Slippery as an Eel. 173 



paths of the marsh has doubtless watched the brown-hued 

 Eels wriggling their way through the grass from one pool to 

 another, especially at night, leaving their home and wander- 

 ing about, seemingly unconscious whither their pilgrimage 

 will end. 



" Slippery as an Eel " is proverbial. Many a person has, 

 by his slick, cunning ways, succeeded in eluding the law and 

 escaping justice, affording an apt illustration of the character 

 of the animal about which we have been talking, but the 

 slipperiness of the Eel is not given to it that it may take 

 some unlawful advantage of its neighbors, but that it may the 

 more readily slip from the grasp of a more powerful enemy, 

 or the more easily make its way into the muddy depths of 

 the pond or stream which it so very much affects. So it will 

 be seen that while this slippery character in the one is pro- 

 tective, in the economy of nature, for a wise and laudable 

 purpose, yet in the other it but secures to the possessor the 

 getting of an ignoble gain and the ruin of a once proud 

 name. 



While these agile denizens of aquatic life are selfish and 

 voracious almost beyond precedent, and apparently more 

 concerned in feeding than in anything else, there are cer- 

 tainly some traits in their character which are redeeming 

 features. Low as they are in the scale of piscine existences, 

 occupying the very lowest family of the Anguillidine Apodes, 

 they are none the less susceptible to the human influence of 

 kindness. They grow accustomed to man when good is at 

 the basis of his actions, and have been known to accept food 

 from his hand. They remember the face of a friend, and 

 when it is presented at the door of glass, so to speak, that 

 opens the way to their home, they come without fear or sus- 

 picion showing itself in their movements. Even the sound 

 of the voice of a benefactor awakens a sympathetic response 

 in their bosoms. 



