"But let us come back to the paper. Hornets make paper for their nests much in the same manner as the wasps do, only it is coarser. There is, however, one kind of wasp which makes a sort of paper more curious than this which you have found. It is not a wasp found in this country at all. It is the Cayenne wasp, and so smooth, strong, and white is the outside of his nest that it appears like a card, and he is for that reason sometimes called the card-maker wasp. He hangs his nest on the branch of a tree, and it is so hard and polished on the outside that the rain rolls off from it, as if it were glass. A little hole in the lower end is left for the animal to pass in and out; and in this picture of it, which I have, a piece is left out of the side to show how the cells within are fixed." [Illustration: Nest of the Card-maker Wasp, with part removed to show the arrangement of the Cells.] "Well, then, Uncle Philip, we were right in thinking that wasps were the first paper-makers; and very glad we are that we saw this old piece of a wasp's nest. Who would have thought that so much could be learned by picking up this old scrap of a wasp's work!" "Very good sense, boys, in that thought. A wise man will learn something from almost any thing. Use your eyes, and think of what you see. Now in this very trade of paper-making. I think that man would have found it out a great deal sooner if he had watched the wasps at their work. They have been excellent workmen at this business from the beginning; and man has gone on learning little by little of this very trade, as I will tell you at some other time, when he might have made a long step at once, had he but noticed wasps and hornets. We go on very slowly sometimes in learning to make a trade as perfect as it can be: the poor animal, with its knowledge such as God gave it, is often our superior. These dumb creatures cannot teach us every thing; there is a point to which they can go, and no further: but as far as they do know, their knowledge is perfect; and I make no doubt that a great many useful things not now known will hereafter be found out by watching dumb animals." CONVERSATION V. _Uncle Philip tells the Children a Story about Tom Smith; and of Bees with Brushes and Baskets, and of a Bird with a Chisel, and a Gnat with a Lancet._ "Uncle Philip, as the day is fine, instead of sitting here, will you walk with us, this morning?" "Yes, boys; let me get my cane and hat, and we will take a ramble; perhaps we may see something, if we will use our eyes. Where do you wish to go?" "Oh, we do not care much, if you are with us, which way we walk; any course will be pleasant." "Come on, then; we will cross the river, and go down on the other side beyond the old mill, where you found the wasp's paper. And now, such of you as will, may keep a look-out for curious things, while the rest of us will talk together.--Boys, do any of you know Tom Smith?"