The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1890-05-23
olive BOTTLES

ohho tiAtl lou Wy" ~ DIV
ting on the ledge just outside of his ia
theirs work shop. The day was fine but
Sandy was gloomy. He had asked his ia
Their for new books; and his father had not
only said that he could not afford the
books, but that she should not be able to
send Sandy to school after that term,
times was hard and Sandy must work in
the shop"
Sandy know what made the times hard
it was a round pint bottle that lay on his
fathers bench and ran away with his faith
er's time and health and money. Sandy
hated that bottle.
Along came the schoolmaster and held
out a bottle to Sandy. "What do you
think / have in here?"
"Why-looks like brown currants, or lit
tie brownish gooseberries, with-stems
on'em," said Sandy.
The master opened the bottle, and care
fully drew out one of the curious objects,
and laid it on a bit of smooth pine. "Now
what do you think?e
81 vow" said Sandy, SITS got a head on,
and-six legs, and | never saw a round,
swelled up ball of a body, for that much
head and legs, beforei"
'It's a bottle" said the master, ga lice
bottle. At least it was alive, until | put it
out Of its misery. and into my bottle here
to keep it. keep it in alcohol; that, it
strikes me, is the best and only use for al
cohol-to keep specimens in"
Il never before saw such an uneomfort-
able looking object" said Sandy. at
looks just as if it would burst"
That is exactly what it came near do
ing'' said the master.
'You said 1t was a live bottle once; was
it natural?"
mo, it was unnatural; it is never natu-
raj for anything to be turned into a bot
tie"
II wish you'd tell meP'
'sTell you what? About this bottle? 1t
is an ant. II is a native of Mexico, and
called the honey ant In the hill where
this ant was Matched as a worker, the ants
are fond of honey. Instead of m aking wax
cells as bees do, to hold their honey, the
ants seize upon some of their unlucky
workers, and turn them into bottles. | sup
pose the strong greedy ones oyermaster the
weaker ones. Well the way il is done is
this: These worker ants are selected, seiz-
ed, bitten with a poisonous bite, which
causes in their bodies Inflammation and
disease, which closes up all the openings
and make them living bottles. Then the
other ants collect honey, and pour it into
the Threats of these poor live bottles; and
as it cannot get out it stays in, and the
bodies stretch as they are filled, until they
are-iust balls with heads on, as you see
them nowrf
sob, horriblel They must suffer fear.
fully"
very like. But what do these other
greedy ants care? They have honey saved
up, and when they want it, all they have
to do is to fasten upon a poor victim, and
drink"
"Cruel beasts. | should like to kill
every n of theml'
sis it any worse than the whiskymaker
and seller, who seizes on the weakness OF
some neighbours will, and the strength OF
appetite which may provoke to master
him, and by means of these, he robs his
neighbor of his health, property, and
time, merely that he himself may ELL his
own till, and grow rich as his neighbei
grows poorer, The liquor-seller gets a
fine house, clothes, horses, whatever he
wants, in short-honey. The neighbol
| loses reputation, comfort, home; his
children are robbed and destitute-all thai
| the liquor-seller, without labor, OF giving
any real equivalent, may have gains-ol
| honey. | never see a dram shop but
think of the honey ants of Mexico, ths
one-half of the hill-owners surfeiting OF
honey, the other half horrible living bot
ties sacrificed to the greed of the stronger
ones"
Father said Sandy, who knew hi
father had heard, ''come and see thes'
live bottles"
He came, but out into the road wen
crashing the wicked bottle from the work
bench. as he said: SWELL, I've got
l~essonn