84 EYE SPY 
dred of them during these few rods. In the height 
of its season this frothy nuisance monopolizes 
many a meadow. No one, unless most ordinarily 
clad, would care to wade through its slimy haunt. 
Certainly no stroller in his "Sunday best," having 
once experienced its unpleasant familiarity, would 
willingly give it a second opportunity. 
Its name, I find, varies in different localities, but 
all, for obvious reasons, have the same salivary 
significance. In various parts of New England, 
for instance, it is known as cow -spit. In the 
southern States the snake is held responsible for 
it, as is shown in the popular name of snake-spit. 
I have frequently heard it called frog-spit, cuckoo- 
spit, toad-spit, and sheep-spit, and doubtless many 
other local terms of the same sort may be found. 
The cow -spittle theory, however, seems to have 
the greatest number of converts. Let me, at 
least, hasten to expose this miserable slander on 
" our rural divinity." Have, then, our cows noth- 
ing better to do than to go expectorating all over 
the meadows, road -sides, and hay- fields? And 
how busy, indeed, they must have been to so 
thoroughly cover the ground, to say nothing of 
their surprising aim, every glistening cluster of 
bubbles being landed not helter-skelter on the 
leaves and flowers, but only on the main stems 
of the various plants upon which they are found ! 
Even in this little field outside my studio window, 
