98 BY MEADOW AND STREAM. 



" I dunno nothink about that," said he. " I 

 don't see no more 'arm nor cruelty in me taking 

 them young birds than there is in you taking young 

 fishes. " 



This was a floorer for me for a moment, but I 

 replied, with virtuous indignation. 



"You are quite mistaken, my friend; when by 

 chance we catch young fish we immediately return 

 them to the bosom of their family. It is only the old 

 big sinners that go about marauding all day and 

 all night seeking some living thing to devour that are 

 sometimes willing to be caught by us. They are just 

 as pleased to swallow flies with hooks in 'em as any 

 other flies, and they quite enjoy being pulled out of 

 the water, as you may easily see by the way they 

 wriggle about. Besides, are you who have lived all 

 your lifetime by the waterside ignorant of the well- 

 known fact that cold-blooded fish have no sensory 

 nerves, and therefore cannot feel any pain at all? It 

 is not so with birds. Again, don't you know that fish 

 is a most wholesome, delicate, and necessary food for 

 human beings ? What would become of us all with- 

 out fish ? It would be a sin not to catch them." 



" Well," said he, * * ain't young larks good for human 

 food ? Tell me anything that is nicer than plump 

 young larks, 'specially on toast. " 



He had me again, "on toast." My speech was 

 quite lost upon him, he meant to have those young 

 larks in spite of the law, and as many more as he 

 could find a market for, and so we trudged back to 

 the barn. 



At the first glimpse of a small scrap of hazy blue, 



