68 BIRDS AND POETS 
ments, their pass-words from our midst, as from the 
veriest solitude! They have peculiar calls, whistles, 
signals, by which they communicate with each other 
at long distances, like birds or wild creatures. And 
there is as genuine a wildness about these notes and 
calls as about those of a fox or coon. 
The boy is a savage, a barbarian, in his taste, — 
devouring roots, leaves, bark, unripe fruit, etc. ; and 
in the kind of music or discord he delights in, — of 
harmony he has no perception. He has his fashions 
that spread from city to city. In one of our large 
cities the rage at one time was an old tin can with 
a string attached, out of which they tortured the 
most savage and ear-splitting discords. The police 
were obliged to interfere and suppress the nuisance, 
On another occasion, at Christmas, they all came 
forth with tin horns, and nearly drove the town 
distracted with the hideous uproar. 
Another savage trait of the boy is his untruthful- 
ness. Corner him, and the chances are ten to one 
he will lie his way out. Conscience is a plant of 
slow growth in the boy. If caught in one lie, he 
invents another. JI know a boy who was in the 
habit of eating apples in school. His teacher finally 
caught him in the act, and, without removing his eye 
from him, called him to the middle of the floor. 
*‘T saw you this time,” said the teacher. 
**Saw me what?” said the boy, innocently. 
‘Bite that apple,” replied the teacher. 
“No, sir,” said the rascal. 
“Open your mouth;” and from its depths the 
