188 UP AND DOWN THE BROOKS. 



boy's moth. I should not have deprived him of 

 it if he had behaved himself, but he went too far. 

 He had done enough in keeping it shut up in his 

 dirty, hot little hand. 



But, by the time I had walked down the road to 

 a pool, the boys came rushing toward it, and before 

 I knew what he was about to do, that younger imp 

 threw his moth into the water. The poor thing 

 struggled, and calling some oats to my assistance 

 I fished it out and clapped it in my tin. More- 

 over I delivered a small-sized sermon to the imp. 



" Give it to me," said the former owner. 



" You can't have it, if you 're going to be so 

 naughty." 



" Give it to me," sternly demanded the boy. 



I looked at him. He had run out-doors so 

 much without his hat that the skin looked almost 

 ready to peel off his forehead. 



" Give it to me," reiterated he, with all the im- 

 pressiveness at his command. 



But I turned and climbed the bank while he 

 proclaimed his desire to throw that moth away 

 out there on the water, and the youngsters an- 

 nounced that they were going to catch some more 

 things and throw them in. But I think that was 

 only an assertion of helpless wrath, for I passed 

 by the pool a little while after and 110 such work 

 as had been threatened was going on. Privately 

 I was glad that the boy had thrown the moth 

 into the water, for it gave me a chance to take 



