Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1886-11-12
Vt'as1,s.

oh, Aunt Mary, Just come and see
"hat Carrie and l have found!n ex-
CLAIMED Nellie Graham, rushing into
'he room where here aunt sat sewing.
what have you found, Nellie? ?" she
asked, as she rose to follow her 1;tt1a
niece.
Wei, L don't know exactly what it
u.s. auntle," answered the little girl.
leading her aunt down through the gar
aen' lit is great, big gray ball, that
LOOKS as II 1t was made of paper, and it
is fastened on branch of the bio tree
down at the end of the garden. Carrie
ana were going to see if we could
Knock it down by throwing sticks at it,
but we saw some wasps crawling over
it, and we were afraid to-"
ut is very we'll that you did not
throw anything at it," answered her
aunt, ut is wasps' nest, and if you
made them angry they might have
stung you very badly"
They soon came to the tree, and Car
RE pointed out the object of her curl
oslty to her aunt 1t was an unusually
large wasps' nest, and the insects were
swarming in an out, looking quite
formidable enough to deter any one
from touching their fortress.
Didn't you ever see wasps' nest be-
tore?" asked Aunt Mary of her little
niece, who was seated on the fence view
ing the wasps with curiosity, mingled
with little fear.
mo ma'am," answered Carrie.
"Auntie, where do they get their nest 2"
"They make it," was the answer.
The two girls looked at the nest in
incredulous wonder. It did not seem
possible that an insect so small as the
wasp could build such nest.
"Why, it's made Of paper, isn't it"
qucried Nellie, in surprise.
"They make the paper, too," said
Aunt Mary, smiling at their astonish-
ment.
IL will tell you how they make it.
The wasps are furnished with broad,
powerful mandibles or pincers, and
with these they tear off small particles
of woody fiber from the gate-posts,
palings, OF the bark Of trees. This
they mix into a soft pulp with their
saliva, and with this pulp they con-
struct their nest. The inside of the
nest is divided into little combs Or
cells, and the substance that separates
these cells is generally thicker and
tirmer than that on the outside of the
nest. AS the nest is enlarged, new pa
per is made for the purpose, the whole
nest being enclosed in the last made en-
velope, while the inner one is removed
to make place for more cells. The
nests of wasps in tropical countries are
sometimes very large, often six feet
long, and they are inhabited by very
large families Of wasps."
Glow much paper those big nests
must take" said Carrie.
eyes, paper-maling is the principal
industry Of these little insects" an
swered her aunt. each one of them
has his own share of work to do, and
So J.; little t. by little, the great nest is
''What do wasps eat? 2"
"Wasps will eat great variety Of
both animal and vegetable food," an
swered Aunt Mary. "They will eat
insects, ripe fruit, sugar, and they often
invade bee-hives and steal the honey.
There is a Brazilian species Of wasp
that is known to store up honey like
bees"
"Aren't hornets and wasps very much
alike?" asked Carrie.
eyes," answered Aunt Mary. '"rhe
hornet is the largest species of wasp,
and is found in the south Of England.
Now, girls, 1 must run back to my sew
ing; will leave you here to watch the
wasps if you want to, and there is one
very useful lesson that hope you will
learn from them"
"What is that, Aunt Mary?' asked
the children, together.
"Remember that great things are
made up of little Ones" answered Aunt
Mary. zone little wasp alone could
not have built that great nest, but by
each doing a little, the work is accom-.
nlished. "-Christia11 AdUocate.
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