. Wild life near home . it, so all-absorbing was the calamus-washing. Muskrats, like coons, will wash what theyeat, whether washing is needed or not. It is a[182] necessary preliminary to dinner—their right-eousness, the little Pharisees! Judging fromthe washing disease which ailed two tame musk-rats that I knew, it is perfectly safe to say thathad these found clean bread and butter uponthe plank, instead of muddy calamus, theywould have scoured it just the same. Before the two on the plank had finishedtheir meal, the third muskrat returned, drag-ging his load of mud and roots to the scrubbing
. Wild life near home . it, so all-absorbing was the calamus-washing. Muskrats, like coons, will wash what theyeat, whether washing is needed or not. It is a[182] necessary preliminary to dinner—their right-eousness, the little Pharisees! Judging fromthe washing disease which ailed two tame musk-rats that I knew, it is perfectly safe to say thathad these found clean bread and butter uponthe plank, instead of muddy calamus, theywould have scoured it just the same. Before the two on the plank had finishedtheir meal, the third muskrat returned, drag-ging his load of mud and roots to the was just dipping into the water when therewas a terrific explosion in my ears, a roar thatechoed round and round the pond. As thesmoke lifted, there were no washers upon theplank; but over in the quiet water floatedthree long, slender tails. No man gwine stan dat shot, boy, jis t seea musrat wash hi supper ; and Uncle Jethrolimbered his stiffened knees and went chucklingdown the bank. [183] A STUDY IN BIRD MORALS. She melted away among the dark pines like a shadow A STUDY IN BIED MORALS THE eternal distinctions of right and wrongupon which the moral law is based inhereeven in the jelly of the amoeba. The Decaloguebinds all the way down. In the course of a littie observation one must find how faithfully theanimals, as a whole, keep the law, and how sadly,at times, certain of them are wont to break pass over such notorious cases as the cow-bird, cuckoo, turkey-buzzard, and crow, there isstill cause for positive alarm, if the birds havesouls, in the depraved habit of duplicity commonamong them. In a single short tramp, one Juneafternoon, no less than five different birds at-tempted to deceive me. The casuist may be ableto justify all five of them ; for, no doubt, there areextremities when this breach of the law shouldnot merit condemnation ; but even so, if in the[187] limits of one short walk five little innocents de-liberately act out the coolest of falsehoods, oneca
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1901
