148 ANIMALS AND INSECTS 



The wood that is to be used as food is stored near 

 the house under water, so they can get it even when 

 the thick ice covers the pond and shuts the beaver 

 family away from the world. With a strong dam 

 and a strong house and a frozen-over pond they can 

 spend the winter securely and keep warm and com- 

 fortable. They deserve a comfortable winter — do 

 they not? — after the hard work they have done to 

 make their home secure. 



In the spring after the ice has gone they often go 

 to visit other beaver families in other ponds, but 

 when July comes they hurry home to make every- 

 thing strong again for the winter. Each little leak 

 in the dam is patched and mended, and the house is 

 newly plastered with mud and more wood is gathered 

 for the next winter's food. 



After some years the pond fills up and the beavers 

 are obliged to leave that home and make another, 

 for where the pond was is now a broad, flat meadow. 

 The beavers have turned a mountain valley into a 

 fertile field where cattle can graze and where men 

 can plant grain. 



St. Paul says, ''No man liveth to himself." That 

 means that we cannot do things without other peo- 

 ple being helped or troubled by them. It is just as 

 true with the animals. Their work helps more than 

 just themselves. Our little brother, the beaver, is 

 not only making a home for himself when he works so 

 hard and skillfully at his building, he is doing his 

 part toward perfecting God's plans for the up- 

 building of the earth's surface. 



