24 
LEARNING TO SHOOT. 
the boys in the neighborhood, who were soon her 
enthusiastic allies, to shoot her specimens. She 
soon found, however, that in order not to lose the 
rarer and more desirable ones, she must kill 
them herself. Her husband’s business took him 
from home much of the time, and was there ever 
a boy that could be depended upon to be in sight 
at a critical moment ! 
Those boys’ homes were from a quarter of a 
mile to five times that distance from the grove in 
which she lived, and the coincidence of their 
presence, and that of the visit of a desirable bird 
to the spot, was as little to be hoped for as a 
special conjunction of the planets! Sbt must 
either abandon her project, or use the gun herself. 
Why not? She wasn’t afraid, and had the 
skill 
I’m not sure — but did I hear somebody sug- 
gest, “ because she was a woman ? ” Pshaw ! 
Go talk to the pre-Adamites ! 
Did you ever go to a Fourth of July celebra- 
tion, and hear them read that venerable document 
that talks about “ liberty and the pursuit of hap- 
piness ? ” 
Well, in the new States at least, they have 
grown to believe it, and to think it includes every- 
body, and can’t see why a woman shouldn’t do 
as she pleases, provided she can, as well as a man ! 
She was very sure she could shoot, for she’d 
tried it. 
