sparrows to wild geese. But play is the first 

 great educator, — that is as true of animals as 

 of men, — and to the cubs their rough helter- 

 skelter after hoppers was as exciting as a 

 stag hunt to the pack, as full of surprises as 

 the wild chase through the soft snow after 

 a litter of lynx kittens. And though they 

 knew it not, they were learning things every 

 hour of the sunny, playful afternoons that 

 they would remember and find useful all the 

 days of their life. 



So the funny little hunt went on, the 

 mother watching gravely under a bush where 

 she was inconspicuous, and the cubs, full of 

 zest and inexperience, missing the flying tid- 

 bits more often than they swallowed them, 

 until they learned at last to locate all game 

 accurately before chasing or alarming it ; and 

 that is the rule, learned from hunting grass- 

 hoppers, which a wolf follows ever afterward. 

 Even after they knew just where the grass- 

 hopper was hiding, watching them after a 

 jump, and leaped upon him swiftly from a 

 distance, he often got away when they lifted 

 their paws to eat him. For the grasshopper 



61 



The Way of 



