The Life of the Fly 



enlarged at the aperture, as and when re- 

 quired, by the same architecture of disordered 

 beams. 



Side by side with these cases, which are 

 mere ugly faggots, we find others just as often 

 of exquisite beauty and composed entirely 

 of tiny shells. Do they come from the same 

 workship? It takes very convincing proofs 

 to make us believe this. Here is order with 

 its charm, there disorder with its hideous- 

 ness; on the one hand a dainty mosaic of 

 shells, on the other a clumsy heap of sticks. 

 And yet it is all produced by the same la- 

 bourer. 



Proofs abound. On some case which of- 

 fends the eye with the want of arrangement 

 in its bits of wood, patches are apt to appear 

 which are quite regular and made of shells; 

 in the same way, it is not unusual to see a 

 horrid tangle of joists braced to a master- 

 piece of shell-work. One feels a certain an- 

 noyance at seeing the pretty sheath so barbar- 

 ously spoilt. 



This mixed construction tells us that the 

 rustic stacker of wooden beams excels, when 

 occasion offers, in making elegant shell-pave- 

 ments and that it practises rough carpentry 

 and delicate mosaic-work indifferently. In 



186 



