152 



SHARP EYES 



on the left with a " qui va /&/" yearning for a 

 jab at the humble craft in the background, 

 are familiar to us even in their haunts. But 

 here is an odd assemblage upon the skirt of 

 our coat, the hangers-on of every wood and 

 copse, and many of them I am certain the 

 "oldest inhabitant" has never seen 

 except as he picks them from his 



.,.-., 



clothing day af- 

 ter day with vigorous 

 comment. 



There are those queer, flat, 

 green, jointed affairs, for instance, 

 that stick closer than a brother, either in de- 

 tached pieces or plastered in strings and bro- 

 ken chains in all sorts of devices. What was 

 their history ere they fell from grace? There 

 is a whole troop of them which are popularly stigma- 

 tized as " ticks," and commonly supposed to be mem- 

 bers of the same chain-gang. But this is not so ; there 



