70 EARLY DAY STORIES. 



CHAPTER X. 

 Wild Animals and Birds That Lived Here. 



It is doubtful which is the worse habit, to read only 

 to be amused, or not to read at all. This is a general state- 

 ment, and will not apply in every case, because it is entirely 

 proper sometimes to read for amusement and relaxation. 

 But if the object in reading is solely to be entertained, the 

 habit is a bad one. One who reads only to be entertained 

 or amused, and who receives no instruction from what is 

 read, and only skims along to get the run of the story, and 

 how it turns out in the end, injures his memory and unfits 

 his mind for study or for profitable reading. All books 

 should be written in such style, and the subjects presented 

 should be treated in such manner as to be both entertaining 

 and instructive. Such books as entertain only, and do not 

 instruct, should in general be kept out of the hands of young 

 people, because, while perhaps not absolutely hurtful in the 

 stories they tell, they lead the mind in the wrong direction. 



In preparing all these articles it has been the intention 

 of the writer to both instruct and entertain those that read, 

 and especially the young readers, who can know nothing of 

 these things only as they read about them. This chapter 

 and two others to follow will describe portions of Ante- 

 lope county, and perhaps also other parts of the state as 

 they looked to the writer when first seen by him; and will 

 also tell something about the wild animals and birds that 

 were found here, and how some of these that were once 

 plentiful have entirely disappeared, and how new kinds have 

 come in and are now making this their home. It will also 

 describe the habits of some of these wild animals, telling 

 how they provide themselves with food, how they guard 

 themselves against their enemies, and how they become wary 



