THE NEW EARTH 



distinguishes the New Earth from the Old 

 more than another it is preciseness ; the New 

 is not speculative, but demonstrable and in- 

 tensely practical. While it is at times spec- 

 tacular, or even dramatic, it never departs 

 from the bounds of common sense. 



The balance of nature is in no way more 

 interestingly shown than in the disposition 

 of insect pests. Nature not always goes to 

 the full limit of service unaided; she fre- 

 quently must have man's help. Sometimes 

 she is sore beset by enemies; so sharp and 

 bitter their attack, she seems unable to with- 

 stand. This, now and then, is shown in the 

 sudden uprising of insect pests, sweeping all 

 before them, as in the case of the locusts, and, 

 for the time being, rendering even man help- 

 less before the fury of their attack. No one who 

 has ever lived in the path of the grasshopper, 

 when he comes with his myriads of cohorts 

 to defoliate the world, need be told how ter- 

 rible is his progress : he is to the green earth 

 what the Plague is to man. To hear the roar 

 of uncountable wings, to note the looks of 

 apprehension in the faces of the elders, to see 

 the whole earth stripped of its green, — tree and 



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