UNDER THE MAPLES 



her bony stern, with its ridges and depressions and 

 thin flanks, is less fit in any encounter with storm 

 or with beast than is her head. On the other hand, 

 the round, smooth, solid buttocks of the horse, with 

 their huge masses of muscles, his smooth flanks, 

 and his tail an apron of long, straight, strong hair 

 are well designed to resist storm and cold. What 

 animal is it in Job whose neck is clothed with 

 thunder? With the horse, it is the hips that are so 

 clothed. His tremendous drive is in his hips. 



IV. AN UNSAVORY SUBJECT 



IF a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, 

 I suppose the breath of the obscene fungus by any 

 other name would smell as rank. The defensive 

 weapon of our black-and-white wood pussy would 

 probably not be less offensive if we called him by 

 that name alone, instead of the common one by 

 which he is universally known. 



While in southern California last winter I heard 

 of one that took up his abode in the basement of a 

 house that stood on the side of a hill in the edge of 

 the country. It was in a sort of lumber-room where 

 all sorts of odds and ends had accumulated. On 

 some shelves was a box of miscellaneous articles, 

 such as lids to tin cans, bed castors, old tooth- 

 brushes, bits of broken crockery, pieces of wire, 

 chips of wood, and the dried foot and leg of a hen. 

 One morning, on opening the door of the basement, 



206 



