CHAPTER XV 



LOCUSTS 



THEIR VALUE 



MIND you're ready, children, to-morrow morn- 

 ing before the sun gets too hot. We're 

 going Locust-hunting." 



This announcement throws the household into great 

 excitement at bed-time. What do my little helpers see 

 in their dreams'? Blue wings, red wings, suddenly 

 flung out like fans; long saw-toothed legs, pale blue or 

 pink, which kick out when we hold their owners in our 

 fingers; great shanks that act like springs, and make 

 the insect leap forward as though shot from a catapult. 



If there be one peaceful and safe form of hunting, 

 one in which both old age and childhood can share, it 

 is Locust-hunting. What delicious mornings we owe to 

 it! How delightful, when the mulberries are ripe, to 

 pick them from the bushes ! What excursions we have 

 had, on the slopes covered with thin, tough grass, burnt 

 yellow by the sun! I have vivid memories of such 

 mornings, and my children will have them too. 



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