THE THISTLE. 337 



approach of some storm-cloud, until its shadow be 

 past away. For, with unerring instinct, the bee 

 well knows that the darkness is but for the moment, 

 that the sun will shine out again ere long, and that 

 he may safely remain without the shelter of his own 

 home, to which, were a torrent impending, he would 

 at once hasten ; while he offers us one of the many 

 lessons of trust and submission often to be learned 

 from the apparently most trivial, though, in reality, 

 the most instructive, circumstances, exemplifying, as 

 they do so beautifully, the care shewn by the Creator 

 for His smallest works. 



