And possibly I may unearth In LECKY or in LAURENCE OLIPHANT Some facts to remedy my dearth Of knowledge bearing on the Poliphant. But, now their pictures I have seen In GALPIN'S learned dissertation, So far as in me lies I mean To bring about their restoration. Yet since I cannot learn all three And time is ever onward humming, My few remaining years shall be Devoted wholly to humstrumming. That, when my bones to rest are laid, Upon my tomb it may be written: "He was the very last who played Upon the Humstrum in Great Britain." * * * * * THE SPIDER. Lately we had occasion to consider the place of the grasshopper in modern politics. Now let us consider the place of the spider in our social life. It seems to me that the spider is the most accomplished and in some ways the most sensible insect we have in these parts. In my opinion a great deal too much fuss has been made about the bee. She is a knowing little thing, but the spider is her superior in many ways. Yet no one seems to write books or educational rhymes about the spider. It is really a striking example of the well-known hypocrisy and materialism of the British race. The bee is held up to the young as a model of industry and domestic virtue--and why? Simply because she manufactures food which we happen to like. The spider is held up to the young as the type of rapacity, malice and cruelty, on the sole ground that he catches flies, though we do not pretend that we are fond of flies, and conveniently ignore the fact that, if the spider did not swat that fly, we should probably swat it ourselves.