The Witchery of Winter 95 



appearance, though infinitely smaller. Mice 

 that make merry on the frozen grass and can 

 squeak defiance to the prowling hawk are 

 no mean feature of a winter outlook. 



And the hawk itself, a pale-blue harrier 

 that with matchless grace swept the weed- 

 tops, what a feature to any landscape ! I 

 had been thinking well of the poor mice 

 that fled in terror from me and made much 

 of them for the time, but how quickly for- 

 gotten were they in the presence of a hawk ! 

 It is not strange, but is it wise to be thus 

 easily led from the lesser to the greater 

 objeft? Rid yourself of preconceptions, 

 and study both hawk and mouse without 

 prejudice, and is there greater nobility in 

 the feathers than in the fur? Is the com- 

 manding murderer more to be commended 

 and admired and copied than the murdered 

 mouse ? If closely questioned we say " no" 

 to the bystanders, and yet we are as well 

 aware as are our hearers that we are lying. 

 In spite of all good intentions, we are for- 

 ever following and applauding the tyrant in 

 his feathers and forgetting the toiling mice inj 

 their furs. So, to-day ; so, yesterday ; so it 

 will always be; and the injustice of it flour- 



