Note to the Reader 



I am standing for a principle. Give a person 

 credit for his work, and he will put his heart in 

 it. Every book lovingly made should bear the 

 maker's name ; then we should have more books 

 of the kind that the old masters left behind. 



I have been bitterly denounced, first, for kill- 

 ing Lobo ; second, and chiefly, for telling of it, 

 to the distress of many tender hearts. 



To this I reply: In what frame of mind are 

 my hearers left with regard to the animal? Are 

 their sympathies quickened toward the man who 

 killed him, or toward the noble creature who, 

 superior to every trial, died as he had lived, 

 dignified, fearless, and steadfast? 



In answer to a question many times put, I 

 may say that I do not champion any theory of 

 diet. I do not intend primarily to denounce 

 certain field sports, or even cruelty to animals. 

 My chief motive, my most earnest underlying 

 wish, has been to stop the extermination of 

 harmless wild animals ; not for their sakes, but 

 for ours, firmly believing that each of our native 

 wild creatures is in itself a precious heritage 

 that we have no right to destroy or put beyond 

 the reach of our children. 



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