July 



been proved, to my present knowledge, but 

 nevertheless the victim of very general preju- 

 dice. He is a younger and less talented brother 

 of the mocking-bird which flourishes in the 

 Southern States, and rarely comes North except 

 by constraint. Perhaps the catbird might be 

 called his prodigal brother, for the evident 

 neglect of his musical education would natu- 

 rally be the result of youthful waywardness. 

 At any rate his talents are dissipated, if his 

 morals are not. But, not to heap unproved 

 accusations upon him, he unquestionably has a 

 spiteful and suspicious air, and in his garb of 

 dark slate with the black head-piece it is no 

 stretch of the imagination to say that he looks 

 a bit villainous — ■''gallows-minded," in the 

 terse phrase of an old poet — and aptly typifies 

 a certain class of human beings, with chronic 

 hang-dog air, against whom, while nothing vi- 

 cious has ever actually been proved, you can 

 readily believe any imputation that might be 

 suggested, A dubious reputation is sometimes 

 a person's misfortune rather than his fault, but 

 as things are now, the burden of proof seems 

 to rest on the side of the catbird, and inno- 

 cence seldom fails to vindicate itself. But in- 

 stead of trying to do so, he skulks most of the 



195 



