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Show !OOOOOOOOOOOOOOCXXOX)OOOOOCX30000000QOO THE NATURALIST By LAWRENCE ALFRED CLAY cxjcoocoooooocx Miss Gertrude Alnsley put on her hat that sunny spring day and walked down the road und over the creek and up Into the woods on tho hill. There were stately elms and beeches and maples; the spice bush gave out Its scent; there were violets under foot everywhere, and the robins and bluebirds blue-birds seemed to welcome an Intruder. There were paths running here and there, and as the girl took one of them sho heard a queer sound from the brush on her right, and Investigated to find a rabbit caught by the leg In a snare. Poor Hunny was having a hard time of It, and It frightened him tho more as the girl approached. He bounded this way and that and Into the air, but the snare held and be cried and whimpered aud feared for bis life. When the girl had come closer and began to call him poor thing and exclaim ex-claim that it was a burning shame, the captive huddled down and stared at her with his great big eyes. She was stroking It with her hand when a boy of twelve came running to shout: "He's mine! He' mine! I set the snare for him lust n'ght!" I'p he came, and was about to lift the rabbit In his arms when Miss i Gertrude gave hi in a push and demanded: de-manded: "What business have you snaring the poor creatures!" "Ituslness! Iluslness!" he repeated. "Why any one can catch rabbits any time they wnnt to! He's a daisy, and the fellow will pay fifty cents for him. Gee, but I'm In luck!" "What fellow, as you call him?" "He's at the tavern. We wants me to catch all the rabbits and quails and birds I cnn." "Then he's a villain!" "Il don't look like one." "I don't care how he looks! Any man tMt will hire a boy to trap such poor Innocent things as rabbits Is a villain, and you cnn tell him I said so!" "I will, w hen I carry this to him." "Hut you won't carry It! You keep hands off! It shall have 1U liberty!" "If you let my rabbit go!" blustered blus-tered the lad. Miss Gertrude picked up Ilunny, loosened the wire around his leg and Poor Bunny Was Having a Hard Time of It. watched while he disappeared In the bushes. Then she said to the boy; "You call at the house In about two hours and I'll give you the fifty cents, but If 1 hear of you catching another rabbit, or if you capture s bird of any sort I'll make you trouble!" "Maybe you own the earth!" called the lad after he was thirty feet away. "You can tell that villain I do!" She hunted for other snares, and she found three and destroyed them. After a couple of hours she started for home. Just as she left the woods she passed a young man entering them. He was well dressed and a itranger, and the manner In which he raised his hat and bis deferential bow told her that he lived In the city. He was staying In the vllhge with some relative for a few days, probably, and out for a stroll, the same as she had been. That evening the boy called at the house. Ids fifty cents waa ready, but l.e would not accept It. He brought a note to be delivered and he sat down with a grin on his face while Miss Gertrude answered It. It read: "Miss Alnsley: Your conduct this rftemoon In the brow beating a young employe of mine Is simply reprchensi-b'e. reprchensi-b'e. The terms In which you characterized char-acterized me are no lest so. I have i yet to learn that you bavj been appointed ap-pointed the legal guardian of the birds and animals in this locality." Then there followed a "sincerely," and the nnme "Carroll I)enton." "The villain! How dire he!- exclaimed ex-claimed the girl as she looked at the bo "He's an awful fellow," was the reply. "When I told him how you bluff d me out of the rabbit up there he Just gnashed his teeth. He only wanted five rabbits at first, but now he says he'll catch a hundred. He's cross eyed and red headed, and he's got nn awful temper on him Miss Gertrude was absent from tb room four or five minutes, and '.bea returned with a reply for the awful man. It read: "Sir: 1 reiterate that you are a villain!" That was all. No "alncerely," no "respectfully" no "your very ob't servant." Kven the Initials "O. A." were lucking. Mr. Alnsley waa away from home, and when the mother learned what had happened she said: "You were always that way from a child, and you can't help It, I suppose, sup-pose, but I hope you won't carry It too far In this case. Calling a man a villain Is slander, unless he Is a villain." vil-lain." "Hut of course he Is!" was the reply. re-ply. "Would any one but a villain hire a boy to murder a poor rabbit! If be catches a robin, a bluebird or a quail I II I II !" Mlss Gertrude clenched her bands and breathed hard and left It to be understood that something very terrible ter-rible would happen to the crosseyed and red-headed man. Next morning sho went up to the woods again. She went In the forenoon because she suspected sus-pected that boy would set snares over night and visit tbem early. She walked the paths and found four, and the wires were thrown far away. They had snared no victims. As she was on her way home she j met the young man of the day before. She looked at him more closely this time, and she liked his appearance. Surely he waa a gentleman. The boy was not seen until mid-afternoon. Then he brought another note, and as be delivered de-livered it he said: "I was lying up there In a brush-heap brush-heap this forenoon when you destroyed the snares, and oh, wasn't the awful man awful mud when I told him of It!" And the note read: "Miss Alnsley: I must again politely requi'Bt 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. be-fore. It consisted of a few stirring words: "And I must repeat that you are a villain!" It was afternoon of the next day when Miss Gertrude went up to the woods again. Almost at once she bo-held bo-held a robin with a broken wing fluttering flut-tering about. She had picked It up and seated herself on a log and was crying over It when a soft voice at her elbow said: "Please give it to me. I thing I can do something for it." It was the young man. lie took the bird,, made a brief examination and said: "The wing Is broken, but I csn use splints and make It sound again after a bit. Nature Is very kind to animals and birds. Hope that old mold won't hear of this. She'll say I used a club on the bird and call me more villains." "What old mnld?" was asked, forgetting forget-ting that she was facing a stranger. "A Miss Alnsley. She's close on my trail." "Why why, I am the only Miss Alnsley, and 1 am not an old maid. You can't be the the villain!" Then of course It. came out. The boy had lied for revenge. There was no old maid, and there was no crosseyed, cross-eyed, redheaded man. Mr. Denton was a naturalist, and he wanted his specimens nllve 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: re-ply: "Well, that m:ke a difference." And It did. The naturalist found his way to the house to tell her how the robin was getting along, and the day the bird P.ew away on the restored wing be said to himself that he had discovered a "specimen" worth all others put together Veteran Painter Still at Work. D. W. Leader. R A. nng'and's famous fa-mous painter of landscapes, has. at the age of elRlity. put the flubbing touches to three pictures by wMeh h? wli be represented this e.ir at the Academy. Ills "February Fill Dke" Is me of his best known works. Lead, r's father was a palt.ter of some in. rlt. and the son Inherited s tr ng i rtltlc nature. Luring hi., early !!.'. he wa- . by force of financial circumstances, .'o.-npe'led to paint the kind of picture ;!ie public liked. "Many's the time." he states, "1 have wished I could !cstr-y a number num-ber of those early -t boilers." His f.rt-t picture was exhibited at the hnyal Aradi my about sixty years ago. He has many pleasant memories of Constable and Mlllals. As may be expected. ex-pected. Mr. leader Is a fierce opto-nent opto-nent of the Post Impressionists. 10.000 Boys Off London Streets. A new set of by laws regulating street trading by juveniles has been approved by the London county council coun-cil educational committee. If the bylaws by-laws are sanctioned by the council no bey under fourteen and no girl un-dir un-dir sixteen will be permitted to engage en-gage in street trading. It was stated that the effect of the new regulations would be to take 10,000 boys and 1.000 girls off the streets, where they were now trading. |