" As an old writer says--"What was man's storehouse was also man's
workhouse; his pleasure with his task ... if happiness had consisted in
doing nothing, man had not been employed."
A child, who has been set to watch beside the cradle of a baby brother
or sister, and wants very badly to be off to play, may learn a lesson of
patience from the way in which these little workers take care of the
babies which are their special charge--for I suppose an ant's egg may be
considered in its tiny way like a baby in its cradle.
These eggs are at first so small that you could scarcely see them, and
they would probably never become living ants if not diligently tended; but
under the care of their nurses they soon grow larger, and at the end of a
fortnight the baby ants creep out, not bigger than grains of sand, but with
head and wings complete. The first want of every living thing is food, so
the nurses begin to feed their charge by placing the little open mouths to
their own, and giving them the food which they have stored. Then I have
watched them carrying them up and down, that they may enjoy the warmth of
the cellars or the air and sunshine of the upper rooms, just as if they
had a thermometer to tell them the exact amount of heat or cold that was
needed. And I must not forget to tell you that part of the duty of the
nurses is to keep their babies white and clean, and this they do not
neglect, but wash them with their tongues, as pussy washes her kitten.
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