AKGUMENT AGAINST INFIDELITY. 197 



from acorns ? Don't they grow from beech nuts, or 

 hickory nuts, and don't they start up sometimes tall 

 trees, at once ?-' ' No,' said he, ' its a law of nater that 

 every fruit can bring forth only the same kind of tree 

 that bore it,' and he talked larnedly about the nater 

 of trees, and their growth. 



" As we passed along, I saw a bird fly out from a 

 bush, and I saw she had built her nest there, and it 

 had five little eggs in it. ' Look here,' said I, ' Squire, 

 how came all these twigs and this moss, and thistle- 

 down, woven into this bowl-shaped moss, in the 

 branches of this bush ?' ' Why,' said he, ' you know 

 well enough, that's a bird's nest, and that the bird 

 brought them, and mixed them into that shape for its 

 nest.' ' Well,' said I, ' them round things there, 7 

 pointing to the eggs, ' did they fall from the trees ?' 

 1 No,' said he, ' you know very well, they're the eggs 

 of the birds.' ' But,' said I again, ' if I plant 'em, will 

 they grow up into bushes, with birds nests in their 

 branches, with eggs in them ?' ' Tucker,' said he, 

 1 you're making game of me ; you know as much 

 about them things as I do, and may be more,' and he 

 went on to tell how natur' had made a law of instinct, 

 that taught birds how to build their nests, and hatch 



