1.Every one knows what busy little folks the ants are.Did you ever watch an ants’nest when it had just been disturbed？The little creatures run about so fast that all the earth seems alive with them，and you wonder what they can possibly be doing.
2.But I daresay if London were disturbed by an earthquakeas we disturb the ants‘nest，and if youcould watch the people from a balloon，you would see them running about in as much disorder.An ants’nest often has quite as many inhabitantsas London.
3.One day a party of little black ants found some grainsof sugar lying on a window-sill.They soonbrought their friends，and all of them set to work to carry the sugar off to their nest.Some one who liked to watch these tiny insects had put the food there for them，and he watched the little workers with great interest.
4.When the sugar was all gone，the ants‘friend gave them some more；but this time he put it into a bottle，which he hungby a string from the top of the window.
Then he caught several ants and put them inside the bottle.
5.Each of them picked up a grain of sugar，and then found its way out of the bottle，and up the string，and down the window-frameto the nest.There they told their friends of the new store of sugar，and soon there was a long stream of ants going to and froas before.
6.Next day their friend was surprised to find no more ants running down the string to the bottle，though there was quite a crowd of workers on the sill.
7.This was the secret.Inside the bottle some sturdy little fellows were very busy picking up the grains of sugar，and dropping them down to their friends on the sill.Ants can see only a very short distance，so these little toilers were sending the precious grains far out of their sight.
8.But they had found out that this was the way to help the others，and to get the sugar carried home quickly，and so they stayed up there in the bottle，working hard，and throwing the food down out of sight.They were quite sure their friends would find it and take care of it.
9.Patient little ants！Couldn’t we copy them sometimes？We are not always contented to work where we are never seen，as the ants did in the bottle，helping other people.Yet perhaps the work would get on much better than when we are running to and fro and making a great fuss about it.
