Various

“ Slowly we file through the streets, amid the hearty cheers of the citizens, and wend our way toward the desert, where we leave our camel to the charge of some faithful pilgrim, and return back again to our daily routine of boot-blacking.
I have been a successful boot-black for five years, and I am now the Sheik of my district, which position I gained by being the strongest and most able fighter, and best story-teller, consequently, as a badge of honor, I wear a small turban around my cap. The four boys who first patronized me are my best friends. ”

“ The Christians and Jews who reside in the city do not pay us well. Some of the richer ones give twenty paras (equal to two cents) ; while others, such as grocery men, pay us in an orange, or a few figs, or a handful of dates. Thus we barely make a living among a population of four hundred thousand inhabitants. Our voices are heard among the first sounds of the early morning, calling, "Boyâ! boyâ! boy-â-â-â!" (i. e., blacking) . We frequent the streets where most customers are to be found, and often have a fight with some boot-black from another district who is trying to obtain the best custom. ”

“ These soldiers only fight for the good of the tree."
"Which takes care of them in return?" asked Harry.
"Precisely. There are certain cavities in its outer surface which serve as barracks for these regiments of ants. But the most curious feature is the mode in which the tree provides food for its defenders. When the leaves are young, and in danger from insects, there opens a little gland at their base, which is filled with a honey-like liquid. The ants are very fond of this, and lap it up greedily. They run from one gland to another, and are thus kept constantly about the young leaves. ”

“ Breathless, I sat down on a door-step to contemplate my next undertaking, whereupon four professional boot-blacks roughly accosted me, asking how long I had been a boot-black, and to what district I belonged. I replied that I did not belong to any; upon which they began roughly pushing me, and wanted to take away my brushes and blacking; but I fought manfully and desperately for them.
"Hafarêm" (i. e., well done) , said one. "You are a ghadah" (i. e., fine fellow) . "You can fight well; and as you have no one, we will take you in our company, provided you divide your earnings with us." ”

“ If they are caught by the fierce rays of the sun when out travelling, they at once build themselves a covered archway of clay—a long tunnel whose sides and roof are cemented by some gummy material from their own bodies. Under this they travel safe from the sun. It is said of the same ants that when they are obliged to cross a stream in their journeys, they will ascend a tree, and run out on a low limb that hangs over the opposite side. From this they drop a line of ants to the earth, each clinging firmly to the one above it. Over this living line the whole army passes. ”

“ If any person happens to break or even to shake one of these twigs, he might well imagine that the tree was alive, for he will instantly find it covered with multitudes of creeping brown creatures, which bite furiously. It is, in fact, inhabited by myriads of ants, which occupy the whole interior, and which protect the tree from its enemies by their vicious bite. ”

“ At first it seemed rather dull work to spend two evenings every week in school, but our kind friend made it so pleasant for us that we gradually grew to like it, and now think our school evenings the pleasantest of the week. I am trying hard to learn what is taught us, and hope some time to be something better than an Egyptian boot-black. ”

“ Castle is a little tough on boys," old Ben said, thoughtfully; "but it'll be a good thing for you, Toby. Just so long as you stay with Job Lord, you won't be nothin' more'n a candy boy; but after you know how to ride, it'll be another thing, an' you can earn a good deal of money, an' be your own boss."
"But I don't want to stay with the circus," wailed Toby; "I don't want to learn to ride, an' I do want to get back to Uncle Dan'l." ”

“ Why, the common red ant of England builds a nest of any rubbish it can find, such as straw, leaves, and bits of wood mixed with earth, often as large as a small hay-cock. But this is a trifle, compared with some tropical ant-hills. Travellers in Guiana describe ant-hills which are fifteen or twenty feet high, and thirty or forty feet wide at the base. You might well fancy they were houses for elephants, instead of for ants."
"I should imagine they must be elephantine ants," remarked Harry. ”

“ There are also yellow ants which construct entire stories of this decayed wood. They mix it with a little earth and spider's web, and thus make it into a sort of papier-maché."
"Don't think that's so awful smart," protested Willie. "Jess don't the wasps an' the hornets make paper nests too?"
"Very true," replied his uncle. "There is another curious ant, though, which makes its nest out of leaves. These are large, strong leaves, but the little creatures somehow draw their edges together, and gum them fast, so that they make themselves a close, roomy shelter inside. ”

“ It is not quite ripe when the leaf first opens, and the ants may be seen busily running from one to another to see if any are ripe. Whenever one is found to be ripe, the ant bites it off at the small point of attachment, and carries it eagerly away to its nest. But they do not ripen all at once, so that the ants are kept about the leaves until these are old enough to be out of danger."
"Well, I never heard anything quite so queer about trees!" exclaimed Harry.
"There are many strange instances of trees being aided by insects," remarked Uncle Ben ”

“ Mahmud is the youngest, and is rather restless. He is fond of standing up, brushes in hand, and trying to see if he can not chance to spy some customer wanting his boots blackened, for he is ambitious to make as much money as possible, as he has an old grandmother, whom he loves dearly, to support.
Not long ago a kind American lady, who seems to have taken an interest in us poor boot-blacks, started an evening school for us. As she had been good to me, and had once helped me out of a serious difficulty, I used all my power as Sheik of my district to make the boys attend. ”

“ Jerry was beginning to understand the tree joke, but he could not see why Phin Meadows should roll Rush Potts and Jim Wire over in the snow the way he did, for he said to himself:
"It's a mistake any man would make. One tree is just like another. ”

“ Wire'll be glad to have anybody come to see him that knows as much about sugar as you do."
"It's all the hobby he's got," said her brother Phin. "He makes the best maple sugar in all these parts. Whitest and cleanest. Biggest lot of it, too."
[Pg 290]
"I've heard him say," added Rush Potts, "that no man was ever too old to learn. Glad we could bring you along."
"There isn't much about sugar I don't know," replied Jerry Buntley, modestly, with a pull at his dog-skin gloves to make them fit tighter. "You just ought to see a real sugar plantation once." ”

“ The Egyptian boot-blacks have a regular constitution and set of laws; not written out or printed, but not the less enforced.
1. The city of Cairo is divided into about a dozen boot-black districts.
2. The strongest boot-black in his district shall be the Sheik, or chief, until some stronger boy whips him; then the strongest boy takes his place.
[Pg 298]
3. Every boot-black must obey his Sheik.
4. Always stand by a boot-black, even if from another district.
5. Only Mohammedans are allowed the privilege of being boot-blacks. Any other sects taking up the trade must be put down. ”

“ They are just as fond of play as you are. They will wrestle with one another, and ride on each other's backs, as if it were the greatest fun in the world. And they have been seen practicing gymnastic sports, climbing, hanging down by one leg, and letting themselves fall from a distance, as if they enjoyed it hugely. ”

“ They never seem to tire or lie down to rest, so that it is astonishing what progress they make. It is said that they will finish a complete story to their nest, with all its rooms, galleries, vaulted roofs, and partitions, in seven or eight hours. They use wet clay in the work, and put it together very rapidly."
"I suppose these big nests are built just like the little ones we have here," said Harry, with a questioning look.
"Yes, on much the same principle. In fact, our little mason ants are very expert builders. Some of them only build while it is raining, or while the ground continues wet. ”

“ Ants are very apt to take possession of hollow trees. They build thin partitions, which divide the interior of the tree into halls, galleries, and saloons, and they live there thoroughly sheltered from the weather. The Ethiopian ants hollow out long galleries, and use the finely powdered wood which has fallen to the bottom of the tree to stop up every chink in the floors, to make partitions, and to fill up useless apartments. ”

“ The fairy laughed and flapped her little wings. "Now you must not be afraid; it will all come out right in the end. When I said the ogre was dreadful, I meant he was ugly-looking: we fairies like everything beautiful. Shall I go on?"
"Oh yes, and please forgive me for stopping you."
"This ogre was ugly, with a shaggy head, a shaggy beard, and fierce eyes, and he lived all by himself in a great stone castle on the shore of a large lake. His principal pleasure consisted in tormenting everything and everybody he came near; but if he had any preference, it was for boys ”

“ The tree in question is called the bull's-horn acacia. A species of ants lives upon it, and protects it from insects which would injure its foliage, such as slugs and caterpillars. But the odd thing is the mode in which the tree manages to provide for these ant soldiers. ”

“ It extends as deeply under-ground. There is one ant described that builds a nest of forty stories, twenty above and twenty under ground. These stories are divided into numerous saloons and apartments, with narrow galleries, and inclined planes for stairways. The partitions are usually very thin, but the ceilings are often supported by pillars and buttresses, just like our great halls."
"It must take the ants a long while to build such nests as that," remarked Harry. ”

“ Ants get into this tree by boring a hole from the outside. [Pg 295] They then bore through the partitions, and get the run of the whole interior. Every cell made by the partitions serves them as a separate apartment, some being devoted to eggs, and some to their young in different stages of growth. One cell is kept as the home of the queen, this royal lady having an apartment of her own."
"Do the ants protect this tree too?" asked Harry.
"Oh yes; they rush out in millions if the tree is shaken, and are very apt to make things uncomfortable for intruders." ”

“ Then the lady bade them follow her as she stepped from the boat on to the soft grass, and led them past fruits and flowers, and winding walks and fountains, up to the dazzling crystal palace in which she lived. Here the boys were halted while she made them this little speech: 'Boys, this is my home, [Pg 300] these are my gardens; for a while you will have to remain here. We may have trouble with the ogre, but I want you to have no trouble among yourselves. Kindness, good-humor, pleasant looks and words, must prevail. ”

“ A true Mohammedan looks on blackened boots as on something sacrilegious, so that we boot-blacks are regarded with scorn by our pious neighbors. The boot-black trade is in the European part of the city; that is where we mostly get our customers. We charge no regular price, but take just what we can get. Our worst customers are the military officers and policemen, for they often fail to pay us a single para ”

“ When he had comforted Sue a little (and I must say some people are perfectly sickening the way they go on) , he and I collected Mr. Martin—all except his teeth—and helped put him together, only I got his leg on wrong side first, and then we helped him home.
This was why father said that my conduct was such, and that his friend Martin didn't seem to be able to come into his house without being insulted and injured by me. I never insulted him. It isn't my fault if he can't slide down a hill without coming apart. ”

“ There he was now, and the visitors had not been in the house five minutes before Salina Meadows told how much Jerry Buntley knew about sugar.
"His father sells tons of it, and his brother's a clerk in a sugar store, and his uncle's a book-keeper in a sugar refinery in the city—"
"Ten stories high!" put in Jerry, with a down look of modesty.
"—and he's seen sugar plantations, and molasses factories, and where they make all sorts of candy."
"You don't say!" exclaimed Mrs. Wire. "I'm glad you fetched him along."
"Wa'al, so'm I," said old Mr. Wire. "No man ain't ever too old to l'arn. ”

“ If it gets so dry that the earth will not stick together, they pull down their unfinished walls, and heap the earth over the finished portions. The ash-colored mason is very curious in his ways. He begins by bringing a quantity of earth, which he heaps on the roof of his old home. ”

“ If any of the readers of Harper's Young People will send me a collection of United States postage stamps, I will send in return a collection of Java postage stamps.
A. Van Heel,
Samarang, Java.
We were at Avon Springs last summer, and while there we found some petrified shells and other fossils. We dug them from under a stratum of rock five or six feet below the surface of the earth, where they had lain for ages. I will exchange some of them for any kind of ore, sea-shells, or other curiosities. ”

“ The crust was thick, and bore very well, so that the [Pg 291] girls had no wading to do in going from one fire to another; and Jim Wire and his father worked like beavers at emptying the sap troughs, and carrying in the almost colorless, sweetish-tasting liquid their trees had yielded them.
"Now, Jim," said Mr. Wire at last, "we'd better take a lot of troughs and follow them fellers. 'Twon't do to waste any sap."
Phin and Rush saw them coming, and at once stopped work. So did Jerry Buntley, for he had some suggestions to make about those spiles. ”

“ Lazy, loitering little fellows were in especial danger, for he would catch them quite easily by throwing over their heads the nets he used in fishing, drag them off to his castle, and keep them in a dungeon until there would be no chance of discovery, and the boys' parents would think them lost forever. ”

“ Castle; he's goin' to show you how to ride," said Mr. Lord, in as kindly a tone as if he were conferring some favor on the boy.
If Toby had dared to, he would have rebelled then and there, and refused to go; but as he hadn't the courage for such proceeding, he walked meekly into the tent, and toward the ring.
[to be continued.] THE NATIONAL FLOWER OF JAPAN. BY WILLIAM ELIOT GRIFFIS.
The cherry blossom is the national flower of Japan, as the rose is of England, the lily of France, the thistle of Scotland, and the shamrock of Ireland. ”