AUGUST 161 



It is interesting to notice how the cricket 

 has departed from the shape of the grass- 

 hopper to fit the station of life to which he 

 has been called. He has, perhaps to avoid 

 his enemies, perhaps because of a fondness 

 for roots, taken to living beneath the sod. 

 The long legs of the grasshopper have be- 

 come short, but intensely strong, and heavily 

 beset with spikes. These become power- 

 ful instruments to push him through the 

 earth, and make him an exceedingly un- 

 comfortable fellow to hold tight in one's 

 hand. In such a life the gaudy colors with 

 which most grasshoppers deck such portions 

 of their bodies as they can promptly conceal 

 would be useless, because unseen, and the 

 cricket paints himself a dull brown. But 

 when his enemies have gone to sleep, the 

 cricket comes to the surface and under 

 the pale light of the stars fiddles, to the 

 listening knees of his skipping mate, the 

 old, old tale. 



But while perhaps a genuine lover of na- 

 ture will reason out within himself the charm 

 of the cricket's song, a more widely loved 

 11 



