LIFE IN DEATH. 93 



protecting shroud ; but they are not the less existent, and to 

 discover ivhere and how, is a curious object of pursuit, and eke 

 a cheerful one, shewing how life and pleasure, activity, and 

 beauty, lie lurking under a thousand dry and death-like forms, 

 to which they owe their preservation. 



With our Cricket-like propensities, it is not for nothing, we 

 can tell you, that we are tempted from our cheerful hearth, on 

 this side of April ; but in hunting after hidden life, do we not 

 still pursue our favourite element ? What seek we still, through 

 frost and snow and torpor, but sparks of vital fire, emanating 

 all from the Great Source of heat and light, of love and 

 wisdom, and ready to be kindled at His bidding, by the re- 

 turning sun, at once His servant and His image ? With intent 

 of discovering life thus hidden under seeming death, we were 

 out yesterday seeking after Moths and Butterflies, or, more 

 properly, after what will become such in due season ; but con- 

 sidering, as we shall further illustrate by-and-by, that all the 

 changes of these Insects are only a series of developments, we 

 may look upon our search, and for novelty's sake, so call it, as 

 a Butterfly hunt in winter. Please you, our friends, herein to 

 join us, as we retrace our ground, this time (for your indul- 

 gence) by the fire-side ; but in good hope, that by the next, 

 we shall tempt you to follow us in right good earnest to the 

 field. 



Our first preserve, and, as already noticed, one of the lest, 

 is our garden, albeit but a very little one. You might walk 



