142 UP AND DOWN THE BROOKS. 



and the gifted inhabitant of the structure looked 

 very queer, hugging the stalks of 

 grass on which he was wont to hang 

 in the bottle. He must have had to 

 hold on tightly, with all those sticks 

 A triumph of weighing him down. Still, he some- 

 architecture, times hung perpendicularly suspended 

 by his legs. He could manage his house pretty 

 well, and often made it stand out in different di- 

 rections to suit him as he climbed. I should not 

 have had the heart to take to pieces his house. It 

 represented too much labor. 



The little sand-covered Caddis-worms were quite 

 given to hanging from the grass. I remember 

 seeing one " shin down " a slender stem, until 

 losing hold, either intentionally or not, he floated 

 swiftly and gently down to the bottom. I do not 

 know how any naturalist could see one of these 

 little beings weaving so deftly its sandy dress, and 

 not recognize the existence of the Infinite Kindli- 

 ness that watches over even the meanest creatures 

 and provides them with means of protecting them- 

 selves against the little bruises that must be so 

 great to them. I do not know whether Job ever 

 saw a Caddis-worm, but I think that the man of 

 the land of Uz never gave his friends truer or 

 more beautiful advice than when he said to them : 

 " But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach 

 thee ; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell 

 thee : 



