upon what authority I do not
remember, how citizens of ancient Egypt assumed, when in contemplation,
the images of their gods.

But now image called up image in an endless procession, and I could not
always choose among them with any confidence; and when I did choose, the
image lost its intensity, or changed into some other image. I had but
exchanged the Temptation of Flaubert's _Bouvard et Pecuchet_ for that of
his _St. Anthony_, and I was lost in that region a cabalistic manuscript,
shown me by Macgregor Mathers, had warned me of; astray upon the Path of
the Cameleon, upon _Hodos Camelionis_.

VII

Now that I am a settled man and have many birds--the canaries have just
hatched out four nestlings--I have before me the problem that Locke waved
aside. As I gave them an artificial nest, a hollow vessel like a saucer,
they had no need of that skill the wild bird shows, each species having
its own preference among the lichen, or moss; but they could sort out wool
and hair and a certain soft white down that I found under a big tree. They
would twist a stem of grass till it was limber, and would wind it all
about the centre of the nest, and when the four grey eggs were laid, the
mother bird knew how to turn them over from time to time, that they might
be warmed evenly; and how long she must leave them uncovered, that the
white might not be dried up, and when to return that the growing bird
might not take cold. Then the young birds, even when they had all their
feathers, were very still as compared with the older birds, as though any
habit of movement would disturb the nest or make them tumble out. One of
them would now and again pass on the food that he had received from his
mother's beak to some other nestling. The father had often pecked the
mother bird before the eggs were laid, but now, until the last nestling
was decently feathered, he took his share in the feeding, and was very
peaceable, and it was only when the young could be left to feed themselves
that he grew jealous and had to be put into another cage.

When I watch my child, who is not yet three years old, I can see so many
signs of knowledge from beyond her own mind; why else should she be so
excited when a little boy passes outside the window, and take so little
interest in a girl; why should she put a cloak about her, and look over
her shoulder to see it trailing upon the stairs, as she will some day
trail a dress; and why, above all, as she lay against