PROVING THE RULE 



with real mischief; and, furthermore, we 

 have the positive guidance of many fair- 

 weather signs : — cheerful songs from high- 

 perched robins, crows flying in pairs, the 

 frequent hooting of owls by night, shim- 

 mering spider webs on the grass, long sea- 

 ward or lakeward flights of gulls, distant 

 journeyings of the bee. 



Before the barometer moves, sometimes 

 before the heavens give us their earliest 

 warning, creatures higher in this particu- 

 lar scale are declaring by action or inac- 

 tion that some influence is working 

 upon them. Did we preserve a like 

 responsiveness; had we not drilled our- 

 selves to walk within the parallels of 

 convention, to repress every show of feeling, 

 our separate and collective demonstrations 

 might be no less striking. How lively and 

 interesting a spectacle, if little groups of 

 us might be seen running up and down, all 

 eyes to wind'ard, like pigs viewing an 

 approaching gale! But life never gains in 

 amenity without some correlative loss. 



If Golf Clubs continue to flourish, in an 

 altered world, I suggest that Greens Com- 

 mittees should add to their duties the keep- 

 ing of hens. Not sophisticated, pampered 



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