The Little Folks of House and Farm. 211 



shanks tipped with the polished hoof that spurns the ground as 

 " he paweth in the valley and rejoiceth in his strength." Curve 

 and motion and trembling outline, are but the outward flashes of 

 the fire and haughty spirit drawn from a hundred royal sires. 

 Ah, Middy Morgan, no wonder you forgot to love the master in 

 your worship of his steed ! 



The higher organisms of animal life seem almost to touch the 

 human ; and though instinct and reason may not quite clasp 

 hands, they stand near enough to hear each other's call, and reach 

 out to meet each other's needs. All along our pathway, dumb, 

 patient creatures look up to ns with eyes that have in them 

 much that our wisdom can comprehend. There are sightless 

 beings that crawl at our feet, and their very writhing suggests to 

 the reverent soul the infinite spirit which is only lightly veiled 

 by " the things that are seen." To more than one " philosopher of 

 the breakfast table" has the "Divine order " been revealed by 

 the tints of the beetles, or the mailed wings of the coleoptera, and 

 Count de Charney, of French prison story, was neither the first 

 nor the last to whom Picciola, the simple flower, has revealed a 

 faith in the immortal and eternal. The demons of selfishness and 

 unbelief and hate have been exorcised by the fulfillment of the 

 prophecy, " A little child shall lead them." Ah, nature is divine ! 

 She knows just where to place every one of her multifold crea- 

 tions. She is never obliged to adjust and fit and trim, for all her 

 works are correlated. She understands the needs of human 

 hearts as well as the power of human hands, giving to the former 

 that which makes them brave and tender, to tbe latter, that which 

 renders them helpful and strong. Her plans may be thwarted, 

 but not through her own mistakes; sometimes through human 

 ignorance and sin ; and the little ones of house and farm, whether 

 they wear fur or feathers, or the coat of many colors which affec- 

 tion weaves for its dearest born, are just as much a part of the 

 divine order as the revolution of the planets or the circuit of the 

 sun. Nature knows just what the little ones of house and farm 

 will do for us, and herself the teacher of that sweet theology, " He 

 prayeth best who loveth best all things, both great and small," 

 she gives us every spring a new bequest of life and innocence, in 



