THE EDUCATIONAL HUMANE SOCIETY 



285 



rels, chipmunks, and field-mice, all of 

 which were abundant and destructive. 



I have seen all three cats leave the 

 house at sundown, and return with as 

 many rabbits in a few minutes. They 

 killed comparatively few birds, and 

 were intelligent enough to leave little 

 chickens alone. Nevertheless, the birds 

 that they did kill were mostly our fav- 

 orites about the house, and, if the sup- 

 ply of rodents had diminished much, 

 very many birds would no doubt have 

 been killed daily. If it is not wise to 

 put a tax of one dollar per year upon 

 all male cats in America, put a tax of 

 three dollars per year at least upon all 

 female cats. That would soon limit 

 production. — Robert T. Morris, 616 

 Madison Avenue, X. V., in "Bird-Lore" 



Puttering With Poultry. 



The man who sprouts oats in little 

 boxes beside the stove to provide his 

 hens with "green feed" is a putterer, 

 and while he may get quite a lot of satis- 

 faction watching the hens eat it, he will 

 not make wages. That sort of business 

 does not make poultry raising a profit- 

 able business. Neither does hatching a 

 little bunch of chickens in winter and 

 puttering with them for ten or fifteen 

 weeks to get twenty-five to thirty cents 

 apiece for them. Instead of playing a 

 little funny game like that, the business 

 poultryman is gathering eggs by the 

 bucketful and putting the fat price in his 

 jeans. — Fred Grundy, in Commercial 

 Poultry. 



Grundy is the type of the "practical" 

 man for whom we offered a few 

 timely ( ?) suggestions in the October 

 number. 



( irundv's item has been copied by va- 

 rious publications, including "The Con- 

 necticut Farmer," from which we take it. 



Grundy does not believe in puttering, 

 nor in "satisfaction in watching:," nor 

 in "funny game," nor in anything else 

 evidently that is not "a fat price in his 

 jeans." To him the almighty non-put- 

 tering dollar is everything and he has 

 no use for chickens if they do no': make 

 it. 



( irundv's item is unsatisfactory in 

 that it is unfinished. He leaves us in 

 suspense as to what to do with that 

 "fat price" in the "jeans." Perhaps he 

 would take it and "putter" with auto- 

 mobiles, cigars, fast horses, fine clothes, 

 houses, theatres. To "putter" in those 

 lines would doubtless in his estimation 

 be "practical" — but as to chickens — 

 they are all to him the $$$$ breed. That 

 they should be a resource in themselves, 

 that one can take pleasure in such a 

 "funny game," seems to be beyond his 

 comprehension. Nature for its own sake 

 is, in his opinion, not to be tolerated. A 

 chicken is worthless unless it puts gold 

 in Mr. Grundy's jeans. Put on your 

 "thinking cap," Mr. Grundy, revise your 

 opinion, and then when you repent, let 

 us hear from you again. 



He Couldn't Accept this Hypothesis. 



"Now, children," said the kindergar- 

 ten teacher in a determined effort to in- 

 troduce nature study to her class, "I 

 want you to look at this picture of a 

 turtle. See his shell like a little house 

 for him to creep into so that nothing 

 can hurt him. See how good God has 

 been to him. He hasn't any bones like 

 we have ; only his shell to hide in when 

 he's afraid. Can all of you see the pic- 

 ture of the turtle?" 



"Ya-as 'urn." 



"Do you all see the nice hard shed 

 for the poor little boneless thing? Do 

 all of you understand? Anyone who 

 doesn't understand raise the right hand. 

 Well, Johnny?" 



"I don't understand." 



"What don't you understand?" 

 Johnny was an earnest child with 

 spectacles and the kindergarten teach- 

 er's heart began to sink. 



"I don't understand anything you've 

 said," said fohnny. 



"Why not, Johnny?" 



"Because," said Johnny, "because 

 the turtle certainly has got bones." 



In the presence of conviction born 

 of knowledge the kindergarten teacher 

 still rallied her wits to the mainte- 

 nance of discipline. "You may sit down, 

 Johnny," she said with a forced smile. 

 "You may sit down. There are differ- 

 ent sorts of turtles." — N. Y. Sun. 



