20 THE JONATHAN PAPERS 



in turn, and by the dim light of the lantern 

 carefully observes the nature of their reaction, 

 choosing for destruction the one whose de 

 portment seems to him most foolish. In this 

 way, by weeding out the extremely silly, he 

 hopes in time to raise the general intellectual 

 standard of the barnyard. But he urges that 

 much more might be done if my heart were in 

 it. Very likely, but my heart is not. Intelli 

 gence is all very well, but the barnyard, I am 

 convinced, is no place for it. Give me my 

 pretty, silly hens, with all their aimless, silly 

 ways. I will seek intelligence, when I want it, 

 elsewhere. 



In another direction, too, Jonathan s op 

 timistic temperament has found little encour 

 agement. This is in regard to the chimney 

 swallows. When we first came, these little 

 creatures were one of my severest trials. 

 They were not a trial to Jonathan. He loved 

 to watch them at dusk, circling and eddying 

 about the great chimney. So, indeed, did I; 

 and if they had but contented themselves 

 with circling and eddying there, I should 

 have had no quarrel with them. I did not even 

 object to their evolutions inside the chimney. 



