1888.] TRANSACTIONS. 27 



equal to the emergency. It is a theory that confronts them — not a 

 condition. Their name is legion and they are gregarious, — prowl- 

 ing in gangs. Their keen sight espies the Hed Astrachan from 

 afar and they take it for granted that Mrs. Green has gone to 

 church. So the smallest, — who has a pair of shoes, and a whole 

 seat to his trousers, creeps stealthily along the division fence. 

 Just as he has beckoned to his fellows ; spirits more evil than 

 himself in that, with like appetite, they have less daring ; the voice 

 of your Secretary shouting the war-whoop of Pomona, falls 

 upon their affrighted ears and 



" The wicked flee when no man pursueth 1 " 



Thus " conscience doth make cowards of us all." 



It was at three o'clock in the afternoon of a week-day when 

 the orchard of Charles L. Fierce was cleaned out. The tale may 

 not be exact ; but that will be a safe reckoning which puts it well 

 nigh upon seven boys, three girls, and two capacious baskets. 

 They were not dainty; if immature, Gravensteins were worth 

 carrying off and green Bartletts satisfied the cravings of those 

 more fastidious. 



As for the charming Roses of Dea. Griffin, — have not the 

 foot-walks of Cedar street been strewn with their wasted petals ? 

 What we do not possess, ourselves, no one else shall cultivate and 

 enjoy is the gospel that these imps of malicious mischief are 

 suffered to practice, as they prey, without ceasing. 



If the turn of the Granger comes later, with none the less 

 certainty docs the Assyrian descend upon his fold. The average 

 bummer is lazy; so he employs a team to convey himself to the 

 scene of proposed depredation and to haul back his spoil. When 

 nuts are ripe, ponderous mauls must be carried along to jar the 

 tree to the inevitable ruin of its trunk. For the wounds caused 

 by the abrasion of their bark surely, if slowly, result in the decay 

 and death of nut-bearing trees. Tliis variety of hoodlum elects 

 Sunday for his raids; since lie can thus elude the observation of 

 his wife or mother who, on tliat day at least, is not toiling to 

 keep the breath of life in his worthless carcase. Besides, the 

 odds are that the Granger maintains the old-fashioned custom of 

 " going to meeting," and will therefore be off guard. And over 



