The Eambles of an Idler 



would have been excitement, instruction and 

 keen pleasure enough to have witnessed what so 

 lately happened at this most commonplace 

 spot. Go to distant lands, if you will, to outwit 

 great beasts, but all the while a young rat un- 

 der your door-step, is outwitting you. Adven- 

 ture is at its best when human and brute wit 

 have a battle royal. Bullets and bigness may 

 prove very tame mere butchery generally, for 

 hunter and game are seldom equally matched; 

 but armed only with dexterity and such other 

 gifts as Nature has vouchsafed you, try your 

 hand at capturing a chipmunk as it darts along 

 an old rail fence, and the chances are, if you 

 are candid, that you will entertain some whole- 

 some thoughts before the adventure is over. 



Lead your coveted game into a trap and you 

 have cause for gratulation, but look out that you 

 are not led into one. I have never seen greener 

 grass than that mantling a quick-sand. 



My interest is ever aroused by foot-prints, 

 especially such as crowd every little mud-bank, 

 like the one about which I so often linger, and 

 have lingered, these many years, yet have not 

 learned all they have to tell. Foot-prints are 



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