The Playful Fly

Free Press. It is one of the most charming characterUtloa of tlie (ly that lie conceals none ot li is liabits or propensities or peculiarities from tlie casiml observer. Wliether lie is Hit' partieularly demonstrative bedroom (Musea cubit ularia tridamnata) or the 11} wbOM specifie habit is a bakt beiid (Musen irritants calvarla) or that fossil fly whlcb is occasionally mistaken, in pouñdcake for an accidental currant (Musea quasinvula Corinthiensis), he ahvays Invites, nay compela, our attentipn. Phyglcally, of course, he is knmru to everybody u a menibcr of the order of Díptera, and 11 loosely identltied as a oreature with Há legs and two wlugS. His moral qualities, however.have never been properly examined, otherwise we shotild have been disabued long ago of tlie vciT nnt'.iir opinión entertajned aboul liini. EVr examplo, it. Í3 conlidcntlv alkegad Rgatnst the Hy that he Ig malicious and meddlesomp; that he bas nu sense of decency, and is altogether aotuhted in everythintt he dáee by L perveTÏC deal re tb ve and int uriati'. In point oí fact tbc gulle of the liy Is 110 greater tlian tliat ut a Low Church cúrate, Or the social DUlganCe who conshuilly iimi.-ts on " a littlc miisic." Jt is true that in a ee.itaiu btuhdering, wrong-headed way, tbc fly drops in on yon wheu not wanted - indeed, at tlie very moment his presence is most displeasing. But it sueh a mere evidence of stupidity is ciiougli to warrant capital puniehjineht, Chere vrould tfot Be a bore ten alivc on tlie face of tlie eartli. There are those who protest that if the fly were not one of the basest, most perverse, and most insensible of living thlngt, he would not recur over and over aiiain witli unllagginfi pertinacity to the very spot from wbicli he was rudely baiiishcd. In otber words, it is counted infainous in the lly (on the frivolous ground, apparently, that he has six le#s) to do thut which is commended as the heigbt of praiseworthiness in the blped man! Nay, the unfortunate lly is blamed and loathcd for those very qualitles ot' pertinacity and perseverance whjch Robert Bruce, in the lirsi ihstance, and every schoolboy afterwards, lilt induced to admire in bis natural enemy, the spider! Nor is Ibis by any means the cruelest injustice ot which the fly inay reasonably complain. öuch is the lllogio&l and gronndlesa il is. like from which he suffers, that all liis otber virtues are charged to hini as vice "i the utmost eiKirmity. He is a jolly, bourgeois sort fa fellow with a good-bumorcd, blunt way of takini? a bite or a drink with you uninvited and without ceremony.'and stralghtway he is reprobated as au unmanncilv rnfflan. He boma his perpetual retrain as he nies here and tbere, in a soothing and simple minor key, and he isabuscd as an intolerabiy uoisy nuisance. Hisgentle caress as he alights with the utmost tenderneu and playfulness on cheek, or nose, .or foreliead, maddens the calinest man to inexplicable frenzy. lie never hurta human being in all bis short and nierry life, autl yet all mankind are his implacable eneniles. Nobody regards without positive respect the wicked, swaggering, sinister wasp, who ¦ai rics arma in his hip pocket like somfi Western desperado, and stabs and poisona witli liorrible malignity, aud on the slihtsst provocation. He is frequently killed, bot ahvays witli dignity and gravity, and never with the cruel contempt that accompanies the "sinashing1' of the helpless fly. l'bc sour shopkeeplng bac - that little monster of avarice and scllishness, and shortBighted stupidity - actual ly enjoys bonor nul (¦iiisidcration for all'liis temper and tiie meanneBs. 1 1 is base and sordid babit of hoarding up for his exclusive use the lioney wliicb can only be ravished from liim by violence and stratagem, is actualh held up to tbe "'":- "?" '' ¦"¦¦"'¦ a -- lAiwardly assassin, the weaverol snaits and plotter of ambuscades, the spider, is unreasonably extolled in spite of the fact that he always kills more tban he can e at and was never known to give auy other m.-ei t a fair chance for bis lite. The trueulent wasp and hornet, the mean, snobbish and puuurious bee, and that dastardly bandit, tlie spider, all enjoy credit and consideration, while the jovial, blunlerïug, lounging, barniless Üy is the object of universal hatred anl extermiuatiou. The insect type of a gentleman of leisure, ie meets death from every hand bequuee iie is too amiable to be dangcrou.s, too cual to witbdraw himself from thtir human society. He is, in .hort, the victim of tht samo topsy-turviness which, while it gloritics the Uertkes aud soullcss monopolist, ïas notUing but coutumely for the vieliins upcii u hose necessity he tbrivcs.