positive--I don't say become a Positivist. Keep a receptive mind,
and wait for time to shape your views of things. I see that London has
agitated and confused you; you have lost your bearings amid the maze of
contradictory finger-posts. If you were here I could soothe you with
Sylvian (much the same as sylvan) philosophy, but I can't write.'

Here the letter was to have ended, for on the line beneath was legible
'Give my love to Fanny', but this again had been crossed out, and there
followed a long paragraph:

I have been reading a book about ants. Perhaps you know all the
wonderful things about them, but I had neglected that branch of natural
history. Their doings are astonishingly like those of an animal called
man, and it seems to me that I have discovered one point of resemblance
which perhaps has never been noted. Are you aware that at an early
stage of their existence ants have wings? They fly--how shall I express
it?--only for the brief time of their courtship and marriage and when
these important affairs are satisfactorily done with their wings wither
away, and thenceforth they have to content themselves with running
about on the earth. Now isn't this a remarkable parallel to one stage
of human life? Do not men and women also soar and flutter--at a certain
time? And don't their wings manifestly drop off as soon as the end of
that skyward movement has been achieved? If the gods had made me
poetical, I would sonnetise on this idea. Do you know any poet with a
fondness for the ant-philosophy? If so, offer him this suggestion with
liberty to "make any use of it he likes".

'But the fact of the matter is that some human beings are never winged
at all. I am decidedly coming to the conclusion that I am one of those.
Think of me henceforth as an apteryx--you have a dictionary at hand?
Like the tailless fox, I might naturally maintain that my state is the
more gracious, but honestly I am not assured of that. It may be (I half
believe it is) a good thing to soar and flutter, and at times I regret
that nature has forbidden me that experience. Decidedly I would never
try to _persuade anyone else_ to forego the use of wings. Bear this in
mind, my dear girl. But I suspect that in time to come there will be an
increasing number of female human creatures who from their birth are
content with _walking_. Not long ago, I had occasion to hint
that--though under another figure--to your brother Buckland. I hope he
understood me--I