LIFE IN THE INSECT WORLD. 87 



to do with it ; or rather that it was no sign at 

 all. Was the little girl's father sick at the time 

 they heard the sound ? 



Jlnna. Yes. 



Jiunt M. And he would have died whether 

 the insect had ticked or not, and it would have 

 ticked whether he had died or not ; although, 

 probably, the family might not then have noticed 

 it, or, if they had, it would soon have passed 

 from their minds, and been entirely forgotten. 

 It is very probable that they may have heard 

 the same sound, or others equally ominous, 

 twenty times before ; but as no death followed, 

 no account was taken of it. 



Although you are little girls, you can readily 

 see, that if a sign is a true one, it must be true 

 always ; if it fail in one single instance, then it 

 is certainly proved to be false: it cannot be a 

 true sign if it has ever been known to fail. 



I want you, my dear little girls, not only to 

 rid yourselves of all these silly superstitions, but 

 to try to convince those poor little children ? 

 whose opportunities for gaining the right kind 

 of education are far more limited than your 

 own, that there is no cause whatever for their 



