EDUCATION. 273 



goes well, for it takes place in the nest the difficulty begins when 

 he essays to quit it. She calls him, she shows him some little dainty 

 tit-bit, she promises him a reward, she attempts to draw him forth 

 with the bait of a fly. 



Still the little one hesitates. And put yourself in his place. 

 You have but to move a step in the nursery, between your nurse 

 and your mother, where, if you fell, you would fall upon cushions. 

 This bird of the church, which gives her first lesson in flying from 

 the summit of the spire, can scarcely embolden her son, perhaps can 

 scarcely embolden herself at the decisive moment. Both, I am sure 

 of it, measure more than once with their glances the abyss beneath, 

 and eye the ground. I, for one, declare to you, the spectacle is 

 moving and sublime. It is an urgent need that he should trust his 

 mother, that she should have confidence in the wing of the little one 

 who is still a novice. From both does Heaven require an act of 

 faith, of courage. A noble and a sublime starting-point ! But he 

 has trusted, he has made the leap, he will not fall. Trembling, he 

 floats in air, supported by the paternal breath of heaven, by the re- 

 assuring voice of his mother. All is finished. Thenceforth he will 

 fly regardless of the wind and the storm, strong in that first great 

 trial wherein he flew in faith. 



[NOTE. The Swallow's Flight. According to Wilson, the swallow's ordinary flight 

 averages one mile per minute. He is engaged in flying for ten hours daily. Now, as his 

 life is usually extended to a space of ten years, he flies, in that period, 2,190,000 miles, or 

 nearly eighty-eight times the circumference of the glohe. 



18 



