Can] AND SYMBOLS. 35 



by the straws, and then laying several rows of the pellets along 

 the sides of the straws. On account of these extemporised 

 beams, the ceiling was necessarily of much greater strength, than 

 those which were constructed in the usual manner. This insect 

 possesses an aptitude for the business in hand. It understands 

 how to turn everything to account in connection with the task 

 in which it may be engaged. In this respect there is a great 

 contrast between it and the jackdaw, who, when he flies towards 

 his nest with a branch which he has selected as suitable for use in 

 its construction, carries it crosswise, and so cannot enter any 

 small aperture leading to his nest, and therefore has to abandon 

 his load. This sort of business aptitude which the ant possesses 

 is just that quality which, in a man, helps to make a fortune. 

 Some men in a pre-eminent degree possess the ant-like tact, 

 which turns anything to account on the instant. H. 



Calmness under Attack. 



"When attacked, either by force or by argument, we often lose 

 our vantage-ground by our want of calmness. We may take a 

 useful hint from the deportment of the grey heron. When this 

 bird is closely pursued by its enemies, which generally are the 

 eagle and the falcon, it makes an admirable but quiet defence. 

 Its usual tactics are to wait for its enemy, using its bill like a 

 lance in rest, and to allow the attacker to pierce himself through 

 merely by his own impetuosity. Sometimes the adversary gets 

 completely impaled. " Be steady under attack " was the wise 

 advice of Mr. Justice Willes to a young barrister. And the 

 heron inculcates the same suggestion to everybody. RE. 



The Cantankerous Character. 



The life of the cantankerous man is like the life of the 

 hamster rat in nearly all prominent particulars. The life of 

 the hamster rat is, like his, divided between eating and fight- 

 ing. It seems to have no other passion than that of rage, which 

 induces it to attack every animal that comes in its way, without 

 in the least attending to the superior strength of its enemy. 

 Ignorant of the art of saving itself by flight, rather than yield 

 it will allow itself to be beaten to pieces by a stick. If it 



