown wet upon the wall out of a cart-rut:
+but when you examine it closely, you may see a great many small stones
+in it, more than is common in mud: a hundred people, though, might pass
+by it, and never think it was any thing more than a lump of dirt, which
+had been thrown upon the wall when it was wet, and had afterward dried
+there. Here is a picture of one of these nests.
+
+[Illustration: Exterior wall of Mason-bee's Nest.]
+
+You see there is a small hole in it; this leads to a cell inside about
+an inch deep, and shaped exactly like a lady's thimble; the inside of
+this cell is polished smooth, and appears like a wall of plaster, except
+that it has little yellow stains upon it. Here is the bee that makes it.
+
+[Illustration: Mason-bee.--Natural size.]
+
+In making this mortar to build with, the bee will sometimes add earth
+that is soft to its grains of sand, and when the lump is about the size
+of a small shot, it takes it up and flies away with it, to work it into
+the wall."
+
+"Does it always use sand, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"Not always: sometimes it takes wet clay, and will dig into a bank of
+clay baked hard by the sun on the outside, so as to get that which is
+wet.
+
+"Mr. Rennie, a gentleman in England who is very fond of watching
+insects, and has found out a great many curious things about them, has
+given an account of some of these bees which he noticed at work. Every
+one was carrying out of a hole in the clay-bank a small lump of clay;
+and on catching one of them, he found that this lump was wetter than
+the clay in the hole, so that the bee had moistened it, and worked it
+together, to make it stick like good mortar. These lumps too were larger
+than a shot; they were as large as a garden-pea."
+
+"How long did it take them to work up the lump?"
+
+"About half a minute, Mr. Rennie says. He watched one of these little
+creatures, and found that she was building on the inside wall of a
+coal-house, where the bricks and mortar were left rough: she was at work
+between two of the bricks where the mortar had fallen out, or where the
+bee had taken it out. And the conduct of the bee at her house was very
+different from what it was at the clay-bank. She was not frightened,
+but went on working when any one came near the clay-bank; but at her
+house she seemed afraid that it should be found out where it was. She
+would alight first on the roof outside, as if she merely wished to rest
+herself; and when she flew into the coal-house she would not go directly
+to her nest, but would settle on a shelf, and sometimes pretend to be
+examining a great many places in the wall between different bricks; and
+at last, when she supposed there was no risk, or when there was nothing
+to alarm her, she would fly to her nest, and go to work with all her
+might in fixing her piece of clay to the wall."
+
+"Why did she wish her house not to be found out, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"Mr. Rennie supposed it was her instinct: she had seen probably some of
+the insects which would destroy her young, watching her to see where
+she was building; and sometimes after flying nearly to her nest with a
+load, she would turn back and fly towards the clay-bank, or take a large
+sweep off in another direction, and so come to her house.
+
+"Besides the mason-bee, boys, there is the mason-wasp, which I have
+heard some persons call the _dirt-dauber_: it is very common, especially
+in the southern part of the United States. It works very much like the
+mason-bee, only it is apt to fix its nest under the eaves of old houses,
+which I think the mason-bee never does.
+
+"There is also another kind of mason-wasp which will actually break a
+hard brick. Mr. Rennie says that he saw one at work on a brick of a hard
+yellow kind. Whether the wasp found a hole in the brick to begin with,
+he did not know; but if he did he was hard at work making it larger: he
+would break off a piece as large as a mustard-seed at a time. Here is
+a drawing of that kind of wasp; and the insect is no larger than the
+picture.
+
+[Illustration: Mason-wasp.--Natural size.]
+
+It seems wonderful that so small an insect should have so much strength.
+Here is a picture of its jaws, seen through a microscope, so as to
+appear a great deal larger than they really are.
+
+[Illustration: Jaws of Mason-wasp.--Greatly magnified.]
+
+"I do not know, boys, that the masons we have been talking of, show us
+any _tools_ like those with which men who are masons work; but they show
+us, at any rate, how to make mortar by kneading or working it together;
+and they certainly show us that we were not the first who built walls.
+But there is another kind of mason who works in stone. He picks out
+the stones which are of proper size, and he fastens them together with
+mortar really as men do."
+
+"Pray tell us of him, Uncle Philip."
+
+"I will. The insect I mean is the caddis-worm, which is to be found
+sometimes in ponds, and very often in springs of fresh water. There
+are several sorts of them, but the one I am thinking of now, builds a
+stone house to live in. These worms are in the habit of making a little
+tube, sometimes of sand, or shell, or wood, or leaves, or stones, to
+live in; and their skill consists in joining these perfectly, and
+making them stick together. But we are talking now of the caddis-worm
+that uses stone. What the worm has to do is to make a tube out of small
+stones, that shall have a hollow about as large as a wheat straw, and be
+perfectly smooth inside. This is a pretty hard task--at least it would
+be very hard to us. When the stone-mason wishes a stone of a particular
+size or shape, and cannot find it, he takes his hammer and breaks one
+until it will suit; but the caddis-worm has no hammer, and must take
+the stones just as it finds them. The little insect then has to pick
+out a great many stones before he gets the right one, because they have
+so many little rough points about them that it is very difficult to
+get those which will make the tube perfectly smooth inside. Remember,
+too, that the bottom or lower side of this stone case has to be pretty
+nearly smooth, so that the worm can drag it along on the bottom of the
+spring or pond (for it never comes out of it), and you will see that the
+picking out of the stones alone is no trifle. But besides this, it has
+to fasten them together with mortar."
+
+"And can the worm really do this, Uncle Philip? Will not the water wash
+the mortar all away?"
+
+"It certainly would if it were like common mortar. It was a long time
+that men lived before they found out a mortar that would remain, and
+grow hard under water. When they want to build a wall that is to be
+under the water, they use a cement which is called pozzolana; it is
+made of lava out of a volcano, and is water-proof. Our caddis-worm has
+a cement too, which is better than pozzolana, and though it has been
+tried, it cannot be melted or dissolved in water. Here is a drawing of
+the stone nest of a caddis-worm."
+
+[Illustration: Stone Nest of Caddis-worm.]
+
+"Uncle Philip, you said that sometimes these worms built their nests
+of other things besides stones; let us hear something of them, if you
+please."
+
+"Very willingly, boys. Some build of shells: here are pictures of their
+nests.
+
+[Illustration: Shell Nests of Caddis-worms.]
+
+Some build of leaves, and others of pieces of reed or light bark.
+
+[Illustration: Reed Nest of Caddis-worm.]
+
+And a curious thing about those which build of light pieces of bark
+or reed is this, that they will make the top-piece come over so as to
+hide their heads, and prevent you from seeing them. Some build of sand;
+and then as the house would be so light that the water running from
+the spring might wash it down and carry it away, the wonderful little
+creature takes care to anchor it by fastening a pretty large stone to it
+when it has nearly finished it. And as the worm anchors it when it is
+too light, so it lightens it when it is too heavy, by fixing a bit of
+light wood or hollow straw to it to buoy it up."
+
+[Illustration: Sand Nest, balanced with a Stone.]
+
+[Illustration: Nest of Caddis-worm, balanced with Straws.]
+
+"Well, this is truly a wonderful insect. Uncle Philip."
+
+"Truly so indeed, boys. In all these cases it uses its water-proof
+cement, and if you break its house to pieces, and will patiently watch,
+you may see it build another. The insect always lives with its head out
+of doors, and its body inside; so that its head is firm and hard, while
+its body is soft."
+
+"Uncle Philip," said one of the larger boys, "there is one thing I have
+been thinking about, as you have been talking: these little masons have
+no trowel, but I believe I know of one animal that uses something like
+that tool."
+
+"Ah! What animal is it?"
+
+"Why, I was reading the other day something about the beavers building
+their dams and their houses, and the book said that they built their
+houses of logs first, and then plastered them with mud, and that they
+used their tails for trowels."
+
+"I am very glad to find that you remember what you read; but I am sorry
+that your book did not tell you the truth. There have been very strange
+stories told about the beaver; and these stories have been taken from
+one book and printed in another, so that an untrue account has gone down
+for a great many years. The beaver is very ingenious, but is not quite
+so much of a mason as you suppose."
+
+"Well, Uncle Philip, will you tell us the truth about it?"
+
+"Yes, boys, I will, so far as I know it myself. I have seen these
+animals, for they were once a great deal more common in our country than
+they are now; and many of the stories told of them are not true. But
+before I begin, let me tell you of one book which I think does tell the
+plain truth about them; and the truth is curious enough."
+
+"What book is it, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"It is a book written on American Natural History, by Doctor John
+Godman. I knew him, boys, and a most excellent man he was. He is now
+dead--and he died a Christian. The book he wrote you will find worth
+reading, when you get old enough to understand it. But now for the
+beaver.
+
+"His tail is very broad and flat at the end, and might be used very well
+for a trowel; but when he builds his house he does not cut down trees,
+and place them first, and then fill up the cracks with mud-mortar; but
+all the sticks and mud (and stones too when the beaver can get them),
+are first mixed up together, and the beaver builds his house with this
+from the very foundation. As soon as he has placed a lump of this stuff
+upon the wall, he turns round and gives it a blow with his flat tail;
+and that, boys, is all he does with his tail for a trowel. Sometimes
+he slaps his tail upon the water when he is swimming; and some persons
+have supposed that this was done by the king, or ruler, to call his
+workmen. It may be so, but I do not believe it, because they almost
+always dive as soon as they have slapped the water; and I think it is
+probably a part of their motion in diving. In the autumn they cover the
+outside of their houses with mud, and they walk over it as they are at
+work, and their tails drag along upon it; and this I expect made persons
+first suppose that they were plastering it, with the tail for a trowel.
+When they are caught and kept, boys, they still keep up this fashion of
+slapping with the tail; so that I rather think it is part of the nature
+of the animal.
+
+"At another time, perhaps, I will tell you more about the beaver; but it
+is now late, and I must bid you good morning."
+
+"Good day, Uncle Philip."
+
+
+
+
+CONVERSATION VII.
+
+     _Uncle Philip talks to the Children about Animals that throw
+     Dirt with a Spade; and about an Animal with a Hook; and about one
+     that is a Wire-drawer._
+
+
+"Boys, I have some men at work digging a small ditch for me, and I wish
+to see them; will you go with me?"
+
+"Oh, yes--very gladly, Uncle Philip; for you will be sure to tell us of
+something curious before we come home."
+
+"Come on, then: yonder are the men at work; they have been very
+industrious, I see."
+
+"But, Uncle Philip, look! There is one of the men putting a bottle to
+his mouth. Is that right?"
+
+"Yes, boys, right enough; for the bottle has nothing but molasses and
+water in it; and the man is thirsty, I suppose. I would not employ him
+if he brought a bottle of spirits out with him, for two reasons. In the
+first place, I think that I ought not to encourage a man who gets drunk,
+by employing him; for I would rather give my money to a sober man who
+will not spend it for rum and brandy, but will take care of his family:
+and, in the second place, a drunkard would not work faithfully without
+being watched all the time. I never knew a drunkard who was really and
+honestly an industrious man."
+
+"See, Uncle Philip, how strong that man is; what a large spadeful of
+dirt he throws out!"
+
+"Yes, I see, boys: do you think that men had the first spades in the
+world?"
+
+"Ah! now you are going to tell us something about tools among animals:
+that is good; we like to hear of that. What animal is it that has a
+spade?"
+
+"Oh, a very common animal indeed in some parts of our country. The
+country people call it a _woodchuk_, and sometimes a _ground-hog_:
+its right name is the marmot; and as there are several sorts, ours is
+called the Maryland marmot, to distinguish it; but it is in New-York,
+Connecticut, New-Jersey. Pennsylvania, Virginia, and some of the other
+states, as well as in Maryland. This is rather a mischievous animal,
+and does harm to the clover-fields; but it is in making his house that
+he uses his spade."
+
+"Then he digs his house in the ground. Uncle Philip?"
+
+"Yes; he burrows, or digs his nest in banks of earth, or on the sides
+of hills; and he has sense enough to make the passage to the inside
+upwards, instead of downwards, so that water cannot run in. In digging
+soft earth he uses his fore-paws to loosen the dirt, for his fore-legs
+are very strong; and if the ground is hard he will use his teeth too.
+As he gets farther in, he throws the dirt with his fore-paws under his
+belly, and when he has a heap gathered, he balances himself on his
+fore-feet, and begins to throw it out with his spades."
+
+"What are his spades, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"His hinder feet, boys, which are very broad, and just fit to take up
+the dirt as a spade does, and to throw it from him: there is a skin
+which grows between the toes of his hinder feet, so that he can spread
+them out when he chooses, like a duck's foot."
+
+"But, Uncle Philip, perhaps they are made so for the sake of _swimming_;
+the duck's are."
+
+"That is a sensible thought, boys. Always think for yourselves; and when
+you make a mistake, try again: everybody is mistaken sometimes. Let it
+teach you to be modest and humble; but do not be afraid to think again.
+A person who is always thinking cannot _always_ think wrong. Now you
+suppose the marmot's feet may be made like a duck's for swimming: let me
+tell you something else, and we shall see what you will think then. The
+marmot hates a rain as much as you would if you had no umbrella; he very
+seldom even drinks water, and then only a little; and you cannot drive
+him into a stream or pond; he is afraid of it. What do you think now?"
+
+"Why, Uncle Philip, we think that he is no swimmer."
+
+"Very true, boys: so his feet, then, you now think, were made for
+spades, and not for paddles?"
+
+"We do. Can you tell us any thing more about this animal, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"Oh yes. The burrows or holes of the marmot run a great distance under
+ground, and end in several chambers or rooms, according to the number
+that is to live in them. They make beds in them of dry leaves, or
+grass, or any thing soft and dry which they can find. They cram their
+mouths full of it to carry, when they are making their nests. As soon as
+cold weather begins, the animal goes into his house, and stops up the
+hole on the inside; and there he stays till the warm weather has come
+again.
+
+"He is quite a thief at times. I saw one once which a gentleman had
+tamed, and he played about the yard; but every thing that he could get
+hold of which was fit to make his bed of, he was sure to steal, and
+carry into his hole under ground. When clothes were hung out to dry
+he would take them off the line, and as soon as any were missed the
+washerwoman knew very well where they were. She kept a long stick with
+a hook at the end of it, and with this she drew them out of the burrow.
+He soon found out what it meant, and whenever she used the stick, it was
+necessary first to tie him up; for he did not choose to have his bed
+spoiled, and would run to the hole and try to get in, and prevent the
+clothes from being drawn out. One day he stole eight pairs of stockings,
+a towel, and a little girl's frock; and he carried them into his burrow
+as far as six feet from the entrance.
+
+"But, boys, as we have begun this morning upon the old subject of tools
+among animals. I will tell you of something which, though not exactly
+a tool, is a very useful instrument, and is found belonging to a very
+common creature. Did you ever take notice of a bat?"
+
+"Oh yes, Uncle Philip, often, as they were flying about in a room at
+night, but not nearer."
+
+"Then you never saw what I mean, I expect. Our common bat, boys, has
+two very excellent hooks; one on each of what you call its wings: I
+say what you call its wings, because the bat is not really a bird, but
+a quadruped; that is, an animal with four feet: and when it is on the
+ground, any one may see that it is a four-footed animal. If a monkey's
+paw should be flattened out very much, it would be something like a
+bat's paw or hand. The long finger-bones are just like the sticks of an
+umbrella; there is a thin skin between them, and they stretch it out, so
+that the air underneath will keep them up. When they are on the ground
+all this is folded up. Their hinder feet have five toes, all small, and
+ending in sharp claws. On the fore-feet there is but one finger which
+the bat can use much, because the others are like umbrella-sticks, as I
+told you; and the end of that one is a hook. Here is a picture, in which
+you can see it plainly.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+When the bat is on the ground, it is hard work for it to get along. At
+first it will reach forward a little to one side the hooked end of its
+fore-leg, and stick it in the ground; then it draws its hind-legs under
+its belly, and raising itself up, just tumbles forward its whole body.
+At the next step it stretches out the other fore-leg, and hooks it, as
+it did before, and drawing itself up, tumbles forward again. The bat
+does not like a level place, because it cannot raise itself in the air
+from it. When they rest, they hang by the hooks; and here is a drawing
+of one, resting. In the other picture which I showed you just now the
+bat was flying."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"Uncle Philip, we did not know before that bats were such curious
+things; we always thought that they were birds; but if these pictures
+are like them, these hooks are as good as fish-hooks."
+
+"The pictures, boys, are very much like the animal, and the hooks are
+just as plain as they seem to be in the drawings. But how often do you
+suppose that you have seen a bat?"
+
+"Oh, many hundreds of times; for they are very common."
+
+"True, boys; and yet you never knew before that they had hooks about
+them. Suppose that everybody had done as you have, just passed by the
+bats, without taking notice of them; I could not have told you then
+what strange creatures they are, for no person would have known any
+thing about them. You see, then, that men may have eyes, and yet not see
+things; because they will not look for them. Use your eyes, boys; God
+made them to be used."
+
+"But, Uncle Philip, bats are such ugly things! and they can bite, too.
+We are afraid of them."
+
+"Ugly, boys! And what of that? Will you look at nothing but what is
+handsome? If the bat could think and speak, I expect he would call
+you very ugly. But it is foolish, boys, to be afraid of these smaller
+animals. There are many creatures which might hurt you, and I would
+advise you to keep out of their way: but it is silly to be afraid of
+every poor little insect or animal which you see. I have seen a large
+boy cry when he saw a poor little caterpillar or bug near him. Now
+there are very few insects, indeed, which can or will hurt you; and a
+great many of them you may watch without touching them at all. And I
+think that he is a wicked and cruel boy who kills every poor bug that he
+sees, merely because he is stronger than the bug. It would be a great
+deal kinder and wiser in the boy to notice what the bug was doing, for
+then he might learn something worth knowing."
+
+"But, Uncle Philip, is it wrong to kill _spiders_?"
+
+"Spiders! Why, boys, the spider is one of the very last of these little
+creatures that I should wish to kill. There is not a more curious little
+animal in the world, nor one that will pay a man better for watching its
+motions. At some other time I will tell you all about spiders and ants,
+for I have noticed them a great deal: but now, just to show you how much
+you would lose if you should kill all the spiders, I will talk with you
+about a tool which man uses, and which he might have learned to make
+from a spider."
+
+"Oh, do tell us; what is it?"
+
+"The next time you go to Mr. Brown's, the silversmith, ask him to show
+you his plate for drawing out wire. Tell him that I told you to ask
+him, and he will show it to you. You will see a flat piece of steel with
+holes made through it in regular lines, beginning with a large size, and
+growing smaller and smaller until the last is very small indeed.
+
+"Now the wire is drawn through these holes; beginning at the larger
+ones, and passing every time through the next smaller one, it stretches
+the wire out, until it becomes as small as the workman wishes it to be.
+
+"The spider is a wire-drawer, too; for it has a contrivance to draw
+out its threads, and make them smaller or larger, as it pleases. If
+you will look at a very large spider, you can see with your naked eye,
+just at the end of its body, four, and sometimes six, little knobs like
+teats, with a circle around them. These are its spinners. Each one of
+these small knobs, inside of that circle, is so full of little holes or
+tubes, that Mr. Reaumur (of whom I told you before, you will recollect)
+calculated that a place no larger than the point of a pin had a thousand
+of these little holes in it. These holes are sometimes so very small,
+that another gentleman,[8] who looked at spiders through a microscope
+very often, thought it would take four millions of the threads which
+came through those holes to make one thread as thick as a hair of his
+beard. Here is a picture of a spider hanging by a thread coming out of
+its spinner, or, as it is sometimes called, its spinneret."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"Then, Uncle Philip, the spider does not spin its thread all at once?"
+
+"No, boys. Fine as you see that thread to be, it is not one single line,
+but it is made of many thousands joined together. The spiders have
+little bags of gum within their bodies, near their spinners, and out of
+these they draw the threads: when they have come out about the tenth
+part of an inch, they join them all into one with their claws; and they
+can shut their spinners when they please, so as to make the threads
+longer or shorter; and they can break them off, too, when they wish."
+
+"But, Uncle Philip, we do not see why there should be so many threads to
+make up one."
+
+"I cannot exactly tell you, boys, why there are so many; but probably
+to make the thread dry quicker, by letting the air touch so many parts
+of it: and I expect, too, the thread is stronger, because we know that
+in two pieces of cord of one size, if one is made of several smaller
+cords put together, it will be stronger than the other, which was spun
+all at once. The following is a picture of the spider's spinnerets, and
+some of the threads as it appears through the microscope; only you must
+recollect that _all_ the threads are not drawn: there are a great many
+more than you see in the picture."
+
+[Illustration: Spider's Threads coming from the Spinnerets.]
+
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[8] Leuwenhoek.
+
+
+
+
+CONVERSATION VIII.
+
+     _Uncle Philip tells the Children of a Door, with a Hinge and
+     Spring to it, made by a Spider; and shows them Pictures to let them
+     see the Difference between God's Work and Man's._
+
+
+"I was thinking, boys, last night, of what you said about killing the
+poor spiders; and I was sorry that I did not then recollect one thing
+about a spider which I could have told you, and which would have made
+you like the poor little creatures better. However, I determined that
+when you came to see me again, it should be the first thing I would tell
+you, if you wished to hear it."
+
+"Wish to hear it! Why, Uncle Philip, we always wish to hear you tell us
+of any thing that you please to talk about. You have told us of a great
+many strange things, about which we knew nothing before; and we will
+thank you to tell us the story about the spider."
+
+"Very well, boys; you shall hear it. Pray, do you not think that it is
+a piece of difficult work to make a door to a house, and to make hinges
+to hang it with, and to fit it so nicely that when it is done you cannot
+see the joints where the door is shut?"
+
+"Indeed it is a piece of very hard work. Uncle Philip, and it takes
+the carpenter a long time to do it; and it is hard work, too, for the
+blacksmith to make the hinges. But what has that to do with the story
+about the spider?"
+
+"Patience, boys, patience: you shall know presently. Never be in too
+great a hurry: it is a bad plan. I have always noticed that those
+persons who hurried most, went slowest in the end. Another question I
+wish to ask you is this,--do you not think it was hard work for the
+first man who ever made a spring, and put it on a door, to make it shut
+itself again when it had been opened?"
+
+"Yes, it was so: and the man who does it now gets well paid for it."
+
+"Very good, boys. And now what will you say when I tell you that a poor
+little spider did all these things long before man did?"
+
+"What, Uncle Philip! A spider make a door with a hinge and a spring to
+make it shut itself!"
+
+"Yes, boys; a spider. Do you think he deserves to be killed for doing
+it?"
+
+"Oh no, no! But pray tell us all about it. Uncle Philip."
+
+"This kind of spider, then, boys, I saw in Jamaica, and I saw its house,
+too. It is called the mason-spider. The nest or house which I saw was a
+tube made of very hard clay, about six inches long, and an inch across,
+and was a little bent at one end. The inside of this tube was lined
+all the way through with a kind of soft silky stuff, something like
+silk-paper, but stronger, and it was of a yellowish colour; but the
+curious part was the door. I never saw any thing which an insect had
+made more strange than that. This door was round, about as large as a
+quarter of a dollar, and was a little hollowed on the upper side like
+a saucer; the inside of it was rounded like the outside of the saucer.
+It was of the same stuff with the lining of the nest, and seemed to be
+made of more than a dozen pieces of that lining, put one on the top of
+another: it was shaped so, too, that the inside layers or pieces were
+the broadest, and the outside ones became smaller and smaller, except
+at the hinge, which was about an inch long. All the pieces in the door
+were joined into this hinge, and then the hinge was joined and worked
+into the lining in the tube. That made the hinge the thickest and
+strongest part of the whole work. How the spider made it so, boys, I
+cannot tell; but so it was, that this hinge not only was a hinge, but
+was so good a spring, that whenever the door was opened it would shut
+itself immediately: and when shut, it fitted so nicely that it was very
+difficult to see the place of joining."
+
+"Well, Uncle Philip, this is most wonderful! But will not the hinge wear
+out at last?"
+
+"Wonderful as it is, boys, it is all true. As to its wearing out, I
+cannot tell you; but I know that a gentleman who had one, said that his
+friends were very anxious to see it; and there were so many of them,
+that he had to open the door and let it shut itself many hundreds of
+times to satisfy them; and it did not hurt the spring at all."
+
+"Uncle Philip, we shall not kill the poor spiders any more."
+
+"A good resolution, boys: only let them alone, and they will not hurt
+you. There is another kind of mason-spider, which I never saw, but I
+have read of it. It is found in the south of France; I did not happen,
+however, to meet with one while I was in that beautiful country. This
+kind digs a gallery or hole under ground as much as a foot deep. She
+lines it with a sort of silk glued to the walls, and makes her door,
+which is round also, with many layers of mud or earth all kneaded and
+bound together with some of her silk. On the outside, the door is flat
+and rough, to make it appear like the dirt around it, and hide it; on
+the inside it is shaped like the inside of the door of the other spider
+I have told you about; and all covered with a coat of fine silk. The
+threads of this silk are left long on one side, and fastened to the
+upper part of the hole; and these make the hinge. There is no spring to
+this; but when the spider pushes its door open and comes out, it shuts
+again by its own weight. If this door is forced open by any one when
+the spider is at home, she will catch hold of it and pull it in; and
+sometimes even when it is half-opened; she will snatch it out of the
+hand. Here is a picture which shows the nest open, and another of it
+shut; and there is a drawing of the spider, too.
+
+[Illustration: A, the Nest shut; B, the Nest open; C, the Spider; D, the
+Eyes, magnified; E, F, Parts of the Foot and Claw magnified.]
+
+A gentleman says, in a book which he wrote about insects, that he once
+broke one of these doors off, to see what the spider would do."
+
+"And what did she do, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"She made another door; but took very good care not to put any hinge
+to it, for fear she should be disturbed again. But when she thought
+all danger was gone, she could then put a hinge to it, you know; and
+probably she did."
+
+"Well, Uncle Philip, we thank you again for this account of the spiders,
+and shall always look at them hereafter with more pleasure. Who would
+have thought that we should ever find doors and hinges among such little
+creatures, and these too so very well made and fitted!"
+
+"Why, boys, I have noticed the works of God very often; and I will now
+tell you one thing which I always found. It is this: a piece of the very
+best work which man can make is really coarse when you compare it with
+the work of God. The poor spider that we have talked about, when she
+makes her door, makes it to fit perfectly; because in doing that one
+thing, God made her to know perfectly how to do it. The knowledge is
+God's, boys; but the work is the spider's: but in making any thing else,
+except about her house, the spider knows nothing."
+
+"Uncle Philip, you told us once that you were very fond of watching all
+sorts of dumb animals, and we think now that we know the reason."
+
+"Well, what is it?"
+
+"It is because you see so much of God's knowledge in them; is it not?"
+
+"Yes, my dear boys, it is. When I look at many things which man makes
+or does, I think to myself, 'Now this thing is likely to have a mixture
+of sense and nonsense in it; the sense is God's, and the nonsense is
+man's.' But when I look at a thing made by one of the dumb creatures for
+its own comfort and safety, like the spider's house, with its door and
+hinge, for instance, I say to myself, 'Now here is the wisdom of God,
+without any of man's nonsense.' And yet, boys, men are far wiser than
+any other animal in this world."
+
+"But, Uncle Philip, you said that a piece of man's best work was really
+coarse: some things must be neat, we should think. Is the point of a
+needle coarse? It does not seem so."
+
+"Boys, you have mentioned the very thing which was in my mind when I
+spoke. The point of the smallest needle is very coarse. You have heard
+me talk of the microscope. I told you it was a set of glasses, so
+fixed that when you looked through them, it made small things appear
+very large: on some other day, perhaps, I will let you look through
+my microscope for yourselves; but now, I just wish to show you the
+difference between the work of God and that of man. Let us go home,
+and I will show you some pictures I made, and you can see in them the
+difference. Last winter, you know, was very cold, and there was a great
+deal of snow: one day, while the snow was falling pretty fast, I was
+obliged to go out; and as the flakes of snow fell upon the sleeve of my
+coat (which was black), I thought they had a curious shape, and did not
+all appear alike; so when I returned home I caught some of the flakes,
+and looked at them through my microscope. They were so beautiful that I
+made pictures of them; and as we have now reached home, just let me step
+into my study, and I will bring them to you. Here they are, boys."
+
+[Illustration: Snow-flakes, seen through a Microscope.]
+
+"Oh, Uncle Philip! these are very pretty; they are all so different,
+too!"
+
+"Yes, boys, I picked out different ones to draw: when I was done, I
+began to look into my books to find out what others had written about
+this thing; and I found that a gentleman named Dr. Hook had seen more
+than a hundred different shapes and sizes of these flakes. This is God's
+work, boys.
+
+"Now I have brought you out another picture: it is the point of a very
+small needle, seen through the very same microscope which showed me the
+snow-flakes. Just look at it, boys. This is _man's_ work."
+
+[Illustration: The Point of a very small Needle, seen through the
+Microscope.]
+
+
+
+
+CONVERSATION IX.
+
+     _Uncle Phillip tells the Boys a Story about a Philosopher and
+     his Kite.--He tells them, too, about Ants that have Awls, and build
+     Cities, and Stairs, and Bridges, and many other things._
+
+
+"So, boys, you have come again to see me. I am very glad of it; for as
+this is a leisure day, we shall have time enough to talk: but what is
+that you have there? Oh, I see now; it is a kite."
+
+"Yes, Uncle Philip; it is a French kite that we have been making, and we
+have come to ask you to go out with us this morning and see us fly it."
+
+"Very good, boys; I will go. I am an old man now; but I remember that I
+was a boy once, and loved to make a kite sail. It always makes me happy
+to see boys and girls playing about in health, provided they are not
+wasting time, and their play is not to do harm to anybody or any thing.
+So come on; we will go out upon the green common yonder, behind the
+church, and I think we shall have a grand kite-flying, for the wind is
+about right.
+
+"There, boys! up she goes! Let out the string. I think she behaves very
+well; there, she is done pitching about: now she is steady; see how she
+mounts. Ah, that is a very good kite."
+
+"Uncle Philip, I was reading a book yesterday which said, 'A philosopher
+once found great help from a kite.' What did it mean?"
+
+"Do you know what a philosopher is?"
+
+"Yes, Uncle Philip; a philosopher is the same thing with a very wise
+man, is it not?"
+
+"That is pretty near the meaning. Philosopher means a person who loves
+wisdom; and such a person, you know, will always be trying to get
+knowledge; and a person who is always trying to get knowledge is apt to
+be a wise and learned man."
+
+"Well, how could a kite help a man to get learning? Did he read the old
+newspapers it was made of? I cannot see any other way."
+
+"But there may be another way without your seeing it, you know. The
+philosopher whom your book meant was Dr. Franklin. Did you ever hear of
+him?"
+
+"Oh, yes; he was born in Boston, and was a printer, and afterward became
+a very great man."
+
+"That is true. He was a man of excellent sense, who both read and
+thought a great deal; and in the war which the people of this country
+had with England to get their freedom. Dr. Franklin's sound sense was of
+great use to his countrymen."
+
+"But, Uncle Philip, how did the kite help him?"
+
+"I will tell you. If you take a proper piece of glass, or sulphur, or
+sealing-wax, or rosin, and rub it for some time, and then hold it near
+to small bits of thread or paper, the thread or paper will fly towards
+the glass or sealing-wax, and stick to it for a short time. That which
+makes them fly to the glass and stick there, is called _electricity_.
+After this was found out, men went on slowly finding out more and more,
+until at last a man named Hawksbee made a large machine with a glass
+barrel, which could be turned around by a handle like that which you see
+to a grindstone; and with this machine (which I will show you at some
+other time) he managed to get a great deal of this electricity, and it
+would shoot off in sparks, which appeared like little lightning.
+
+"And now, boys, what I am going to tell you will show you the use of a
+man's eyes. Dr. Franklin knew all about the electrical machine, and was
+very fond of drawing off the sparks from it, to see what he could find
+out about it. And when he saw it appeared so much like lightning, and
+could feel too a spark strike his hand a smart blow, he began to think
+that perhaps it was exactly the same thing with the lightning which came
+from the clouds; so he determined, if he could, to find out whether it
+was or not. He was a great deal troubled for some time to know how he
+should get down any of the lightning from the clouds; until at last,
+one day, he saw a boy flying a kite; and that showed him the way. So
+he took a large silk handkerchief, and stretching it upon sticks, soon
+made his kite; and not long afterward, when he saw a black thunder-cloud
+coming up, he took his kite and walked out of Philadelphia (where he
+then lived) into the fields, and sent his kite up. He had a string like
+yours, made of hemp, and to the end of this he tied an iron key, and
+then fastening it to the post of a shed by a silk cord, which he tied
+to the end of the hemp string, he got under the shed, and waited a long
+time. Now, boys, if he had been impatient, all his work would have been
+of no use. But he even waited, after a very heavy cloud had passed over
+his kite without giving it any of its lightning. At last, when he was
+almost ready to give it up and go home, he saw some loose threads on the
+hemp string rise and stand up straight, just as he knew the electrical
+machine would make them do. He directly put his knuckle to the iron key,
+and off came the spark, which he knew at once was exactly like the spark
+which he could get from the machine. And so, boys, he found out what
+he wished to know; and this was the way in which the kite helped the
+philosopher."
+
+"Well, Uncle Philip, this is really a very pretty story about Dr.
+Franklin and his kite. Was anybody with him?"
+
+"Nobody but his son; he took him out to help him raise the kite. But,
+boys, I see the other lads are walking on towards the bridge with our
+kite; let us follow them, and as we go, I will tell you of an electric
+_animal_."
+
+"Oh, we shall be very glad to hear of him."
+
+"Listen, then. There is a kind of eel, which when it is touched will
+give a very hard blow, just like an electric shock, to the person who
+touches it."
+
+"Is there any spark, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"No, boys; there is no spark,--but the blow is tremendous. I remember
+reading of one of these fish which was caught in a net, and a foolish
+sailor would take it up, though he was told it would hurt him. The fish
+shocked him so violently that he fell down in a fit, and it was a long
+time before he came to his senses; and his story was, that the moment he
+touched the fish, 'the cold ran swiftly up his arm into his body, and
+pierced him to the heart.' The fish has this power to defend itself, and
+to kill other fish for food."
+
+"But, Uncle Philip, how do they ever manage to catch them alive? I
+should think they would be shocked to death."
+
+"I will tell you. A very sensible traveller and learned man[9] gives an
+account of the manner in which they catch them, by a way called, by the
+South American Indians, 'fishing with horses.'"
+
+"Fishing with horses! What does that mean?"
+
+"The savannas, or large open plains, in South America have a great many
+wild horses and mules running over them. M. Humboldt says that the
+Indians caught about thirty of these, and drove them into the pond where
+the electrical eels were. The horses made a great noise, and stirred up
+the mud with their hoofs, and this brought up the eels from the bottom
+in a great rage. They were very large, and looked more like water-snakes
+than like eels; and rising to the top of the water, they crowded under
+the bellies of the horses and mules, and began to shock them. The poor
+horses would try to get out of the pond; but the Indians, with spears
+and long reeds, would stand around to hinder them from coming out: some
+of them, too, would climb upon the trees around the banks, and get out
+upon the branches which were over the pond, and by crying out aloud,
+and using their long reeds, kept the horses in the pond. The eels would
+continue to shock them with tremendous blows, and a great many of the
+poor creatures were either stunned or killed, and would sink. Those not
+killed would pant and raise their heads, while their eyes would show
+their pain, and they would try to get out. The Indians still drove them
+back, but some few escaped, and reached the shore, stumbling at every
+step, and would stretch themselves on the bank, tired out, and benumbed
+in their limbs by the shocks they had received. M. Humboldt says that in
+less than five minutes after the fight began, two horses were drowned;
+and he thought that the end of it would be, that every horse which did
+not get out of the water would be killed: but at last the eels became
+tired, and began to disperse. This is just what the Indians wish. They
+know that the eels have spent so much of their electrical power that
+they will need a long rest. It takes them a great while to get back
+their strength; so that if, the next day after such a fight, you send in
+more horses, they cannot kill one. When the eels, tired out in this way,
+begin to separate, they will swim to the edge of the pond, and there the
+Indians take them with small harpoons fastened to long cords. When the
+cords are dry, the Indian feels no shock in raising the eel out of the
+water. In this way M. Humboldt got five, all alive, and very little
+hurt. But here we are at the bridge."
+
+"Uncle Philip, suppose we sit down under the shade of this tree, and
+rest."
+
+"I am willing, boys; but take care of the damp ground: there is an old
+piece of timber that the men have taken out of the bridge, for I see
+they have been mending it; we will sit on that."
+
+"But, Uncle Philip, what shall we do with the kite? shall we draw it
+down?"
+
+"Do with it! Why, just tie the end of your string to that root, and it
+will take care of itself in this wind."
+
+"What a monstrous piece of timber this is. Uncle Philip! It must have
+taken a great many men to move it; and see--there are some larger ones
+still in the bridge. It must be a difficult work to build a bridge."
+
+"Yes, it is so: but there are bridges much harder to build than our
+little wooden one here. Some are built of stone, and it takes years to
+finish them. None but a good workman can plan and build a good stone
+bridge: but I know a little fellow that can make as good a bridge as
+anybody; and yet no man ever taught him the trade."
+
+"Ah! now we know what is coming. You are going to tell us of a dumb
+animal that can make a bridge."
+
+"Yes, I am: and a small animal it is, too, for it is an ant."
+
+"What sort of an ant is it?"
+
+"It is called the white ant; and as there is a great deal that is very
+curious about this insect. I think that I had better tell you all about
+it at once."
+
+"Pray do, Uncle Philip; you know you promised to tell us about ants."
+
+"True, boys; and I like to keep my promises. In my story about these
+ants, I think, if you attend, you will find more tools; and besides
+that, you will hear of a great many things which man makes, and which
+show matters quite as strange as any of which I have yet told you."
+
+"What are they, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"They are the building of something like a city, and bridges, and
+stairs, and roads, and tunnels under ground, and--"
+
+"Oh, let us hear--let us hear! We have heard nothing equal to this yet."
+
+"Well, then, I begin by telling you that these insects are very common
+in Africa, and in the East Indies, and are troublesome enough, for they
+eat almost every thing but metal and glass. They love wood, though,
+better than any thing else; and they are so numerous that they destroy
+it wonderfully fast. They are very cunning, too; they never eat the
+outside of the wood first, but will work upon the inside, so as to leave
+the outer part not thicker than a piece of pasteboard. But the curious
+things I meant to tell you were about their city; so I will go on to
+that. When they first begin to build you will see little hills shaped
+like a sugar-loaf, and rising up above the ground about a foot, or a
+little more. Here is a picture of them.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+The highest of these little hills is always in the middle; and they go
+on building more and more, and making them all higher, still keeping
+the tallest one in the centre. When they have made them as high as
+they wish, then they fill in the spaces between the tops of all these
+sugar-loaf hills, so as to make one roof over all. Here is a picture of
+one finished.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+After this is done, they take down nearly all of the little sugar-loaf
+hills inside; for they only wanted them for a scaffold to support the
+top while they were building it."
+
+"Uncle Philip, what is all this built of?"
+
+"It is built of clay, which the ant makes almost as hard as stone."
+
+"Are they strong, Uncle Philip?
+
+"So strong, boys, that five men may stand on them; and it is a common
+thing for the wild bulls to get upon them and look out, while the rest
+of the herd are feeding below."
+
+"Why, how high are they?"
+
+"Oh, of different heights; some as many as five or six feet, others are
+twelve, and the largest are as high as twenty feet, and would easily
+hold a dozen men."
+
+"And how large are the ants, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"Not above a quarter of an inch high as they stand. Now, boys, just
+compare the size of one of these nests with the size of the ant that
+made it; and it is quite as large in proportion as the city of New-York
+is when compared to a man's size; yes, it is a great deal larger in
+proportion. These nests are sometimes five hundred times as high as the
+ants which build them: now suppose that men built their houses five
+hundred times as high as themselves, and as large at the foundation in
+proportion to their height, what monstrous buildings they would be! But
+let me go on. This outside shell, which I have been telling you how they
+make, is nothing but the wall of the city; the buildings are all inside
+of that."
+
+"But, Uncle Philip, there is one thing I have been thinking of which
+would make it more like a city still. But I hardly think they can have
+that."
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"Why in a city, you know, where there are a great many people, there are
+a great many trades: some do one thing and some do another to get money."
+
+"Yes, that is true; and I am glad that you mentioned it, because it
+reminds me of one thing I intended to tell you about these ants. Now,
+it would not be reasonable, you know, to expect the ants to have many
+different kinds of business to do, as the people in New-York have; but
+still, boys, they are not all alike, and they do have work of different
+kinds. There are in the city of the white ants a king and a queen, and
+soldiers, and labourers, or workmen, and all these are different. Here
+are pictures which will show them all to you. This is the king.
+
+[Illustration: King of the Termites.]
+
+At first he has four wings, but soon loses them. He never grows any
+larger after he loses them. The king may be known by his having two
+large eyes. Here is the queen. She is the mother of the whole city;
+and you see what a large body she has. It is full of eggs, and eighty
+thousand will come from her in twenty-four hours. She also has two eyes.
+
+[Illustration: Queen of the Termites.]
+
+"Here is a soldier: he has a large head, armed with two hooks, shaped
+like a crooked awl, and very sharp.
+
+[Illustration: Soldier of the Termites.]
+
+"For every one of these soldiers there are about one hundred labourers.
+The soldiers do the fighting; and though they are perfectly blind, they
+fight well, and are very brave. The following is a picture, too, of the
+soldiers' awls, seen through the microscope, to show you how sharp they
+are.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"And here is a picture of the labourer; the largest part of the city is
+made up of the labourers,--which shows us, I think, boys, that there is
+more need of working than there is of fighting.
+
+[Illustration: Labourer of the Termites.]
+
+This class, like the soldiers, is blind, and scarcely ever go into the
+open air; their work is mostly under ground or in the inside of wood.
+Both, however, do come out when their city is attacked and broken: but I
+will tell you of that presently."
+
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[9] M. Humboldt.
+
+
+
+
+CONVERSATION X.
+
+     _Uncle Philip tells the Children more about the White Ants._
+
+
+"Now, boys, as I have told you about the kinds of different work which
+these ants do, we will go on, and I will tell you about the inside
+of the city. The first thing to be done is to build a house for the
+king and queen. This is the first house built in the city, and always
+stands in the centre, directly under the point of the roof or top of
+the outside wall. It is built nearly on a level with the ground, and is
+shaped very much like a long oven, or the half of an egg split through
+the long way. The floor is exactly level, and about an inch thick; the
+roof is about the same thickness. The doors are on a level with the
+floor, and just large enough to let one of the labourers go in."
+
+"Why, Uncle Philip, how do the king and queen ever get out then."
+
+"They never do get out, boys; they live in that house always, and they
+are not the first kings and queens who have found that a palace is
+sometimes a prison. Just around this house of the king and queen are
+other houses built of clay, arched at the top, and of different shapes.
+These are for the servants or labouring ants, who remove the eggs of
+the queen as fast as she discharges them. The soldiers also live in
+these houses. Next to these are the magazines, that is, the houses where
+they keep their food, such as dry juices of trees and gums; and mixed
+up with these are the nurseries. These are made by the labourers, and
+are different from all the other buildings, for they are made of wood
+gnawed or broken into fine threads, and joined together with some kind
+of gum, and around each of them there is a case of clay. These nurseries
+are to carry the eggs into for the young ants to be hatched. Between
+all these different houses or parts there are thousands of galleries
+or ways, which run among them and separate them from each other, and
+these may be called the streets of the city. These streets run in all
+directions, and extend as far as the outside wall; and houses are built
+on top of houses, and streets run over streets, until they reach up
+as high as two-thirds of the inside wall. But under the top of their
+outside case they always leave a large open place that is never filled
+up with houses. And around this space they will build three or four
+large arches, sometimes two or three feet high; these I suppose are to
+prevent the houses from falling in towards the centre of the city, which
+is an open space, and on the other side they are fastened to the outside
+walls, so that these houses are very firm."
+
+"And what is all this made of, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"All of clay, except the nurseries, which I told you were made of wood
+and gum. Over the house of the king and queen there is a sort of flat
+floor, some distance above it, with nurseries and magazines between the
+under side of it and the top of the queen's house. This floor will not
+let the water through it, so as to wet the palace where the king and
+queen live, but will turn it off into large trenches or gutters under
+ground, of which I will speak directly. The bridge I told you of they
+build from this floor in the open space, directly under the top or dome
+of the outside wall; it rises up and is joined to some hole in the side
+wall of the houses above it."
+
+"How large is it, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"Why, sometimes it is half an inch broad, a quarter of an inch thick,
+and ten inches long; all made of clay, so that it is very strange how
+they manage to join it to the wall without its falling down by its own
+weight while they were building it."
+
+"And what do you suppose this bridge is for, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"Why, I think there can be no doubt what it is for. When the city has
+been growing for some time, some of the nurseries will be very high up
+above the queen's house; but the labourers have to carry her eggs into
+them, no matter how far off they may be. If they carry them through all
+the streets, they will have to walk as many as fifteen or twenty feet,
+for it would be five or six feet in a perfectly straight line, and these
+streets are very crooked; but if they make a bridge in the open space
+in the centre, they can then go from the queen's house over the bridge,
+and get to the upper nurseries without travelling more than two feet. So
+they made the bridge to shorten the way, to be sure."
+
+"This is very wonderful: but you said something about large trenches or
+gutters underground; what are they, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"These galleries lead from the city under ground, and are as large as
+the bore of a large cannon; they are thirteen inches across, and more
+than a hundred yards long. I have already told you that the labourers
+never come out into the light, when they can help it; and these
+underground ways are the great roads to the city, to fetch in clay, or
+wood, or water, or provisions: and now I will tell you another thing
+which shows a great deal of sense. As some of their houses are very high
+up, you know they would find it very hard to climb up through all the
+streets with a heavy load in a straight line; so when these large ways
+underground reach the outside wall, they just come through and keep on
+winding around the inside of it like a corkscrew all the way to the top;
+and there are other galleries opening from it at different places into
+the city. One thing has been noticed about these ants; they can scarcely
+climb at all up a perpendicular wall. Therefore on the upright side of
+any part of the city you may see a road made, standing out from the wall
+like a ledge; it is flat on the top, and half an inch wide, and goes
+up gradually like a stair-case, or like a road cut out on the side of a
+mountain.
+
+"Here is a picture of one of their cities cut straight down through the
+middle. At the bottom, in the centre, is the queen's house; over it is a
+floor, and the two crooked things you see rising up from the floor, are
+bridges."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"But, Uncle Philip, you said you would tell us about the soldiers and
+labourers coming out when the city is attacked."
+
+"Yes, I did. As soon as a hole is made in the outside wall, you will
+see a soldier run out, and walk about as if to look around; but as he
+is blind, it cannot be to see what the danger is. He may have some way
+though of finding out without seeing. Presently he will go in, as if
+to tell the others, and then out pour the soldiers in great numbers,
+as fast as the hole will let them; and just as long as you strike the
+outside wall, they will continue to rush out. They seem to be in a
+terrible passion. They are in such a hurry that sometimes they slip, and
+roll down the outside of the hill; but they jump up again instantly,
+and begin to bite every thing they run against, for they are blind and
+cannot tell a friend from an enemy."
+
+"Do they bite hard, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"Very hard indeed. They make their hooked jaws, which are like awls, you
+know, meet at every bite; and if it should happen to be a man's leg they
+get hold of, you would see upon his stocking a spot of blood an inch
+long. At every bite too you may hear their jaws snapping together and
+making quite a noise. Some of them too (perhaps they are the officers)
+are constantly beating with their awls upon the outside wall, and make a
+sound something quicker and sharper than the ticking of a watch. You may
+hear it at a distance of three or four feet. When these biters lay hold,
+nothing will make them let go; you must tear them away by pieces. After
+you stop striking the wall, in about half an hour they seem to get over
+their rage and go back into the city, and then out come the labourers.
+While the noise continues you will not see one of them; they all fled
+at the first appearance of danger. But now they come, each one with a
+bundle of mortar in his mouth, ready made; and they stick it on the hole
+so fast, and with such order, that though thousands and thousands are at
+work they never interrupt each other. And while the labourers are busy,
+if you look you may commonly see a soldier or two walking about; but
+they never touch the mortar, nor help in any way to mend the hole. One
+of these soldiers always stands near the spot where the labourers are at
+work, and every now and then turns slowly around, and frequently lifts
+up his head, and with his awls beats upon the building, and makes a
+sort of hissing noise. As soon as that is done you may hear a loud hiss
+from all the labourers, both on the outside of the wall and from the
+inside of the city, and then the labourers run faster, and work as quick
+again. If you attack the nest again, away run all the labourers as fast
+as their legs will carry them, and out pour the soldiers as before; and
+the same thing is always seen upon every attack, of soldiers to fight
+and labourers to work."
+
+"Well, Uncle Philip, this is a very strange story; much more interesting
+than any we have yet heard."
+
+"I thought it would please you, boys; but there are still stranger
+things among animals, and perhaps you will say so when you know more.
+
+"But it is now time to return home; so take in the kite and let us be
+going."
+
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[10] Mr. Huber the younger.
+
+
+
+
+CONVERSATION XI.
+
+     _Uncle Philip tells the Children about some other Ants, that
+     are very good Masons, and build Walls and Ceilings; and a Story
+     about a very sensible Ant, which seemed to think a little._
+
+
+"Good morning, good morning, Uncle Philip; we have been so much
+delighted with the stories about the white ants, that we hope you have
+more of the same kind to tell us."
+
+"Why, as to that matter, boys, I can tell you much more about ants, for
+there are many kinds of them; but I am not sure that I can show you any
+of the _tools_ with which they work, though a large portion of their
+work is like that of man; and they have, too, several customs which our
+fellow-creatures have. I can tell you, however, of several other animals
+which do use tools shaped like those used by men, if you would rather
+hear of them."
+
+"If you please, Uncle Philip, we will hear of them at another time; but
+now we would rather have you tell us of the other kinds of ants."
+
+"Oh, very well, boys; it shall be as you wish. All that I desire is to
+instruct and amuse you, and I am sure that the ants can furnish a good
+lesson to us. I shall begin with the mason ants. They always build their
+nests either of clay which is damp, and dug from the inside of their
+city under ground, or which has been made wet by the rain; and a part of
+their building is always above the ground, so that you can easily see
+it. There is no fixed rule for the ants to build by. Their cities are
+not all alike in the inside. Sometimes the walls are larger and coarser,
+and the ways and galleries are higher, than at other times. The rooms,
+too, are different in shape and size, so that this industrious little
+insect seems to have sense enough to work in the best way according to
+circumstances. There is only one general rule which they seem to have,
+and that is always to build in a number of different stories, one above
+the other. If you examine one of these stories you may see a number
+of large places or halls, some smaller rooms, and some long galleries
+which serve as passage-ways. The tops of these large halls are covered
+with an arched ceiling, and this ceiling is held up, sometimes by little
+columns, sometimes by very thin walls, or by props built against the
+side walls, just like buttresses. There are also chambers which have but
+one door, which opens into the lower story, and large open places in the
+centre of the nest something like a cross road, and all these little
+galleries or streets come into that open place."
+
+"Any bridges, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"No, boys; no bridges among these ants, so far as I know. There will
+sometimes be as many as twenty stories above ground in the ant-hill, and
+as many below. The best time to see these little fellows at work is in a
+gentle shower of rain, or directly after."
+
+"Why do they work in the rain, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"I suppose, boys, it is because the earth is then better for them; and
+one thing that has been noticed about their work is, that the rain, when
+it is not too violent, seems to make it solid, for these ants have no
+gum or glue about them like some other insects, to make the earth stick
+together. As soon as the rain begins, if you watch the brown ants, you
+may see them come out of the ground in great numbers; and then running
+in again, they will soon return, each one with a little piece of dirt
+in his mouth, which he puts down upon the roof of the nest. A gentleman
+who watched them very closely[10] says, that at first he could not think
+what this was done for, but at last he saw little walls begin to rise up
+with spaces left between them. In some places pillars were begun, placed
+at regular distances, and he knew that these were to support ceilings;
+so he found out that they were going to build another story to their
+house, and they were laying the foundations."
+
+"How I should have liked to see them. Uncle Philip. I would not have
+cared for the rain."
+
+"Ah, I see you are fit to be a naturalist. You know what that word
+means, do you not?"
+
+"It means, Uncle Philip, a man who loves to study about the animals and
+insects, does it not?"
+
+"It means a man or a woman either, boys, who loves to study the things
+in nature no matter whether they are animals, or stones, or grass, or
+flowers, or any of the things which God has made. Mark, boys, I said
+to study the things, and you said to study _about_ the things. Now a
+person may read a great deal that is interesting and true about all
+these things in books; and it is very well to do so; but I think that
+the real naturalist will never be satisfied with books only; he will
+be looking to see things for himself. And I said a woman might be a
+naturalist, because some ladies have been fond of natural history, and
+have proved themselves to be very good naturalists. But let us go back
+to the ants. Mr. Huber, in the account which he gives of his having
+watched these little workmen, never thought of telling us whether he
+got wet or not, because he was too busy to think or care much about it.
+He had an opportunity of seeing what he might never see again, and a
+little rain was not to spoil it. He says that each ant, as it brought
+out its little lump of dirt, would place it on the spot where it wished
+it to be, and press against it with its teeth, so as to make it fit
+closely. It then rubbed its feelers all over it, and after that pressed
+upon it lightly with its fore-feet. The walls went on very rapidly, and
+it often happened that two little walls, which were to make a passage
+or gallery, would be raised opposite and at a small distance from each
+other. When they were about a quarter of an inch high, the ants would
+set to work and cover them with an arched ceiling. After they had raised
+all the walls as high as they wished, on the inside of each wall at the
+top they began to put in pieces of wet dirt almost level, and in such a
+way as to make a ledge; and by joining on more dirt to it, it would meet
+the ledge made from the opposite wall so as to make a roof: these roofs
+over the galleries were about a quarter of an inch across. The ceilings
+over the large halls were sometimes as much as two inches in breadth,
+and to support these they raised pillars; and beginning in the corner
+where two walls joined, they would commence the ceiling with a ledge,
+while from the top of each pillar they would also build out a layer of
+earth a little rounded on the top; these they continued to add to until
+all met and made a complete cover for the hall."
+
+"I wonder it did not fall, Uncle Philip, before they could join it
+together."
+
+"Mr. Huber says that he thought several times it would fall, from the
+rain which was dropping upon it all the time; but he found that the
+pieces held together, and that the rain, instead of hurting it, only
+made it more solid. All that it wants, when the ants have done, is a
+little heat from the sun to bake it hard, and then it appears like a
+piece of solid dirt. Sometimes, if the rain be violent, the apartments
+will be destroyed, especially if the arches are not built strongly; and
+when this happens, the little creatures go to work very patiently and
+rebuild them."
+
+"And how long, Uncle Philip, did it take the ants to put another story
+on their house?"
+
+"Between seven and eight hours; and they had hardly finished one before
+they began another, but they had not time to finish it, for the rain
+stopped before they had built much: however, they kept on, taking
+advantage of the wet earth; but a cold drying wind soon sprang up, and
+the earth would not stick; so they stopped: but what do you think they
+did with the new story which they had not time to finish?"
+
+"What _did_ they do, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"Pulled every part of it to pieces, and scattered the dirt here and
+there over the roof of the story which they had finished.
+
+"I will tell you another story about these ants, boys, which I think is
+most wonderful, because it appears so much like reason. These insects
+all seem to work separately,--I mean without attending to the work of
+others: of course sometimes the work done by different ants on opposite
+sides of the same gallery or hall will not suit: one wall will be higher
+than the other, so that the ceilings will not meet. Mr. Huber saw just
+such a case; the ceiling which was begun from one wall would just have
+reached the other wall about half-way up; and while he was wondering
+how the ants would cure the fault, one of them came, and looking at the
+work, seemed to know that it was wrong, and immediately began by taking
+down the ceiling from the lower wall; he then raised it to the same
+height with the opposite wall, and made a new ceiling in Mr. Huber's
+presence with the pieces of the old one."
+
+"Uncle Philip, if that ant did not know how to think, I am mistaken."
+
+"I must confess, boys, it does seem very much like thinking; and if it
+was not thinking, we must at any rate own that it was something which,
+_in this case_, did quite as well; for no thought of man could have hit
+upon a better plan. But if the ant knew how to think as a man does, do
+you suppose it would ever have made the mistake? Would not the workmen
+have all agreed beforehand what they were to do, and how it should be
+done, so that there might be no need of pulling down any of the work
+because it would not suit? I think that this story, boys, while it shows
+us something like reason in _one_ particular instance, shows us also
+that _in general_ the ant has not reason like ours. But I am tired now,
+and can tell you no more this morning. When you come again I shall be
+ready to talk with you about some other kinds of ants. But before you
+go, tell me--can any of you inform me what the Bible says about the ant?"
+
+"Oh yes, Uncle Philip: it says, 'Go to the ant, thou sluggard, consider
+her ways, and be wise.'"
+
+"Well, another question. Have you any lessons to say when you go into
+school on Monday?"
+
+"Yes, Uncle Philip; we have."
+
+"Have you learned them, boys?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"Then remember what the Bible says to the sluggard, and go and learn
+them at once. Good-by, children."
+
+"Good-by, Uncle Philip: we will learn our lessons."
+
+
+
+
+CONVERSATION XII.
+
+     _Uncle Philip tells the Boys about Ants that go to War and
+     fight Battles; and about some that are Thieves, and have Slaves._
+
+
+"Well, my lads, how do you do to-day?"
+
+"Very well, Uncle Philip, we thank you. And we wish to let you know that
+we kept our promise to learn our lessons. Our teacher was very well
+satisfied with every one of us."
+
+"That is well, boys. I am truly glad to hear this from you: and I make
+no doubt that you also felt a great deal happier than you would have
+done had you neglected to learn your lessons. Did you not?"
+
+"Oh yes, Uncle Philip, much happier; and far more cheerful and
+good-natured."
+
+"Such are apt to be the feelings, boys, of those who have done their
+_duty_. I am verily persuaded that there is no such thing as real, solid
+happiness in this world, but in that man who acts from a sense of duty.
+His is true peace, because it is 'the peace of God.' I do not say, boys,
+that a man, even when he does his duty, _always_ feels comfortable or
+happy _at once_; but he will be more apt to feel so than if he did not
+do his duty: and I do say that no man who does not act from a sense of
+duty, is likely to feel any thing like happiness very often or very
+long."
+
+"Then, Uncle Philip, a man who wishes to be happy will try in the first
+place to find out what his duty is."
+
+"To be sure, he will; and he need not try very long either, if he really
+wishes to know it. The will of God, boys, is at the bottom of all our
+duties; and an honest man, yes, or boy either, can commonly tell what
+God will think to be right or wrong in his conduct. You know where a
+great many of our duties are very plainly written down for us; do you
+not?"
+
+"Oh yes, sir; in the New Testament, which tells us of what our Saviour
+said and did."
+
+"True. And what our Saviour commanded, boys, God commanded; for He is
+God. But besides this, when it is not exactly written down in the New
+Testament what we should do, still if we will think, we shall very often
+find out what to do, from what is written."
+
+"Uncle Philip, we almost always know what you mean; but now, we do not
+quite understand you."
+
+"Thank you, boys, for telling me that you do not know what I mean:
+always tell any person who is trying to teach you something, when you
+do not understand what is said to you. Now I will try to make what I
+said plainer to you. The New Testament does not say any thing about your
+going to school; does it?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"Who sends you to school, boys, and pays your teachers for instructing
+you?"
+
+"Our parents, Uncle Philip."
+
+"Very well. Now suppose that John Carter here, should wish, instead of
+going to school, to do, what I am very sure he never did do: suppose he
+should determine to play the truant. The Bible does not say a boy shall
+not play the truant, does it?"
+
+"No, Uncle Philip."
+
+"But if John Carter should play the truant, he would, in doing so,
+disobey what God has commanded in the Bible just as much as if the Bible
+did say 'A boy shall not play the truant;' for the Bible does say,
+'_Children obey your parents_,' and he could not be a truant without
+disobeying his parents, who bade him go to school."
+
+"Uncle Philip, we understand you very well now."
+
+"There is another thing I wish you to understand, boys. John Carter, as
+you see, would not only disobey his parents, which is wicked, but he
+would also commit a _sin_ against God. That is always the thing to look
+at first. When we are going to do something that we are not very sure
+is right, we should always stop to ask ourselves whether God will be
+pleased with it. But I have said enough to you about our duty for this
+time. Now for the ants I promised to tell you of. And the first sort I
+shall mention are great fighters."
+
+"Fighters, Uncle Philip! What do they fight about?"
+
+"About trifles, boys, just as men do. They have terrible wars, and
+will dispute with and kill each other for a few inches of dirt, when
+certainly this world is large enough for them all. But animals wiser
+than ants, boys, act in the same foolish way. Men sometimes go to war
+and kill each other to determine who shall have a river, or a small
+town, or a fort, or some little spot of ground; while the poor creatures
+who do the fighting, and get all the wounds, and lose their lives, had
+they been let alone, would have lived on in peace, and never cared a
+straw who had the miserable little spot they fight for. But let me go
+on with the account of these ants. In the forests, where the fallow
+ants live, you may see these wars. The battle will be between the ants
+of different hills, but they are all ants of the same sort. Thousands
+and thousands of them will meet on the ground between their hills, and
+the battle begins by two ants, who seize each other by the claws (or
+_mandibles_, as they are called), and rising up on their hind-legs,
+they bring their bodies near together, and spirt a sort of venomous or
+poisonous juice upon each other. These will be followed by thousands of
+others on both sides, who seize each other in the same way, and fight
+in pairs--ant to ant. Sometimes they will get so wedged together that
+they fall down upon their sides, but they do not let go on that account;
+they keep on fighting in the dust until they rise on their feet again.
+Sometimes, too, a third ant will come in, and joining whichever of
+them belongs to his nest, the two will begin to drag the third, until
+some of his friends come to his help; and in this way, others joining
+on both sides, they will form strings of six, or eight, or ten on a
+side, pulling with all their strength. And while some are fighting,
+you will see others leading off prisoners towards their hills, while
+the prisoners are trying to escape. The field of battle is not more,
+perhaps, than three feet square; multitudes of dead ants covered with
+venom may be seen upon it, and there is a very strong scent which comes
+from it. When night comes they go off to their hills. Before dawn the
+next day they are at it again in still larger numbers, and they fight
+with greater fury than before, until at last one side or the other
+gives way. They are so busy that even if you stand near them they take
+no notice of you, and not one stops fighting, or crawls up your legs."
+
+"Do all of them that belong to the hill go out to fight, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"No; near the hills all is peace and order, and work seems to be going
+on as usual. Only on the side next to the battle, crowds may be seen
+running backwards and forwards from both hills; some as messengers, I
+suppose, and some to fight, or carry back prisoners."
+
+"But, Uncle Philip, you said that these ants were all of one sort; how
+then do they know one another so as to tell which party each one belongs
+to? I should think that sometimes they would make a mistake, and fight a
+friend instead of an enemy."
+
+"This, boys, is one of the most wonderful things concerning them. They
+are alike in form, and size, and weapons, and strength; and sometimes
+it happens that they do make a mistake, but it is very seldom; and when
+they do, Mr. Huber, who watched one of their battles, says that they
+find it out directly, and caress each other with their feelers, and
+make up the difficulty at once.
+
+"Are you tired, boys, or do you wish to hear more?"
+
+"Oh, let us hear more, by all means: we are not at all tired."
+
+"I will then tell you of another kind of ants called legionary ants,
+and sometimes amazons; but I am sorry to say that they are unlike other
+ants, for they are lazy; and yet they live very comfortably."
+
+"How is that, Uncle Philip? Can they be comfortable without working?"
+
+"Yes, boys, if they can get others to work for them; and these have
+their work mostly done by their slaves."
+
+"By their slaves! what are their slaves, and where did they get them?"
+
+"As to your first question, boys, their slaves are ants of another kind;
+as to the second question--where they get them--they _stole_ them when
+they were young."
+
+"Why you surprise us, Uncle Philip."
+
+"I dare say I do. There are persons much older than you are who have
+never attended at all to the doings of insects, who would be very much
+astonished by the history of the legionary ants; and probably would
+laugh at the whole account as an idle story; and yet it is all true,
+and those who have read and seen, know it to be true; and they know,
+too, that to deny it shows nothing but ignorance. However, I always let
+such persons alone. I can do them no good; for they are apt to be very
+conceited, and will not be convinced. And now for the legionary ant.
+This is a fighting ant, as well as the last I mentioned; and it actually
+steals the young of another kind, rears them, and puts all the work on
+them, so as to be idle itself. This curious fact was first found out
+by Mr. Huber; another gentleman, named Latreille, afterward saw the
+same thing; and now a great many naturalists know it, because they have
+sought for and seen it. The ant which it steals is of a dark ash colour;
+the legionary is of light colour. The dark-coloured ant is now called
+the negro ant, and is a very industrious, peaceable insect, without any
+sting. The legionary is a strong, brave ant, with a sting, but very
+lazy. I shall relate to you the account which Mr. Huber gives of the
+legionary. He was walking near the city of Geneva during an afternoon
+in the summer of 1804, when he saw quite an army of these legionary
+ants crossing the road; they passed through a thick hedge, entered a
+pasture, and kept on through the grass without separating; and Mr. Huber
+followed them until he saw them come near a nest of negro ants. Some of
+these negro ants seemed to be guarding the holes into their nest; but as
+soon as they saw the legionaries, they, with a great many more from the
+inside of the nest, attacked the thieves. The legionary ants, however,
+were too powerful for them, and after a short but severe fight they
+conquered the negroes, who ran into the lower part of their nests. The
+legionaries then mounted their ant-hill, some entered it by the holes
+already made, and others began with their teeth to break other holes,
+so that all the army might get into the hill. They went in and remained
+but a few minutes, when they came out, each one having in his mouth a
+young negro ant, and off they scampered, without any order among them,
+every one going his own way, until Mr. Huber lost sight of them. The
+next day he set out to go back and examine further, and on his way he
+found a large ant-hill full of legionaries, and saw an army start from
+it, which he followed. They made the attack as before, and each one
+came off with a young negro ant in his mouth, and on going back to their
+hill, from which Mr. Huber saw them start, he had an opportunity of
+seeing them return, and was very much surprised to find all around the
+nest of the legionaries a great many full-grown negro ants. At first he
+thought that perhaps they had gone there to fight the legionaries, but
+he soon saw that instead of fighting, the negro ants went out to meet
+the legionaries returning, and would caress them, and give them food,
+and finally take the young negro ants and carry them within the nest."
+
+"But, Uncle Philip, why do the legionaries always take the young ones?"
+
+"Because, boys, they know, I suppose, that the old ants would never be
+satisfied to remove from their homes; and therefore they take the young.
+These legionaries could work if they would, I think, but they depend
+upon the negro ants for house and home, and food too; and nothing can be
+more faithful and affectionate than these poor slaves are. To try them,
+Mr. Huber took thirty of the legionaries, and put them with some of
+the larvae, or grubs of their own young, into a glass box with a thick
+coat of earth at the bottom of it, and he put honey also in the box,
+that they might not want food. At first the legionaries paid a little
+attention to their young; but they soon stopped; and they neither tried
+to make a house, nor took any food, so that in two days half of them
+died. Mr. Huber then put in _one_ negro ant, and this little creature
+set to work alone, made a chamber of the earth in the box, gathered the
+young together, fed the old, and put every thing into complete order.
+
+"At another time Mr. Huber broke one of the ant-hills of these
+legionaries, to see how they would act, and in doing it, he, of course,
+altered their galleries and chambers. The legionaries seemed to be
+lost, and went wandering about, without knowing where to go; but the
+negro ants appeared to understand very well where they were: they could
+find such of the galleries as were not broken, and would take up the
+legionaries in their mouths and carry them into them. If the negro
+sometimes seemed for a short time to be lost, and not to know where it
+was, it laid down its master, ran round and examined until it knew, and
+then would come back, and pick up the legionary ant, and carry it off.
+In one case Mr. Huber saw that the entrance to a gallery was stopped up
+by a small lump of earth; the negro ant laid his master down, took away
+the piece of earth, and then carried him in."
+
+"Why, these poor negro ants are sensible as well as faithful, Uncle
+Philip."
+
+"Yes, boys, they are so; and I think it is likely that both kinds depend
+in some way upon each other, but we have not yet found all about it. I
+expect that in some things the legionary does for the negro ant what it
+could not do for itself. God has made them necessary to each other, and
+this is the reason they live together so kindly.
+
+"But I think it is time now to leave the ants, and go back to our
+business of seeking for something like man's inventions and tools among
+the lower animals. Perhaps hereafter I may tell you more about ants; but
+at present I must bid you good morning."
+
+"Good morning, Uncle Philip."
+
+
+
+
+CONVERSATION XIII.
+
+     _Uncle Philip and the Boys make a Voyage, and he tells them
+     of an Animal that makes itself into a Ship; and of an Insect that
+     builds a Boat, and floats about in a Canoe; and of another that
+     pumps Water, and wears a Mask; and of a Spider that builds a Raft,
+     and floats upon it._
+
+
+"Well, boys, I have a most delightful plan for us to-day."
+
+"What is it, what is it, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"Why, I have a little voyage to make, and my boat is on the river just
+above the mill. I have the men there to row it, and every thing is
+ready."
+
+"Oh! dear Uncle Philip, this is charming! we shall be so happy!
+But--but--"
+
+"But what, boys?"
+
+"Why, Uncle Philip, we have not asked leave at home. Now our parents are
+very happy to have us visit you, and say that they are very much obliged
+to you for telling us so many things; but they have told us, too, never
+to get into a boat without asking their permission first. Uncle Philip,
+we are sure they will let us go, if they know that you are going; only
+let us run home and ask them."
+
+"My dear boys, I am very much pleased with your conduct; and, what
+is far better, my children, God is pleased; for he has commanded you
+to honour your father and mother: but you need not go home to ask
+permission, for you may depend upon it I would not take one of you upon
+the water without the consent of your parents: so I went yesterday,
+while you were all at school, and have got permission from your friends
+for every one of you to go--only I asked them to tell you nothing about
+it."
+
+"Oh dear, Uncle Philip, you are so very, very good: thank you, thank
+you, a thousand times over."
+
+"Once is enough, boys. There is but one Being who deserves a thousand
+thanks, and he, in truth, deserves a great many more than a thousand;
+but I fear that from a great many he is just the Being who gets the
+fewest,--it is our Heavenly Father: but come on, boys, let us be going
+to the boat. We shall soon reach her. Ah, yonder she is; I see her
+through the trees."
+
+"Oh, what a beauty she is, Uncle Philip, with her green sides and white
+belt near the top. We shall have a charming voyage."
+
+"Come, then; get in, my little sailors, and seat yourselves yonder in
+the stern. Now we are all ready; shove off, men, and use your oars. I
+will take care of the helm."
+
+"Oh, Uncle Philip, how smoothly we go along! this is charming. Is this
+the way a ship goes, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"A ship floats, boys, just as the boat does; but she is not rowed with
+oars; she has sails, and the wind blowing upon them sends her along."
+
+"Uncle Philip, there are no ships among animals, are there?"
+
+"Oh no; but there is a very curious little animal which lives in the
+water, and manages to rig out something like a ship, and to sail."
+
+"What is it, Uncle Philip? pray let us hear of it."
+
+"It is called the nautilus, and I saw a great many of them in the
+Mediterranean sea. The shell is nearly round, and six or eight inches
+across, not much thicker than paper, and of a whitish colour: it
+has, too, a keel or ridge upon each side. When it wishes to sail, it
+stretches upwards two of its legs: these have a very thin skin at the
+end, which the nautilus spreads out for sails, and the other legs hang
+over on each side of the shell for oars or rudders. When the sea is
+calm, a great many of them may be seen playing about; but as soon as a
+storm arises, or they are disturbed, they take in their sails and sink
+to the bottom. But, boys, the most curious boat that I know, made by one
+of the dumb creatures, is the work of the little insect that played the
+doctor the other day, and stuck his lancet into us. Do you remember what
+insect that was?"
+
+"Oh yes, very well, Uncle Philip, it was the gnat."
+
+"True, boys, it was the gnat, which is an insect that spends the first
+part of its life in the water, and the latter part in the air. The grub
+of the gnat lives in water, and I will give you the whole history of
+this curious insect. We will first speak of the eggs, for out of these
+it is that the boat is made. In order to see this boat made, you must
+go early in the morning, between five and six o'clock, to a bucket, or
+pond of stagnant water, where gnats are to be found: if you go later
+you will not see it. The gnat's eggs are shaped something like a pocket
+powder-flask, and it is by putting a great many of these together that
+she makes the boat. To do this, the mother gnat stands by her fore-legs
+upon the side of the bucket, or on a leaf or stick in the pond, and her
+body is on a level with the water, and rests upon it, except the last
+ring of her tail, which she raises a little. She then crosses her two
+hind-legs in the shape of the letter X, and begins to put her eggs in
+that part of the X nearest to her body. So she brings her legs, crossed
+in this way, near to her body, and puts an egg in the angle, covered
+with a kind of glue, which will make the eggs stick together. On each
+side of the first egg she puts another in this shape .*., and here is a
+drawing of the insect at this part of her work.
+
+[Illustration: A Gnat making her Boat of Eggs.]
+
+"She then goes on adding eggs, which are all put in the water with their
+ends downwards, until she has got her boat half-finished; she then
+uncrosses her legs, and just keeps one on each side of the boat as she
+goes on, until she has completed it."
+
+"And how many eggs, Uncle Philip, will she put together in this way?"
+
+"From two hundred and fifty to three hundred and fifty, and when all are
+laid they make quite a good boat, sharp, and raised at both ends, and
+floating on the water. Then the mother gnat leaves it. Here is a picture
+of one of these boats.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"Now I will tell you of what becomes of the young ones in these eggs.
+They come out of the lower part of the egg, and commonly swim, with
+their heads downward, near to the top of the water."
+
+"With their heads downward, Uncle Philip! what is that for?"
+
+"Why, they have a tube at the end of their bodies, near the tail,
+through which they breathe; and that part must, you know, be at the top
+to get air. Besides this, its tail and its breathing tube both end in a
+sort of funnel, made up of hairs placed somewhat in the form of a star,
+and covered with oil, so as to keep off water, and these buoy or float
+it up. When it wishes to sink, it just folds up its funnels, and shuts
+up in them a little bubble of air, which it breathes under the water;
+and when it wishes to rise, it opens its funnels, and they float it to
+the top again. Here is a drawing which will show it to you.
+
+[Illustration: Larva of the common Gnat floating in water, greatly
+magnified. _aa_, the body and head of the larva; _b_, the respiratory
+apparatus, situated in the tail; _c_, the larva, not magnified.]
+
+"They are hatched in a few days, and then the boat of empty eggs floats
+about until it is destroyed by the weather. And to show you how good a
+boat it is, I will tell you what a gentleman did to prove it. Mr. Kirby,
+who is very fond of natural history, and has written a great deal about
+insects, says that he put half a dozen of these gnat-boats in a tumbler
+half full of water, and then poured upon them a stream from the mouth of
+a quart bottle, held up a foot above them, and he could not sink them.
+More than that, the water would not stay in them. If you push one to the
+bottom with your finger, it will come up to the top directly, and you
+cannot see any water in it."
+
+"Why, this is a noble boat, Uncle Philip, that will never sink."
+
+"True, boys; but listen, and you will find that before it can use its
+wings the gnat has to sail in another boat still, much more dangerous
+than this is. After it is hatched, it has to pass through several shapes
+before it gets to be such an insect as you see. Here is a picture which
+will show you its different shapes.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"The first is the same which you saw in the last picture, only in this
+drawing the head is uppermost. But its last change, when it becomes
+an insect with wings, is the most curious part of the whole. When it
+is about to get its wings, and become a perfect gnat, it raises its
+shoulders just above the top of the water, and its skin cracks, so that
+the head of the gnat immediately comes through. The shoulders come next,
+and make the crack larger; but it has yet all its body to get out, and
+its legs and wings are as yet all shut up in its case. Now is the time
+of danger for the gnat. It raises itself nearly straight out of the
+crack, and by wriggling works its body along: and if a particle of water
+should get upon the case, or touch its wings, it would be overset, and
+must perish. Thousands and thousands die in this way. It is so very
+light, too, that the wind will drive it about, and whirl it round and
+round upon the top of the water; and when it is almost out, the insect
+is tossed about in a canoe or boat of the very weakest sort, while its
+body is a mast, which appears much too large for so small a boat. At
+last it gets far enough out of the case to stretch its fore-legs, and
+put them down upon the water (which will bear a gnat's weight), and then
+it is safe; it spreads its wings, and soon leaves the little boat which
+was so dangerous. Here is a picture of the gnat getting out of its case."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"Well, Uncle Philip, all this is very strange; we never knew before that
+the gnat was a sailor."
+
+"I suppose that you did not, boys. But as we are talking of boats, pray
+can you think of any way of making a boat move through water without
+oars, or paddles, or sails, or something to pull it along?"
+
+"No indeed.--Oh yes, Uncle Philip, by steam."
+
+"Ah, I mentioned paddles, boys, and a steamboat is forced along by them."
+
+"No; Uncle Philip, we do not know."
+
+"Well, I will tell you then of another way in which I have no doubt a
+boat might be made to move. If there were any contrivance by which a
+large quantity of water could be kept in the boat, and if this water
+were forced out of tubes or holes at one end very violently, it would
+push against the water in which the boat was floating, and force her
+along. Some years ago a plan was thought of to make a steam engine throw
+the water out of the stern of the boat, and thus to force her along; and
+before that, Dr. Franklin tried some schemes for the same purpose, but
+they never succeeded. Now there is an insect which adopts precisely this
+plan, and perhaps some of those who thought of it got the notion from
+the insect."
+
+"What insect is it, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"It is the grub of the dragon-fly. If you catch one of these grubs and
+put it into a saucer of water with some of the dead leaves or sticks
+it had for a covering, you will see these leaves or sticks floating
+towards the tail of the grub, and afterward driven off again. This is
+because the insect is pumping in water, and then throwing it out. If you
+take one of them out of the water, and hold it with its head down, and
+let a drop of water fall upon its tail, it instantly sucks it in, and
+you can see it grow larger; and when it throws it out again it becomes
+smaller."
+
+"But, Uncle Philip, how can you see it suck the water in?"
+
+"Very easily, boys. When it is in the water, if you will colour some
+other water with indigo, or ink, or any thing else, and then hold a
+glass tube just over the tail of the insect, and very carefully put some
+of the coloured water into the tube, you will soon see the grub spirt
+out a stream of it to the distance of several inches: or if you will put
+the insect in a saucer of coloured water, and then suddenly move it, and
+put it into one of clean water, you will see it spirt out the coloured
+stream plainer still."
+
+"Why, Uncle Philip, it must have a pump inside of it."
+
+"It has, boys, something very like one. This stream of water is forced
+out to help the insect along; for though it has six feet, it uses
+them very little except for catching food. It drives the water out so
+strongly against the still water behind it, that it sends it forward,
+with a dart, very rapidly. Here are two pictures; one shows the pump
+open, and the other shows it shut."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"Uncle Philip, is there any thing else curious about this insect?"
+
+"There is, boys, something well worth attention; did you ever see a
+mask?"
+
+"Do you mean, Uncle Philip, a face made of pasteboard, very frightful
+commonly, which you can wear over your own face?"
+
+"That is a mask, boys; but so is any thing which is made to wear over
+the face, and hide it. Now this little insect has a mask, not made
+like a man's face, but which completely hides its mouth, and it is
+exceedingly curious."
+
+"How is it made, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"Why, boys, I am not sure that I can tell you, so that you will
+understand me; but I will try. Suppose your under-lip was horn, instead
+of being flesh; and suppose it hung straight down until it reached the
+bottom of your chin, so as to cover the whole of it, and that at the
+bottom there was a large three-sided plate which was hollowed out, and
+fastened by a joint or hinge to the bottom of your long lip, so that it
+could turn up on the hinge and cover your face as high up as your nose,
+and hide your long lip and your mouth and part of your cheeks: suppose,
+too, that at the upper end of this long face-cover there were two other
+pieces, so broad that they would cover all your nose and your temples,
+and could open sidewise like jaws, and show your nose and mouth, so that
+when they were opened they would appear like the blinders to a horse's
+bridle; and then suppose that these jaws, upon their inner edges, were
+cut into a great many sharp teeth, which fitted into each other, and you
+will have some notion of this curious mask. Do you think you understand
+me?"
+
+"Why, pretty well, Uncle Philip, we think."
+
+"Well, boys, here are some pictures, and with their help I hope what I
+have been saying will be plain enough. In one picture the mask is shut;
+and in the other, one of the jaws, like a blinder to a bridle, is open.
+While the insect is at rest, it keeps the mask over its face; when it
+wishes to use it, it unfolds it, and catches its food, and holds it to
+its mouth. A gentleman once saw one of them holding and eating a large
+tadpole."
+
+[Illustration: Mask of the Dragon-fly, shut and open.]
+
+"Uncle Philip, this mask is any thing but handsome."
+
+"Very true; but you know we agreed when we were talking about the bats
+to look at animals even if they were not handsome. And there is your
+poor little ugly insect that you thought it right to kill, the spider;
+did you know that the spider was a sailor, too?"
+
+"No, indeed, Uncle Philip! Pray tell us of it, will you?"
+
+"Yes; but wait a little, until we bring the boat's head right, for we
+are near the landing-place. So--now, boys, I am ready. There is a very
+large spider, about which not much is yet known, which actually builds
+a _raft_, for the purpose of getting its food more easily. You may see
+it sailing about upon the water, on a ball of weeds about three inches
+across, which is held together probably by small silk cords spun from
+itself; and the moment it sees an insect drowning, it leaves the raft,
+gets the insect, and then returns to eat it at leisure. If you frighten
+it, or it thinks danger is near, in an instant it is under the raft out
+of sight."
+
+"Ah, this is a cunning spider, Uncle Philip."
+
+"Not half so cunning, boys, as the one we talked of which built a door
+to its house. But here we are at land. Jump ashore, my lads, and give my
+respects to your fathers and mothers, when you get home."
+
+"We will. Good day, Uncle Philip."
+
+"Good day, boys. I shall be glad to see you next Saturday."
+
+
+
+
+CONVERSATION XIV.
+
+     _Uncle Philip tells the Boys about an Insect with Tweezers,
+     and another with Pincers; and shows them how a Fly's Foot is made,
+     so as to stick to the Wall._
+
+
+"How do you do, Uncle Philip, this morning?"
+
+"Very well, boys, I thank you. You are all well, I suppose, or I should
+not see you here."
+
+"Yes, we are all well, thank you, Uncle Philip. But one of us would be
+very glad to have your help."
+
+"Why, what is the matter?"
+
+"Charles Walker has run a splinter into his hand, and he wishes you to
+get it out for him."
+
+"Oh, certainly, I will do that, if I can. Let me see: but stay--I must
+first put on my spectacles. Ah, now I see it; I can get it out, but I
+must take my tweezers to it. There, it is out."
+
+"Uncle Philip, those tweezers are very useful. If you had not had them,
+you could not have taken hold of the splinter with your fingers; and
+what would you have done then?"
+
+"Tried to cut it out with the point of my penknife; but the tweezers are
+better for such work; and that reminds me, boys, to tell you that there
+are insects with tweezers."
+
+"Why, what tool is it that you cannot find among them, Uncle Philip? It
+really seems as if you found almost every kind among the lower animals."
+
+"Oh, no--no, boys. There are a great many which I cannot find; but there
+are several, too, which, as you know, we have discovered."
+
+"And, Uncle Philip, we suppose that men learned to make their tools and
+work at many of their trades from these dumb creatures."
+
+"Stay, boys--I never said that, because I think that it is not true. We
+know that in some things men did not learn from the insects, though they
+might have done so. There is paper, for instance. How could men learn
+to make it from the wasps, when it was a thins: in common use a long
+time before Mr. Reaumur, of whom I told you, found out how the wasp made
+it? So, too, with a great many tools; men invented them, and afterward,
+perhaps, it was found out that insects had instruments like them:
+and at other times the insects did show men how to make some things.
+I will tell you of one which I think of just now. The city of London,
+in England, is on the river Thames. Some time since a plan was adopted
+to make what is called a tunnel under the river. This tunnel is a road
+dug out of the earth, under the bottom of the river, across it; and of
+course to keep the water from pressing in the earth as fast as it was
+hollowed out, it was propped up by walls built on each side, with a very
+strong arch at the top. The work has now stopped; but about half of it
+was made. In building this arched road under the water, the workmen used
+what they called a shield, to keep the water from coming through upon
+them: and the gentleman who invented it, says that he first thought of
+it, from examining a little animal named Taret, which will bore holes in
+large pieces of timber under the water. This little animal has upon its
+head a kind of shield, by which it keeps off the force of the water, and
+works without being disturbed. So here was a case in which the insect
+taught the man."
+
+"Uncle Philip, that gentleman was a sensible man, in the first place to
+watch the Taret and examine its head, and in the next place not to be
+too proud to learn from it. I expect he was a naturalist; was he, Uncle
+Philip?"
+
+"I do not know, boys; but I should think his discovery of the shield
+would make him an attentive observer, if he was not so before."
+
+"Now, Uncle Philip, will you tell us of the tweezers?"
+
+"Very willingly, boys. This instrument or tool belongs to the moths
+which you see flying about at times. The tails are covered with a down,
+which grows in the form of a thick brush or tuft, and has a shining
+silky gloss, different in colour from the short hair upon the rest
+of the body. The moth pulls off this hair to cover its eggs, and the
+tweezers are used for that purpose. Here is a picture of the moths."
+
+[Illustration: Females of the brown and gold-tailed Moths, showing the
+bunch of down on the tails.]
+
+"Uncle Philip, you said that the moth pulled this hair off to cover its
+eggs; are they easily frozen?"
+
+"Not very easily, boys; but you are mistaken in thinking that the moth
+covers these eggs to keep off the cold; for as she lays them in July and
+August, and covers them at that time, it cannot be to keep off the cold."
+
+"What is it for, then, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"To keep off the summer heat, boys."
+
+"Why, Uncle Philip! who ever heard of covering a thing up in hair or
+wool to keep off heat?"
+
+"I have heard of it, and seen it too, boys. It may seem strange, but
+it is true, that down and wool, and such things, are nearly as good to
+protect an animal from very great outward heat as they are to keep off
+very severe cold. When I was at Naples, in Italy, it was summer;--the
+climate is a very warm one.--The country people were in the habit of
+bringing snow into the city from Mount Vesuvius, and every morning I
+could see them coming in with their snow, which they sell to the rich
+to use for cooling things: and they kept it from melting with straw
+and wool. And in our own country, especially at the south, it is very
+common when a large lump of ice is brought to the house to be used
+through the day in midsummer, to wrap it up in a thick blanket until it
+is wanted.
+
+"But I have not yet told you of the tweezers. The moth has no jaws, like
+bees and wasps, so that it cannot pull off these hairs as the bee would;
+but, as I told you, it performs the work with its tweezers, which are
+placed in its tail, and are like the points of a pair of sugar-tongs.
+The insects, too, will use them very rapidly, and pull off a little of
+the down, spread the egg upon it, and then cover it with more down, and
+smooth it very neatly. Here are pictures of these tweezers."
+
+[Illustration: Tweezers of the brown and gold-tailed Moths, magnified.]
+
+"This is a curious instrument for the insect to have, Uncle Philip."
+
+"True, boys, but a very useful one. I will tell you, however, of another
+strange thing concerning moths with their tweezers; I mean the way
+in which they will sometimes place their eggs. The kind of moth that
+does this work is not exactly known, but naturalists think that the
+eggs are moth's eggs, because they are covered with the down, exactly
+like those which are known to be moth's eggs. These eggs are twisted
+round a branch, like the thread of a screw, or like the curled end of
+a corkscrew put over a small stick. Here is a picture of some of these
+eggs."
+
+[Illustration: Spiral group of Eggs of an unknown Moth.]
+
+"Ah, this is wonderful work indeed for a moth, Uncle Philip."
+
+"As you seem to like this, boys, I will just mention to you that there
+is another moth, called the lackey-moth, which winds its eggs also
+around a branch. They are hard, however, and not covered with any down,
+and are put on in the strongest possible way. If men wish to make an
+arch of stone, you know that the stones will be more narrow at the
+bottom than at the top, so that the bottom of the arch may make a small
+circle, and the top a larger one: thus--
+
+[Illustration: A, Key-stone of an arch; B, Arch completed.]
+
+Now the moth goes on this principle. Its eggs are shaped like the bowl
+of a wine-glass, and the smaller end is put next to the branch. They are
+all glued together, too, with a kind of gum, which will not dissolve or
+melt in water; so that the rain cannot injure them. Here is a picture of
+these eggs.
+
+[Illustration: Eggs of the Lackey-moth, wound spirally round a twig of
+hawthorn; natural size, and magnified.]
+
+"There is another insect, boys, which has something like tweezers;
+though I think they resemble pincers most."
+
+"What is it, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"The boys call it father long-legs, and I dare say you have often seen
+it. It is the crane-fly, and its pincers are used for putting its egg in
+the hole it has made for it."
+
+"Where does it put its eggs, Uncle Philip?"
+
+[Illustration: Ovipositor and Eggs of the Crane-fly.]
+
+"In the earth, boys; and to enable the insect to do this, the female has
+the pincers I spoke of: they are made of something like horn, and are
+sharp at the point. With these she first bores a hole in the ground, and
+then puts the egg in. The egg is like a grain of gunpowder, and she puts
+herself in a very curious posture to bore the hole. Here, boys, you may
+see a picture of the pincers as they appear through a microscope, for
+they are not near as large as the picture. And here is a drawing of one
+boring."
+
+[Illustration: Crane-fly ovipositing, and the larva beneath, in the
+earth, feeding upon grass roots.]
+
+"What good pincers those are, Uncle Philip: but will you tell us one
+thing which we wish to know? Talking about the crane-fly has put me in
+mind of it: the other day we were sitting together in school, and the
+wall over our heads was covered with common flies; and when we came out,
+we were talking about the way in which the fly stuck to the wall without
+falling down; and as we could not tell what kept him up, we agreed to
+ask you about it."
+
+"I will tell you, boys, very willingly. I do not wonder that you were
+unable to tell how the fly stuck to the wall; for you never tried to
+find out, and therefore could only guess at it."
+
+"And that is not a good way to find out any thing, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"No, boys; though some persons much older than you are, did nothing but
+guess about this very thing, and guessed very far from the truth too.
+Some thought that the fly had a sponge in its foot, and squeezed a sort
+of glue out of it which made it stick fast; others said that the glass
+or wall was so rough that the fly's feet would catch hold of the little
+points upon it; but both were wrong."
+
+"How does it hold on, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"Did you ever see what the boys call a sucker, made of a piece of soft
+sole leather? That will show you how the fly's foot sticks fast. This
+leather is cut round, and has a string through the centre; the boys wet
+it, and then put it upon a board or something smooth, and stamp on it,
+and try to raise it up from the board by the string; and it requires
+some strength to pull it up: sometimes they put it on a small smooth
+stone, and then lift up the stone by it. The reason why the leather
+sticks so fast is because the air is pressing on it upon the outside,
+and there is very little or no air between it and the board, to press
+the other way."
+
+"Why, Uncle Philip, is the air heavy?"
+
+"Oh yes, boys, when there is so much of it as there is above the earth,
+it presses down very heavily. Now the fly's foot is like the sucker;
+when he puts it down he has a contrivance to drive out the air from
+under it, so that there will be little or none between it and the wall;
+and then the outer air presses upon it, and holds it fast."
+
+"But, Uncle Philip, how does he get it up again?"
+
+"Why, boys, by another contrivance, he can let air in under his foot
+again, and then he can easily move it; for we do not feel the weight of
+air when it presses upon both sides of us. The reason why you stand up
+straight is because the air is pressing all around you; if it were on
+one side of you only, it would press you down on the other side. Here is
+a picture of the fly's foot, as it appears through the microscope. You
+will see it has three suckers with the edges all like saws; these are
+to make it stick the closer. This picture, boys, is sixty-four hundred
+times as large as the fly's foot is."
+
+[Illustration: Fly's foot magnified.]
+
+"But, Uncle Philip, there is one thing yet hard to understand."
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"Why, the fly walks on the wall over our heads; now the air cannot press
+down upon his feet there."
+
+"Very true, boys: it cannot press _down_, but it can and does press
+_up_ against his feet; for the air presses up and down and sidewise all
+alike."
+
+"Ah, now it is plain enough, and we are much obliged to you, Uncle
+Philip, for telling us what we wished to know."
+
+"You are quite welcome, my dear boys, to all that I can teach you: if it
+makes you to be wiser and better men when you grow up, I shall be very
+thankful to God that I have been able to do you any good."
+
+"Good morning, Uncle Philip."
+
+"Good day, boys; I shall expect to see you all in church to-morrow."
+
+"We shall be there, Uncle Philip."
+
+
+
+
+CONVERSATION XV.
+
+     _Uncle Philip tells the Boys how Hats are made; and then talks
+     to them about Animals that can make Felt like the Hatter._
+
+
+"Boys, do you remember my telling you of a remarkable bird, called the
+tailor-bird, which sews very neatly?"
+
+"Oh yes, Uncle Philip; it is not easy to forget such an excellent little
+workman; but why do you ask--have you any thing more to tell us about
+that bird?"
+
+"No, boys, not any thing of that bird; but I was thinking last night
+of the work done by several other kinds of birds, some of them quite
+as good workmen as our little tailor; and I thought that, perhaps, you
+might like to hear of them."
+
+"We would, Uncle Philip, be very happy to hear of them, if you will have
+the kindness to tell us about them. But what kind of work is it they do?"
+
+"Various kinds, boys. There are some which make what is called _felt_,
+just as the hat-maker does; and some are weavers, others basket-makers;
+some build platforms to live on; and I assure you some birds' nests are
+as curious as any of the things of which I have yet told you."
+
+"Pray let us hear of them, Uncle Philip."
+
+"Very well, you shall. I will begin with birds that make felt like the
+hatter. Do you know how a hat is made?"
+
+"Not exactly, Uncle Philip; but we know what it is made of."
+
+"What is it, boys?"
+
+"Of sheep's wool, and the hair of other animals: is it not?"
+
+"Yes, commonly of these things; and to understand what I am going to
+tell you, I think it will be necessary first to say something about the
+hatter's trade. The business of the man who makes a hat is to mix up
+wool or hair in such a way that it will stick together and make felt;
+or something like a piece of thick, strong cloth. To do this, he does
+not weave the hairs together, for they are of different kinds, and of
+different lengths, and it would be endless work to weave every one in;
+besides the cloth or felt would not be thick enough when it was done."
+
+"How do they stick together then, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"Why, boys, their sticking together is owing to something in the hairs
+themselves. I will show you. Pull a hair out of your head; now hold it
+just between the ends of your two fore-fingers, and rub the fingers
+gently against each other."
+
+"Why, Uncle Philip! see, the hair is moving towards my body."
+
+"Very true; and if you will turn it with the other end towards you, and
+rub your fingers as before, you will see it move from your body."
+
+"This is very strange, Uncle Philip: the hair is smooth; how can my
+fingers make it move so?"
+
+"No, that is a mistake, boys, the hair is not smooth. If some kinds of
+coarse hair are seen through the microscope, each one will seem to be,
+not one hair, but ten or twelve smaller ones, which are joined at the
+root, and form a hollow tube, like a straw; and sometimes it will have
+joints just like some kinds of grass or straw. In some sorts of finer
+hair you cannot see this even with the microscope; but you can feel it,
+as you did just now when you moved your fingers. These joints overlap
+one another, just as if you should take several pieces of straw and
+stick them into each other. I will show you some pictures of hairs as
+seen through the microscope, and then these joints will be plain enough."
+
+[Illustration: Hairs of (_a_) the Bat, (_b_) the Mole, and (_c_) the
+Mouse.]
+
+"These are strange-looking hairs, Uncle Philip."
+
+"Yes, they are curious; but now you may see why, when hairs are worked
+together, they may be made to stick to each other. These rough parts
+catch into each other, and hook themselves; and the more you press them
+or move them, the more closely you work them into one solid mass, which
+you cannot easily pull to pieces. Besides, you must remember that the
+hairs will work only one way, as you found out just now when your finger
+ends caught upon the little joints and moved them along. Now, suppose
+that a very large heap of hairs, or wool, or fur, after it is made
+ready, should be put upon a table, and covered with a linen cloth, and
+pressed down in different directions. Each hair would begin to move in
+the direction of its root, just as it did between your fingers, and so
+all would be joined together at last into one solid piece."
+
+"We understand you, Uncle Philip."
+
+"Then you understand, boys, the way in which a hat is made. These hairs
+are all worked together by the hands of the hat-maker, and to make them
+work more easily (for curled hair, such as wool, does not move easily)
+the hatter uses hot water, and dips his hat in it while he is working
+it. After it is done, it is died, and then put upon a wooden block to
+give it shape, and is ironed smooth."
+
+"And this is the way, then, Uncle Philip, to make hats: it is curious,
+is it not?"
+
+"Yes, boys; but plain enough when you come to examine into it. And the
+best stuff for the hatters is such hair as has most joints ready to
+catch into each other: the rabbit's hair is very good, and for that
+reason."
+
+"And is it possible, Uncle Philip, that any bird can do such work as
+this?"
+
+"Not only possible, boys, but true. There are several birds very expert
+at making felt, and their nest appears like a piece of hatter's felt, or
+double-milled woollen cloth. I do not mean to say that it is as close
+and solid as the hat or cloth; it would feel in your fingers looser than
+either, still it is quite close; and when you examine it, you will find
+it put together in the same way; it is all carded into one mass, and not
+woven together thread by thread, or hair by hair."
+
+"And are there many birds able to do such work, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"I told you, boys, that there were several. The chief article which
+they use is wool, but with this many other things will be found
+mixed--sometimes, upon the outside, fine moss--sometimes pieces of a
+spider's web rolled up into a little bundle--sometimes, when cotton can
+be had, they will use small bunches of cotton-wool; but sheep's wool
+they must have, and by means of that, they contrive to make, with the
+other things I have mentioned, a felt wonderfully smooth."
+
+"Is it smooth on the outside, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"Sometimes quite so; but always as smooth on the inside, when it is
+first made, as if it had been felted together by the hat-maker. There
+is another thing curious enough in some of these nests. The hatter, you
+know, binds the rim of his hat to make it stronger; and some of these
+felt-making birds will make their nests stronger by a binding all around
+them of dry grass stems, and sometimes of slender roots, and they take
+care to cover these grass stems, or roots, with their felt-work of moss
+and wool. But there is something else not less strange, I think, than
+the binding. It is this: they will build their nests in the fork of a
+shrub or tree; and to keep them from falling, they will work bands of
+this felt round all the branches which touch the nest, both below and at
+the sides. And those parts of the nest which touch the large branches
+are always thinner than the other parts, which have no support; in those
+parts the nest is nothing but a thin wall of felt, fixed around to
+fit the shape of the branch, and that is enough to make that part of
+the nest warm and soft. Here is a picture of one of these felt-nests,
+fastened in the way of which I have been telling you."
+
+[Illustration: Chaffinch's Nest on an Elder-tree.]
+
+"This, boys, is the nest of the chaffinch. The goldfinch makes a nest
+of the same kind, only rather neater and smoother than that of the
+chaffinch; for it takes pains to show nothing but the wool, and covers
+up all the other materials which it uses."
+
+"Uncle Philip, do these birds all use the same things to make their
+nests?"
+
+"All use wool, boys; but the truth is, that birds will commonly take
+for their nests that article which they can get most easily, if it will
+suit. A gentleman, named Bolton, tried this with some goldfinches. He
+saw a pair of these birds beginning to build in his garden; they had
+laid the foundation of their nest with moss, and grass, and such things,
+as they commonly use: he scattered some wool about in different parts of
+the garden; the birds took the wool: afterward he scattered cotton; they
+took the cotton: on the next day he gave them some very fine down; they
+took that, and finished the nest with it, and a very handsome nest it
+was."
+
+"How long were they in making it, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"Three days. The canary-bird, boys, which you sometimes see in cages,
+when free, builds a nest of the same kind. But the most curious
+felt-makers among the birds, are in Africa. There is the Cape-tit,
+a bird in the southern part of Africa, which builds a very strange
+nest: it is shaped like a bottle of India-rubber, as thick as a coarse
+worsted stocking, and made of cotton, and down, and other things felted
+together. On one side of the nest there is something like a pocket, and
+here is a picture of it."
+
+[Illustration: Nest of the Cape-tit, from Sonnerat.]
+
+"Uncle Philip, what is that pocket for?"
+
+"Why, boys, some have supposed that it was for the male bird to sit on
+and keep watch, while the female was inside of the nest sitting on the
+eggs; but I think this is a mistake. And some have said, that when the
+female leaves the nest, and the male wishes to go too, he sits in this
+pocket, and beats against the side of the nest with his wing until he
+has made the edges of the top meet, and thus shuts up the mouth of the
+nest, and keeps off insects and other animals that would eat the young
+ones; but I do not believe this story."
+
+"Then what do you think the pocket is for. Uncle Philip?"
+
+"I think, boys, that it is nothing but a perch, or place for the bird
+to sit on before going into the nest. If the bird had no such place for
+stopping, it might be troubled to get into its nest. The mouth is small,
+and the bird could not enter it with its wings spread; and if it should
+alight on the edge of the nest constantly, it would injure it, for it is
+but slightly made. And I will tell you another reason why I think this
+is the use of the pocket. There is another bird in South Africa, called
+the pinc-pinc, which is the same species of bird as the Cape-tit; and
+this bird we know uses its little nest built upon the side of the other
+merely as a resting-place before going into the nest."
+
+"Uncle Philip, does the pinc-pinc build its nest like a bottle, as the
+Cape-tit does?"
+
+"No, boys, not so smooth, but felted in the same way. The nest is
+made mostly of the down of plants, and is either snowy white or
+brownish, according to the colour of the down. On the outside it is a
+clumsy-looking thing, but fastened, like the nest of the chaffinch,
+very firmly to the branches near it, so that you cannot take it away
+without breaking it to pieces. But rough as the outside is, you would be
+astonished, if you were to look at the inside, and see how a bird, and a
+small one too, with nothing but its wings, and tail, and feet, and bill
+for tools, could ever have worked the down of plants together, so as to
+make of it a piece of fine cloth. It has a narrow neck, something like
+a chimney, at the top of it. This is the entrance; and at the lower end
+of it there is a lump, which appears something like a small nest stuck
+on to the larger one; sometimes there will be three or four of these
+small-looking nests, and sometimes when there is a branch near the mouth
+of the nest which makes a good resting-place, there will be none. Here
+is a picture, boys, of the outside of one of these nests.
+
+[Illustration: Nest of the Pinc-pinc.]
+
+These birds are easily watched; and a French gentleman, who has written
+the best account of the birds of Africa,[11] says that he has found
+at least a hundred of these nests, and watched the birds for a whole
+morning together, and never saw one sitting on the small nest as a
+watch-bird; but has seen both the male and female arrive at the nest
+together, perch upon the nearest branch, hop from this upon the edge of
+the little nest, and then putting their heads into the hole, dart into
+the large nest. And now, boys, what do you think about the use of these
+little pockets?"
+
+"Oh, Uncle Philip, we think that what you tell us is always right,
+because you know a great deal more than we do."
+
+"But, boys, you do not understand me. I may be mistaken, though I do
+know more than you. I have been telling you my reasons for thinking
+these little pockets are nothing but perches. Do you think the reasons
+are good ones?"
+
+"Why, yes, Uncle Philip, we do. The French gentleman who watched the
+birds so much would have seen some of them using the pockets for a place
+to keep watch in, if they were made for that."
+
+"Right, boys. What I wish to teach you is to think for yourselves.
+Whenever any one gives you a reason for a thing, just ask yourselves,
+'Is this a good reason?'"
+
+"But, Uncle Philip, how did it happen that the other people who saw
+these birds should have said that these pockets were for the male bird
+to sit in and watch?"
+
+"I suppose, boys, that they really thought so; but then they had not
+noticed the birds enough to find out the truth. It requires a great
+deal of time and patience to find out the truth about animals: and this
+is the reason why so many mistakes have been printed about them. It is
+a pity that such mistakes have been made; for really there is enough
+that is very curious about them, without men's making stories to appear
+strange. But I think that there will be fewer mistakes made in future."
+
+"Why so, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"Because, boys, men are taking more pains to see for themselves. There
+are more naturalists now than there were formerly; and I hope there
+will be more still, especially in our own large and beautiful country,
+where there have not yet been many. I hope that natural history will be
+studied in all our schools before a great while. But let us go back to
+our African birds.
+
+"There is another kind which Mr. Vaillant speaks of, and I will tell you
+of that. He calls it the capocier, and he had a very fine opportunity to
+watch two of them. It is a bird easily made gentle, and he had managed
+by feeding two of them to make them so tame that they would come into
+his tent and hop about several times in a day, though he never had them
+in a cage. When it became time for them to build a nest, they staid away
+for some time, and would come to the tent once only in four or five
+days. At last they began to come regularly, as before, and Mr. Vaillant
+soon found out what they came for. They had seen upon his table cotton
+and moss and flax, which he used to stuff the skins of birds, and which
+were always lying there; and the capociers had come for these things,
+to build their nest of them. They would take up large bunches of them
+in their bills and fly away. Mr. Vaillant followed and watched them to
+see the nest built, and found them at work in the corner of a garden, by
+the side of a spring, in a large plant which grew under the shade of a
+tree. They were building in the fork of the branches, and had laid the
+foundation, which was about four inches high and six inches across. This
+part was made of moss and flax, mixed with grass and tufts of cotton.
+The next day this gentleman never left the side of the nest: the female
+was at work building, and the male brought the materials. In the morning
+the male bird made twenty-nine journeys to Mr. Vaillant's table for flax
+and cotton and moss; and in the afternoon he made seventeen. He would
+help his mate to trample down and press the cotton with his body, so
+as to make it into felt. Whenever he came with a load, he would put it
+either upon the edge of the nest or upon some branch within reach of the
+female.
+
+"After he began to help the female at her work, he would often break
+off, and begin to play; and sometimes, as if in mischief, he would pull
+down a little of her work. She would get angry, and peck him with her
+bill: but he still continued to vex her, until at last, to save her work
+from being pulled down, she would stop working, and fly off from bush
+to bush, to tease him. They would then make up the quarrel, and she
+set about her work, while he would sing most delightfully for several
+minutes. After his song was finished, he would go to work again, until
+he got into a new fit of mischief and frolic, and then he would torment
+her as before.
+
+"On the third day the birds began to build the walls, after having
+repeatedly pressed the bottom, and turned themselves round upon it in
+all directions, to make the nest solid. They first made a plain border
+all around; this they trimmed, and on it they piled up tufts of cotton,
+which they felted in by beating and pressing with their breasts and
+wings; and if any part stuck out, they worked it in with their bills,
+so as to make all perfectly smooth and firm. And they worked their nest
+round the branches near it, just as the chaffinch does.
+
+"In seven days they finished it. It was as white as snow, and on the
+outside it was nine inches high, and not smooth or regular in its shape;
+but in the inside it was shaped exactly like a hen's egg, with the small
+end up: the hollow was five inches high, and between four and five
+inches across; and it was so neatly felted together that it might have
+been taken for a piece of fine cloth a little worn; and so close that
+you could not take away any part without tearing the nest in pieces.
+Here is a picture of the nest, boys, and it is wonderful work for a
+small bird."
+
+[Illustration: Nest of the Capocier, from Vaillant's figure.]
+
+"Oh, Uncle Philip! we like the capociers very much. When they were tired
+of working, they were ready to play; and when they had played enough,
+they went back to work. Do not you think there was good sense in that?"
+
+"Yes, boys, I do: it will not do, either to work all the time or to play
+all the time. All that we have to do is to take care that we do not
+spend more time than we should at either. But there is a sweet little
+bird, boys, quite common in our own country, which makes felt: would you
+like to hear of it?"
+
+"Oh yes, Uncle Philip. What bird is it?"
+
+[Illustration: Nest of the Humming-bird.]
+
+"It is the humming-bird. Here is a drawing of its nest. It is about an
+inch deep, and an inch across; and from a little distance, appears more
+like a small knot upon the branch than like a bird's nest. The outside
+of the nest from which this picture is made, was covered with a kind of
+bluish-gray lichen, that grows in scales upon old trees and fences: this
+seemed to be glued on by the bird in some way or other. The inside was
+the felt, and was made of the fine down from seeds that float about in
+the air, mixed with the down from mullein-weed and stalks of fine grass.
+This, boys, is the smallest nest made by a bird, I believe; and some
+insects make larger houses for themselves than this bird does.
+
+"But I have not time at present to talk with you any longer, as I have
+letters to write; and therefore I must bid you good morning."
+
+"Farewell, Uncle Philip."
+
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[11] M. Vaillant.
+
+
+
+
+CONVERSATION XVI.
+
+     _Uncle Philip tells the Boys about Birds that are Weavers; and
+     about the Politician-bird; and a Story about some Philosophers; and
+     what may be learned from these Conversations._
+
+
+"Well, boys, were you pleased enough with our last conversation to wish
+to hear more about birds' nests?"
+
+"Yes, if you please, Uncle Philip. You said something about birds that
+were weavers; we should like to hear something of them."
+
+"Very well, then; I will talk about the weavers this morning. And the
+first thing I have to say is that this is no uncommon trade among birds.
+Take the nest of any of the common small birds that use hair for a
+lining, and you will be apt to find some part of it woven."
+
+"But, Uncle Philip, you do not mean that birds weave as smoothly and
+regularly as people do!"
+
+"Not quite, boys; but still it is very fair weaving, and done as our
+weaving is, by working a hair or thread in and out between other hairs
+and threads, or roots, or bits of stick and grass. The best way to see
+it, is to remove the outside work of hay or roots very carefully, or to
+take away the felt-work of wool or moss, and you may see a round piece
+of hair-cloth, sometimes finer, and sometimes coarser, according to the
+bird that made it, and the things of which it is made. In the common
+sparrow's nest the hair-cloth is very thin, so that you can see through
+it easily; but still every hair is woven in singly, and always bent,
+so as to lie smooth in the bottom of the nest. And there are no ends
+of hairs left sticking out; they are always worked into the moss which
+makes the outside of the nest."
+
+"Uncle Philip, how do the birds make the hairs lie smooth in their
+places?"
+
+"About that, boys, there is some uncertainty. Some persons think that
+the birds have a kind of glue in their mouths by which they make them
+stick; and others suppose that they wet the hairs, so as to make them
+bend. But there are much better weavers than the common sparrow. The
+red-breast and the yellow-hammer are both better workmen."
+
+"Where do they get hairs. Uncle Philip?"
+
+"They find bunches of them sticking in the cracks of a fence or post
+where a horse or cow has been rubbing; and some of these little
+creatures, when they find such a bunch, will pull it to pieces, and work
+it in, hair by hair."
+
+"Are there many of these weaver-birds. Uncle Philip?"
+
+"Yes, boys, a great many: our country is quite full of them. There is
+the mountain ant-catcher,[12] which will weave a nest of dry grass, and
+wind the blades round the branches of a tree; and the king-bird,[13]
+which first makes a basket frame-work of slender sticks, and afterward
+weaves in wool and tow, and lines it with hairs and dry grass. There is
+another, too, the white-eyed fly-catcher, which some have called the
+politician. This bird builds its nest and hangs it up by the upper edge
+of the two sides on a vine. The outside is made of pieces of rotten
+wood, threads of dry stalks or weeds, pieces of paper, commonly old
+newspapers; and all these are woven together with caterpillar's silk,
+and lined with fine dry grass and hair."
+
+"Uncle Philip, why do they call it the politician? What is a politician?"
+
+"What is commonly called a politician, boys, is a person who is always
+reading in newspapers about the government of the country, and talking
+a great deal about the President and Congress, and the laws that are
+made, and all such things: but the real politician is one who studies
+the different kinds of government which have been in the world, and
+endeavours to find out which is good and which is bad, and why they are
+good or bad. He reads, too, a great deal of history, to learn how other
+nations have done, what kind of laws they made, and why they made them,
+how they became great nations, or how they became very poor; and he
+_thinks_, too, a great deal, that he may find out what will be best for
+his own nation. It requires hard study and thought, boys, to make a good
+politician."
+
+"Then, Uncle Philip, a man cannot learn how to be one out of the
+newspapers."
+
+"No, boys; not out of newspapers alone: but still he will read them,
+and very often learn from them things very useful to him in his
+business. Newspapers are valuable things, and I think it is always best
+for a country to have a great many of them spread about in it. But they
+will not, of themselves, make a man a politician; and if you should ask
+the persons who print them, whether they expect them to teach men all
+about governments, they will tell you, No: but they will teach people
+what is doing in all the governments in the world. No good government,
+boys, will ever be afraid to let the people have newspapers. They are
+always fewest where the government is hardest upon the people. But let
+us go back to the birds. Can you tell me now why some people call the
+fly-catcher a politician?"
+
+"Oh, yes; because he has so many bits of old newspapers about his nest."
+
+"That is the reason, boys. There is another kind of fly-catcher, called
+the hooded fly-catcher, and it weaves its nest of flax and strings
+pulled from the stalks of hemp: but the best weaver in this country
+is the Baltimore starling. This bird chooses the ends of high bending
+branches for his nest, and he begins in a forked twig, by fastening
+strong strings of hemp or flax around both branches of the fork, just
+as far apart as he means the width of his nest to be: he then with
+the same kind of strings, mixed in with pieces of loose tow, weaves
+a strong, firm kind of cloth, which is like the hatter's felt in
+appearance, only that you can see that the nest is woven, not felted.
+In this way he makes a pouch, or purse, six or seven inches deep, and
+lines it on the inside with several soft things, which he weaves into
+the outside netting, and finishes the whole with horse-hair. Mr. Wilson
+describes one of these nests which he had. He says that it was round
+like a cylinder. Do you know what a cylinder is?"
+
+"No, Uncle Philip."
+
+"A smooth round pillar to hold up a porch is a cylinder; my walking-cane
+is a cylinder; so is the straight body of a tree. When these are of the
+same size all through their whole length, they are perfect cylinders;
+and any thing in that shape is a cylinder."
+
+"We understand you, Uncle Philip; a gun-barrel is a cylinder, and there
+is a cylinder in your garden."
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"The heavy stone roller that you let us pull over the walks."
+
+[Illustration: Baltimore Starling, and Nest.]
+
+"Right. Well, this nest was like a cylinder, about five inches across,
+and seven inches long. At the top the bird had worked a level cover, so
+as to leave a hole only two inches and a half across; at the bottom it
+was round. It was made of flax, tow, hemp, hair, and wool, and was woven
+into a complete cloth; it was also tightly sewed through and through
+with long horse-hairs, some of which when drawn out measured two feet.
+Here is a picture of this nest. In the bottom it had bunches of cows'
+hair, and these were also sewed down with horse-hairs. This bird, boys,
+is a thief."
+
+"A thief, Uncle Philip! What does it steal?"
+
+"When I say it is a thief, boys, I mean that it takes what does not
+belong to it: but it is not a thief as man is. When a man takes
+something which belongs to another person, he _knows_ that it is not
+his; and therefore he steals: but the poor bird does not know, and that
+makes a difference. You asked me what it steals: I will tell you. At
+the time for building its nest, it will take whatever suits for that
+purpose; and therefore the country women are obliged to watch their
+thread that they have put out to bleach: the farmer, too, who has cut
+off young grafts from his fruit-trees and tied them up in bundles, must
+be careful, or the bird will pull at the string till he gets it off; and
+sometimes, when the bunch is not too large, he will fly off with the
+whole. In autumn, when the leaves have fallen, you may sometimes see
+skeins of silk and hanks of thread hanging about the starling's nest,
+but so woven up and entangled in it that they are good for nothing. Now,
+boys, before this country was settled by people from Europe, where do
+you suppose the starling got silk and thread for his nest?"
+
+"Why, Uncle Philip, are you sure he got them at all?"
+
+"A very sensible question, boys. When you are asked _why_ a thing is so,
+it is always well, first to be satisfied that it is so, before you begin
+to look for a reason. I have read a story about this very thing: would
+you like to hear it?"
+
+"Oh yes, Uncle Philip."
+
+"Well, then, I have read that there were once several philosophers
+(I told you what a philosopher is, you know), who were in the habit
+of meeting together to put questions to each other, and to make new
+discoveries. At one of these meetings, one of them asked the others,
+'_Why_ a fish weighed more _in_ the water than he did _out_ of it?'
+Several of them gave very wise reasons, as they thought; and all the
+reasons were different: so they could not agree. There was among them,
+however, a very sensible old gentleman, who listened to them all, but
+said nothing. When he went home, he got a fish and weighed it, out of
+the water, and wrote down its weight; he then took a bucket of water,
+and weighed that; and when he dropped the fish in the bucket, he found
+that it increased the weight of the whole, precisely as many pounds as
+the fish had weighed out of the water; so he found out that there was
+no reason why a fish weighed more in the water than he did out of it,
+because it was not true: his weight was the same either in or out of it."
+
+"Ah, Uncle Philip, that is a pleasant story: he was a sensible old
+gentleman."
+
+"Yes, boys, he was; and it was sensible in you to ask first whether the
+starling _did use_ silk and thread before Europeans came here; and after
+that is answered, it is time enough to ask where he got such things. Now
+the truth is, that he _did not_ use them until after Europeans brought
+them here; because there were no such things in this country: for the
+Indians who lived here could not make thread. I think; and I am sure
+they could not spin silk: but I will tell you, boys, what it shows us;
+and it is that I wish you to notice."
+
+"What is it, Uncle Philip?"
+
+"It is the wisdom of this bird in taking advantage of circumstances. No
+doubt he built very good nests long before silk and thread were in the
+country; but he had sense enough to know that they were exactly what
+suited him, and he used them as soon as he could get them."
+
+"Then, Uncle Philip, you think that the bird has reason?"
+
+"No, boys, I do not: but you have reason, and I have something to say
+to you about it. It is this: as God has given you reason, and so made
+you better than the poor dumb animals, he expects more from you. That is
+fair, is it not?"
+
+"Yes, Uncle Philip; very fair."
+
+"Then what I wish you to remember is this: that you must use your reason
+in such way as to glorify God. He gave it to you to learn his will and
+his commandments, and to live accordingly. So now you see the things
+which our conversations about the animals can teach us. In the first
+place, we see the goodness of God; in the second place, we see the
+power of God; in the third place, we see the wisdom of God: and we see
+in ourselves that God has done more for us than he has done for them,
+and therefore we ought to love and serve him: we ought to believe what
+he says in his Word; we ought to pray to him for his blessed help; we
+ought, _first of all_, to seek the salvation of our souls, through our
+Lord Jesus Christ.
+
+"Now, my dear children, to-morrow I must leave home for a few weeks; but
+when I come back we will talk together again: and as I am going to see
+my nephews, I will get a book which they printed about insects; it is
+called the History of Insects,[14]--and I will bring it to you; and some
+of the largest boys among you may read it aloud, and I will explain to
+you what you cannot understand. If you are pleased with what I have been
+telling you, that book will tell you a great deal more."
+
+"Oh, thank you, Uncle Philip. We shall like it very much."
+
+"Farewell, boys."
+
+"Good-by, dear Uncle Philip."
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[12] Myiothera obsoleta of Bonaparte.
+
+[13] Tyrannus intrepidus.
+
+[14] Family Library, No. VIII.--_Publishers._
+
+
+
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+  _Now republishing, on good paper and large type, in 18mo. volumes_,
+
+
+  SOCIAL EVILS
+  AND
+  THEIR REMEDY.
+
+  A SERIES OF NARRATIVES TO BE PUBLISHED QUARTERLY.
+
+  BY THE
+  REV. CHARLES B. TAYLER, M.A.
+
+  No. I.
+
+  THE MECHANIC.
+
+  IS NOW REPUBLISHED, AND FOR SALE BY THE BOOKSELLERS.
+
+  "Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid,
+  which is Jesus Christ."
+
+AUTHOR'S ADDRESS
+
+No doubt can be felt as to the fact, that there are at present many
+crying evils in all ranks of society--perhaps there never was a time
+when more remedies were proposed. It is, however, a melancholy truth,
+that the only remedy is too generally over-looked, or despised.
+Remedies, selfish in principle, and selfish in their proposed end, are
+held forth and confided in by those who profess to be Christians, and,
+as such, dependent on the Great Head of the church. Man is taught how
+to live in time, and to be wise for time; but it has become unusual
+to refer to that fine old scriptural prayer, "So teach us to number
+our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom." Indeed, the
+wisdom desired by too many is that which is so forcibly described by
+an apostle's pen, as "earthly, sensual, devilish;" not that wisdom
+the attributes of which form the graces of man's new and regenerate
+character, which is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to
+be entreated; "full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and
+without hypocrisy."
+
+It is intended, in the series of narratives now advertised, to set
+forth, faithfully and simply, the one great principle on which
+Christians profess to act. This principle should never be lost sight
+of, in any publication addressed by a Christian author to Christian
+readers. "Other foundation can no man lay, than that is laid," laid by
+Infinite Wisdom himself--"which is Christ Jesus." My illustrations will
+extend to every class of society; from the highest to the lowest. When
+it is found necessary to introduce the subject of political economy, I
+shall endeavour to give what seem to me the right views of the subject;
+and I shall take care to show, that when political economy cannot be
+identified with Christian economy, it ought to occupy a subordinate
+place. If it enters society as the servant of Christian principle, it
+may be very useful as a servant; but, if it is to teach a man to walk in
+the counsel of the ungodly, to speak of its usefulness in a Christian
+community is absurd.
+
+False principles, however taking they may be, for a while, with the
+ignorant, or with those who are not deep thinkers, can never stand for
+any length of time; and as for the ungodly, we know _Who_ has told us
+they are "like the chaff which the wind driveth away." I have undertaken
+this work in a spirit of prayer to God for His assistance, and His
+blessing. Many of my readers. I am sure, will unite their prayers to
+mine, that it may be continued in the same spirit. Some few may object
+to this address from a minister of Christ to a Christian community,
+and say that it is according to the puritanical cant of the day. I
+answer, that such cant (if mere cant) is quite as offensive to me as to
+themselves; almost as offensive as the cant of ungodliness; but I cannot
+forget those words of solemn warning, from One who, alas, is still the
+despised and rejected of many men: "Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and
+of my words, in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him shall the
+Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with
+the holy angels."
+
+The second number of "Social Evils," entitled "_The Lady and the Lady's
+Maid_," will be republished about the 1st of February, 1834.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+THEOLOGICAL LIBRARY.
+
+No. I. The Life of Wiclif. By Charles Webb Le Bas, A.M.
+
+II. The Consistency of the whole Scheme of Revelation with Itself and
+with Human Reason. By Philip Nicholas Shuttleworth, D.D.
+
+III., IV. Luther and the Lutheran Reformation. By John Scott, A.M.
+
+V., VI. The Life of Archbishop Cranmer. By Charles Webb Le Bas, A.M.
+
+VII., VIII. History of the Reformed Religion in France. By Rev. Edward
+Smedley, M.A. _In Press._
+
+
+
+
+  +----------------------------------------------------------------- +
+  | Transcriber's Note:                                              |
+  |                                                                  |
+  | * Obvious punctuation and spelling errors repaired.              |
+  |                                                                  |
+  | * Original spelling and its variations were not standardized.    |
+  |                                                                  |
+  | * Original use of quotation marks was left unchanged.            |
+  |                                                                  |
+  | * The word "scattered is missing between pages 135 and 136.      |
+  |                                                                  |
+  | * "... have got permission from your friends...."  This should   |
+  |   be "permission from parents," as the context suggests.         |
+  |                                                                  |
+  | * Italicized words are surrounded by underline characters, _like |
+  |   this_. Words in bold characters are surrounded by equal signs, |
+  |   =like this=.                                                   |
+  |                                                                  |
+  | * Footnotes were moved to the end of the paragraphs to which     |
+  |   they applied and numbered in one continuous sequence.          |
+  +------------------------------------------------------------------+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Natural History, by Anonymous
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