194 
THE BEAUTIFUL LADDER. 
they may become in fact, the blighted orchards 
and desolated fields of vast regions of our 
country have borne fearful testimony. They 
have sent the inhabitants of some of the most 
fertile sections to beg food for their starving 
families, and we have been severely taught to 
fear what once only attracted a curious notice. 
“ The red-legged locust of the West is an¬ 
other of those apparently innocuous insects that 
go forth in hosts. Who would suspect any 
great danger from such an innocent-looking 
creature ? Ask this question of the despairing, 
starving Kansas and Minnesota farmers; nay, 
the question need not be asked, for the memory 
of their pathetic appeals for bread to feed their 
perishing children is still fresh. Their cries for 
help have made the world acquainted with the 
power to scourge possessed by these dreaded 
swarms of insects. From the lips of one of 
these many sufferers the following graphic tale 
was heard: 
“ ‘ In the morning I was surveying my most 
abundant promise of a rich harvesting, de¬ 
voutly thankful that I had escaped the dreadful 
calamity which had fallen upon some other por¬ 
tions of the State. I had ample promise of 
