An Old Log that Was Bewitched 79 



to her, domestic matters go along without a skip 

 or a break. With regard to Mr. Peacock, I could 

 a tale unfold, but that is another story. There 

 is a great deal to be heard about the private life 

 of Mr. Ruffed Grouse, but one cannot and should 

 not believe all they hear and nothing has been 

 proven against him that would make it impossible 

 to put on his tomb-stone the usual statement that 

 he was a good neighbor, a devoted husband, and a 

 kind father. 



I am willing to bear testimony as to the good 

 character of the vain fellow who had me and the 

 old log bewitched. Though our acquaintance 

 never could have been termed intimate, I entered 

 into the family's joys and sorrows to some extent. 

 I was not invited to the wedding, but happened 

 along, so to speak, at the christening. A fine 

 family, John Roger family, and when the little 

 ones most needed a mother a two or a four- 

 legged wolf got her and the bereaved husband 

 became the devoted father, bringing each and all 

 up in the way they should go, and never once try- 

 ing to drum up admirers, I even found him shy 

 of praise. 



He loves wilderness ways and his home is the 

 forest; his little journey in the world is to visit 

 the clearing and we love to see him along high- 

 ways that we may kill him on sight. Among 

 wood-folk we always think of him as an alert 



