178 NATURES STORY OF THE YEAR 



" Poor insect, what a little day 



Of sunny bliss is thine ! 

 And yet thou spread'st thy light wings gay, 

 And bid'st them spreading shine. 



Thou humm'st thy short and busy tune 



Unmindful of the blast ; 

 And careless while 'tis burning noon : 



How short that noon has past ! 



A show'r would lay thy beauty low, 



The dew of morning be 

 The torrent of thy overthrovy, 



Thy storm of destiny ! 



Then, insect, spread thy shining wing, 



Hum on thy busy lay; 

 For man, like thee, has but his spring : 



Like thine, it fades away." 



CALCOTT'S Glees. 



The quick killing of insects is not necessarily a 

 matter involving much cruelty. We all know that 

 a wasp's head may be cut off without preventing 

 the activity of the wings, or spoiling the head's 

 enjoyment of a sweetmeat. 



One day I crushed a wasp, and seeing the head 

 moving, I cut it off with a sharp knife, and placed 

 it on a table. The tongue was moving, so a drop 

 of honey and water was placed on it, and the jaws 



