Show THE ih E naturalist by LAWRENCE ALFRED CLAY miss gertrude ainsley put on her hat that sunny spring day and walked down the road and over the creek and up into the woods on tho the hill bill there w were re stately elms and beeches beaches and maples tho the spicebush spice bush gave out its scent there were violets under foot everywhere and the robins and bluebirds seemed to welcome an intruder there were paths running here and there and as aa the girl took one of them she heard a queer sound bound from the brush on her right and investigated to find a rabbit caught by the leg in a snare poor dunny bunny was having a hard time of it and it frightened him the more as the girl approached lie he bounded this way and that and into the air but the snare held and he cried and whimpered and feared tor for his life when the girl had come closer and began to call him poor thing and exclaim that it was a burning shame the captive huddled flown down and stared at her with his great big eyes she was stroking it with her hand band when a boy of twelve came running to shout hes minel mine I 1 hes minel mine I 1 set the snare for him last night nigh tIll up he be came and was about to lift the rabbit in his arms when miss gertrude gave him a push and demanded what business have you snaring the poor creatures Busi business Busi business nessi he repeated why any one can datch c atch rabbits any time they want to lies hes a daisy and the fellow will pay fifty cents for him gee but im in luckl what fellow as you call him hes at the tavern we wants me to catch all the rabbits and quails and birds I 1 can then hes a he dont look like one 1 I dont care how bow ie be looks any man that will hire a boy to trap such poor innocent things as rabbits Is a villain and you can tell him I 1 said sol 1 I will when I 1 carry this to him but you wont carry itt it you keep hands boffl off it shall have its ll li bertyl it if you let my rabbit go 1 blustered the lad ind miss gertrude picked up bunny loosened the wire vire around bis leg and 1 04 et poor bunny was having a hard time of it watched while he be disappeared in the bushes then she said to the boy you call at the house in about two hours and ill give you the fifty cents but if I 1 hear of you catching another rabbit or it if you capture a bird of any sort ill make you trouble lell I 1 maybe you own the earth called the lad after he was a thirty feet away you can tell that villain I 1 dol do she hunted for other snares and she eba found three and destroyed them after a couple ot of hours she started tor for home just as she left the woods she passed a young man entering them he was well dressed and a stranger and the manner in which he raised his hat bat and his deferential bow told her that he lived in the city he ha was staying in the village with some relative tor for a few days probably and out for a stroll the same as shil she had been that evening tho the boy called at the house his fifty cents was ready but he bo would not accept it he brought a note to to be delivered and be sat down with a grin on his face while miss gertrude answered it it read miss ainsley Aln sley your conduct this afternoon a in the browbeating brow beating a employed emp loye of mine Is simply reprehensible tho the terms in which you characterized me are no less leas so I 1 have yet to learn that you hava been up ap counted the tha legal guardian guard lau of the birds and animals in this locality then there followed a sincerely and the name carroll denton the villain how dare hoi hell exclaimed tho the girl as aa she looked at t the he boy hes haa an awful fellow was tho the reply when I 1 told him how you bluffed me out of the rabbit up there he bo just gnashed grashed hla his teeth he only wanted flo rabbits rabbit at first but now he be says hell catch a hundred iles hes cross eyed and redheaded red headed and hoa hes got an awful temper on him miss gertrude was absent from the or five minutes and then returned with a reply for the awful man it read sir I 1 reiterate that you are a villain I 1 that was all no sin sincerely corely no respectfully no your very abt servant even the initials G A were lacking mr ainsley was away from home and when the mother learned what had bad happ happened happonen oneo she said you were always that way from a child and you cant help it I 1 suppose but I 1 hope you wont carry it too far in this case calling a man mall a villain la Is slander unless ho he la Is a villain rut but of course he be lal was the reply would any one but a villain hire a boy to murder a poor rabbit it if he catches a robin a bluebird blue blau bird or a quail ill ill miss gertrude clenched her hands and breathed hard bard and left it to be understood that something very terrible would happen to the ros sey eyed and redheaded red headed man next morning she went up to the again she went in the forenoon because she suspected that boy would set snares over night and visit them early she walked the paths and found four at and id the wires were thrown far away they had snared no victims As she was on her way home she met the young man of the day before she looked at him more close closely ly this time and she liked his appearance surely he was a gentleman the bo boy was not seen until mid afternoon then he brought another note and ashe aa he delivered it he be said 1 I was lying up there in a brushy brush heap this ahta forenoon when you destroyed destroy dd the snares and oh the awful man awful mad when I 1 told him of I 1 it ta and the note read miss ainsley Aln sley I 1 must again politely request that you cease to meddle with my affairs the same name was signed as to the other but the sincerely was lacking carroll denton was no longer sincere he was grumpy A reply was sent as promptly as before it consisted of a few stirring words and I 1 roust must repeat that you are a villain villainy it was afternoon of the next day when miss gertrude went up to the tha woods again almost at once she beheld a robin with a broken wing fluttering about she had picked it up and seated herself on a log and was cry crying ng over it when a soft voice at her elbow said please give it to me I 1 thing I 1 can do something tor for it it was the young man he took the bird made a brief examination and said the wing Is broken but I 1 can use splints and make it sound again after a bit nature Is very kind to animals and birds hope that old maid wont hear of this shell say I 1 used a club on the bird and call me more villains what old maid was asked forgetting that she was facing a stranger A miss ainsley Aln sley ashes clodeon clo close seon on my t trail til il why why I 1 am the only miss alsa ainsley Aln sley and I 1 am not an old maid you cant be the th the villain then of 0 course it came out the boy had lied for revenge there was no old maid and there was no cross eyed redheaded red headed man mr dent denton C n was a naturalist anti and he wanted hla his specimens alive and sound that he might study their habits he was merciful to a degree miss gertrude heard his explanations with blushing cheeks and downcast eyes and at the end she was generous enough to reply well that makes a dif difference terence arid and it did the naturalist found hla his way to the house to tell her how the robin was getting along and the day the bird flew away on the restored wins win he said to himself that he had discovered a specimen worth all others etheri put together tp gether |