220 
THE BEAUTIFUL LADDER. 
sparkle and flash, until one is almost persuaded 
that there are really so many living rays blazing 
and corruscating over that minute field of glory! 
What marvels of splendor are clustered on the 
wings of the peacock or the Camberwell but¬ 
terfly ! and what a long task it would be to 
study all of these hundreds of airy wing-bearers 
and see all the glories enamelled on their gaudy 
appendages! Looking over the fifty brilliant 
specimens now at hand, and attempting to 
grasp the grand sum-total of splendors, the 
mind becomes oppressed with the effort. 
“ And what is the impression made while 
lingering over the dust of a butterfly’s wing? 
One who has ever entered into this invisible 
world of beauty must have felt, with a force 
unknown before, the moral lesson which the 
Saviour teaches when he says, ‘The hairs of 
your head are all numbered.’ The God who 
watches over our steps and leads us by the 
hand shows his omniscience and minuteness 
of care by thatching with hundreds of scales a 
butterfly’s wing, and by touching each one 
with the richest dyes of his palette. Each 
tiny scale is hidden from unaided observation, 
but the whole number are so blended as to 
