St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1888-05-24

am SOiIy iOT Hor, SaiQ L. one
did her duty-and she got killed. That
is unjust"
"She tried to be cunning" replied
my father. s'Only Treasure was more
cunning than she was"
"Wicked Treasure !" | said to my
self; and ven my father did not seem
good to me on this occasion. What
cunning was there about it 1t was
love for her little children, and not
cunning. If she had been commanded
to use craft to save her children-then
Treasure ought not to have caught
her.
My father was on the point of thrust
ing the quail into his game bag, but I
begged her from him, laid her careful
ly in both my palms, and breathed up
on her-to see whether h would 10
recover. But she did not stir.
at is useless, my dear fellow" said
father "you cannot bring her back to
life. See how her head swings"
L lifted carefully her beak but as
soon as L removed my hand, her head
fell again.
care you still sorry for her Z" asked
my father.
"And who will feed her little ones 2"
1 inquired, in my turn.
My father gazed intently at me.
"DOn't trouble yourself about that"
said he "the male quail, their father
will feed them. And stand %still,n he
added, "Treasure seems to be making
another point. Can it be the nest 2
And the nest it ISL
And sure enough, in the grass, a
couple of PAGES from Treasures muzzle
lay four tiny birds in a row they
were budding close to each other and
stretching out their little necks, and
all were breathing s 20 rapidly and ST.
simultaneously that it seemed as though
they were trembling. And they had
already got their feathers-there was
no down on them-only their little
tails were still very short.
"Papa! papaw | cried at the top of
my voice; "call off Treasure, or he
will kill them too"
My father called to Treasure, and,
retiring a little to one side, he sat
down to eat his lunch, under a bush.
But | remained beside the nest, and
did not want to eat any lunch. [ look
out my clean handkerchief and laid
the quail on it.
"Look here, orphans, here is your
mother She sacrificed herself for
your
The little birds breathed rapidly, as
before, with the whole of their bodies.
Then | went to my father.
"Will you give me this quail ;" l
asked him.
"If you like. But what do you want
to do with it 2"
81 wan to bury it,"
"Bury it 2"
SsVao. IacIln ho, l;tE1n nna G;-o
me your knife. [ will dig her Il grave"
My father was amazed.
$50 that her little ones can visit the
grave ~ he asked.
"NO," | replied "but because-I
want to. 1t Will be so nice for her to
lie there beside her nest!"
My father did not say a word. He
took out his knife and gave it to me,
low then | kissed the quail on her
breast, and laid her in the hole, and
covered her with earth. Then with
the same knife, L cut two small branch
es, stripped the bark from them, plac-
ed them in the form of a cross, bound
them together with a blade of grass,
and stuck them upright in the grave.
My father and [ soon moved on ; bnt |
kept looking back. The cross was
whitish and visible at a distance.
And that night l had a dream. l
seemed to be in heaven and what
then On Il small cloud sits my dear
little quail, only now she is all white,
like that little cross! And around her
head is IL small gold halo and it
seems that it has been given to her to
reward her for her sufferings for the
sake of her children.
Five days later, my father and | re-
turned again to the same spot. |
found the grave and the cross, which
had turned yellow, but had not fallen.
Only the little nest vas empty, there
was no trace of the birds. My father
assured me that the old bird, their ia
ther, had taken them away; and when
IN old quail flew out from under the
bushes IL few PAGES away, my father
did not try to shoot him. And / said
to myself: eyes, papa is good 2"
But this is the remarkable point
about it from that day forth my pas
sion for hunting disappeared, and [
never even thought of the time when
my father would give me q gun. New
ertheless when | grew up, | did begin
to shoot also, but | never became a
genuine sportsman, And that is what
weaned me from it.
Once my comrade and L were hunt
ing grouse. We found a young brood.
The mother rose, we fred and hit her,
but she did not fall, and flew away
with her young grouse. [ wanted to
follow them but my cOmrade said {:
Better sit down here and lure them
to us they will all be here in a few
minutes" My cOmrade could whistle
capitally, just as grouse do. We sat
down, and he began to whistle. And,
sure enough, first n young n an
swered the call, then another, and then
we heard the mother cooling so tender
ly, and very near US. | raised my head
and saw her Fastening, fastening to
us, through the matted grass, and her
bosom was all covered with blood. or
her maternal heart had not been
able to resist. And then | seemed such
IL wicked wretch to myself, | rose and
my hands. The grouse imme-
dat ly flew away and the little ones
became silent. My companion was an
cry /; he thought me crazy. "YOu have
all the SPORT" said he.
But from that day forth it became
aver harder and harder for me to kill
and to shed blood.