Inquisitive Jack.CHAPTERII.
Jack gets better acquainted with his new friends.—The story of the dead horse-fly.—Aunt Piper.
I havetold you in the preceding chapter, how Jack watched the ants in the garden, and how he found out their ways of living. He was very young at this time, and having never been to school, he did not even know how to read: but by observing and investigating things, he had obtained a good deal of knowledge.
As he had now learnt something about the ants, he desired to know more: so he used very often to go and look at them. He did not stamp, with his heel, on the ant-hills, and crush the houses of the little busy creatures, and kill the people in them. Some boys do this, and think there is fun in it; but Jack looked upon all innocent and harmless creatures with a feeling of affection, and he loved rather to help them, than to kill or disturb them.
So it was with the ants. He used to go to their beds frequently, and he carried them little pieces of meat; and after a time, when he came near, the little creatures would run out of their holes, expecting something to eat! In this way they got acquainted with him, and he with them.
One day he found a large dead horse-fly; so he took it and laid it down at a little distance from the ant-hill. Pretty soon he saw one of the ants come near the fly. The little fellow began to smell about, and then went to it. He took hold of it, and tried to carry it. He then pulled and hauled with all his might; but finding it impossible for him to manage it, he set off for the hill.
It was as much as two yards that he had to travel, but he very soon got to the hill. He there met several of his companions. He went close to them, and seemed to touch them with his little feelers. Immediately four of them set off with him, and went to the dead fly. Jack did not hear the ant speak, and, perhaps, he had no voice; but it was quite plain that he told his friends what he had found, and that he wished them to go with him.
When they got to the dead fly, they took hold, and began to drag him toward the hill. It was twice as big as all the five ants put together; but they jerked, and pulled, and twitched, and it was really quite wonderful to see how fast they got the carcass along over the rough earth. Every ant did his best: there was no lazy fellow among them, shirking and shamming so as to put off the hard work upon his companions.
In a very short time, the ants had brought the fly to the hill. As they approached,great numbers ran out, to see what was coming. In a few seconds all was life and bustle, and it really seemed like a city when some great sight has brought all the people into the streets.
But the ants did not spend their time in gazing: immediately they began to cut up the fly, for he was too big to be got into one of their doors. One sawed off’ a leg, another a wing, and another the head; each carrying his piece into the hill. In the space of about five minutes the fly was cut to pieces, and stowed away in the city of the ants.
Jack was greatly delighted with what he saw; he had now found out that ants, instead of being hateful little insects, as most people consider them, are really quite interesting. Every evening he used to tell his father and mother what he had observed during the day, and they were always pleased with his simple stories.
But Jack had an aunt, whose name was Betsey Piper, and who, having no husband or children to take care of, spent a great deal of her time in talking with him. Whenever he met with anything curious, he used always to tell her, the first thing. She was not only kind to Jack, but she had read a great deal, and was therefore able to give him much instruction.
Jack had got so much interested in the ants, that he now begged his Aunt Betsey to go with him and see them. She agreed to go the next day, and Jack went to bed, full of pleasure at the idea of visiting his little insect-friends, the next morning, with his Aunt Piper. We shall tell the wonderful discoveries they made, in another chapter.
Another visit to the anthill.—Honey-dew.—The different kinds of ants, and other things.
Assoon as breakfast was over, the next day, Jack and his aunt set out to visit the ants in the garden. Jack soon pointed out a hill, which he had observed before, and they both sat down to watch the little creatures at their work.
As usual, all seemed to be busy. Some appeared to be occupied in bringing out the eggs, which they laid in the sun, so that they might hatch the sooner. Some were engaged in cleaning out the house, for they were seen to bring out small pieces of sand, which they carried to a little distance, and threw them away. One was seen to come up with a pretty large piece of earth, which he rolled along with much difficulty.
While a part of the little people were thus engaged in housewifery, others appeared to be bringing them food. Sometimes these brought flies and pieces of insects; sometimes they appeared to have filled their stomachs, and when they met their friends who staid at home, they would put a part of their food into their mouths, and feed them, as a mother does a child.
As I have said, Aunt Piper had a good deal of knowledge, and she had heard that ants sometimes get a kind of honey from other insects. She was very curious to see this herself. So she watched some of the little creatures, and observed that they went to the dandelions that were growing near by. They ascended the stalks, some of which were covered with what is called honey-dew, a substance deposited by lice, which live in great numbers upon vegetables.
Many of the ants stopped to eat this honey-dew, which they seemed to be very fond of; but others, not finding any of this on the stalks, mounted to the full-blown dandelions, where they found numbers of these little insects imbedded in the yellow down. The ants immediately began to suck the honey-dew from them, and what was wonderful, these creatures kept quite still, and seemedpleased to have the ants lick the honey off from them!
This sight gratified Jack and his aunt very much, and they spent a long time in watching the operations of these curious creatures. After spending two or three hours very pleasantly, they went to the house. Aunt Piper then got a little book and read all about ants to Jack. I will tell you a few wonderful things she read to him.
There are a great many kinds of ants; some are almost an inch long, and others are not bigger than a grain of sand. In some countries the ants build hills twice as high as a man’s head. In Africa there are white ants, that devour trees, and they are so numerous that it is dangerous for men to go among them, unless several can go together and destroy them at once.
The little garden ants are very harmless; they not only eat up a great deal of the honey-dew deposited by lice upon plants, and which would otherwise injure them, but they also devour a vast deal of matter that would putrefy and make the air unwholesome.
In our next numberwe shall tell some curious adventures between Jack and the beetles.