ow this
because their bodies are found perfectly preserved in pieces of coal and
amber. Amber, you know, is a kind of gum that drops from certain trees
and hardens, becoming very transparent and of a pretty yellow color. It
is supposed that the little creatures found imbedded in it came to
their death in running up the trunks of these trees, their feet sticking
in the soft gum, and drop by drop trickling down on them till they were
fast imprisoned in a beautiful transparent tomb.

"I remember seeing once at a museum a small black ant preserved in
amber, and he looked so natural and lifelike, so like the ants we see
running about to-day, that it was hard to realize that he came to his
death so long, so very long ago; in fact, before this earth of ours was
ready for the creation of man. What strange sights those little
bead-eyes of his must have seen!

"When our ancestors were rude barbarians, living in caves and in holes
they dug in the ground, the little people dwelt in cities built with
wonderful skill and ingenuity; and while our forefathers were leading a
rude, selfish life,--herding together, it is true, but with no organized
government or fixed principles of industry and good order, living each
one for himself, the strong oppressing the weak,--the little folks were
ruled by a strict civil and military code. They lived together as
brethren, having all things in common--were temperate, cleanly,
industrious, civilized.

"Well, there are plenty of their descendants living all about us to-day,
and I want you to become better acquainted with them, for they are very
wise and cunning in their ways. Whenever you cross a meadow, or even
when you are walking on the public road, unless you take heed to your
steps, the chances are that you set your foot more than once on a little
heap of loose sand that we call an ant-hill. The next time you discover
the accident--I am sure you will not do it on purpose--wait a few
moments and see what will happen. What you have done is to block up the
main entrance to an underground city, sending a quantity of loose earth
down the avenue, which the inhabitants must at great labor remove.

"Let us hope none of the little people were at that instant either
leaving or entering the city by that gate, for if so, they were either
killed outright or badly hurt. Soon you will see one and another citizen
pushing his way through the _debris_, running wildly and excitedly
about, as though greatly fri