-a little girl, perhaps, complaining that
somebody had been throwing stones at her, or had hurt her in some way.
And, of course, the unfinished character of the phrase allows equally well
either supposition.

Before going back to more serious poetry, I want--while we are speaking of
American poets--to make one reference to the ironical or satirical poetry
which insects have inspired in some minds, taking for example the poem by
Charlotte Perkins Stetson about a butterfly. This author is rather a
person of note, being a prominent figure in educational reforms and the
author of a volume of poems of a remarkably strong kind in the didactic
sense. In other words, she is especially a moral poet; and unless moral
poetry be really very well executed, it is scarcely worth while classing
it as literature. I think, however, that the symbolism in the following
verses will interest you--especially when we comment upon them. The
composition from which they are taken is entitled "A Conservative."

The poet, walking in the garden one morning, sees a butterfly, very
unhappy, and gifted with power to express the reason of its unhappiness.
The butterfly says, complaining of its wings,

"My legs are thin and few
Where once I had a swarm!
Soft fuzzy fur--a joy to view--
Once kept my body warm,
Before these flapping wing-things grew,
To hamper and deform!"

At that outrageous bug I shot
The fury of mine eye;
Said I, in scorn all burning hot,
In rage and anger high,
"You ignominious idiot!
Those wings are made to fly!"

"I do not want to fly," said he,
"I only want to squirm!"
And he drooped his wings dejectedly,
But still his voice was firm:
"I do not want to be a fly!
I want to be a worm!"

O yesterday of unknown lack!
To-day of unknown bliss!
I left my fool in red and black,
The last I saw was this,--
The creature madly climbing back
Into his chrysalis.

Of course the wings here represent the powers of the mind--knowledge,
reason, will. Men ought to use these in order to reach still nobler and
higher states of life. But there are men who refuse to use their best
faculties for this end. Such men are like butterflies who do not want to
take the trouble to fly, but prefer the former condition of the
caterpillar which does nothing but eat and sleep. As applied to certain
forms of conservatism the satire is strong.

Something may now be said as to poems about spiders. But let