The Swarm 
[19 ] 
Strange little republic, that, for all its 
logic and gravity, its matured conviction 
and prudence, still falls victim to so vast 
and precarious a dream! Who shall tell 
us, O little people that are so profoundly 
in earnest, that have fed on the warmth 
and the light and on nature’s purest, the 
soul of the flowers, wherein matter for 
once seems to smile, and put forth its 
most wistful effort towards beauty and hap: 
piness, — who shall tell. us what prob- 
lems you have resolved, but we not yet, 
what certitudes you have acquired that 
we still have to conquer? And if you 
have truly resolved these problems, and 
acquired these certitudes, by the aid of 
some blind and primitive impulse and 
not through the intellect, then to what 
enigma, more insoluble still, are you not 
urging us on? Little city abounding 
67 
