The Last Heights 



added: "Life is a horrible phantasmagoria. 

 But it leads us to a better future." 



This future the naturalist liked to con- 

 ceive in accordance with the images familiar 

 to his mind, as being a more complete under- 

 standing of the great book of which he had 

 deciphered only a few words, as a more 

 perfect communion with the offices of nature, 

 in the incense of the perfumes " that are 

 softly exhaled by the carven flowers from 

 their golden censers," amid the delightful 

 symphonies in which are mingled the voices 

 of crickets and Cicadae, chaffinches and sis- 

 kins, skylarks and goldfinches, " those tiny 

 choristers," all singing and fluttering, " trill- 

 ing their motets to the glory of Him who 

 gave them voice and wings on the fifth day 

 of Genesis." * 



This last passage might be underlined, for 

 now more than ever, in our thoughts of this 

 scientist, of whom it has been said that " with 

 a taste for Nature he has given us an ap- 

 preciation of God," the work cannot be 

 divorced from the artisan without the 

 grossest inconsistency. 



One who had the good fortune to become 

 intimate with Fabre during the last days 

 of his life tells how eagerly the naturalist 



1 J. H. Fabre, cited by Dr. Legros. 



391 



