But It Is Not Burglars; It Is Young Fellows With A
Large Net And A Lantern After The Sparrows In The Ivy.
They have a
prescriptive right to enter every garden in the village.
They cry
'sparrow catchers' at the gate, and people sit still, knowing it is all
right. In the jealous suburb of a city the dwellers in the villas would
shrink from this winter custom, the constable would soon have orders to
stop it; in the country people are not so rigidly exclusive. Now it is
curious that the sparrows and blackbirds, yellowhammers and greenfinches,
that roost in the bushes, fly into the net and are easily captured, but
the starlings - thanks to their different ways in daylight - always fly out
at the top of the bush, and so escape.
II.
A black cannon ball lies in a garden, an ornament like a shell or a
fossil, among blue lobelia and green ferns. It is about as big as a
cricket ball - a mere trifle to look at. What a contrast with the immense
projectiles thrown by modern guns! Yet it is very heavy - quite out of
proportion to its size. Imagine iron cricket balls bounding along the
grass and glancing at unexpected angles, smashing human beings instead of
wickets. This cannon ball is not a memorial of the Civil War. It was shot
at a carter with his waggon. Our grandfathers had no idea of taking care
of other people's lives. Every man had to look out for himself; if you
got in the way, that was your fault.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 215 of 394
Words from 57707 to 57969
of 105669
