From Fox's Earth 



; f ',.'. . 



be contented that once vital signs, which brought 

 the proud curl to the lip, should be empty of mean- 

 ing. The lust of mammon has entered them. 

 Others may be interested if they are not. I 

 should like that the whole matter be placed before 

 the public mind, and commended to a national 

 sentiment. There is so much that seems out of 

 joint, and would not be, if people saw and felt 

 aright. 



Notoriously proud of country, a Scotsman 

 should pay heed when all that touches the imagi- 

 nation and warms the heart is being destroyed. 

 In the scale of being, the heather might go, and 

 the Alpines might go before the wild creatures. 

 So surely as they go, the sentiment of country 

 will wane along with them, and all our vapourings 

 will be but sound and fury, signifying nothing. 

 It seems a small thing to sell our cats and our 

 weasels, our eagles and our falcons for gold. It 

 is bigger and more far-reaching than it looks. 



A national might be strengthened and, if need 

 be, replaced by an imperial sentiment. If men 

 at home do not care, perhaps there is a more 

 generous soul in those who have gone away. I 

 sometimes think, if they only knew how the 

 wilds are being blighted and the wild creatures 

 slaughtered, so that the land is becoming common 

 as other lands, a voice would come across the 

 water to help us. As much sport as you like, but 

 no murder. Let the years of the persecution cease. 



54 



