66 The Humming Bird. 



the furnace-heated house. He seems a harbinger of spring 

 and perhaps one may be inclined to pet it a little. Don't do 

 it. Kill it and thus put an end to a prospective future 

 generation of flies. They are natural scavengers. Their 

 purpose in life is to consume various substances which are 

 thrown off from the human body, by articles of food and by 

 almost every animal and vegetable production when in a state 

 of change. The substances are given out in such small 

 quantities that are imperceptible to common observers and 

 not removable by ordinary methods of cleanliness, even in the 

 best kept room. 



When a fly persists in crawling over one's face it is 

 merely taking care of the particles of dead matter thrown off 

 through the pores and thus helps to keep the complexion 

 clean. So it is really doing good while it annoys. 



As a common fly has about 4,000 eyes it is no wonder it 

 is so hard to catch, or that it evades the blows aimed at it. — 

 Boston Herald. 



THE TELESCOPE AND THE 

 MICROSCOPE. 



It was the telescope, said Dr. Chalmers, in his splendid 

 astronomical discoveries, that enabled us to realize in some 

 degree, the vastness of the universe. But about the time of 

 its invention another instrument was formed which rewarded 

 the inquisitive spirit of man with a scene no less wonderful. 

 This was the microscope. The one led me to see a system in 

 every star ; the other shows me a world in every atom. The 

 one taught me that this mighty globe, with the whole burden 

 of its people and its contents, is but a grain of sand on the 

 field of immensity. The other teaches me that every grain of 

 sand may harbor within it the tribes and families of a busy 

 population. The one tells me of the insignificance of the 

 world I tread upon. The other redeems it from all insignific- 

 ance, for it tells me that in the leaves of the forest and in the 

 flowers of every garden, and in the waters of every rivulet, 

 there are worlds teeming with life and numberless as are the 

 glories of the firmament." So it is plain that if the observa- 

 tion of the starry universe suggests the thought that God's 

 kingdom is too great to justify the belief that we are noticed 



