“There are no hornets in it,” said Jonas, quietly.
He brought out the nest, and held it so that he and Rollo could see it.
“The hornets have made it of brown paper,” said he.
“Brown paper,” said Rollo. “Where do they get the brown paper?”
“O, they make the brown paper too.”
“Ho!” said Rollo; “hornets can’t make paper.”
“Think not?” said Jonas. Jonas was always careful not to contradict, even when he supposed that Rollo was mistaken.
Rollo said he was sure that hornets could not make paper. Then Jonas took off a little shred from the hornets’ nest, and compared it with some brown paper which he had in his pocket; and he explained to Rollo that the hornets’ nest was made of little fibres adhering to each other, just as the fibres of the paper did.
“It is the same article,” he said, “and made of the same materials; only they manufacture it in a different way. So I don’t see why it is not proper to call it paper.”
“I don’t think it is paper,” said Rollo; “nothing is paper but what men make.”