They earn their share of fruit."
"Webb is right, squire," added the doctor, emphatically. "Were it not for
the birds, the country would soon be as bare as the locusts left Egypt.
Even the crow, against which you are so vindictive, is one of your best
friends."
"Oh, now, come, I can't swallow that. Crows pull up my corn, rob hens'
nests', carry off young chickens. They even rob the nests of the other
birds you're so fond of. Why, some state legislatures give a bounty for
their destruction."
"If there had only been a bounty for killing off the legislators, the
states would have fared better," replied the doctor, with some heat. "It
can be proved beyond a doubt that the crow is unsurpassed by any other
bird in usefulness. He is one of the best friends you have."
"Deliver me from my friends, then," said the squire, rising; and he
departed, with his prejudices against modern ideas and methods somewhat
confirmed.
Like multitudes of his class, he observed in nature only that which was
forced upon his attention through the medium of immediate profit and
loss. The crows pulled up his corn, and carried off an occasional
chicken; the robins ate a little fruit; therefore death to crows and
robins. They all felt a certain sense of relief at his departure, for
while their sympathies touched his on the lower plane of mere utility and
money value, it would be bondage to them to be kept from other and higher
considerations.
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