My First Summer 



they enjoy ! Not a headache or any other 

 ache amongst them, I guess. As for the 

 irrepressible Douglas squirrels, one never 

 thinks of their breakfasts or the possibility 

 of hunger, sickness, or death ; rather they 

 seem like stars above chance or change, 

 even though we may see them at times busy 

 gathering burrs, working hard for a living. 

 On through the forest ever higher we 

 go, a cloud of dust dimming the way, thou- 

 sands of feet, trampling leaves and flowers, 

 but in this mighty wilderness they seem but 

 a feeble band, and a thousand gardens will 

 escape their blighting touch. They cannot 

 hurt the trees, though some of the seedlings 

 suffer, and should the woolly locusts be 

 greatly multiplied, as on account of dollar 

 value they are likely to be, then the forests, 

 too, may in time be destroyed. Only the sky 

 will then be safe, though hid from view by 

 dust and smoke, incense of a bad sacrifice. 

 Poor, helpless, hungry sheep, in great part 

 misbegotten, without good right to be, semi- 

 [ 128] 



