we are as 'flowers withered.' It may be that from such thoughts arose the customs of strewing flowers around the dead, and planting them on the graves of loved friends. The poets frequently allude to these simple rites, formerly much more prevalent in England than now. Shakspeare has the following beautiful passage :— With fairest flowers, Whilst summer lasts, and I live here, Fidele, I'll sweeten thy sad grave: thou shalt not lack The leaf of eglantine, whom not to slander, Milton, also, on the death of his friend Lycidas, calls upon the 'low valleys' to Bring the rathe* primrose that forsaken dies, The white pink, and the pansy freak'd with jet, The musk-rose, and the well-attired woodbine, And daffodillies fill their cups with tears, To strew the laureate hearse where Lycid lies. Flowers teach us many lessons, of which the most important is that our life is but a span Flowers of the field, how meet ye seem Blooming so fair on morning's beam, Passing at eve away; Teach this, and oh! though brief your reign, Sweet flowers, ye shall not live in vain. And say, that He who from the dust Recalls the slumbering flower, Will surely visit those who trust His mercy and His power; Will mark where sleeps their peaceful clay, Early: hence rather, which originally meant sooner. + Blackwood's Magazine. And we cannot do better than finish what we have to say about flowers, with the words of Allan Cunningham:- There is a lesson in each flower, INSECTS. AMONG the many wonders of God's power and wisdom that we constantly see around us in nature, few more forcibly illustrate the Creator's watchful care over even the minutest of His creatures than the provision made for the wants of insects. No power save the Almighty's could call into being such myriads of small living forms, Their wings with azure, green, and purple glossed, It is during the summer season that the insect tribes are in full activity. Then Ten thousand forms! ten thousand different tribes! By fatal instinct fly; where on the pool เ Everyone is familiar with the gay butterflies flitting across the sunbeam's track;' and the first sight of one is generally hailed as a sign of continued fine weather. On the butterfly the poet Rogers wrote― Child of the sun! pursue thy rapturous flight, Yet wert thou once a worm-a thing that crept To burst a seraph in the blaze of day! Wonderful indeed are the transformations which many insects must undergo ere they arrive at maturity. Just before the female dies, she deposits her eggs in the spot most suitable for the nourishment of the young as soon as they are hatched. From each egg there comes forth, not an insect, but a grub or caterpillar. This grows very rapidly, eating very voraciously; and several times it casts its skin so as to admit of the increase in size of its body. As soon as the grub is fully grown, it changes into a chrysalis, in which state it is encased in a horny skin; it is then without limbs, and has no power of moving. In due time the perfect insect bursts forth. It is very interesting for boys and girls to watch some of these changes for themselves, which they may do by obtaining and keeping any common caterpillar, taking care to supply it with abundance of proper food. Some insects are quite models of industry and order, foremost amongst which stands the busy bee. From our earliest childhood we are advised to follow its example. It is out, toiling hard, early and late.' Southey writes: Thou wert out betimes, thou busy, busy bee! As abroad I took my early way, Before the cow from her resting-place On the meadow, with dew so gray, Saw I thee, thou busy, busy bee. Thou wert working late, thou busy, busy bee! When the primrose of evening was ready to burst, The name of 'innocent pilferer' has been applied to the bee-a title to which most other insects can lay no claim whatever: for while they generally are most destructive, the bee does no perceptible injury to the flowers it attacks. Cowper writes on this guiltless honey-stealer : Not a flower can be found in the fields, Or the spot that we till for our pleasure, Her lucrative task she pursues, And pilfers with so much address, Shakspeare has a famous passage on the honey bees, in which they are represented as teaching the act of order to a peopled kingdom.' They have a king, and officers of sorts: Where some, like magistrates, correct at home; Which pillage they with merry march bring home Who, busied in his majesty, surveys The singing masons building roofs of gold; Besides the hive-bee and the humble-bee, there are others, to which different names have been given, such as the rose-cutter, the carpenter, and the mason. Each species has its own peculiar habits, from which it derives its name. The ant or emmet is another example of industry and forethought. Dr. Watts takes occasion to teach us a lesson from the habits of these insects. These emmets, how little they are in our eyes! Yet as wise as we are, if sent to their school, They don't wear their time out in sleeping or play, And for winter they lay up their stores; They manage their work in such regular forms, One would think they foresaw all the frosts and the storms, Insects are often both useful and profitable. What a source of wealth, for example, is there in the bee, the silkworm, the cochineal and gall insects, and the blisterfly. But, on the other hand, it would be scarcely possible to enumerate those which may be rightly termed injurious either to man himself or to the products of the earth. Among such may be mentioned the gad-fly, the devouring locust, the turnip-fly, the terrible tsetse of Central Africa, and the myriads that ravage our forests, gardens, and orchards, often killing the mighty trees, and causing bitter disappointment to our hopes of fair flowers and ripe fruit. Gardeners wage a war of extermination against all insect intruders on their domains, and sometimes, in ignorance, even on such as are positively beneficial to them; for example, on the lady-bird (commonly known in some counties as the cow-lady). This cow-lady devours the aphides, very small insects, which, unchecked, commit dreadful havoc in the orchard, the garden, and the hop-ground. It has been said that insects, puny creatures though they be, are far more injurious to man-far more |