[Illustration: AN EXAMPLE OF MAN'S DEBT TO THE EARTHWORM
Much of the earth's Maytime bloom and beauty is due to the labor of our humble little brother of the dust, the earthworm; a striking fact which was never recognized until the great Charles Darwin looked into the matter and wrote a book about him. This picture by Millet is called "Springtime" and hangs in the Louvre, in Paris.]
It may be doubted whether there are many other animals which have played so important a part in the history of the world as these lowly organized creatures.
--_Darwin: "The Formation of Vegetable Mould."_
Suppose father had a hired hand who would plough his fields, fertilize them at his own expense, build his own house, board himself, and for all this ask only the privilege of living on the place, studying Botany, Geology, and Geometry, and enjoying the scenery.
"Where can I get a man like that?" I imagine father saying.
"You've got him now," you might reply. "He's already working for you--thousands of him, and has been working for you--millions of him--for thousands and millions of years."
We have all known him well from boyhood by several names--angleworm, fishworm, earthworm. He also, as you will find in the dictionary, has a nice long Latin title. And it is particularly fitting that his name should be so associated with antiquity, since he belongs to one of the oldest families in the world; a family far older than the Roman Empire itself, which his people long ago helped grind back into the dust from which it came.
And, speaking of Romans, every few years Mr. Earthworm does what Julius Cæsar did, captures the whole of England--all the best parts of it--and then, unlike Cæsar, gives it back to the English, made over again, better than it was before, as you will see.
If you happen to be a high school boy you, of course, know about a certain city of Worms and what great things took place there once upon a time, but there are many cities of worms on any good farm, and each has more inhabitants than the famous city of Worms of history--something like 25,000 to the acre; and, in garden soil, 50,000!
[Illustration: ANOTHER "CATHEDRAL OF WORMS"
In the story of the Reformation in your history you will read of a certain Cathedral of Worms and what took place there once upon a time. Here is a "cathedral of worms" as interesting to the student of nature as that famous edifice is to the historian and the architect. It is the tower-like casting of a big earthworm and was found in the Botanic Garden at Calcutta. The picture is "life-size."]