FROGS, BOYS, AND OTHER SMALL DEER. 187 



" They go down differently from what they 

 come up, don't they ? " he went on, as the 

 leech descended near the further bank ; " they go 

 straight down, and they wiggle when they come 

 up." 



Maybe so, but I never noticed it. 



My talkative companion furthermore stated 

 that " up by the college some boys found a 

 gopher-snake with a weasel in its mouth." 



Ah, many and many an interesting thing have 

 the boys told me. It has been part of my craft 

 to worm information out of them. They are so 

 ready to tell all they know and are so often cor- 

 rect in their observations. And shall my pen 

 revile my benefactors ? But one aches to shake 

 them when they are cruel. 



Nor is cruelty limited by age, for did I not find 

 a five-year-old and a perhaps four-year old may- 

 hap only three on the top of that bank, engaged 

 in tormenting a small butterfly and a moth ? The 

 boys would toss their prizes into the air, let them 

 fly a little way, and catch them again. I remon- 

 strated, but in vain. The younger one opened his 

 hand to show me his moth, and I was invited to 

 have a " lady-bug," as one. of them called a Dia- 

 brotica that he had found. One boy announced 

 that they were going to catch grasshoppers, and I 

 think that the little butterfly was almost dead 

 when I went away. 



I herewith confess that I stole that younger 



