Where Silence Is Eloquent 



through the woods, projecting your own "aura" 

 of peace or sympathy, it may be, in an invisible 

 wave ahead of you, there is nothing disturbing or 

 inharmonious in either your thoughts or your 

 actions ; and at times the wild animal seems curi- 

 ously able to understand the one as well as the 

 other, just as certain dogs know at first glance 

 whether a stranger is friendly or hostile or afraid 

 of them. When you are excited or lustful to kill, 

 something of your emotional excitement seems to 

 precede you; it passes over many wild birds and 

 beasts, all delicately sensitive, before you come 

 within their sense range ; and when you draw near 

 enough to see them you often find them restless, 

 suspicious, though as yet no tangible warning of 

 danger has floated through the still woods. At the 

 first glimpse or smell of you they bound away, 

 your action in hiding or creeping making evident 

 the danger which thus far was only vaguely felt. 

 But if you approach the same animals gently, 

 without mental excitement of any kind, some- 

 times, indeed, they promptly run away, especially 

 in a much-hunted region; but more frequently 

 they meet you with a look of surprise ; they move 

 alertly here or there to get a better view of you, and 

 show many fascinating signs of curiosity before they 

 glide away, looking back as they go. 



Such has been the illuminating experience of 

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