NATURAL HISTORY. 205 



dry stalks or weeds, pieces of paper, com- 

 monly old newspapers ; and all these are 

 woven together with caterpillar's silk, and 

 lined with fine dry grass and hair." 



" Uncle Philip, why do they call it the poli- 

 tician ? What is a politician ?" 



" What is commonly called a politician, 

 boys, is a person who is always reading in 

 newspapers about the government of the 

 country, and talking a great deal about the 

 President and Congress, and the laws that are 

 made, and all such things : but the real poli- 

 tician is one who studies the different kinds 

 of government which have been in the world, 

 and endeavours to find out which is good and 

 which is bad, and why they are good or bad. 

 He reads, too, a great deal of history, to learn 

 how other nations have done, what kind of 

 laws they made, and why they made them, 

 how they became great nations, or how they 

 became very poor ; and he thinks, too, a great 

 deal, that he may find out what will be best 

 for his own nation. It requires hard study 

 and thought, boys, to make a good politician." 



" Then, Uncle Philip, a man cannot learn 

 how to be one out of the newspapers." 



" No, boys ; not out of newspapers alone : 



