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seems to me to be something more behind. The last act of the 
drama we fully understand, but what was the object of the previous 
proceedings? It could not be anything in the nature of a con- 
sultation, where every one was screaming at the top of his voice, 
and yet I take it that nothing in nature is done without a cause. 
I have thought of it since, and I have come to this conclusion— 
that these sparrows were working themselves into a state of excite- 
ment to do a deed which had to be done, but which they could 
not do in cold blood,—to take away the life of a fellow sparrow. 
I remember reading in the life of Ah Pacha of Janina, an 
incident which seems to me to afford a parallel, though in this case 
the actors were women, and not sparrows. A village in Albania 
had been taken by an enemy, the men had been slaughtered, and 
the women had betaken themselves to the top of a neighbouring 
hill, which overlooked the sea. The enemy having made an end 
of the men, surrounded the mountain, and began to ascend its sides 
in order to capture the women. ‘The women, joining hands, began 
a dance, slow and measured at first, but as the foe came nearer 
and nearer up the hill, increasing in intensity and excitement, till 
when the foe were nearing the summit, and their eyes, gleaming 
with passion, became visible—and when the dance had reached a 
pitch of frantic excitement—the leader broke the circle, and flung 
herself head-foremost into the sea, all the others one by one 
following her example. 
Now it seems to me that just as these women were working 
themselves up into a state of excitement in order to do a deed 
against which human nature revolts—to take away their own lives 
—so also were these sparrows working themselves into a state of 
excitement in order to doa deed against which their nature revolted 
—to take away the life of a fellow sparrow. 
I began by referring to this as instinct, but does it not look 
more like an operation of conscience? And is not this little story 
an apt comment upon the text which says that “ not a sparrow falls 
to the ground without our Father ?” 
While on the subject of the sparrow, I would like to say a little 
more about him. We, in this country, do not set much value on 
4 
