IV 



A WOODLAND TRAGIDY 



NATL'RK is rich in traj^edics ; but soiirIiow, 

 tlic traj^L'dics which arc loiij^ lamiiiar to 

 us cease to Ix' traj^ic. \Vc accept them 

 as merely picturesque little episodes in our daily 

 existence. Xoliody is astonished, tor example, 

 when a cat plays with a mouse before killinj^ it ; 

 nor when she teaches her attentive kittens how 

 to let it j^o in sport, maimed and half dead ; it 

 does not shock us when the poor dazed little 

 beast, thinking the danj^er over, makes a wild 

 burst for freedom, that she shows them how to 

 pat it with one cruel paw and still further disable 

 it. Facts like these are too common and too lonj^ 

 known to appeal to us stron^^ly. We note them 

 with a very languid interest. Hut when people 

 lirst leain some unfamiliar example oi Xatufe's 

 cruelty, I almost always lind they are pro- 

 foundly struck by it. The novelty of the case 

 |L«ives it vividness and makes it sink in deep. 

 And I know no instance which impresses the 

 ordinary observer so much at sij^ht as the lirst 

 time when, wanderinj^ accidentally through some 

 peaceful copse or wooti, he linds himself face to 



7« 



