HASTY OBSERVATION 269 



through a piece of woods. Suddenly my little boy 

 stopped me. 



" Papa, see that spider's web stretched across the 

 road: our horse has not gone this way." 



My face had nearly touched the web or cable of 

 the little spider, which stretched completely across 

 the road, and which certainly would have been swept 

 away had the horse or any other creature passed 

 along there in the early morning. The boy's eye 

 was sharper than my own. He had been paying 

 stricter attention to the signs and objects about him. 

 We turned back and soon found the horse in the 

 opposite direction. 



This same little boy, by looking closely, has dis- 

 covered that there are certain stingless wasps. When 

 he sees one which bears the marks he boldly catches 

 him in his hand. The wasp goes through the mo- 

 tions of stinging so perfectly, so works and thrusts 

 with its flexible body, that nearly every hand to 

 which it is offered draws back. The mark by which 

 the boy is guided is the light color of the wasp's 

 face. Most country boys know that white-faced 

 bumblebees are stingless, but I have not before 

 known a boy bold enough to follow the principle out 

 and apply it to wasps as well. These white-faces 

 are the males, and answer to the drones in the bee- 

 hive; though the drones have not a white face. 



We cannot all find the same things in Nature. 

 She is all things to all men. She is like the manna 

 that came down from heaven. " He made manna 

 to descend for them, in which were all manner of 



