forward to misery and famine. Men, women, and children, turn out with
guns and stones, to kill them; and sometimes large fires are kindled for
the same purpose. The dead ones are taken by cart loads to markets, and
sold for food."

"To be eaten, sir!" said Samuel.

"Yes," replied Mr. Harvey, "mixed with butter, and fried in a pan, they
form almost all the meat that the poorer classes in those countries
get."

"Its a shocking meal" said John.

"Not so bad as you suppose," said his father. "Perhaps, if it were not
the custom in this country to eat lobsters or hogs, we would look upon
them with as much disgust as you do upon locusts. What do you think of
dining off of spiders?"

"Horrible," said John. His father continued:

"I have read of a man who ate nothing else, when he could get spiders.
So you see that people's tastes differ. You know that John Baptist's
food was locusts and wild honey."

"Do the people kill all the locusts in a swarm?" asked Thomas.

"No," said his father, "a swarm is so large that after hundreds of cart
loads are taken from it, it seems no smaller. Generally, the wind drives
them into the sea, where they perish. But their dead bodies, cast upon
shore, become corrupt, and produce plagues."