A GOOD WORD FOR WINTER. 21 



my poultry. But what would you have ? He will come 

 down upon the limb of the tree I am lying under till he is 

 within a yard of me. He and his mate will scurry up and 

 down the great black-walnut for my diversion, chattering 

 like monkeys. Can I sign his death-warrant who has 

 tolerated me about his grounds so long ? Not I. Let them 

 steal, and welcome. I arn sure I should, had I had the 

 same bringing up and the same temptation. As for the 

 birds, I do not believe there is one of them but does more 

 good than harm ; and of how many featherless bipeds can 

 this be said *? 



A GOOD WORD FOR WINTER. 



&quot; MEN scarcely know how beautiful fire is,&quot; says Shelley ; 

 and I am apt to think there are a good many other things 

 concerning which their knowledge might be largely increased 

 without becoming burdensome. Nor are they altogether 

 reluctant to be taught not so reluctant, perhaps, as unable 

 and education is sure to find one fulcrum ready to her 

 hand by which to get a purchase on them. For most of us, 

 I have noticed, are not without an amiable willingness to 

 assist at any spectacle or entertainment (loosely so called) 

 for which no fee is charged at the door. If special tickets 

 are sent us, another element of pleasure is added in a sense 

 of privilege and pre-eminence (pitiably scarce in a demo 

 cracy), so deeply rooted in human nature that I have seen 

 people take a strange satisfaction in being near of kin to 

 the mute chief personage in a funeral. It gave them a 

 moment s advantage over the rest of us whose grief was 

 rated at a lower place in the procession. But the words 

 &quot;admission free&quot; at the bottom of a handbill, though 

 holding out no bait of inequality, have yet a singular charm 

 for many minds, especially in the country. There is some 

 thing touching in the constancy with which men attend 



