ing more earth apart. It is in this way, 

 by alternately or in turn lengthening or 

 shortening his body that he makes his 

 way through the earth, which is pushed 

 aside to give him passage through its 

 dark depths. 



"As his home is underground, eyes 

 would not be of much use to him, so 

 Mother Nature, whose children we all 

 are, has given him none. One of her 

 laws is that none of us shall have what 

 we cannot or do not make use of. He 

 has a strong mouth, however. It is 

 placed on the second ring of the body. 

 His food is earth, which he swallows to 

 obtain the organic particles contained 

 in it. This makes him especially inter 

 esting, for nearly all animals obtain 

 their food from the soil quite indirectly. 

 Some get it from plants, the plants 

 themselves having gathered theirs from 

 the earth through their roots. Certain 

 animals depend on other creatures, 

 which in turn get food from the plants. 



"The life-giving particles which go 

 to build up all bodies come directly or 

 indirectly from the earth itself. It 

 seems odd that a man who is starving, 

 no matter where he may be, starves 

 with the very food which he needs di 

 rectly beneath his feet, only he does 

 not know, nor has the wisest man yet 

 learned, how to convert it into food 

 which will directly sustain and give 

 health to the body. Yet the little earth 

 worm, which you despise as stupid, has 

 this wonderful secret, which day by 

 day it puts into operation for its own 

 benefit. Worms also eat leaves, which 

 sometimes they drag into their homes. 



"The worm has no feet as we under 

 stand them, but moves along the ground 

 by sticking its sharp claws into the 

 ground and by in turn lengthening and 

 shortening its flexible body. 



"The young worms grow from eggs, 

 which are deposited in the earth in the 

 autumn. They have to look out for 

 themselves. During the winter they 

 burrow deep into the ground, coming 

 to the surface with the warm rains of 

 spring. Worms also come to the earth's 

 surface at night. If you look carefully 

 in the garden with a lantern some even 

 ing, you may see them." 



Charley was looking at his bait box 

 with a good deal of respect. 



"I guess I'll let the worms have an 

 other chance," he said, and he dumped 

 them in a heap upon the ground, when, 

 I regret to say, two hungry robins 

 promptly pounced upon them and flew 

 jubilantly home with two of the fattest 

 in their beaks for a meal. 



The stranger smiled kindly upon 

 Charley. 



"Never mind, my boy. Old Dame 

 Nature meant the worms for food for 

 the robins and perhaps bait for your 

 hook when you really need fish for food, 

 but she never meant any of us to need 

 lessly harm any living creature, for 

 when you are older and have learned to 

 read well in her great story book you 

 will find that after all, from earthworms 

 to kings, we are only brothers and sis 

 ters in wise old Mother Nature's great 

 family. 



'I once knew a little boy like you 

 who used to salute every living creature 

 he met with 'Good morning' or 'Good 

 afternoon' or 'Good evening.' He said 

 it made him feel more friendly toward 

 them. In his spare moments he loved 

 to watch the woodland creatures and 

 learn the secrets of their busy, useful 

 lives." 



"Where does he live?" asked Charley. 



"Well, when he is not rambling over 

 the earth hunting for curious insects he 

 lives in a big city, where he sometimes 

 writes books about butterflies and moths 

 and other insects, and people, who as a 

 rule know very little about the humbler 

 children of nature's family, give him 

 credit for being a rather wise man; but 

 he really knows very little there is so 

 much to learn. Some day, when you 

 are a man, if you keep your eyes open 

 to what goes on around you, you your 

 self may know how little. That boy is 

 a man now and takes great pleasure in 

 having introduced you to Master Chae- 

 topoda, one of the humblest but most 

 intercstingmembers of Mother Nature's 

 household." ^ 



And then Charley smiled, for he 

 knew the stranger was talking about 

 h i m s e 1 f . Success. 



13 



