PHILLIDA AND CORIDON. 109 
truth.” Other parts of the Bible must be zn- 
terpreted, to be sure (so the theory would run) ; 
but these statements mean just what they say, 
and whoever meddles with them is carnally 
minded and a rationalist. 
Somebody will object, perhaps, that, with 
our talk about a ‘perpetual picnic,” we are 
making a bird’s life one cloudless holiday ; con- 
tradicting what we have before admitted about 
a struggle for existence, and leaving out of 
sight altogether the seasons of scarcity, the 
storms, and the biting cold. But we intend no 
such foolish recantation. These hardships are 
real enough, and serious enough. What we 
maintain is that evils of this kind are not nec- 
essarily inconsistent with enjoyment, and may 
even give to life an additional zest. It is a 
matter of every-day observation that the peo- 
ple who have nothing to do except to ‘live 
well” (as the common sarcasm has it) are not 
always the most cheerful ; while there are 
certain diseases, like pessimism and the gout, 
which seem appointed to wait on luxury and 
idleness, —as though nature were determined 
to have the scales kept somewhat even. And 
surely this divine law of compensation has not 
left the innocent birds unprovided for, — the 
innocent birds of whom it was said, “ Your 
heavenly Father feedeth them.’ How must 
