Lov] AND SYMBOLS. 205 



of limestone which proceed from the washings of the land. 

 They assimilate these solid elements, and transform them into 

 shells, madrepores, corals, whose cells group together, cross, and 

 accumulate upon one another until the dense strata which they 

 gradually form are prepared to serve as the foundation of islands, 

 archipelagoes, perhaps of continents. MY. 



The Spirit and Security of Littleness. 



A chapter in the history of the whale affords a good illus- 

 tration of the spirit and security of littleness. As the whale is 

 an inoffensive animal, it is not to be wondered that it has many 

 enemies, willing to take advantage of its disposition and inap- 

 titude for combat. There is a small animal, of the shell-fish 

 kind, called the whale-louse, that sticks to its body as we see 

 shells sticking to the foul bottom of a ship. This insinuates 

 itself chiefly under the fins ; and whatever efforts the great 

 animal makes, it still keeps its hold, and lives upon the fat, 

 which it is provided with instruments to arrive at. Now this 

 transaction may be taken as a very true revelation of the usual 

 workings of the spirit of littleness. Littleness is always living 

 on greatness. The great man has always some little creature at 

 his side, who is wheedling for himself the favours by which he 

 lives. Moreover, littleness is often safe because of its littleness. 

 The great man has no arts or appliances by which to detect and 

 thwart the tactics of the little knaves and tiny rascals who 

 compass him about. Again, littleness knows that its seclusion 

 is its security, so that, like the whale-louse, it gets, as it were, 

 under the fins of greatness to those places where it can gratify 

 itself without being detected. Like this same creature, too, 

 littleness wherever found whether in the church, in the 

 market, or in the home is furnished with a mechanism admir- 

 ably adapted for its sustenance ; servility, baseness, and lying 

 being among the more prominent features thereof. A. 



The Courage of Love. 



It is said that the great bustard will forsake her nest if 

 only once driven from it by apprehension of danger ; but when 



