sees food brought to him. A red flame twists and waves around like
the tongue of a dog. We speak of "tongues of flame" and "hungry
flames devouring." _Second_, long streams of flame waved around
and curled about the wood as they burned it. _Third_, how much
more vivid is the picture we see of the beautiful fire. The words
"rustling" and "roaring" help to strengthen the figure. This is a
fine comparison, but as it is not directly expressed by the use of
the words "like" or "as" we call it a _metaphor_.)

(4) Quicksilver-like streams. (Bright, shining, smoothly running,
with metallic luster.)

(5) Like a straw in the high wind. (Rapid, uncertain, irregular
motion.)

(6) A wreath of ragged cloud. (Notice the metaphor in _wreath_--also
in _ragged_.)

(7) Howling wind. (A wolf howls. The figure which raises an inanimate
object to the level of animate beings, or raises an animate being
[a dog, for instance] to the level of a human being, is called
_personification_.)

(8) Like a cork.

(9) _Swept_ away.

(10) _Breezy_ letters. (The words _swept_ and _breezy_ are
somewhat metaphorical, though their frequent use in this manner
makes the meaning almost literal.)

(11) Southwest Wind, Esquire. (Personification.)

B. A second lesson may confine itself more closely to the figures of
speech. Naturally this study of figures belongs with language and
literature, but the point we wish to make is one of correlation. There
is a literary side to nature study, and a natural history side to
literature. Many of the greatest authors have been ardent lovers of
nature, and have drawn liberally on their knowledge of nature in
beautifying what they have written. Many a reader, from lack of
knowledge or from careless habits, passes over the most delightful
things, as blind and deaf as he who sees no beauty in the wild flowers
and hears no melody in the songs of birds.

For the second lesson of this character we will take the second and
third chapters of _The King of the Golden River_, hoping to find an
abundance of figures based on nature in some of its forms. We may not
find many. Some writers use few. We suspect that Ruskin used them
freely; as a matter of fact he was one of the greatest lovers of nature,
a man who labored hard to bring art and nature together