180 THE ADIRONDACK. 



them expend whole sentences of sentimentality upon 

 the hard-heartedness that could take the life of so 

 innocent a creature, who very coolly wrung the 

 necks of chickens every night for their breakfast, and 

 devoured with great gusto the shoulder of a lamb for 

 dinner. They slay without remorse the most harm- 

 less, trusting creatures that haunt their meadows, or 

 sport upon their lawns and take food from their hands, 

 and yet are shocked at the idea of killing a deer or 

 shooting a wild pigeon. They kill God's creatures, 

 not from necessity, but to gratify their palates and 

 minister to their luxurious tastes. But if any one 

 supposes we shot this noble doe for sport, he must 

 have a very vague idea of the toils we had endured 

 that day, or of our keen appetites. A man of great 

 sentimentality might eat boiled eggs and toast with 

 his coffee for breakfast, rather than sanction the death 

 of an animal by partaking of flesh. I say he might 

 do it, though I have never seen an instance of such 

 great self-denial ; but I doubt whether, if he were a 

 day's journey from a human habitation, hungry and 

 tired, with the prospect of nothing but a piece of salt 

 pork, toasted on the end of a stick for supper and 

 breakfast, he would hesitate to eat a venison steak. 



