Francis L. Hawks

“ 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." ”

“ 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." ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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?" ”

“ 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." ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ No man, my dear boys, knows every thing. Wise men talk with each other, that [Pg 30] 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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?" ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 [Pg 210] 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 ”

“ 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?" ”

“ 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 [Pg 17] one groove, and sometimes they will go on and make as many as six without stopping. That shows, boys, what perseverance will do." ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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." ”

“ 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." ”