Discouragements 



not always wish to be virtuous by act of 

 Parliament. Still, if the legislation can be 

 brought to bear upon worms, we will not 

 complain. 



An eminent Philadelphia physician, vis- 

 iting Boston, was struck with an inscrip- 

 tion in the Public Garden, " Dogs forbid- 

 den to swim in this pond on Sunday," 

 and remarked that he knew that education 

 had been carried to an advanced stage in 

 Massachusetts, but he had not learned be- 

 fore that even the dogs had been taught 

 to read ! How delighted we should be 

 to learn that the gypsy moth has been 

 warned off by the General Court. So far 

 we of the South Shore have been left to 

 cope, somewhat ineffectively, I admit, with 

 our own insects, but if the famous moth 

 finds us out we may expect the govern- 

 ment myrmidons at its heels, and let us 

 hope that they will carry the web-worms 

 with them. But a commission ramping 

 about the fields, even for so praiseworthy 

 a purpose, has its terrors. 



Another discouragement comes in the 

 worm which saws off the small branches 

 of the Oaks, and leaves the ground strewn 

 223 



