198 Clear Skies and Cloudy. 



place of a bird. Every bush was the home of 

 a songster, and through the grass ran the wary 

 mother grouse and quail, with timid, peeping 

 brood. What days were those, when their one 

 great enemy had not appeared in force, civilized, 

 cultured, charitable, tender-hearted man ! The 

 milestone brought a vision to me of the day 

 when this foe to the bird world had not yet 

 asserted himself; and what happy days those 

 must have been ! It is hard to realize that time 

 was when on this very spot there were birds by 

 the thousands, and now often half a day goes 

 by and not even one poor sparrow to make 

 glad the fields. Many birds passed away with 

 the trees, but not all. Birds have wit enough 

 to accommodate themselves to very changed 

 conditions, and would do so, but man will not 

 permit. Very excellent evidence that mankind 

 is not capable of taking care of itself, but needs 

 an iron hand to keep it under control. We are 

 continually prating about the blessings of lib- 

 erty, but when do we ever hear of the curses 

 of it? Liberty has its well-defined boundaries, 

 but these are ignored, and license and liberty 

 are held as synonymous. Now, when it is 



