Foes of Clothes and Carpets. 127 



One cannot but envy these little insects their happy 

 estate. Alas ! too often with us the smoke of the kitchen 

 dims the flame of pure affection, and the gross, carnal 

 exercise of feeding snaps the frail thread that binds two 

 hearts together. When Edwin sues for Angelina's 

 hand the questions that her father asks are not, ' Does 

 this man truly love my daughter? Does she love him 

 with all the fervor of a true attachment?' but, 'How 

 is he fixed? Can he maintain her in the comfort to 

 which she is accustomed ; that is to say, her three square 

 meals a day and a cold bite before she goes to bed? ' 

 Ah, my friends, such thoughts as these, how oft they 

 chill the ardor of the tender passion in our bosoms! 

 And not only are the present needs of Edwin and of An- 

 gelina to be thought of, but the needs of those that are 

 to come, the olive-branches round about their table. As 

 I once heard a celebrated pulpit orator say: " A man may 

 brave the future for himself, and his young wife may 

 fear not to cast in her lot with his, but what when there 

 are seven little mouths to be fed and seven little backs to 

 be clothed and seven little feet to be shod?' What in- 

 deed? 



I don't suppose the clothes-moths pick and choose 

 much in their mating. Creatures that cannot eat dare 

 not deliberate too long over choosing partners for life 

 when that life is so very brief. It is one fond embrace 

 and then farewell forever! 



Entomologists do not know exactly how many the 

 moths have in a family. There may be one hundred or 

 there may be six hundred eggs laid, but they are not 

 laid in one bunch, and are not easily seen. The clutch is 

 large enough, at any rate, not to worry the poor mother, 

 as she breathes her last, with fears that after her there 

 will be no more moths. If she cannot get into the box 



