butterflies and grasshoppers abounded. As
this light-hearted boy was whistling along his way, a large grasshopper
bounded across his path, and, true to the instincts of childhood, the
boy started in pursuit of the grasshopper. The chase was only begun when
the grasshopper crossed the fence and landed in a grain field, which in
England is called a corn field. Stooping to catch his prize, the boy
discovered near by what proved to be a bright little baby, fast asleep
in its mother's shawl. Joyful with the prize which they had found, the
boy took it up in his arms, and hastened to his mother, who, although a
farmer's wife, with many cares and several children, resolved to adopt
the little stranger as her own.

[Illustration: Grasshopper.]

Years passed on, and the infant boy grew to be a man of industry and
economy, and finally became one of the richest and most influential men
in the city of London. Queen Elizabeth, who was then upon the throne,
often consulted him, and in after years, as an expression of gratitude
to the great city in which he had accumulated his wealth, and for the
royal favor which had been shown him, he built the Bourse, or what is
called the Royal Exchange, and in recognition of the kind Providence
which had used the grasshopper to lead the steps of the boy to where the
baby was lying in the fields, Sir Thomas Gresham, for that was his name,
placed this large grasshopper in stone, upon the topmost pinnacle of
this Royal Exchange. While I cannot vouch for the historical accuracy of
this legend, yet it beautifully illustrates the truth that God often
uses an humble insect for the accomplishment of His great providences.

Now, I want to tell you something about the grasshopper, and also about
the ant.

The grasshopper is very much like that class of boys who want to have a
good time, play and frolic from day to day, but never go to school or
work, but live for the play and pleasure to be enjoyed each day as it
passes. The grasshopper jumps from place to place across the field,
eating his food wherever he can find it, and then spends his days and
weeks in idleness. He never stops to think that the summer will soon
pass away, the fields will then be barren, the cold autumn will come,
when the fields will be left desolate and covered with snow. So finally
when the autumn comes, he has no food laid up for the winter, but dies
of poverty and hunger. This little poem which I read in the schoolbooks,
when I