198 CALVIN : 



civilized people do, from necessity. He was 

 intimate with the flying-squirrels who dwell in 

 the chestnut-trees, too intimate, for almost 

 every day in the summer he would bring in one, 

 until he nearly discouraged them. He was, in- 

 deed, a superb hunter, and would have been a 

 devastating one, if his bump of destructiveness 

 had not been offset by a bump of moderation. 

 There was very little of the brutality of the 

 lower animals about him ; I don't think he en- 

 joyed rats for themselves, but he knew his busi- 

 ness, and for the first few months of his residence 

 with us he waged an awful campaign against the 

 horde, and after that his simple presence was 

 sufficient to deter them from coming on the 

 premises. Mice amused him, but he usually con- 

 sidered them too small game to be taken seri- 

 ously ; I have seen him play for an hour with a 

 mouse, and then let him go with a royal con- 

 descension. In this whole matter of "getting a 



