Insects are strikingly distinguished from other animals, by a succession
of changes in their organization and forms, and by their incapacity of
propagating before their last metamorphosis, which, in most of them,
takes place shortly before their death. Each of these transformations is
designated by so many terms, that it may not be useless to observe to
the reader, who has not previously paid attention to the subject, that
_larva, caterpillar, grub, maggot_, or _worm_, is the first state of
the insect on issuing from the egg; that _pupa, aurelia, chrysalis_, or
_nympha_ are the names by which the second metamorphosis is designated,
and that the last stage, when the insect assumes the appearance of a
butterfly, is called the _perfect state_.--_North American Review._
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"LITTLE SONGS FOR LITTLE SINGERS."
The little folks will soon have a microcosm--a world of their own. The
other day we noticed the "Boy's _Own_ Book," and the girls are promised
a match volume: children, too, have their own _camerae obscurae_; there
are the Cosmoramas at the Bazaar, as great in their way as Mr. Hornor's
Panorama at the Colosseum; besides half a dozen Juvenile Annuals, in
which all the literary children of larger growth write. At our theatres,
operas are sung by children, and the pantomimes are full of juvenile
fun. In short, every thing can be had adapted to all ages; till we begin
to think it is once a world and twice a little world. But we have
omitted the pretty little productions named at the head of this article.
They consist of seven little songs for little people, set to music on
small-sized paper, so that the little singer may hold the song after the
orchestra fashion, without hiding her smiles. 1. The Little Fish,
harmonized from _Nursery Rhymes_; 2. The Little Robin; 3. The Little
Spider and his Wife, from _Original Poems_; 4. The Little Star, from
_Nursery Rhymes_; 5. A Summer Evening, from the _Infant Minstrel_; 6.
Come Away, Come Away, to the air of the Swiss Boy, by Mr. Green, the
publisher; and, 7. The Little Lady Bird:--
Lady Bird! Lady Bird! fly away home,
The field-mouse is gone to her nest,
The daisies have shut up their sleepy red eyes,
And the bees and the birds are at rest.
Lady Bird! Lady Bird! fly away home,
The glow-worm is lighting his lamp,
The dew's falling fast, and your fine speckled wings
Will be wet with the close-clinging damp.
Lady Bird! Lady Bird! fly away home,
The fairy bells tinkle afar;
Make haste, or they'll catch ye, and harness ye fast,
With a cobweb, to Oberon's car.
Lady Bird! Lady Bird! fly away now
To your home in the old willow-tree,
Where your children so dear have invited the ant,
And a few cosy neighbours to tea.
There is some novelty and ingenuity in adapting the words and music of
songs for young singers. Love, war, and drinking songs are very well for
adults, but are out of time in the nursery or schoolroom; for these
predilections spring up quite early enough in the bosoms of mankind. We
should not forget the vignette lithographs to the little songs, which
are beautifully executed by Hullmandel. All beginners will do well to
see these songs, for we know many of the "larger growth" who are
_little_ singers.
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