42 CONVERSATIONS ON 



What is the trade that you think you have 

 discovered ?" 



" It is paper-making, Uncle Philip. We 

 have found this part of a wasp's nest, which 

 we have brought along ; and as you told us 

 it was always best to notice every thing 

 closely, we examined this, and it appeared so 

 much like coarse paper that we thought (for 

 we knew it was made by wasps) that man did 

 not make the first paper in the world." 



" Well, boys, that was not a bad thought. 

 Now you see the advantage of taking notice 

 of things, and of thinking about what you 

 see. You are perfectly right in supposing 

 that wasps make paper ; and, if you please, we 

 will talk this morning about the wasps." 



" Oh yes, yes, by all means, Uncle Philip ; 

 and we will thank you, too." 



"I must first tell you, then, that of the 

 wasps there are several kinds. Some build 

 their nests under ground, and some hang 

 theirs in the air to the limb of a tree. This 

 part of a nest which you have found be- 

 longed to the last kind ; but I will tell you 

 something about both. But before I begin let 

 me get some drawings I have, which will help 

 us to understand better. I have them. And 



