X FAMILIAR LIFE IN FIELD AND FOREST. 



him on an insignificant ten-cent harmonicon. One 

 time I noticed a particularly vociferous fellow sub- 

 side, cross his hands on his breast, and listen respect- 

 fully to the soothing strains of " Home, sweet home." 



All this goes to prove that the wild life of the 

 woods is not unapproachable. It may be difiacult to 

 cultivate its friendship, but it responds. It is an 

 easy matter to pick a daisy and carelessly throw it 

 away ; but when we have persuaded a wild bii d or a 

 squirrel to eat from our hand, we never throw the 

 memory of that away : it abides with us forever ! 



Guns and traps are all very well in their way, but 

 a conscience void of offense to the animal world is 

 better. There never was a world more peculiarly 

 beset with enemies of all kinds and degrees than the 

 wild animal world ; it has to make a fight of life, 

 anyway ; and then there is the common enemy, man, 

 to reckon with, who crushes the snake, hunts the fox 

 and bear, worries the woodchuck, shoots the bird, traps 

 the marten, kills the deer, and makes war generally 

 upon all wild life without discrimination. One of these 

 days, when the cutworm, the grasshopper, the field 

 mouse, the army worm, and the gypsy moth devour the 

 farm, house and all, we will wonder what has become 

 of the beneficent skunk, weasel, and snake. Per- 

 haps we have yet time enough to give these poor crea- 

 tures a chance to learn we are friends, and not enemies. 



