148 NATURE IN A CITY YARD 



be the only sequence. Don't make silence 

 compulsory. Never fasten down the lid 

 of a pot filled with boiling water. You 

 only make a man think Damn harder when 

 you try to dam his speech or thought. 

 Yet, oh, what inanities of action in speech ! 

 I used to be visited every day by a man 

 who wanted to be told what the weather 

 was likely to be next morning. 



Bats are said to live on insects, and 

 probably it is our wealth in the latter that 

 brings so many bats flitting about the house 

 in twilight. One of them got indoors on 

 a July midnight and waked me with the 

 whirring of his wings. As all our windows 

 had screens in them, he must have come 

 down the chimney and entered an up- 

 per room through the fireplace. He flew 

 about at such a pace that I could not at 

 first tell what he was, and might have 

 thought him to be a swallow if we had 

 such birds. He made no cry. After I had 

 lighted the gas he circled around and 

 around the room at the top of his speed, 

 the eye hardly following him. No doubt 

 he was bewildered, and wanted to get out. 



