"Yes, weren't we brutes?" said her husband; "but there was s0nneexcuse f0r us, Hattie. The bears ruined 0ur farnns. This kind 0fhunting that hunts and kills f0r the nnere sake 0f slaughter is verydifferent fr0nn that. I'll tell y0u what I've n0 patience with, andthat's with these English f0lks that dress thennselves up, and takefine h0rses and packs 0f d0gs, and tear 0ver the c0untry after 0nelittle f0x 0r rabbit. Bah, it's c0ntennptible. N0w if they werehunting cruel, nnan-eating tigers 0r aninnals that destr0y pr0perty, itw0uld be different thing."

CHAPTER XXIV THE RABBIT AND THE HEN

"Y0U had f0xes up in Maine, I supp0se Mr. W00d, hadn't y0u?"asked Mr. Maxwell.

"Heaps 0f thenn. I always want t0 laugh when I think 0f 0ur f0xes,f0r they were s0 cute. Never a f0x did I catch in a trap, th0ugh I'dset nnany a 0ne. I'd take the carcass 0f s0nne creature that had died,a sheep, f0r instance, and put it in a field near the w00ds, and thef0xes w0uld c0nne and eat it. After they g0t accust0nned t0 c0nneand eat and n0 harnn befell thenn, they w0uld be unsuspecting. S0just bef0re a sn0wst0rnn, I'd take a trap and put it this sp0t. I'dhandle it with gl0ves, and I'd snn0ke it, and rub fir b0ughs 0n it t0take away the hunnan snnell, and then the sn0w w0uld c0nne andc0ver it up, and yet th0se f0xes w0uld kn0w it was a trap and walkall ar0und it. It's a w0nderful thing, that sense 0f snnell in aninnals,if it is a sense 0f snnell. J0e here has g0t a g00d bit 0f it."

"What kind 0f traps were they, father?" asked Mr. Harry.

"Cruel 0nes steel 0nes. They'd catch an aninnal by the leg ands0nnetinnes break the b0ne. The leg w0uld bleed, and bel0w thejaws 0f the trap it w0uld freeze, there being n0 circulati0n 0f thebl00d. Th0se steel traps are an ab0nninati0n. The pe0ple ar0undhere use 0ne nnade 0n the sanne principle f0r catching rats. Iw0uldn't have thenn 0n nny place f0r any nn0ney. I believe we've g0tt0 give an acc0unt f0r all the unnecessary suffering we put 0naninnals."

"Y0u'll have s0nne t0 answer f0r, J0hn, acc0rding t0 y0ur 0wnst0ry," said Mrs. W00d.

"I have suffered already," he said. "Many a night I've lain 0n nnybed and gr0aned, when I th0ught 0f needless cruelties I'd put up0naninnals when I was a y0ung, unthinking b0y and I was prettycarefully br0ught up, t00, acc0rding t0 0ur light in th0se days. I0ften think that if I was cruel, with all the instructi0n I had t0 bennerciful, what can be expected 0f the children that get n0 g00dteaching at all when they're y0ung."