'THE COMPENDIOUS SNAIL.'

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XI, Issue 51, 23 December 1893, Page 541

'THE COMPENDIOUS SNAIL.'

‘The Compeoaiou* Saau u the subject oi a bumorou* urueie under tae above title, whteh <roatx.a* ibe iUlowiug passage* .- I'jeL* are, of course, disrespectful to the snail. ' The thine that erawH. MxX dcinqs oer a * walfe. I: is reproached fot being ‘slow’ and slimy. It is the ‘ dull snail • with f-juudezeu paee,* which affors a simile for all things that move without baste, from ■ Hyperborean ’ nights to scxojlb>ys • creeping to seh»l ’ Yet Davenaat is not altogether a>*urd when be takes the ocher side, and writes — ’ runs the nimble *aaJ in slimy track. Hastening, wits all his teoemen*. on bwcX. for when we compute tae creature s pace we ought, in fairness to weigh its burden too. Eagles would not fly so swiftly if they had their eyries on their hacks, nor swallows ‘ outstrip the wina if carrying their tests of mud. Besides deliberation in movement is not neeessart'y sloth, for as an aneient ot wisdom has said, it is easier to run a mtle behind a hare than to walk one mile behind a snail. There is a prodigious conscientiousness about tne creatures, for, like tne fakirs they measure every yard taey take with tbetr bcxites. « nen a Yogi say she has tra»eileo ten mi.e* ce mean* that be bss gone over tbe whole distaz.es, using bimsc.f as a six foot tale, lying down ujxn and comtrg in bodily contact w„n every yard of ground. 1 ney may be seen on their journeys g>-itg. seme, as ordinary eaterpuiars do, crawlmg flat, others, tike tne ‘ looper eaterpt.ar, throwing ibem*e;ves forward on their open paims and bringing the leet up to them, ‘ looping ’ their boules at each stride. So it is wish tne snaiL He neither bops nor skip*, but takes everyibing exat- -y as it come*, w itnout evasion or com promise. He simile* the ground he traterses, preferring to btbe master of a limited subject rattier man have a mere skipjack acquaintance with many. Look at the tortoise. He, too, carries bis roof on his back, and what a responsibility seems to weigh upon him: bow carefuily ana'delicate ybe goes I It he prancea a»at he would oe atsurd : a* it is, his gravity has ear net for the tortoise the respect of ali nations. Fulk lore universally insists upon the immense respectabtlicy of the testuaioous ancitnt. What a grand old testaeeau it is in Veaie myth : Think ot it—standing on nothing except its own dignity, and yet supporting the Earth on its carapace- Nor would it te less preposterous if the snail were to jump tike a grasshopper, who is a vagabond without any acdress that you ean write to him at all. Not so the snail. He is a soii-i householder, and tne architect of his own fortune. You know where to find him when you have found his bouse. His pace therefore necomes him.