THE ANT-LIOX. 



"Child cf the Sun ! pursue thy rapturous fliglit. 

 Mingling with her thou lov'st in fields of light ; 

 And where the flowers of Paradise unfold. 

 Quaff fragrant nectar from their cups of gold. 

 There shall thy wings, rich as an evening skj''. 

 Expand and shut with silent extasy. 

 Yet thou wert once a worm, a thing that crept 

 On the bare earth, then wrought a tomb and slept ! 

 And such is man ; soon from his cell of clay 

 To burst a Seraph in the blaze of day." 



81 



J. G. M. 



THE ANT-LION. 



A traveler of undoubted veracity, was passing through a very wiUi 

 and barren country, which presented not the least sign of l*eing inhabi- 

 ted, or of ever having been cultivated. He was wrapped in quiet medi- 

 tation and entirely unconscious of what passed around him, when sud- 

 denly he was aroused by seeing a deep pit directly before him. He im- 

 mediately made an effort to turn back, but the ground gave way beneatli 

 his feet and he was precipitated to the bottom, enveloped in a mass of 

 rocks and rubbish from which he could with difficulty extricate himself. 

 Being, however, at length freed from the heavy burden which had rest- 

 ed upon him, he set about examining the singular circumstances in which 

 he was placed. The pit was shaped like a cone with its apex down- 

 wards. The sides sloped regularly upwards and were strangely formed. 

 The stones and bits of wood of which they were composed seemed to 

 lie so loosely as if piuposely arranged so as to aid in its descent what- 

 ever had once fallen over the edge of the cavity. This was the case all 

 the way around, except at the place where the traveller had slidden down ; 

 there the regular crest was remov*, and in its place were seen the rug- 

 ged rocks and clayey soil peculiar to that region of country. 



Struck by so singular an appearance out traveler forgot his bruises 

 and fatigue, and commenced speculating upon the probable origin and 

 design of the remarkable cavity into which he had been so unceremoni- 

 ously introduced. Could it have been formed by rains, washing into an 

 ancient quarry the disintegrated rocks and rubbish of centuries? JYo, 

 for then its sides would have been worn away into deep excavations and 

 the lower part would soon have been filled up. Besides, this bore about 

 it the indubitable marks of design and of having been but recently made. 

 It could not have been formed by wild beasts, for they delight in im- 

 penetrable jungles and dense forests, and do not make their dwellings in 

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