Page:Insect Literature by Lafcadio Hearn.djvu/288

Rh ever hope for a Natural History with colored plates that will show us how the world appears to the faceted eyes of a dragon-fly?

Catching dragon-flies has been for hundreds of years a favorite amusement of Japanese children. It begins with the hot season, and lasts during the greater part of the autumn. There are many old poems about it,—describing the recklessness of the little hunters. To-day, just as in other centuries, the excitement of the chase leads them into all sorts of trouble: they tumble down embankments, and fall into ditches, and scratch and dirty themselves most fearfully,—heedless of thorns or mud-holes or quagmires, —heedless of heat,—heedless even of the dinner-hour:—

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