108 FOUR-FOOTED AMERICANS 



" They were iindoiibtedlj, in the true sense, all once 

 useful citizens of the Republic of Nature, when every 

 spoke was in place in the great balance-wheel, and 

 man had only the things that were created for his 

 use, had not invented anything for himself, and was 

 called inicivilized ; but all that was lono^ ao-o. This 

 is changed now, aud you will find, Avhen you hear 

 the stories, that guns have driven away animals that 

 arrows could not kill, and some beasts, missing their 

 natural food, have taken to eating things that were not 

 intended for them, and have become beasts of prey and 

 nuisance animals. 



" One thing I want you to remember. The skins of 

 these Mammals were the very first prizes that America 

 offered to the white people when they came here — the 

 first Avealth of the land. The trappers Avere of an 

 earlier tribe than the miners. The ])elts of the fur 

 beasts brouglit money while tlie treasures of gold, 

 silver, copper, and coal Avere still hidden deep under 

 ground. But man, by killing these Mammals Avaste- 

 fully and even during their breeding seasons, has made 

 them noAV exceedingly rare. One by one tliey are 

 groAving fcAver and shyer, and tlie animals that came 

 over seas, as Ave did, in the long ago, are filling their 

 places as far as they are able. The long-horned cattle 

 feed on the prairies in place of the l>ison, just as our 

 houses stand on the ground once occupied l)y the red- 

 man's AvigAvam." 



'' But it is better to have House People and coavs 

 in America than saA^ages and Bison, isn't it ? '' asked 

 Olive, AAdio saAv that the children looked puzzled. 



" Yes, it means progress, and one of Heart of Nat- 



