The Swarm 



[19] 



Strange little republic, that, for all its 

 logic and gravity, its matured conviction 

 and prudence, still falls victim to so vast 

 and precarious a dream ! Who shall tell 

 us, O little people that are so profoundly 

 in earnest, that have fed on the warmth 

 and the light and on nature's purest, the 

 soul of the flowers, wherein matter foi 

 once seems to smile, and put forth it? 

 most wistful effort towards beauty and hap- 

 piness, — who shall tell us what prob- 

 lems you have resolved, but we not yet, 

 what certitudes you have acquired that 

 we still have to conquer? And if you 

 have truly resolved these problems, and 

 acquired these certitudes, by the aid of 

 some blind and primitive impulse and 

 not through the intellect, then to what 

 enigma, more insoluble still, are you not 

 urging us on ? Little city abounding 

 67 



