A PLEA FOR THE UNPROTECTED 



creatures not so classed, an unwritten 

 law of common sense, common decency, 

 and common humanity should be power- 

 ful enough to protect all these. The fox 

 is an outlaw ; it is every one's legal right 

 to kill him whenever and however he 

 may, and yet wherever the fox is hunted 

 with any semblance of fair play, whether 

 in New England with gun and hound, 

 or elsewhere with horse and hound, the 

 man who traps a fox, or kills one unsea- 

 sonably, or destroys a vixen and her cubs, 

 bears an evil reputation. A sentiment 

 as popular and as potent ought to prevail 

 to protect those that, though harmless, 

 are as unshielded by legislative enact- 

 ments as the fox, and much less guarded 

 by natural laws and inborn cunning. 



