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2o6 KIPLING'S SUSSEX
his order creatures equally intelligent; but morally, or at all events in manner, he is decidedly their superior. So peaceable and mild in disposition is he, so regardful of the rights of others, even of the meanest, that he will actually give place to a fly coming to feed at the same flower. It is on this account that, alone among insects, the humble-bee is universally regarded with esteem and affection. In his virtues, and in all that is best in him, he is very human. It is therefore not strange, during a late walk, when we bid good-night and good-bye to the darkening downs, that it grieves us a little to find so estimable an insect in such a plight."
Richard Jefferies in that perfect prose poem, " The Story of My Heart," tells of how the hills of Sussex held him, and pressed him and spoke to him. It was at Pevensey that he felt that strange emotion that impelled him to recapture and write down thoughts which had haunted him for many years. Oscar Wilde's comedy, " The Importance of Being Earnest," was written at Worthing, and one of the principal characters is named after the town. Mr. W. H. Hudson's " Nature in Down-land " will appeal to nature lovers, and the illuminating and suggestive story of " The Knife and the Naked Chalk " in Kipling's " Rewards and Fairies" deals with the " bare windy chalk downs." u Bygone Sussex," by E. A. Axon (published by William Andrews, 1897), deserves a wider publicity. " A History of Brickwall in |
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