CHAPTER Xy 



LOCUSTS 



THEIR VALUE 



MIND you're ready, children, to-morrow morn- 

 ing before the sun gets too hot. We're 

 going Locust-hunting." 

 This announcement throws the household into great 

 excitement at bed-time. What do my little helpers see 

 in their dreams? Blue wings, red wings, suddenly 

 flung out like fans; long saw-toothed legs, pale blue or 

 pink, which kick out when we hold their owners in our 

 fingers; great shanks that act like springs, and make 

 the insect leap forward as though shot from a catapult. 



If there be one peaceful and safe form of hunting, 

 one in which both old age and childhood can share, it 

 is Locust-hunting. What delicious mornings we owe to 

 it I How delightful, when the mulberries are ripe, to 

 pick them from the bushes! What excursions we have 

 had, on the slopes covered with thin, tough grass, burnt 

 yellow by the sun! I have vivid memories of such 

 mornings, and my children will have them too. 



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