242 What Birds Have Done With Me 



Maplewood and the village of Green Lake, I re- 

 cently found the bloody body of a mother Coot 

 done to death by some fine gentleman, to whom 

 the creature was but an animated target. He gave 

 no thought of a possible callow brood in a nest 

 that stood for skill and mother love, where waters 

 dream and green flags tell their story to the pass- 

 ing breeze. Peradventure his friends congratu- 

 lated him on his skill as a mighty hunter; no stain 

 of blood, in the estimation of people of the high- 

 est refinement, follows such a petty murder. 



Here is the whole thing in a nutshell. Humane 

 education is preparedness for Civilization. 



There is a story that after all their defeats 

 when the victorious army of crusaders marched 

 into the Holy City, all comrades who had been 

 killed in battle, and from disease had fallen out 

 by the way, joined the army once more to take 

 part in the final triumph. It is not only a pretty 

 story but is symbolical of the way victories are 

 won to-day ; thus are all battles fought by the liv- 

 ing and the dead, the visible and the invisible. In 

 the late war in Europe, take our part in it; Grant 

 and Sherman, Lee and Stonewall Jackson were 

 Pershing's Aids, and Washington and Lincoln 

 stand close to Woodrow Wilson. Woe to that 

 nation or that cause that has no invisible defend- 

 ers. Visible orators are as children playing in the 

 market place compared to the deathless eloquence 



