3. At length refreshed, the traveler-a skeptic he-uprose':b "What! reading still the Bible, child'? your lesson, I suppose'."

"No lesson, sir," the girl replied; "I have no task to learn';

But often to these stories here', with joy and love I turn'."

4. "And wherefore do you love that book, my little maid, I pray',

And turn its pages o'er and o'er, the livelong summer day' ?"

"Why love the Bible, do you ask' ?-how angry, sir, you look':

I thought that every body loved this holy, precious book."

5. The skeptic smiled', made no reply', and pondering',a traveled on';

But in his mind her answer still rose ever and anon:

"I thought all loved the holy book'-it was a strange reply:

Why do not I then love it too?" he whispered, with a sigh.

6. He mused, resolved, examined, prayed'; he looked within', above';

The Bible read, confessed the truth; and worshiped God with love.

A nobler life', from that same hour', the skeptic proud began',

And lived and labored many a year-a Bible-loving man.

a DRAUGHT, pronounced draft.

b UP-ROSE', arose.

• LIVE'-LONG, long.

d PON'-DER-ING, meditating.
eMUSED, considered; reflected.
CON-FESS ́ED, admitted; acknowledged.

[LESSON XCII. is the same, in substance, as the preceding lesson. The goodness and artless simplicity of the little maiden were probably more effectual in leading the skeptic to serious reflection, than all the sermons he had ever heard.

Moral. The all-powerful influence of good example, even though it come from the humblest individuals.]

1. Early one morning in summer, as Willie was walking in the garden, just after the sun had risen, he saw a large number of ants collected around an ant-hill, near the hedge, a little distance from the cultivated ground.

2. He called to Uncle John, who was just then coming out of the house; and when Uncle John came up, Willie pointed out to him the swarm of ants. Both then stood and watched the motions of the little insects for some time.

3. While some seemed to be quietly sunning themselves, others were busy bringing out of the hill, and laying down in the sun, little white bodies almost as large as a grain of wheat. Willie

asked Uncle John if these were the eggs of the ants.

4. "No," said he, "these white bodies are the little grubs and the cocoons, which, after a while, will become full-grown ants. The real eggs are white, but they are only about as large as a grain of sand."

5. "But do ants pass through those wonderful changes which you told us about,* the same as caterpillars and butterflies?" asked Willie.

6. "Very much the same," replied Uncle John, "except that, in the last change, only a few become winged insects. Did you ever see an ant with wings, Willie ?"

7. "I suppose I have," answered Willie, "now that you say some of them have wings. One day, when I was out in the field with our man, he split open a large rotten log, and it was full of holes, out of which the ants

do not often go abroad;

rushed like a swarm of bees; and some of the largest of what seemed to be ants had wings."

8. "Those ants that have wings," said Uncle. John, "are the masters and mistresses of the mansion; for they sel dom do any work, and but those which you see

without wings are the workers, or, as they are sometimes called, neuters.

*See page 164.

9. "These workers," said he, "like the workers among the bees, gather the food; they also take all the care of the young. They are the warriors of the tribe, also; for they bravely defend their homes, sometimes fighting, with hostile tribes, terrible battles, in which hundreds are slain on both sides."

10. "How wonderful!" exclaimed Willie. "I should like to know all about these curious creatures."

11. "You would find," said Uncle John, "that these little ants, which you have seen so often, and yet know so little about, have a most wonderful history. But I will tell you more about them this evening, when Minnie and Lucy can be with us."

12. Willie stood watching the little insects for some time. Soon he saw an ant take up one of the white grubs in its mouth, and carry it into a hole in the top of the ant-hill. This seemed to be a signal for the others, for soon all the grubs, and cocoons, and all the ants also, disappeared in the

same way.

13. Where, but a little time before, thousands were running about, now not a solitary ant was to be seen! "And yet," thought Willie," who knows but all the ground in the garden is alive with these busy creatures! I wonder what kind of homes they live in, and what they are doing down there in the earth! I wonder if Uncle John can tell!"

CO-COONS', see page 170.

[LESSON XCIII. gives a brief account of the ants, as they are often seen in our gardens and fields. The winged females are much larger than the

males, and the males are larger than the workers. The latter are sometimes called neuters. Like the workers among the bees, they are imperfectly-developed females. In time the female loses her wings, either tearing them off herself, or allowing them to be torn off by the workers.]

LESSON XCIV.

THE WONDERS OF ANT-LIFE.

1. These are some of the many wonderful things about ant-life, which Uncle John told the children, when they were assembled, in the evening, around the table in the dining-room.

2. "From the time of Solomon," said he, "ants have been noted for their industrious habits. But it is only those known as workers that are industrious; the others are as idle, and as lazy, as the drones in a bee-hive.

3. "As soon as the first rays of the morning sun, in summer, fall upon an ant-hill, those workers that are on the watch at the doors of the dwelling run below, and arouse the sleepers.

4. "Then the working ants pour forth in crowds, when those among them that act the part of nurses may be seen carrying, in their jaws, the little grubs, and also the cocoons, just as the cat carries her kitten. These are left a short time in the sun, to be warmed; then they are carried within doors, when the little helpless grubs-the babies of this large family-receive their morning meal.

5. “You may ask what they eat, and how they are fed. The nurses feed them with the sweet juices of plants, which the nurses themselves have swallowed; and they put this food into their