NATURAL HISTORY. 141 



suppose he should determine to play the tru- 

 ant. The Bible does not say a boy shall not 

 play the truant, does it ?" 



" No, Uncle Philip." 



" But if John Carter should play the truant, 

 he would, in doing so, disobey what God has 

 commanded in the Bible just as much as if 

 the Bible did say ' A boy shall not play the 

 truant ;' for the Bible does say, ' Children 

 obey your parents? and he could not be a 

 truant without disobeying his parents, who 

 bade him go to school." 



" Uncle Philip, we understand you very well 

 now." 



" There is another thing I wish you to un- 

 derstand, boys. John Carter, as you see, 

 would not only disobey his parents, which is 

 wicked, but he would also commit a sin against 

 GOD. That is always the thing to look at first. 

 When we are going to do something that we 

 are not very sure is right, we should always 

 stop to ask ourselves whether God will be 

 pleased with it. But I have said enough to 

 you about our duty for this time. Now for 

 the ants I promised to tell you of. And the 

 first sort I shall mention are great fighters." 



