CHAPTER XIV.

THE MOON'S ACCOUNT OF A COMMUNITY OF ANTS ON THE BANKS OF THE TIBER.

"I AM come from the banks of the Tiber, not far from the eternal city,"" said the Moon, one evening, when she presented to us her clear disk; "there I have seen life in its utmost activity, a population of millions, dwelling within the compass of a square yard! I have made intimate acquaintance with that community of late, and so interesting are their proceedings, that I wish to give you some relations concerning them.

"It was on a fine day, in the month of April, hat I first saw a movement in an ant hill of last year. During the winter, the snow had rested on that tiny hillock, or the frost had penetrated it, and not a sign of life had it presented; so that

although I had seen in the preceding summer, an important and industrious population employed, first in its erection, and then in carrying on many other labours, I had, from the long continued winter stillness, almost forgotten that many thousands of living creatures lay concealed within its sheltering tower. Now, however, my memory was refreshed.

"The sun was bright and warm, lambs gambolled in the fields around; in one field I saw five young foals, sporting and capering about in all the joy of new existence; flowers carpeted the earth, the wild hyacinth in the wood, and the gorse on the common, spread their almost sickly sweetness on the breeze, while the peach and almond, the primrose, and the early violet, sent their more delicate perfume from the gardens near.

"In a copse on the river's brink, some children gathered the flowers that gemmed the ground, chased the first butterfly that they had seen in the year, and were as full of glee as it was possible for the dear, gay, young creatures to be.

"The same sun which called forth the butterfly,

and gladdened the children, and led the lambs and foals to gambol in the fields, and opened the buds of the flowerets, and drew forth their scents, was busy in waking up inspiration in a painter's breast. A landscape painter was sauntering near the Tiber on that bright April day; he was drinking in the very soul of the landscape, and revelling in the beauties around him; he at once, sighed to think of the impotence of his brush, and learned to use it with greater power, as he looked, and gazed, and gazed again, on the everchanging light, and its ever varying effects on the objects of the scene. It was the habit of that painter to take his lessons direct from the original of things. Nature was his mistress in his noble art; to her he proposed his questions, and she gave him her replies.

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Many a truth she whispered, not into his ear, but into the very essence of his perception, which he would never have thought to ask her, and which a master, if he had known it himself, could have found no words to teach. "Yes," said the Moon; "if a man would truly paint, let him not despise

what masters in the art can teach him, but let him go elsewhere than to them for his highest lessons; let him hold communion with nature's own spirit and catch his inspiration from her fount; so shall he paint not for the eye, but for the soul.

"I will not excuse myself for leading you a little from the subject on which I was about to speak, for it is not every digression that is trifling and useless; it is worth while observing how the beautiful affects those who have the perception of beauty, a perception which all may have, if they will cultivate it. I will return now to the immediate matter.

"That bright warm sun caused a movement in the ant hillock. I perceived a rising and falling, or shaking and agitation, of certain small matters that lay on its surface; and looking what it should mean, I saw an ant or two emerge from winding passages within it, and run upon the outside; presently they were joined by other ants; more and more arrived, till I could no longer count their numbers; they went and came, and passed up and down, and round about upon the outside of their hillock, as if to

observe where it was situated, what was its present condition, and how much or how little of injury it had sustained during the rough weather of the winter; it might be that those ants wondered to find themselves there, alive and gay, and dwellers in a convenient and warm abode-that in their winter sleep they had forgotten all about their previous existence and labours, I cannot tell. I can only say that they seemed to me to be in a state of inquiry and observation, which looked like it. I do not think they did any work on that first day; the day following, however, I observed various little repairs effected; the ants also made excursions to short distances in the wood, and along the river's bank, and seemed still to be taking observations and surveys.

"A week later, I saw the whole population in active employment; by that time the winged ants had made their appearance. There are I must tell you, in every ant hill, some winged ants; they are the parents of the community; but it is the ants without wings, that are by far the more numerous