All white, in the midst of a tuft of thyme, her funeral monument is placed, in cool shadow; how many men have not been able to have this supremely happy end! "By the tears of a child the insect's tomb is watered; and the pious goddess of dawn each morning there makes a libation of drops of dew." This reads very imperfectly in a hasty translation; the original charm is due to the perfect art of the form.

But the whole thing, as I have said before, is really Greek, and based upon a close study of several little Greek poems on the same kind of subject.

Little Greek girls thousands of years ago used to keep singing insects as pets, every day feeding them with slices of leek and with fresh water, putting in their little cages sprigs of the plants which they liked.

The sorrow of the child for the inevitable death of her insect pets at the approach of winter, seems to have inspired many Greek poets.

With all tenderness, the child would make a small grave for the insect, bury it solemnly, and put a little white stone above the place to imitate a grave-stone.