A DIGRESSION ON SQUIRRELS 



on more than one occasion I have had to 

 listen to humiliating charges against him. 



I will assemble them and place them be- 

 fore you with my defence for the criminal; 

 and I shall attempt to be as honest (would 

 that I could be as eloquent!) as Daniel 

 Webster in his defence of the woodchuck. 



The gravest of the charges are that squir- 

 rels steal birds' eggs and sometimes eat 

 young birds, and that they kill pine- and 

 cedar-trees by stripping them of their 

 cones. 



In considering these accusations calmly, 

 I have come to the conclusion that a great 

 law of nature is responsible for all the 

 depredations Rufus commits, agreeing, for 

 the sake of argument, that he does commit 

 them. 



Like every other living thing, he has to 

 eat. If people strip the trees of nuts before 

 he has an opportunity to fill his little larder, 

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