GENERAL JIM 161 
these few simple ones, and can even imitate some 
of them.) Jim himself was rather reckless at 
first, paying little attention to the bits of white 
cloth or shiny tin pans or stuffed dummies set up 
over cornfields. But one day what he thought 
was a dummy, it stood so still, opened fire on him 
with a gun, actually shooting off two of his tail 
feathers, and after that he grew as cautious as the 
wisest. But he never got over his temper when 
he pulled up tarred corn, and always, when that 
happened, he pulled up at least a dozen shoots 
more, just for spite. At least, that is what the 
farmers thought, though it may have been that 
he also had a hope he might finally get a kernel 
which wasn’t tarred. 
Mr. and Mrs. Jim were extremely proud of 
their family of four, when it finally appeared, 
though it wasn’t much to look at (except to the 
eye of faith) for several days—merely yawning 
cavities of mouths opening into fuzzy, ugly, black 
bodies, without form and, if one could judge by 
their actions at the approach of food, most cer- 
tainly void. It was a still prouder moment for 
Mr. and Mrs. Jim when they at last got the 
