178 What Birds Have Done With Me 



gentleman I of course, never asked him to eat out 

 of my hand, but I have given him something with 

 a stick and possibly my health was better just 

 afterward. To be a little more definite, I have 

 handed him a meal-worm at the end of a split 

 stick as he sat on the edge of his nest after a 

 hard day's work in the support of his family and 

 I'll swear he bowed when he received it, and 

 every man has a right to his opinion so why may 

 I not be allowed to believe that if I could have 

 translated his remark, it would have been: "Your 

 health, old duffer, and may you live long and pros- 

 per." 



Gentlemen of the Jury, I am not trying to put 

 anything over you when I assure you that this 

 bird, so commonly maligned and slandered, is in 

 very fact, "my friend Yorick, a fellow of infinite 

 jest and most excellent fancy" and it's no exag- 

 geration to say that I had much rather see him 

 on any single day in the three hundred and sixty- 

 five than a book agent or a tax collector and he 

 would be twice as welcome, if he saw fit to make 

 me a pastoral call, as the professional Soul Saver. 

 Perhaps he may be shockingly worldly, but a fair- 

 minded man knowing him in his domestic, social 

 and civic relations to life could scarcely withhold 

 at least a small measure of admiration. The 

 world is full of snivelers who are not willing to 



