28 HAMPSHIRE DAYS 



them from grieving overmuch at the death of a newly- 

 hatched robin, if they would consider this fact of the 

 pain that is and must be. Not the whole subject 

 the fact that as things are designed in this world of 

 sentient life there can be no good, no sweetness or 

 pleasure in life, nor peace and contentment and safety, 

 nor happiness and joy, nor any beauty or strength or 

 lustre, nor any bright and shining quality of body 

 or mind, without pain, which is not an accident nor 

 an incident, nor something ancillary to life, but is in- 

 volved in and a part of life, of its very colour and 

 texture. That would be too long to speak about ; all 

 I meant was to consider that small part of the fact, 

 the necessary pain to and destruction of the bird life 

 around them and in the country generally. 



Here, for instance, without going farther than a 

 hundred yards from the house in any direction, they 

 could put their hands in nests in trees and bushes, 

 and on the ground, and in the ivy, and in the old 

 outhouses, and handle and count about one hundred 

 and thirty young birds not yet able to fly. Probably 

 more than twice that number would be successfully 

 reared during the season. How many, then, would be 

 reared in the whole parish ! How many in the entire 

 New Forest district, in the whole county of Hamp- 

 shire, in the entire kingdom ! Yet when summer 

 came round again they would find no more birds 

 than they had now. And so it would be in all places ; 

 all that incalculable increase would have perished. 

 Many millions would be devoured by rapacious birds 



