he was on the point of giving way to despair, when he suddenly came on a little plant the sight of which, and the thoughts which its beauty suggested, revived his courage and probably saved his life.

Most of you will remember also that beautiful story of Picciola, the prison flower, the seed of which had fallen on the paved yard of a prison where a noble Italian was confined. When he was in the lowest state of despondency, and in danger perhaps of madness, the tiny plant awakened interest, and daily delighted the poor prisoner as its beauties unfolded, opening a little world of interest to the starved heart and mind. When at last he was set at liberty he caused his wall-flower to be transplanted and placed it in a border, in a place of honour in his castle grounds. It had been made the instrument of his salvation.

Some persons talk of things being insignificant or too small to notice. Perhaps it will surprise some of our readers to hear that a common house-fly is said to occupy the middle place in creation as regards the size of known creatures. Most people can see big things, but the gift of seeing tiny objects belongs rather to the few, and yet it may be cultivated, and great enjoyment may be found in observing things which seem to common minds to be unworthy of note—the simple, homely, and smaller life that surrounds us. Mr. Leo Grindon, a great student of life and a noted botanist, says very truly—

"To learn how to see and delight in little things, as well as in large, is, in fact, to make no slight progress both in true intelligence and in aptitude for genuine pleasure. Many laugh at the idea of being pleased with little things, which, they say, 'please little minds.' They should remember that the great mass of the population of our planet consists of the merest pigmies, diminutive birds and fishes, tiny insects, animalcules, only visible through a microscope, so that to turn away from little things is to be indifferent to almost everything the world contains. Besides, with Uranus eighty times greater than the whole earth, Neptune a hundred and fifty times greater, Saturn more than seven hundred times, and Jupiter more than fourteen hundred, it is rather inconsistent to talk about littleness in the objects of a world itself (comparatively) so puny."

"Our spring is in our lightsome girlish days."

Spring is the season of growth. Let us try to promote a healthy mental growth by studying together in the wonderful book of nature and appropriating some of those helpful lessons which she has to teach us.

The Provident Ant.

The wise man, in the Book of Proverbs, speaks of the ant as one of "four things which are little upon the earth," and yet are "exceeding wise." He says that the ants are "a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." That is, when all in nature is at its richest, when food abounds, they use forethought and gather in enough to sustain themselves before the winter draws near, and the usual food supplies have failed.

The Book of Job, that Eastern drama which is so wonderful in its lessons suited to human experiences in all time, is marvellously comprehensive in its illustrations drawn from the natural world. We are taken there into the regions of ice and snow, and again we pass through the rich verdure of the tropics. We try to sound the frozen deeps, and anon survey the hot desert plains; we wander where the lion seeks his prey, and through dense forests where behemoth, or the elephant, feeds. The coral and the pearls are there, so are the gold ore, the iron, and the brass. The Author shows us the ostrich "that scorneth the horse and its rider, the hawk that stretched her wings towards the south like our peregrine, the wander falke"—the eagle that makes her nest on high yet "is with the slain on the earth beneath." And this great observer says, "Ask now the beasts and they shall teach thee, and the fowls and they shall tell thee, or speak to the earth and it shall teach thee, and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee."

THE WOOD ANT (Formica rufa).

(a) Male; (b) female; (c) worker.

The lessons to be learned from the ant are, of course, diligence and a careful or prudent forethought for the future. Solomon says that the ant "has no guide, overseer, or ruler," yet she provides, having gathered in during the summer and the harvest time. How many of us there are who seem to need tutors and governors to urge us on through the duties of life, not only in childhood, but far on into man and womanhood. Compulsory pressure from without alone rouses some of us to action. Man thinks himself the lord of creation, and is yet far outdone by a weak insect, not only in energy and persistent work, but often positively in intelligence.

Perhaps you have, many of you, read of the so-called warrior ants, the Termites bellicosi of the more tropical regions. They do not belong to the same order of insects as our own ants, and we are happily not subjected to the havoc which their building and devouring works. Two species of termites have, however, got established in France, notably in Rochefort, La Rochelle, and Aix, and there they have undermined and utterly ruined a number of houses. In one town they gnawed away the supports of a dining-room before their ravages were detected, and the floor gave way during a party, the host and his guests suddenly falling through together.

Artillery charged with grapeshot has been employed to destroy great fortresses that these ants have made in a tropical country. In South Africa the termites work enormous havoc. They live in a social republic of their own. Some of them, the males, have wings; the workmen, the soldiers, and the queens however have none. The workmen construct their buildings, the soldiers defend the colony and keep order, and the females, or queens, are worshipped by all the others. These become in point of fact mere egg-laying machines, which have at last to remain tied to one spot.

Twenty feet high their nesting-homes often are, and pyramidal in shape. Wild cattle can climb upon them with impunity without crushing them, the walls are so solid. A dozen men can find shelter in some of their chambers, and native hunters do often lie in wait inside them when out after wild animals. They construct galleries also which are as wide as the bore of a large cannon, and which run three and four feet underground. The nests are said to be five hundred times as high as the ant's body, and it has been estimated that if we built our houses as high, proportionately, they would be four or five times as high as the pyramids of Egypt, on which we look with such wonder and awe.

In speaking of the havoc some ants make, let us also remember some good service rendered. In the West Indies there is a red cockroach which is four times as large as the English one. It smells horridly, and scents everything that it touches, is far more destructive than the ant, and quite omnivorous. Now, although one cockroach in bulk outweighs two hundred ants, the latter little creatures kill and devour innumerable cockroaches. Whenever an ant comes upon a cockroach that is at rest, eating, or in its hole, suddenly myriads appear, swarm round it, as if by magic, surround it completely, and then, with one consent, rush all over it, and as it is dragged away, you see only a mass of ants moving along. All the time they carry they are busily devouring it, until only its shell is left.

We read also that in forests in Switzerland and Sweden the ants form lofty hillocks which serve as a compass to travellers who have lost their way by night or in a fog. The nests being always made from east to west, their peak is at the east end, which is steep, the ridge sloping, however,