136 THE ROMANCE OF EVERIFARM 



farther down the fence and at once flew at the little 

 animal that was hurrying along. The young crow 

 dropped down on him, but instead of finding a de- 

 fenseless field mouse he found it an entirely differ- 

 ent individual, who was so infuriated by the attack 

 that he turned in a rage on the young crow and his 

 dagger-like teeth slit through the feathers into the 

 throat and the warm blood gushed forth into the face 

 of the weazel, who now was determined to have his 

 own dinner. It was only a short struggle, as the 

 weasel never let go, and soon the young crow lay life- 

 less, while the weasel was most satisfied with the 

 events of the day. 



The other three youngsters did not make such fa- 

 tal mistakes, but continued to grow and improve un- 

 der the teaching of their parents. They were now 

 busy most of the day in hunting for food, which con- 

 sisted mainly of wire worms, corn-root worms, bill 

 bugs, and many kind of beetles. They also learned 

 that at the bottom of each little green corn plant 

 lay a nice kernel of corn, and they were busy for a 

 week or two in pulling corn kernels out of the mellow 

 soil where they had been planted. One morning as 

 Jim Crow and his family flew across the country to 

 a field where some corn was just coming through the 

 ground, he gave his three children their first lesson 



