Friends and Helpers Part 14

Turn, turn thy hasty foot aside, Nor crush that helpless worm!

The frame thy wayward looks deride Required a G.o.d to form.

The common Lord of all that move, From whom thy being flowed, A portion of his boundless love On that poor worm bestowed.

Let them enjoy their little day, Their humble bliss receive; Oh! do not lightly take away The life thou canst not give!

T. GISBORNE.

ANTS, BEES, AND WASPS.

Ants, bees, and wasps belong to the same family of insects. The ant, to begin with the smallest, is a good proof that size has little to do with intelligence.

These little people, as King Solomon said of them long ago, "are exceeding wise." A long chapter might be filled with an account of the wonderful things they do. In this country there are ants who are farmers. They plant their fields, keep them carefully weeded, and gather each year the seed for the new crops. They make roads, build bridges, and fashion wonderful houses with underground storerooms and galleries.

If their harvest gets wet, it is brought out to dry on the first sunny day, and then carried back again with the greatest pains.

Other ants are master-builders and make elaborate houses of more than forty stories. These houses are made of bits of stick and straw. Some ants are soldiers, others are gardeners, while still others are famous bridge-builders. The red ants make slaves of black ants and become very dependent upon the faithfulness and industry of their servants. Many ants keep as cows the small green plant-lice on the rose-bushes. These tiny green cows fill themselves full of a sweet juice which they make from the plant-leaf. The little people like the sweet juice and have found out that they can get it by stroking the cows. So they keep herds of fat cattle and often mount guard round the branch or tree where their cows are feeding.

Ants have a keen sense of smell and a wonderful way of talking to each other by touching their antennae. They must have a complete set of signals, for they are able to carry on a long conversation.

How do we know so much about them? Wise men have spent years in studying their ways. There was a blind Swiss naturalist, named Huber, who, with the aid of his servant, was able to learn more of ants and their doings than any one had dreamed of before. It was Huber who found out that ants go to war and make slaves. In England another famous observer noticed that ants knew and welcomed each other after ten and twelve months of separation.

It would be interesting to know what the ants think of us, who in some ways are no wiser than themselves. How blundering and clumsy we must seem when with careless feet we crush millions of the innocent dwellers in their underground cities! Surely we might try not to disturb the little people in the wonderful homes they have made.

Bees and wasps are cousins of the ants. They have four wings, the front pair being the larger. In flight the two wings on each side are hooked together so as to form one broad wing.

We all know how helpful bees are to us. They lay up enough honey to feed themselves through the winter, and we think this a very desirable addition to our own table. The wax they make for their houses is useful to us in more ways than one. But they help us in another way, which is still more curious and interesting. While the bee is burrowing for honey in the heart of some deep blossom, the yellow flower-dust, or pollen, sticks to its hairy body and legs. When it flies to the next flower, some of this dust is brushed off and falls in the right place to make the seeds in that flower grow. So, without knowing it, the bee is helping us in our gardening. Some plants would never bear fruit if the bees did not carry the pollen from one flower to another.

Next to the ants, the bees are the most intelligent insects we know.

They make wax houses of beautiful shapeliness, and they rear their little ones with great wisdom and care. There is always a queen bee, and no real princess is more royally tended than are the princess bees. They are fed on different food from that of the other babies, and the royal cradles are of the finest quality. Should all the princesses die, one of the common bees is put into the royal cradle and fed upon the dainty food, and she often makes quite as good a queen as if she were born in the purple.

Bees seldom sting if they are let alone. They are easily frightened by a sudden movement and will try to defend themselves. If a bee alights by mistake on your hand or face, it will soon fly away without hurting you if you can keep quite still. As a rule, they are good-tempered and harmless.

Wasps have not earned for themselves a reputation for good-nature or thrift. They have never learned to store up honey, and every winter many of them freeze to death in their elegant paper houses. It is considered wise not to handle a wasp, lest his feelings, which are easily ruffled, get the better of him. But there is room to admire his good looks, his skill in house-building, and his st.u.r.dy pluck and courage.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PAPER-MAKERS.]

Wasps do much good in the garden by destroying grubs and caterpillars, and they are quite willing to take their wages in overripe fruit at the end of the season.

A LITTLE BLACK SLAVE.

I am going to tell you about a little slave who lived in France. Her name was Alerta, and she was a tiny black ant.

Not far from Paris there lived a colony of red ants--great lazy fellows who would not work and who would hardly find food for themselves. They thought that a set of slaves would help them very much.

"If we had slaves," they said, "we should not have to milk our cows or take care of our children."

So one fine morning they set out to conquer some weaker colony and make slaves of the prisoners of war.

It was not long before they came upon a nest of black ants.

"These are good workers," said the lazy red ants. "They will make good servants." So they fell upon the nests and carried off all the baby ants.

"We could never carry the older ones so far," said the red ants, "but these children will grow up before long."

This was true. Soon Alerta was a fine, strong young ant. One morning her mistress tapped her on the shoulder.

"Do get me some food, please," said she.

"What would you like, and where shall I get it?" asked Alerta briskly.

She was glad to have something to do.

"Oh, run outside," said the red ant, "and you will find our cows grazing on a rose-bush near the door."

Alerta ran up the narrow winding pa.s.sage-way and came out in the warm sunlight. Numbers of slaves were running about, but they were all so busy that Alerta did not like to stop them. At last, however, she saw one of them approach a small green insect which was clinging to a leaf, and tap it gently. A big drop of honey came out of the little insect, and the ant pa.s.sed on to another.

"Those must be the cows," thought Alerta, and she hastened to follow her companion's example. She found that the honey was very sweet and delicious. Soon she had a good supply for her hungry mistress and was about to return to the nest, when she met another servant.

"Where are you going?" asked Alerta.

"I am head-nurse in a large family of children," said the other slave.

"They need all my time and attention. I mustn't stop to talk, thank you," and she hurried on.

"I wonder," thought Alerta, "what would become of the red ants if it were not for us. They seem to be a very helpless people." Then she went back to her mistress.

"Now," said the red ant, when she had eaten all she wanted, "please carry me to bed."

"I wonder if I can lift her," thought Alerta doubtfully, as she looked at her heavy companion. "Still, I can try." So, with many stumbles and stops, and a great deal of panting, she bore the large ant to the place she pointed out as her bedroom.

"That will do," said the sleepy lady. "Now go and give the children a bath, and as soon as the sun is warmer, carry them up into the air."

Alerta ran off to find the nursery. The soldiers were on guard at the door, but they let her go by when she told them her errand. Some of the babies were being fed, while others were already on their way upstairs.

Alerta was about to pick up one of the children when a cry came from above.

"Take the children down at once. It is going to rain!"

Down the pa.s.sage-way swarmed a crowd of nurses with their charges.

"No," cried another voice, "it is not rain. Some one is flooding our house."

Great was the terror of the hard-working nurses. "Can we get the children to a safe place?" was their first thought.

"What shall I do?" cried Alerta. She was thoroughly frightened.